Event Industry News Podcast

Steve Gottlieb, founder of TVT Records, the independent label that gave a big leg-up to the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Pitbull, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and KMFDM, launched online events platform Shindig in 2010. With a focus on attendee/delegate interaction, Shindig replicates the ‘mingling’ aspect of live events, so people can come across others with similar interests, start conversations, meet and join groups and so on. This episode see host Adam Parry leave the comforts of Zoom to put Shindig through its paces and to ask Steve about his history in and around events, the motivations behind Shindig, how clients as illustrious as Amazon, Netflix and Mary J Blige are using it and what the future holds.

Launched last year, Spelfie is an out of this world marketing opportunity for live events. Hand in hand with Airbus’ technology, bookable weeks, months, even years ahead, the app synchronises with a satellite in position. An event-goer takes a selfie from an outside location which is married to the shot from space, a digital mark highlighting the individual’s position and their environment.   With a BBC contract confirmed and several other big sponsorship names in the frame for 2021, in this episode Spelfie CEO, Chris Newlands, details the design and development behind the tech, how it works and what an effective, cost-efficient space shot means for micro-influencers.  

Ten years ago, Jelmer van Ast took his experience as a playwright/actor/producer and festival organiser across the tracks to found technology company Conference Compass, In this episode Jelmer discusses the Covid tipping point for his business, how it invested its way around the crisis, developing solutions to help customers, new and existing, with their pivots into the virtual world. The focus here though is the greater Conference Compass vision for a ‘one community’ platform. How using its tech, or similar, to connect people globally and bring them together regularly is, or should be, the game changing thing for this sector. And how the notion of delivering an event once a year then disappearing on them for 11 months is not sustainable in the face of hybrid and virtual shows delivering real value – and community – around the clock, across the calendar.  

Bruce Rose has been at Live Group for more than 11 years, finding his way from business development to head of content and learning all the way. Established back in 1975, Live Group has been focusing on digital events and streaming for almost as long as Bruce has been with the business. Expect really interesting content in this episode then and great delivery, focused on Events 2.0 – Live Group’s timely solution to traditional thinking – and all the benefits of that reset: inclusivity, accessibility, content and connecting people.

Lou Kiwanuka is founder and MD of training specialist The Shaper Group, vice chair, about to be chair, at ESSA and part of EventWellPledge - a social enterprise set up to support industry people in need. In this episode we discuss the DCMS exhibition pilot Lou attended ahead of the proposed restart in October and the learnings she took from that as a visitor. How reduced numbers and social distancing, coupled with masks, can suck the noise from a show floor, how more catering spaces rather than less might help foster interaction in the new order and how, in six months’ time, the event industry will be under considerable pressure to meet expectation. Lou also talks about her upcoming role as chair of ESSA, the importance of associations as a flag for represented elements of the industry and, crucially, as a means to lobby government.  

With more than 20-years’ experience working in live events, at Incisive Media and Ocean Media, London, before moving to the Middle East for DMG in 2012, Ashley Roberts took on the General Manager role at Omanexpo nearly 18 months ago.   On the back of World Mental Health Day, the focus for this episode is stress and mental wellbeing. Famously, event organisation/delivery turns the dial right up – a recent Stress Matters report highlights how 28 per cent of respondents had taken some time off attributed to being overworked or stressed and Covid-19 has further impacted the industry.   Working from home can make it harder for people to share or network with their work family and Ashley discusses some of the initiatives he has introduced to keep his team’s moral up.   These include one to ones, ‘town halls’ where people can anonymously ask questions in a public forum and by being open and honest about where the business is financially and in its projections.   Ashley also highlights the benefits of an ini

With more than 20-years’ experience in and around live events, Mike Ford, director at UK/US based full-service engagement agency Touch Associates, has been involved in delivering and developing hybrid and virtual solutions since 2015. In this episode, Mike talks about the reasons clients wanted to switch away from physical show in those early days, highlighting how budget constraints took one company from hybrid and on to fully virtual within about three years, but kept all the plates spinning. Among a number of topics, we discuss the formats that get great events going online, their learnings, how tech has a whole lot of answers if you know who to ask. The ‘always on’ of virtual events and the potential for year-round partnerships with agencies.  To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Anna Abdelnoor, a freelance corporate event producer, is co-founder of the not for profit group Isla, which launched in September, focused on supporting and encouraging the event industry’s transition to sustainable working practices. In this episode, Anna discusses the huge appetite for solutions she discovered in putting the organisation together last year, how she has worked with agencies in the thick of the industry, her founding partners, to take the competition out of the sustainability question and how there should be basic, minimum standards that everyone works to.   We talk about the collective want for an independent, representative body that inspired Isla, the organisation’s training manifest, how to manage sustainability, setting KPIs, approaches to event design, the budget question and much more besides. 

MD Richard Belcher joined First Sight Media in 2006 when the company was primarily focused on producing DVDs and VHS tapes of graduation ceremonies. Richard helped spearhead First Sight’s subsequent step into the corporate sector; conferences, exhibitions – not least Event Tech Live - and general video production, which in turn led to streaming live events, FSM’s “niche” as Richard puts it. Tellingly, the last shoot before lockdown was for a hybrid event.   In this episode, hear how First Sight has adapted its experience to fit the new environment since March 2020, fitting with the speed people/clients want to work in delivering their virtual and hybrid pivots.   As well as discussing some of the common misconceptions, Richard highlights how investment in terms of production value of the content is vital if you want to present a brand properly – especially if you’re charging people to watch.   On the flipside of that, he mentions the monetisation around ‘eyeball’ marketing via an example of an event tha

Founding director of independent promoter/festival organiser From the Fields, think Kendal Calling, bluedot, Inner City Electronic, Off the Record and Bournemouth’s Arts by the Sea, Ben Robinson is never short of ideas. Touching on Kendal Calling and the company mantra, in this episode Ben focuses on music, science and culture fest buedot, typically at Jodrell Bank University, and transforming the event for a virtual audience in 2020, which, with a lot of the content educational, wasn’t a straight swap. Hear how turning the bluedot dates into A Weekend in Outer Space gave the team behind it a new impetus during lockdown, keeping them creative, how the new-look is driving funding to Jodrell Bank and a whole lot more. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

COVID-19 has hit suppliers along the event industry supply chain particularly hard and Downing Street’s ‘one sticking plaster for all’ solution hasn’t helped much. Essex-based Showcase AVi had business halt for several months due to the pandemic’s effect and founder/managing director, Ben Collings, mounts a passionate defence for the greater industry in this podcast We talk hybrid and virtual events first, how Showcase AVi shifted its focus over lockdown to provide a platform for filming, live streaming and green screen technology as well as looking after speakers – the human kind – in the virtual world. Borrowing from football parlance, the final third of our chat sees Ben highlighting the flaws in the Chancellor’s provision for the event industry, how his strategy should be better educated and more productively focused. ckB1dYbxCIwcYqg7pSs6    

Alongside her role as senior events manager at specialist information provider Chemical Watch, Juliet Tripp is her own brand; a professional speaker, host, blogger and more besides with an inspiring take on the global event industry picture. In this episode we talk about the transition from physical to virtual events, the value of having that alternative in the shadow of a pandemic, creating effective content and delivering it, in both domains, social engagement and more besides. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Ratnesh Singh, head of global business at Buzznation Event Technologies, and author/keynote speaker/futurist/strategic technical advisor Bernard Marr are prime examples of tech supply and demand.   As an influencer, Bernard works with companies including Microsoft, Cisco and IBM to help them “amplify their voice” while ‘Nes’ has seen extraordinary demand for solutions to support the global switch to online business interaction.   In this episode we discuss what virtual events look like, how tech is supporting an industry that can’t meet, and the role they will play as a marketing strategy going forward. How COVID-19 has triggered new ways of thinking, how Marr pivoted to find fertile new pastures live streaming content on LinkedIn and YouTube, to the tune of 20,000-strong audiences. Still greater reach for his ideas, his brand, and no airports, no hotels and no time away from home.   As Nes explains, people did their education through lockdown. Now they’re asking more technical questions, using tech to

Spawned from the UK’s first guerrilla marketing agency Buddha’s experience with/onus on projections, disruption and PR stunts and his military background, Mark Evans launched Kommando Experiential Marketing in 2000. Committed to pushing against the traditional advertising/marketing tide, Kommando moved into the digital space and saw the tide change with social media. The group of companies that sit under its umbrella, including Nomadix Media, research and develop tech for brand development and for rethinking/adapting the experiential space. In this episode Mark talks about setting the company up, his Buddha background and beyond, going on to highlight Halo, a new product incorporating facial detection, which can be added to any screen/camera set up to provide public or personalised messaging to key locations in a venue or event. To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Ed Tranter, Managing Director at 73 Media/industry spokesperson, had to wholly rethink a launch event, the grassroots’ focused Rugby Show, in the eye of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Ed takes on an odds-defying journey - from the theory of Ricoh Arena, Coventry, where the show floor would have featured half a rugby pitch, to the reality of the virtual world. Back to the drawing board, Ed and team focused on the nascent Rugby Show’s strengths: mission, brand, reach, influencers et al. With 95 per cent of the content delivered live, realising 73 Media’s strengths and working with Silverstream TV to produce/deliver the live streams, 100 per cent to time and high quality, was a crucial element in the event’s success. While it has a weight of backing from the British and Irish game, stepping across to the virtual world brought speakers to the podium a physical Rugby Show never dreamed of. 73 Media is an event organiser and agency hybrid. Delivering consumer, B2B and corporate events, company highlig

Ashanti Bentil-Dhue, who heads up virtual production company EventMind, founded  Diversity Ally with Gabrielle Austen – Browne to help foster diversity and inclusion in companies, from recruitment to the boardroom.   In this episode Ashanti talks about how the events model should stop simply talking about diversity and start implementing changes, highlighting issues that can creep in as early as the interview process to prevent a business from being diverse.   Ashanti also discusses the challenges facing the industry and the myths  that need demystifying…    Diversity Ally provides a platform of discussion, a safe place for individuals to discuss diversity without prejudice and a framework that organisations can follow in order to create change.    To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here.   If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

George P. Johnson started as a flag maker/sail repair business in Detroit, providing for automotive events in the city. One hundred and eighty-six years on, GPJ is synonymous with brand experiences all around the world.    In this episode, Jason Megson, managing director at George P. Johnson Experience Marketing, discusses the company’s reach, its mission, client objectives and more besides.   We talk about the pandemic challenges too of course, the growth in hybrid/virtual events, technologies, platforms and solutions.     To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here.   If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

With offices across the world, SpotMe provides enterprise solutions to more than 250 global brands via the web, iOS and Android, as well as a no-code building platform and full support services.   Pierre Metrailler started with SpotMe as a software engineer. Eighteen years later he’s the company’s CEO.   We talk about that journey in this edition, how SpotMe arguably created the first event ‘app’ in the shape of a hardware tool, going on to discuss the burgeoning hybrid market and how the industry is crying out for investment in digital skills.   Looking at the coronavirus effect that continues to shake the boundaries of human interaction, Pierre highlights the pre-COVID 19 virtual events numbers - just 7 per cent of SpotMe’s turnover - and how the pandemic has spun the wheel on that statistic.   To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here.   If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

Founder and CEO at Washington-based Hubb, the virtual/hybrid/physical event platform, Allie Maygar launched her first company, Impulse Productions, age 21. Stepping across to event technology five years ago, that sprit of ingenuity, entrepreneurism, burns just as fiercely.   In this episode Allie discusses how the event industry Stateside, and Hubb in particular, has changed, or adapted, under the COVID-19 shadow, new partnerships, what the rest of 2020 looks like and more besides.   We also talk about Allie’s virtual conference, Untethered, ‘created by and for the event industry’ early in lockdown with all proceeds, some $17,500 and counting, going to the Meeting Industry Fund.   To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here.   If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.

This week’s episode features Kevin Lorch, managing director at Eventscase, a white label software business focused on providing the perfect integrated platform for conference organisers, speakers, sponsors and attendees.    In enterprise and SaaS sales for 20 years, Lorch discusses the new tech behind virtual events, the elements he thinks will endure on the other side of the coronavirus window and the ones that won’t.  We also look at COVID-19’s impact on particular types of event and where, when and how the corporate/conference sector will find its feet again, in terms of situation and revenue, through the new normal and beyond.  To keep up to date with all the news, subscribe for free here. If you would like to take part in a podcast, then please complete our submission form.