Choosing the Right EventTech Partner – It’s either Sweet or Suicidal!

Choosing the right technology partner is critical to ensure it meets your strategic objective towards service delivery. As a conference organizer, not in my wildest of dreams did I imagine that we’d go 100% virtual in 2020 owing to a virus that resulted in a global pandemic. It was good learning, and it’s still in practice.

Allow me to share with you my 2020 journey and how I got into becoming a buyer of digital/event tech solutions. There is a lot to learn, and the learning process continues.

Since November 2019, I haven’t stepped foot in a 5-Star hotel’s banqueting ballroom to host a show. I had 5 planned travels in 2020 each to Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur, Nairobi, Kigali, and Johannesburg. I was supposed to be in Riyadh on April 13’ 2020 to organize a two-days show on the 14th & 15th, then quickly catch a flight to KL on the 15th afternoon to host a show on the 16th & 17th April 2020.

Well, the coronavirus had other plans, and on March 15’ 2020 announced the postponements and we pushed the events to the second half of the year still announcing it a physical event.

March 17’ 2020 marked the first day of work-from-home. Till April 3’ 2020 there wasn’t much to work on, in fact, we didn’t know what to do apart from following the news channels, watch Netflix, and stay at home. Every night at 20:00hrs sharp there was the National Sterilization taking place across the UAE and we get spontaneous alerts from Dubai Police on our phones to stay indoors. That was the first time. Later the Dubai government introduced an online permit system for people to leave their homes for essentials. That was the first time as well, and it was a very impressive method to use digital channels.

In the first week of April, I downloaded Zoom and later learned about Google Meet, MS Teams, and Cisco WebEx. A colleague of mine proposed that we explore the possibility of hosting our event as a 100% virtual show. I didn’t argue with him, in fact, I bought the idea on his first pitch. So, we decided to explore the opportunity and do a bit of online window shopping.

For some strange reason, our Managing Director was not in favor of going virtual with events and he was of the opinion that things will be normalized by the month of June. It was important for us to get him on board. After all, he signs the cheque.

The sponsorship director and I had to go nuts to convince our MD that we have to go virtual and execute our programs. We cannot be stubborn with our decision to continue in-person events in a matter of a few months. Creating a vaccination requires time and a lot of trial and error.

Finally, after a week of discussions and convincing, we got the green signal to find the best technology partner. Let’s go virtual.

In the month of April, the sponsorship director, the marketing manager and I went window shopping and we had encountered a few event technology providers that provide a turn-key virtual conference solution. At first impression, many were spectacular but went it came to the commercials we had to make a wise decision.

That was when I’d realized that why don’t we explore for a vendor that has a Software-as-a-Service solution (SaaS). We started searching for a vendor that was SaaS-based instead of an enterprise-wide solution provider.

We finalized a SaaS EventTech provider and were initially satisfied with them only to get disappointed by knowing that they cannot integrate their platform on Cisco WebEx. It was a mandatory requirement for our event.

Our first virtual conference happened on August 19 & 20’ 2020 which was meant to take place in Kuala Lumpur back in April. Dejected we had to hunt for another vendor and we immediately found one based in Bangalore – India. We did two events with them back-to-back, both in August 2020.

It was the first time for me or anyone in the company to organize a virtual conference, the fatigue is terrifying but it was worth it. I had to make sure that we are flawless at service delivery and I was mainly responsible for handling the speakers, and with me, I had to stay in sync with our Head of Coordination to handle things backstage. By the way, we are in different geographies. I was in Dubai UAE, whereas she was in Bangalore India.

Blocking your speaker’s calendar for their sessions and sharing the correct WebEx link for their session, having a dry run with everyone a day or two prior to the conference to ensure a flawless experience. I’d never done that before but while it does offer a lot of fatigue, someone has got to take responsibility to ensure a wonderful show.

Despite all the hard work, we weren’t satisfied with the end result of the supplier from the sponsors and networking perspective because of the:

a.      Poor 1to1 video calling facility

b.      Poor chat messaging facility

c.      Poor user interface

They got the WebEx integration sorted. My speaker’s video conferencing experience being on WebEx was fine, we had no issues there.

Our second event with them was on the following week and its integration was on Zoom. But their product still had the above issues and we decided not to continue working with them. We signed a contract with them for two events so we had to comply. We went against the idea of changing the supplier because of the fatigue we had initially gone through and the fact that we were a week apart from both events.

At the first event on August 19 & 20’ 2020, we were unable to organize any pre-schedule 1to1 meetings between our delegates and sponsors, therefore we learned from that experience not to use their video calling facility for the 1to1 meetings in the second event and we decided to host all pre-scheduled 1to1 meetings directly on a separate video conferencing application, be it WebEx or Zoom at the second event.

Once we had concluded our second virtual conference, we approached the initial vendor and confirmed hosting the next series of our 2020 events with them.

There were four events and the experience was very good and SWEET until we were given a shocker in January 2021. They hiked their price tag and introduced an unfavorable subscription model.

We agreed to do five events with them in 2020 but we decided to postpone one event from November to January based on market feedback. Somehow, they didn’t like the postponement. We were forced to pay for the postponed event to which we were ready to do however not on their revised terms.

Organizers with deep pockets may go ahead with their services, we decided not to. We did try our best to bargain but nothing worked so we’ve moved on from there. We decided not to do the January event with them.

Remember the first company we worked with? We did our January show with them however there wasn’t much of an improvement in the three areas mentioned above apart from the UI being slightly better than before.

Then came towards the end of February, two of our highly anticipated events. We chose a different supplier that is based in JLT Dubai after concluding a series of thorough demos and meetings with their leadership.

I was looking forward to working with this supplier, and oh my God! Did I go through HELL!!! SUICIDAL!

After concluding the events, we decided never to work again with this supplier. Yes, there was a lot to learn from the negative experience. If there is a fault in your system, own it, find a solution and then rectify the matter. Accept criticism and improve. Their problems during the live event and after were:

a.      Speaker’s audio and video blackout. Their video conferencing system cannot support more than six people on screen.

b.      Poor and confusing screen sharing facility especially for Mac OS users.

c.      Paid for onsite support across a three days show, having to experience zero support with no response on the second day of the show.

d.      Speaker user login credentials being continuously lost in the supplier's system and then being regenerated only resulting in a waste of time, effort, and coordination.

e.      Continuous reminders to retrieve the event’s detailed analytics after the show.

f.       Delegates were having issues with their ticket IDs not being able to retrieve them.

g.      Not capable of integrating their platform on any video conferencing application; Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc.

The supplier’s attitude about their product was so arrogant they fail to accept criticism. They acquired 100% payment before delivery of service and provided a poor experience and an incomplete service.

Every product manager is emotionally attached to their product, we regard it as our baby and I can understand why they’re defending their product. But why be so arrogant and deny to accept criticism?

The 100% virtual conferences won’t last long but they will become a significant part of your in-person events that are hybrid. Until there’s another pandemic, the virtual events market will tone down a bit and focus on other facets such as:

a.      Contactless registration

b.      Online ticketing

c.      Live streaming

d.      Matchmaking 1to1 Networking

e.      Virtual Booths

With the vaccination being rolled out we will see in-person events coming back in some economies such as the GCC. There will still be a market for the 100% virtual conferences continuing until mid of 2022 in some territories. The global tourism industry is set to recover by 2024. Many large enterprises have decided to participate at meetings and events virtually till the pandemic is over.

While virtual conferences are here to stay, below are key factors that you must take into consideration when signing off with a SaaS virtual conference tech provider for a 100% virtual conference:

1.      Integration of a Third-Party Video conferencing application is a MUST: Zoom, Cisco WebEx, MS Teams, Google Meet etc.

2.      Avoid using the supplier’s in-built video conferencing solution. It results in:

a.      Consumption of bandwidth

b.      Audio / Video Blackouts

c.      Faulty screen sharing

d.      Apple Mac compatibility issues

3.      Use the supplier’s third-party application such as Zoom or WebEx for the live streaming.

4.      Session recordings from the supplier.

5.      Delivery of analytics immediately after the show.

a.      Detailed Analytics of:

                                                              i.     Attendee details per session

                                                            ii.     Booth engagement:

1.      Visitor details per booth

2.      Visitor details per click on any booth item

3.      Visitor details per click on any downloads

4.      Chats with Visitor details

5.      1to1 and 1toMany video calling networking tables

6.      Pre-scheduling of video calls

7.      Video calling duration

8.      Email notification for video calls, chats, and messaging

                                                          iii.     Networking lounge:

1.      1to1 and 1toMany video calling networking tables

2.      Pre-scheduling of video calls

3.      Video calling duration

4.      Email notification for video calls, chats, and messaging

5.      Chatting facility with attendees, speakers, and sponsors

6.      Event branding opportunity on the login page.

7.      Dedicated page for speaker roster.

8.      Dedicated page for sponsors.

9.      Dedicated page for the exhibition booth.

10.  Greater visibility for premium sponsors and exhibitors.

11.  Multiple branding opportunities for sponsors on the platform.

12.  Event news feed.

13.  Session poll facilities.

14.  Session Q&A panel.

15.  Live session chats.

16.  DIY simple backend operation.

17.  Dedicated account manager/customer success officer.

18.  Affordable pricing:

a.      Per event

b.      Six Months unlimited subscription

c.      Annual unlimited subscription

d.      Base value to hold at least:

                                                              i.     300 to 500 Attendees

                                                            ii.     10 to 15 Booths

                                                          iii.     Unlimited speakers

Note: Whatever listed above is purely based on a web-based SaaS virtual conference. We’re not talking about including any cinematic, 3D, augmented, and virtual reality functions. These are mere cosmetics. What is important is the engine, not the cosmetics.

EventTech companies should focus on diversification and they should be more welcoming and cooperative with the event organizer in all facets. Open to customization/personalization.

The event technology companies that were part of our journey in whichever capacity are:

1.      CHKDIN

2.      Hubilo

3.      Brella

4.      ExpoPlatform

5.      Nunify

6.      Balluun

7.      Balloon

8.      Intrado

9.      Whova

10.  AirMeet

11.  Eventtus

12.  Swapcard

13.  Cvent

14.  vFairs

15.  Eventdex