Event Industry News Podcast

Industry first AI tool for conference session selection

A part of the event industry for as long as he can remember, in some form or other, latterly Chris Carver is co-founder and CEO at Florida-based content/speaker management platform Sessionboard.

 

Beyond the traditional background detail, Chris’s work with non-profits, the Covid tipping point et al, this episode is a fascinating focus on Sessionboard’s latest element, AI Evaluations.

 

With questions from host Adam Parry, Chris highlights the artificial intelligence impact on evaluating content workflow and indexing, why he’s introducing AI Evaluations now and how it will/can/is saving organisers’ time.

 

AI is a revolution in efficiency and accuracy, and in the context of such a finite element of the live event model this conversation combats conspiracists too, Chris stressing, ‘It’s about supporting people not replacing them’. He goes on to highlight safeguards and checks in the Evaluations template, input from the customer advisory group and feedback from the testing phase - getting the views of the many not the few…

 

A fascinating, truly educational 45-minutes then about the hottest tech topic.

 

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RunMerge - The last integration you'll ever need

In among the event tech-world for 20 years, working with the likes of Cvent and SwapCard, Kevin Singh launched data integration platform RunMerge little over four months ago.

Prompted by host Adam Parry, Kevin, who’s picked a luxuriant backdrop, details his career history before focusing on the here and now.

This episode is about the triggers that spurred Kevin and company to develop a solution to the industry’s ‘biggest pain point’, data integration. Getting systems, which can be rooted in their own language, to talk to each other via RunMerge, a behind the scenes translation model.

The conversation pushes the platform’s bridge between people/relationships and tech. It details multi-tenant architecture, and how RunMerge can migrate to client clouds for super security, custom connectors, and who are the early adopters…

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Exhibitor experience is your brand experience

With 40 per cent of an organiser’s time spent ‘chasing exhibitors’ according to a recent Bizzabo study, this episode is about what’s broken, what exhibitors want, and the impact/potential impact of smart technology. 

 

Client director at Ascender Design, Christian Skelton, went on to co-found exhibitor management platform Eventflow in 2022, winning Best Technology Startup at the Event Tech Awards 12 months later. Adam Parry puts the questions, so there is a whole lot of apt experience on both side of the Teams table

 

In a non-stop 50 minutes the conversation looks at flaws in the onboarding process and the ensuing challenges for exhibitors, why some organisers neglect the problem, black holes, and ways to better management.

 

Adam and Christian go on to discuss insurance, AI, a world without forms, the Eventflow solution, and much more besides…

 

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The Showstop Procedure: The best way to ensure event safety in an emergency

Mark Hamilton, strategic, tactical and operational advisor with over 50 years’ experience in security, Paul McCartney among his long-term clients, and equally independent crowd, security, event and fire safety consultant, Steve Allen, have teamed up to develop and deliver the new Showstop Procedure course.

Principal consultant with Crowdsafety.org since 2014, Steve toured with any number of big acts, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Beastie Boys among them, and came up with a formal showstop procedure while working with Oasis in the 1990s. It’s something he’s instigated 32 times around the world, “Never a problem. No injuries, no deaths, no problems with the promoters, the artists, and happy fans who go home safely”.

In this episode, host Adam Parry steers the guests through a discussion thick with their experiences and expertise, encompassing reasons for a showstop, preparation for that potential on an event site, training/getting the procedure right, and the dangers of indecision.

An inspiring 20 minutes. Don’t miss it.

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10 Years of The Purple Guide Grant Scheme

In and around events since the 1970s Steve Heap needs little introduction. Saying that, there’s a whole lot of it in the shape of his forthcoming book: You Call That a Career? The Memoirs of a Festival Organiser…

 

In the context of this episode, Steve is a founder member and current Chair of the Events Industry Forum (EIF), which took over The Purple Guide from the HSE some 12 years ago.

Steve talks host Adam Parry through its evolution from ‘The Guide to Health & Safety at Pop Concerts and Similar Events’ to its current digital incarnation, before the conversation moves on to the Grant Scheme.

 

Raising money via subscriptions to the Guide, The Purple Grant Scheme has funded 24 diverse outdoor projects with more than £318k.

 

The EIF doesn’t let the pot get too big, putting the money to use quickly and Steve details the types of events it backs, extolling the virtues of transparency and how attitude is everything.

 

The conversation goes on to take in mental health, sustainability, young people, and future funding projects. A truly insightful 30 minutes.

 

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Micro-Events - The future of marketing

With a background in managing 10,000 plus events, for the last three and a half years Utah-based Rodney Hart has been at next generation marketing platform RainFocus, where he’s vice president, events. Experienced in mechanics/checks and balances across the trade show model, and beyond, Rodney is the perfect guest.

Hosted by Adam Parry, this episode starts quickly and keeps the pace. From answers to the post-COVID ‘what’s in it for me’ mindset the conversation goes on to look at shaping content for smaller audiences, ‘micro-strategies’.

With first-hand experience, Adam and Rodney look at ROI and economies of scale, efficiency comparisons - the price per head for micro-events can be expensive – the spoils of in-person shows, easy to make mistakes when you’re organising micro-events, and will they become the new norm? Or remain a niche?

 

It’s all here…

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Sustainable branded apparel/merch - TeamTogs’ create, supply and ‘take the pain away’ process

Karen Saragoussi, owner of branded apparel/merch company TeamTogs, follows up her 2024 appearance on the podcast, accompanied by business development and sustainability manager Katie Noonan.  

Karen reiterates the impact of her time as an event producer, how it shapes TeamTogs’ create, supply and ‘take the pain away’ process. She goes on to highlight the power of face-to-face events and the role branding/uniforms can play in creating a lasting impression.

Sustainability is the hook to this episode, and Katie talks host James Dickson through the drivers behind the BPMA’s StepForward Pledge, which TeamTogs subscribes to, fostering similar ambitions across the supply chain, balancing the cost/quality/sustainability equation, and much more besides.  

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Tariffs – now what for trade shows

Behind the recently published article: Tariffs – now what for trade shows, this episode’s guest, media and events entrepreneur Dr Baris Onay, is a bit of a coup.

Referencing the impact of international sanctions on Russia in 2014 from first-hand experience, Baris looks at what to expect, and what might actually happen, as a result of the restless canon of US tariffs. 

Hosted by Adam Parry, Baris moves from the “cataclysmic potential” for people selling goods to the States, and the China question, to strategy advice for US and non-US organisers.

While these sanctions are clearly not nailed on, Baris highlights the crucial role for one-to-one buyers’ programmes, content, and technology, meantime.

Dr Baris Onay’s take on the tariff’s is clued up, on point, and this is an invaluable conversation for the events industry.

 

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The Evolving Role of Photographers in Today's Event Landscape

Ten years ago, recognising the narrow horizons of his sales job, Big Event Media founder Vincent Roazzi Jr started exploring New York City through the lens of a new camera, going on to take gig pictures for music events startup Sofar Sounds.

 

Accepting an offer to serve as photographer for a friend’s project in Bhutan, Vincent found his chops, or his shots, on that eastern edge of the Himalayas. So much so that, returning to the States some 12 months later, he launched Big Event Media.

 

Talking from the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, this episode sees Vincent detailing the modern world of professional photography, how he and his team shoot conference/trade show/live event pictures and videos beyond the reach of the madding iPhoners.

 

With questions from host James Dickson, Vincent discusses the DSLR generation, how camera phones mean everyone knows more about photography, and how understanding, and getting, the angles is the great separator.

 

An engaging interviewee, Vincent gives his take on creativity, providing for clients’ social media alongside traditional picture/video wants, changes in the editing process, match cuts, turnaround times, meaningful content, Billy on the Street-style, and much more.     

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In Person, a journey through the unstoppable evolution of events

This special edition of the Event Industry News podcast sees editor Adam Parry in conversation with Enrico Gallorini, co-founder and CEO of GRS – a global research and strategy company based in Dubai.

Alongside the business, Enrico has written a book: ‘In Person, a journey through the unstoppable evolution of events’, and that’s the topic here. 

Asked about his inspirations, Enrico highlights chats he’s had with people across the industry and how the perennial ‘future of the sector’ question is rooted in the past and the present.

Adam and Enrico talk about the forgetting curve, the broad benefits of a book over scrolling for information, and what core historical elements of events have been lost to time. Could they, should they, come back?

Asked for his most impactful event ‘moment’, Enrico details the gamut of emotion he felt watching U2 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, going on to amplify the value of shared experience, the ritual and spirituality, the sense of belonging, in events.

From gatherings around open fires in the Stone Age to the avatars of the 21^st Century, this is a fascinating 50 minutes.

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