Becoming an event technologist may not have been one of your goals for 2020, but the pandemic has changed everything. Learning how to project manage an online event and find the right tools for the job is a whole new experience for many. And news about the products and providers just keeps coming. Since our last update on June 3, here are six more developments in the virtual meeting space.
June 18: Bizly, the sourcing and management platform for small, simple meetings, released a new virtual meeting feature to help deliver virtual meeting best practices to non-professional event planners. The platform now guides planners to use the appropriate video conferencing solutions and provides information to improve the experience. The new release allows organizers to see who plans to attend an event in-person or virtually and includes health-and-safety policies so planners can manage compliance.
June 16: Convene, the nonresidential meeting, event, and flex-office company, launched a virtual meeting product (shown above) that includes the services of Virtual Meeting Producer who can consult on format, organize rehearsal prep, provide day-of support, and manage post-event video production. The platform features breakout rooms, networking capabilities, audience polling, and Q&A features.
June 16: The virtual meeting platform Glisser added two new features in mid-June. First, presenters can now include up to three external links to related content (in the past, the system just delivered presentation slides to attendees). Second, the Glisser platform now supports live streaming from Pro-level and above Zoom accounts.
June 11: Event management software provider EventRebels announced the release of its ERVirtual Conference software, which is integrated with Zoom. The system allows for concurrent sessions, attendance tracking, and customized scheduling that reflects only what the attendee purchased. It also allows surveys and CEUs to be issued upon completion of virtual sessions. The company plans to release ERVirtual Trade Show software over the summer.
June 5: IMS Technology Services, an event staging, production, and systems integration solutions company, partnered with XPO360 to offer virtual tradeshows within the IMS suite of Virtual Event Solutions. The 3D walk-through platform is designed for mid-sized conferences and tradeshows and allows for interactive, branded booth; live demo links; chat, and more.
June 3: New upgrades to the Socio Virtual Platform include a “live stream” icon that highlights the mainstage presentation and makes it easier for attendees to join, and a “watch on desktop” button on the mobile app. The latter sends a link to the user’s email, making it easier to switch between devices. On the web version of the virtual meeting, Socio also now allows the live stream to be viewed full screen, or in a picture-in-picture format.
