It Takes Vision to Harness Serendipity: Meet David Adler on Sept. 21st, Plus Saving Event Tech

SEPTEMBER 21 | 3PM | ZOOM 

David Adler & Friends

 We’re living in the experiential economy. David Adler, founder of BizBash, shares his thoughts on how to make every event a memorable one. Register today to attend and learn from the master. 

RSVP NOW

Event Tech: Lemons to Lemonade

Those who spent the pandemic years building video conferencing and event technologies are finding themselves swimming in a pickle barrel. The return to live events has not eliminated the need for remote event solutions, but it has forced a reckoning for rightsizing and differentiation. Over the past few weeks, we’ve reported on event tech companies' closures and mergers. But all the great technology that was created can find new life if they make lemonade from the pandemic lemons.

• Rightsizing Happens: Think about the PC industry in the 1990s. Compaq, IBM, Dell, Gateway, and numerous others, with a lot of fruity names like Apricot and Acorn, gave consumers a plethora of choice, but they were largely indistinguishable. Today, that huge list has dwindled to include just a handful of brands that can meet the needs of the ecosystem of retail and support. Some event companies will meet that fate if they don’t focus on sales and support.
• Differentiation Is Required: All the really good event tech platforms, such as Hopin, Hubilo, Swapcard, and 6Connex, have similar feature sets. None, not even Zoom, has stepped up to be the undisputed champ. The first step is to differentiate meetings, which tend to be more casual, from webinars, which tend to be focused on the transfer of information, to complex events that must have a bit more engagement and pizazz. Which events package you decide on should be driven by a needs strategy.
• Pick a Niche: You don’t need to rule the whole pie, just a solid slice of it. Each segment, such as not-for-profit organizations, educational webinars, sales training, and product launches, has its own fairly specific requirements. Instead of being a Swiss Army knife, focus on one area of expertise, clearly define it, and market the heck out of it.

If you’ve got more tips for surviving the shakeout, we’re listening. 

Scuttlebutt 

Zoom Production Studio

Zoom keeps on innovating. The latest additions focus on aesthetics. It adds attractive layouts, more options for presenters, and custom branding, all with the goal of making Zoom events look great. The company's press release states that the production studio is meant to put the power of professional events in the user's hands. We’ll be reporting on the possibility versus the promise.

One of the more obvious problems that Zoom needs to overcome is its pricing and chaotic panoply of product choices. For example, the studio is available with Zoom Events and Zoom Sessions but not on Zoom Meetings or Zoom Webinars.

Get the details here and mark your calendar for October 3rd’s Zoomtopia. 

Is Clubhouse Still a Thing? 

Since we haven't heard much lately, I asked Mariana Danilovic, founder at Infiom, a Web3 and blockchain accelerator, how the meetings she holds exclusively on Clubhouse were faring. Clubhouse, you might recall, appeared on the scene shortly after the COVID lockdown as an audio-only app, that is sort of a cross between a podcast and a group audio chat. 

She writes, “The Clubhouse app has been much less attended by everyone post-pandemic and post crypto and NFTs ramp-up. We did try Twitter Spaces but the app was not working very well. We could not see people in the room nor invite speakers. So we are back in the Clubhouse. The Clubhouse app functionality is great, but marketing is an uphill battle.”

Still, Danilovic believes that her community likes to listen on the go and not be tethered to their screen. As people travel more, I think we’ll see a boost to all sorts of synchronous audio-first apps.

It’s Not Just Giuliani 

Two parents brought a lawsuit against Roblox claiming it violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The children, they claim, lost Robux (the platform’s internal currency) on third-party gambling websites.

The Benefits of Webinars 

Webinars are unlikely to lose their appeal in the post-pandemic world. Tune in on August 31 to find out How to Build a Rockstar Webinar Program, according to Cvent, one of the long-time event platforms looking to shore up expertise in different kinds of meetings. 

Can AI Take a Joke?

Freakonmics Radio’s new series with Alan Davidson explains how to think about AI. Listen to find out if AI has a sense of humor or not. 

AIs of the Week

Can AI help dig you out of your inbox mess? Canary Mail uses AI to auto-generate content based on your intent and tone. There’s a conversational AI assistant to help you search your inbox. It prioritizes important emails and even includes a welcome one-click unsubscribe option. It’ll also help on security issues by offering encryption tools, impersonation detection, and a biometric app lock.

Next, if you’ve used Synthesia or D-ID to mess around with creating synthetic humans speaking their lines and moving their lips, you should try Colossyan. Colossyan appears to have a smoother, more natural voice tone (though Alfred Poor, our tech editor, says all of these synthetic humans are flawed because they never breathe) and nice transition scenes with many options for tweaking the language settings. Free trials available. 

Event Tech of the Week

Seeing ourselves in Hollywood Square Zoom-style windows has caused many of us to fall into coma mode. Scoot mixes it up by using circles to convene its all-hands meetings. You view your circle as well as those around you, can engage in private conversations with audio proximity, and encourage mingling between Scoot circles. 

MEMBERSHIP 

A reminder to join our fast growing community. Together, we’ll stay on top of all of the tech trends that are changing how we meet. New programs, new content, and new colleagues await. Join us now.