The Event Tech Pull Up

Today, we have a unique opportunity as Tess, our meeting and event superhero, is away. This gives me a chance to highlight something truly special. And what makes it so special, you may ask? Well, we have the privilege of featuring the creator of my favorite event technology of the past two years: Stagetimer.IO. For those who know me, it's no secret that I am an enormous fan of this product. Stagetimer is single-handedly revolutionizing the way we communicate the remaining time in a session. Gone are the days of renting those bulky red numbers in a big square box from the in-house AV company. Stagetimer offers a host of remarkable features that elevate it even further. Need to count up? Not a problem! Want to showcase the time of day in a sleek clock format? Consider it done! Desire to convey messages directly to the talent through the confidence monitor? Boom, Stagetimer has you covered. And if you want the text to flash or change colors to captivate their attention because they just won't. Stop. Talking. Well, guess what? You can do that too. Stagetimer also allows you to share the timer with your entire team, ensuring everyone stays synchronized. Simply send them a link, and they will gain access to the fullscreen timer, an agenda page with the session rundown, and even a moderator page to display messages. What's more, Stagetimer plays seamlessly with other industry tools, including Companion, through its open API (ask your AV person, they'll know). Accessing Stagetimer is a breeze. Whether through your web browser or natively on Windows or Mac, you can confidently rock the stage even without an internet connection. Join us as we meet the brilliant mind behind this innovative creation. Lukas Hermann, a talented Full-Stack Engineer, and entrepreneur.

Unless you live under a rock or in a birdhouse, you have heard about Threads, the text-based, Twitter-like version of Instagram that Zuck says offers “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.”... But should it matter to meeting and event professionals, is it a social outpost where we need to be, and does it matter... Today, Tess and I are joined by Bob Toovey, publisher of Event Planner News, and John D’Adamo, Senior Account Executive with Grip to share our thoughts. ✨ FIND EVENT PLANNER NEWS ON THE WEB ↳ Event Planner News | https://eventplannernews.com/ ↳ Bob on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobtoovey/ ✨ FIND GRIP ON THE WEB ↳ Grip | https://www.grip.events/ ↳ Register for the Grip Webinar | https://discover.grip.events/webinar/mastering-event-app ↳ John on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnadadamo/ ✨ FIND THE EVENT TECH PULL UP ON THE WEB ↳ Event Tech Pull Up | https://eventtechpullup.com/

In this episode, we are talking about AI. What it is (and isn't) and how it is going to fundamentally change the meetings and events industry on a molecular level... AI is going to rewrite the DNA of what it means to be an event professional, it will make our lives easier, and it will make your events more engaging to attendees, sponsors, and speakers, which in turn will make the stakeholders happy. Episode Guests David Wood David Wood is the Founder and CEO of Eventene, a company that offers SaaS cloud and mobile software for both in-person and virtual events. Their services are primarily targeted towards event planners and activity directors in small to medium-sized businesses, organizations, and associations. Prior to founding Eventene, David worked in management consulting roles for various companies in sectors such as education, healthcare, entertainment, social, and technology. David began his career at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington, where he was involved in software development for Office applications like Word and Excel. He also worked in design and program management for Windows and Exchange Email systems, as well as commercial business development for advanced server products at Microsoft. Jim Yokum Jim Yocum serves as COO of Eventene, the digital event management platform. Jim was involved in the early development of the Eventene platform through its launch customer. Through his consultancy, Coastal Oak Systems, he provides expertise on Digital Health platforms, Federal systems and mobile applications. He also serves as a Board Chair for the digital health systems provider, One Degree. Until its sale in 2019, he was Senior Vice President of ConnectureDRX (fka DestinationRx), where he implemented and managed the longstanding health insurance exchange, the Medicare Plan Finder and Online Enrollment Center for Medicare.gov. About Eventene Eventene is a comprehensive platform that caters to event planners, offering a range of features and tools to streamline event planning for both in-person and virtual events. It provides cloud-based and mobile software solutions, allowing planners to create customized event websites and registration forms. The platform offers flexible attendee list management, collaborative planning capabilities, and real-time updates. For virtual events, Eventene includes features like live streaming integration and interactive tools. Additionally, it provides analytics and reporting functionality to gather insights on attendee engagement and event performance. Eventene aims to simplify event planning, enhance productivity, and deliver a seamless experience for planners and attendees, regardless of event size or type. Links ↳ Eventene ↳ Jim Yokum ↳ David Wood ↳ The Event Tech Pull Up

ChatGPT and other AIs are taking the world by storm. The programs have the ability to help meeting and event planners plan better events, create better web copy, and make our lives easier, but AI also strikes fear into the hearts of many people that remember that these creations are only a few steps away from SkyNet or the Matrix movies… So, what can you do with AI, is it that frightening, and should you use AI in your planning process. Join us on this episode as we dive into the AI pool and take a swim in the artificial waters. ✨ FIND THE MACHINES ON THE WEB ↳ ChatGPT | https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt ↳ Jasper | https://www.jasper.ai/free-trial ✨ FIND EVENT TECH LIVE ON THE WEB ↳ Event Tech Live Website | https://eventtechlive.com/las-vegas/ ↳ Event Tech Live on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/eventtechlive ↳ Event Tech Live on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/even... ↳ Event Tech Live on Insta | https://www.instagram.com/eventtechlive/ ↳ Event Tech Live on YouTube |    / eventtechlive   ↳ Event Tech Live on Twitter | https://twitter.com/eventtechlive

In this episode of the podcast, Keith and Tess dive into the game-changing features of There.App, a revolutionary tool for event planners. They discuss how There.App transforms communication and collaboration, ensuring seamless connectivity among team members, vendors, and volunteers during conferences and events, enhancing on-site teamwork by offering access to project information, facilitating smooth team communication, and optimizing on-site execution with real-time location tracking, which helps keep everyone coordinated and aware of each other’s activities. There.app has amazing features like the team directory, project calendar, task checklist, file sharing, live chat, and unique location perspective that allows users to mark key locations on maps and share live locations (of course there are privacy controls). Customizable boards enhance team productivity and focus on critical tasks. Be ready! This is Part I, in Part II, Seth will walk us through the app and all of the features! ✨ FIND THERE.APP ON THE WEB ↳ There.app | https://www.there.app/ ↳ There.app in the App Store | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/there-app/id1497886197 ↳ There.app on Google Play | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.there&hl=en_US&gl=US ✨ FIND THE EVENT TECH PULL UP ON THE WEB ↳ Event Tech Pull Up | https://eventtechpullup.com/ ↳ Tess on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessvismale/ ↳ Keith on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithgjohnston/

Sometimes you have a plan for an episode and the minute you start, you know it is headed off the rails in a good way! Such is the case with our conversation with InEvent.  What we intended to be a single episode, chatting about their virtual platform, became a two parter with some amazing twists and turns. We talked about everything from cameras and cables to virtual networking and the metaverse, looping back around in Part II to take a deep dive into the InEvent Platform so you can see just how easy it is to create an amazing virtual experience for your attendees.  Some of the things we discuss in Part I: How is InEvent different from other platforms? How can good quality video enhance the experience of virtual and hybrid events? How to set up an external camera and microphones to use with any virtual platform. How does live streaming impact virtual engagement and networking? About InEvent InEvent is passionate about virtual and hybrid technologies. They are building one of the most powerful and versatile platforms for virtual and hybrid events. Pedro Góes, CEO of InEvent Pedro started a company back when he was in college where he had more than 10 000 monthly active paying users. He is a Y Combinator Alumni, a 40 under 40 founder by Association Magazine, a UK Event Tech Award Winner and a Gold Crocodile Award Winner. Cecilia Lavin, Sales Director of InEvent Cecelia has 14 years’ experience in the events industry ranging from venues and catering to events management and now technology with InEvent. This wealth of knowledge allows her to understand her clients needs so they can produce the best event experience possible. 

When  ya been quiet for a bit, it is always good to come back with a bang and  that is exactly what Tess and I set out to do after a WHOLE YEAR of no  episodes. This week, we are joined by our guest Tamsin Treasure Jones  (coolest name evah!) of Kubify to chat about their next generation of  technology that will take your  after-thought-crammed-into-the-moldy-basement poster sessions and  bringing them into the digital age. Imagine, poster sessions can now be  interactive, multimedia, and long lived. They can appeal not only to in-person attendees but to your virtual audience as well. BUT WAIT!  There’s more! Poster sessions used to be something that only lived  during the event or conference and then they were lost to the dust bin  of history… Now, they can move in tandem with your event’s 365 day plan  by being available throughout the year. Link-a-Palooza: The News: Omicron sucks and people are not taking it seriously. The National Association for the Deaf lawsuit against SiriusXM should be a wake up call for the events industry. Kubify Connect with Tamsin and Kubify Tamsin on LinkedIn Kubify on LinkedIn Kubify on Twitter Kubify’s Learning Toolbox for ePosters Page  Kubify’s Example Showcase (explore some real ePosters) Kubify’s Company Page

For meeting and event people, things not going according to plan can be a disaster...but sometimes, not sticking with the script can be the best thing that can happen. This is what happened in this episode, we invited Ashanti Bentil-Dhue to come and discuss a variety of topics but we never actually made it past the news! We went down a whole host of rabbitholes talking about the recent YouTube outage, why you should update Google Chrome, and the recent winners from Event Tech Live. A little background, Ashanti Bentil-Dhue is an experienced events entrepreneur, diversity expert, researcher and speaker. She heads up the team at EventMind, a virtual event production company based in London, UK and is a co-founder of the global network, Black In Events. On top of this... She is one of the most knowledgable eventtech eventprofs on the planet. 

Dreams do Come True At  the age of 12, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood and goofing  off. I did not know up from down or left from right nevermind what I  wanted to do with my entire life… Good thing our next guest is nothing  like me. Donvil Collins had a clear vision of his future and where he  wanted to go and he made it happen, becoming a leader in the video  production and live streaming field before he even finished colleage.  His story is the stuff of legend. Donvil started his first  business in technology at age 12 and by 14 was the youngest certified  producer at “BronxNet”. Before the age of 18, he became a sought after  faith-based tv producer broadcasting to over 80 million worldwide  viewers. EIGHTY MILLION VIEWERS. Thinking he probably had more to  accomplish, he started his corporate video production business VeeKast  in 2006 while in his Sophomore year of film school and went on to work  with organizations including TD Bank, United Way, and Malibu Rum. He has  been featured in some of the leading event technology sites and was  honored as a 2015 40 under 40 Rising Star and received a 2016  Wunderkinds Award by 914 INC Magazine. Together, they gathered up  their seven decades of combined experience in meeting and event planning  and created a registration product that was built by planners, for  planners. Their ethos is that every event deserves a solution that  provides a seamless journey from registration to itineraries, meetings  to payment. And on top of that, it does badges too! Things We Want to Know How did you get into this field? How have you pivoted in your Event Technology through this pandemic? How do you differ from anyone else providing a similar service? Event Tech News: Everyone has a virtual event platform now and we got something cool planned!

Experience Matters Women  leading event tech companies are rare, Black Women leading  event tech companies are few… But those who dare become legends. Such is  the case of our guests Zita Steglich-Ross, CMP and Lori Burke, CMP. Two  amazing EventProfs that are leading the way in online registration with  their company regmatch®. Together, they gathered up their seven  decades of combined experience in meeting and event planning and created  a registration product that was built by planners, for planners. Their  ethos is that every event deserves a solution that provides a seamless  journey from registration to itineraries, meetings to payment. And on  top of that, it does badges too! Things We Want to Know Why was regmatch® created? When did our partnership start? What additional resources does regmatch® offer? About Our Guests: Founders  Zita Steglich-Ross, CMP and Lori L. Burke, CMP developed their expertise  from their heels-on-the-ground experience. Starting from the ground up,  both rose to meeting and convention planning executive roles for  industries including hospitality, government, association,  transportation, healthcare technology, and destination marketing. This  dynamic duo embraced their entrepreneurial spirits after successful  careers in the corporate world. Zita Steglich-Ross created  SteglichRoss.com, a boutique full-service destination and event planning  & marketing company located in Orlando, Florida. Burke started LLB  Enterprises (LLB) in February 1999, offering conference support and  trade show management. Together, they’ve now launched regmatch®  and Badge-Creator, which combines their professional know-how and  commitment to hospitality service. Steglich-Ross is an advisory  board member for the University of Central Florida School of Hospitality  and has previously served as a board member for the African American  Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida, Central Florida Urban League and  working with the Florida Hall of Fame Highwaymen Artist, Inc. As an  advocate for small business development, she is the editor of  DiverseCity Orlando – A Multicultural Guide to Orlando which provides  exposure for African American, Hispanic, and Asian small businesses to  visitors to the Orlando community. Burke is a member of  Professional Conference Management Association (PCMA) and Board Member  of the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP),  Meeting Professional International (MPI) and American Society of  Association Executives (ASAE) ; she also mentors “first time” members  and lends her services to her church, Alfred Street Baptist Church in  Alexandria, VA.

Just like a mythical perfect storm, two pandemics are currently sweeping  the globe. One is new, never before seen on this earth and has caused  the global economy to come to a crushing halt. The other, centuries old,  continues its long march across the continents spreading its evil into  every corner of society. Together, they form an unlikely duo and as one,  we will rise to the occasion to challenge the status quo or be forever  in their embrace. In this episode, Hosts Tess Vismale and Keith  Johnston discuss Systemic Racism against Black people and COVID-19, the two greatest  challenges the Business Meetings and Events industry have ever faced...  and yes... there will be Event Tech!

There are  people you meet that you instantly forget and then there are people you  meet that you just know in your heart are going to change the world.  Jillian Cardinal is going to make waves in the meetings and events  industry and her enthusiasm for all things events and attendees is  infectious. You walk away from a conversation with her a better person  for just having been in the room. She is full of amazing ideas, knows  how to implement them, and is not afraid to tell it like it is. There were a hundred different ways we could have invited her onto the program, her work as a Sales Manager with JPdL Montréal, as a member of the 2020 PCMA 20 in their Twenties, or for her Smart Women in Meetings “Rising Star Award".  All are topics that could have filled an hour of discussion, but  nah…..we had other ideas because Jillian has a (not so) secret identity. Jillian  is the founder of the EventProfs Book Club which combines her passion  for people, ideating, discussion, facilitation, and of course, books.  What began as an idea a short time ago has evolved and is now a virtual  event and growing community. Jillian has plans to take this concept to  your live and virtual events as a form of member and attendee engagement  that will get people to sit up and pay attention. Some of the things we cover in our interview: Engagement with virtual events can be tough, how does the book club concept stand apart from virtual networking or matchmaking. How can the Book Club concept make the leap to virtual events. Thoughts about virtual events that don’t have a virtual host or moderator and why they should.

Engaging your attendees in any setting is tough and in a virtual  setting, it can seem downright daunting which is why for the next couple  of episodes, we will be focusing on guests that have some unique ideas  that will energize your event. First up is Dusty and Emma from Ink  Factory. If you are not in the know, Ink Factory helps engage your  audience, employees, and clients by bringing content to life through  drawing real-time visual notes at events and meetings.  Some of the things we cover in our interview: What is Ink Factory and how do they do what they do? Why engagement is getting tougher and why it is mission critical to your success. We are huge fans and have witnessed their creations at many events but how does it translate to virtual.

Tech and  marketing go hand in hand, especially in the 21st Century. In this  episode, Tess and Keith chat with Michelle Bergstein of Beat Creative  Marketing, a longtime collaborator and colleague, she is a Digital  Marketer with a passion for designing and implementing social media  campaigns across multiple platforms in the event and hospitality  markets. She is smart, on point, and on of the most fun people we know. Some of the things we cover in our interview: Offering services, sponsorships, or attendance for free – Should you? How to revise your organizations packages from sponsorship to services. Finding your new marketing voice on social media and web. Companies in Event Tech News: The new Microsoft SurfaceGo 2 is on sale, we love them for a lot of things, but not everything. GoDaddy had a security breach. Ugh. Instagram Live is on FIRE, should you throw water on it? Spotify is testing video podcasts, why are they wrecking a good thing? Rose Colored Marketing in the Age of Covid - Adjusting the Lens Our Guest – Michelle Bergstein Her amazing company, BeatCreative Marketing. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Find BeatCreative on the socials: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, and YouTube.

In this  episode, Keith and Tess get to sit down and chat with the one and only  Mike McAllen, Executive Director of the California Podcast Association  and Podcasting4Associations. Mike is one of the foremost experts about  podcasting and helps membership-based organizations retain and connect  with association members and build revenue-generating podcasts. Topics we dive into: What are a couple of reasons an association might want to start a podcast now? What are some effective ways to grow an audience? What are some of the benefits of taking your podcast on the road to your annual conference? What are some of our thoughts on sponsorship? Companies in Event Tech News: Facebook adding the ability to charge for access to live streams Podcasting for Associations, Conferences, and Events Our Guest – Mike McAllen Find him at Podcasting4Associations His Social Media of Choice – LinkedIn

In this  episode, Tess and Keith have a wide ranging discussion with very special  guest, Congressman Mike Quigley. During the interview, they touch on a  variety of subjects including the Covid-19 crisis, getting the meetings  and events industry back to work, data protection, and more. Keith and  Tess also talk about some industry news. Companies in Event Tech News: Facebook is making moves in video, should Zoom be worried? Like soccer? Tess is digging how Borussia Mönchengladbach fans are filling the stadium without actually being there for the matches. A look at how cruise ships sailed on despite the coronavirus and Keith thinks the industry needs to learn from the cruise-line’s mistakes. An Interview with Congressman Mike Quigley About our Guest Mike  Quigley is the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 5th congressional  district, serving since the April 7, 2009 special election. The district  includes most of Chicago’s North Side, as well as several of the city’s  western suburbs. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Quigley is a  former member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, where he  represented Chicago’s northside neighborhoods of Lakeview, Uptown, and  Rogers Park. Learn More About Him His Official Website Find him on Social Media – Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter

In part one of this two part episode, Tess and Keith talk with Kelley  Wyant and Anati Zubia about content marketing and why it is critical to  keep in touch with your members, attendees, and sponsors in the time of  Covid-19. Part one focuses on the how and why of the content marketing  journey. We also chat about some of the industry news that is floating  around including a ProPublica report on the cancelling of the Houston  Rodeo. Companies in Event Tech News: ProPublica’s report on the cancelling of the Houston Rodeo As part of our discussion, we talk about Ion Exhibits and Nimlok Chicago and their shift to making PPE and other protective gear and equipment Content Marketing - The Strategy Guests – Kelley Wyant and Anati Zubia Kelley Wyant Kelley  Wyant is the founder and creative director of Grace Under Fire  Productions, a full-service content marketing firm. A graduate of  Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she’s spent the  last 15 years honing her craft as a writer, marketer, and event planner  for start-ups, established firms, and non-profit organizations. Anati Zubia Anati  Zubia excels in building and leading marketing and revenue operations  teams that serve high-growth SaaS and IT technology organizations. She’s  spent the last decade managing global brand strategies, building  revenue pipeline, and matching best-in-class humans with best-in-class  technologies for brands such as Attendify, Infusionsoft (Keap) and  Logicalis.

In this  episode, Tess and Keith talk with Tracy Leparulo about blockchain and  how it will make our attendee and member data more secure in the coming  years. Tess tells the world the not hidden secret that Keith is actually  Plannerwire and gets him to talk about his latest blog post, the one  where he thinks that Covid19 has done more damage to the industry than  most are letting on… And we got some news… India joins everyone else  saying Zoom isn’t safe and we disagree with everyone, Verizon screws up  the company behind video meeting platform BlueJeans by buying them, and  ComicCon is finally cancelled which is of course very sad. Companies in Event Tech News: Keith’s post on Plannerwire about the event industry bloodbath on the horizon India hating on Zoom Verizon buying up BlueJeans making some peeps really rich and making us sad We figured it would happen but ComicCon has to go into hiding for the year Blockchain for Events Guest – Tracy Leparulo, CEO Untraceable Blockchain Event Marketing and Founder of the Futurist Conference 2020 Her company – Untraceable, The first event management and marketing agency within the blockchain and cryptocurrency community in Canada. Find them on the socials – Twitter and LinkedIn

In this episode, Tess and Keith talk with the Keatron Evans about the  cybersecurity issues we all must face to keep our attendees and members  data secure. Yes, we chat about Zoom. Companies in Event Tech News: Eventbrite lay off a crap-ton of their staff. Cybersecurty for Event and Association Professionals Guest – Keatron Evans His Company – KM Cyber Security Find him on the socials – Twitter He Wrote a Book – Chained Exploits, Advanced Hacking Attacks from Start to Finish

In the episode, Tess and Keith talk with the amazing Amani Roberts about  creating a conference podcast using existing content and we learn about  what Google is up to with Hangouts. Companies in the Event Tech News: Zoom gots some issues, but they are trying. Google Hangouts is gone, welcome Google Meet and yep, it is powerful. Re-purposing Content to Create a Conference Podcast. Guest Amani Roberts His Company – The Amani Experience Find him on the socials – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram He Wrote a Book – DJs Mean Business