If you thought the return of live events would slow down activity in the meeting-technology space, think again. New tools and partnerships are being forged as companies try to stake a claim and carve out their niche in the fast-moving virtual and in-person event-technology world.
Here are five developments worth knowing about.
• Bizzabo, an event-management technology company, has completed its acquisition of Klik, an interactive badge system. Klik, which has been used by organizations such as Airbnb and C2 Montréal, facilitates contact exchange and lead collection through the clicking of badges, and the system also allows organizers to track attendee metrics such as dwell time; facilitate gamification; and send reminders. This is Bizzabo’s fourth acquisition this year, following the purchase of x.ai, which automates meeting scheduling; TeeVid, a solution for creating and broadcasting virtual, in-person, and hybrid events; and Whalebone, which helps drive engagement in virtual events by allowing attendees to generate sounds and to visualize the audience.
• The EventsAIR Hybrid Event Solution Suite now allows event organizers to remotely manage their on-site audiovisual equipment. EventsAIR connects on-site pan/tilt/zoom cameras, projectors, LCD panels, and more to its AIRCast Studio system, allowing event hosts and producers to control the equipment from anywhere.
• CLIPr, a video-analysis platform that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to index video content and make it searchable, is making its way into the meetings market. The technology, which was a finalist for IBTM World Virtual’s 2020 TechWatch Live award, is part of Notified’s MarketPlace, which launched in October to offer vetted recommendations for event production and other services. CLIPr also partnered with Grip, a platform for virtual, hybrid and in-person events. CLIPr also announced integrations with Zoom, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive in August.
• Hybrid technology company MeetingPlay, which landed a $75 million private-equity investment earlier this year, has relaunched its mobile app technology with several features that aim to bridge the gap between live and virtual attendees. Some of the features include AI networking with 1-on-1 video chat between attendees; a Go Live function that allows speakers and exhibitors to stream live to a virtual audience from their phone; and real-time polling, chat, vote-up, and Q&A.
• Digital experiences have become increasingly important to sales and marketing activities. A new integration between the ON24 virtual-event platform and HubSpot, a customer relationship management platform, is aimed at giving HubSpot users greater visibility into customer activities.
