Walking out of Custom House station for Event Tech Live’s 10th anniversary show at ExCel and thinking, ‘Can it really be twelve months since last time’?
There is the famous, enthusiastic queue outside the check-in, just at 9.30am, everyone interested in the content, the content, the content and the people presenting it – on stage or between the exhibition stands.
ETL, together with Event Sustainability Live, is one BIG show. There will certainly be a square meter statistic, but the Apple Watch movement rings will close much faster this year.
‘Using Event Technology to Improve the Customer Journey’, a morning session on the Main Stage, is a great three-person panel – think Bloomberg, Meta, Google – chaired by Bizzabo’s Will Curran, who is so steeped in enthusiasm and commitment that it seems as if listening to a rodeo announcer. A full room, no one wants to miss a word.
Dana Walcott, program manager for global events technology at Bloomberg, Ewelina Dunkley, events leader at Meta, and Google’s events technology program manager, Lee Stimmel, carry the large, impactful presence of the brands they represent.
Curran takes questions from the audience early on so the topics bounce around, “invisible technology that makes the audience journey better,” “where is virtual’s place in the 2023 event stack?” ‘The best ways to network online’, ‘how do we make our events more accessible and not too technical?’ A few examples.
“I want to hear you shout about this great panel,” Curran then shouts into the microphone. And we do that too.
Across the street from the InEvent Theater, “The Metaverse – Think You Know It All?” was a question asked and thankfully answered by Kerstin Twachtmann, senior director of digital strategy at George P. Johnson and Sam Wray, director of creative technology for the same company.
The billions of dollars Mark Zuckerberg has poured into Metaverse, and what is understood about it as a result, were discussed before we now dive into the appeal of the subject, specifically the Meta Quest 3 headset and Apple Vision Pro, coming soon to the market comes. next year. A key marketing point behind both is the fact that users no longer feel isolated when wearing VR headsets, offering much greater potential for event organizers.
“Brand experiences will start to integrate metaverse experiences,” says Kerstin Twachtmann. And now that the metaverse still works without parameters, that’s for sure.
Back at the InEvent Theater, “Sustainable Meeting Management: How Digital Platforms Transform a Strategic Event Year” could have fit into Event Tech Live or Event Sustainability Live.
Presented by Lisbeth Hanses, director of digital solutions at Magnid, and Lennart Bendix, senior digital solutions manager at Proske, both based in Munich, information flowed out, rapid-fire commentary supported by a series of slides.
Fittingly, a decade later, there’s more than ever between the dividers of ETL, but the drivers – in terms of camaraderie and the outright need for what’s next in event technology – are in the same fertile ground as ever.
The show continues tomorrow, Thursday, November 16. Look out for books like “Digital Detox: The Critical Role of Events in Building Relationships in the Real World,” “Unleashing the Potential of Data: How Technology Enables Data-Driven Decision Making,” and “ETL Launchpad: The Startup Competition Grand Final” .