The startup world is taking the event industry by storm. Here is a collection of the latest 10 event startups on the block, ready to help you making your event professional life easier.
Technology is changing events, that is a fact. While we were puzzling a few years ago on the real value of those creating tech and social tools for events, we now know we are witnessing a revolution.
Institutions like IMEX recognised the importance of fostering a startup culture for our industry by dedicating a competition for the most innovative startups. Here in the UK, the Event Tech Awards are recognising Event Startups as a category and are featuring lots of them in the conference Event Tech Live.
At EventManagerBlog we pride ourselves for having even introduced the wording ‘Event Startups’ and having gathered attention to the topic. The way we do this is by monthly roundups that expose young event tech companies to a wider audience.
I’ve always asked to share these posts as by doing so, we foster a virtuous cycle that benefits our industry. And I guess we are seeing the first effects of that.
So get ready to be inspired, wear your geek hat and explore these great #eventtech suppliers that will make your professional life easier. As always we do not include event mobile apps and registration platforms which we cover in our ebooks, The Event App Bible and The Good Event Registration Guide.
In no particular order:
– FullUp
I LOVE the concept. These guys tackle one of the biggest hurdles of the ticket purchase decision making process: convincing the boss. They offer an alternative to the ‘Buy Now Button’, the ‘Convince Your Boss’ button.
Once you click, you will be taken to a form builder that lets you create a case for attending the events, with cost/benefit analysis that your attendees will be able to forward to their boss.
The platform adds a step in the process called Expectations where employees can list what the boss can expect from making them attend the event. The analytics of it all are quite interesting as you will be able to understand what is blocking your attendees’ boss from giving approval.
Locometric amazes me. You can scan a room with your mobile and instantly generate a floor plan. It’s almost scaring how easy it is to immediately draw the size of a room. If you work with floor plans all the time, this app is going to become your companion for quick sketching.
See it in action:
Event listing is an essential building block of your promotional strategy. Specially for events where the local element plays a key role. EventScore scrapes 275 event listing sites and apps to show you where your event is listed or, most of all, where it should be listed.
They come up with suggestions on promoting your event in key sites, guiding you on what’s needed to improve your event’s marketability.
This is a step further from the mere listing, which gives an interesting angle to this event marketing niche.
Jifflenow is an interesting platform aimed at solving an increasing demand of large events and exhibitions, meeting scheduling.
Meeting scheduling is becoming more accessible with tech advancements yet more tools do not necessarily translate in clarity and usability. These guys are focusing on offering a targeted solution for meeting scheduling.
They cover a great deal of meeting types and integrate with Salesforce, which comes very handy.
– Spangle
Spangle is an event planning and discovery app, mostly tailored to event amateurs creating their events and sharing them with their friends. It is also a great app to discover events around you.
They created some nice wording to simplify the discovery process (which is screaming for simplicity). You will be able to check the Pulse section with trending events around you, an event is called a Burst, that can be sent to your friends privately or be discovered publicly.
Love the design and simplicity of the app. As always only adoption will tell if they are onto something.
SmartCrowdz is a holistic event management app with different modules. Some of them very interesting such as the SmartManager helping you to manage event staff, volunteers and logistics.
Also interesting the Smart Marketer which gives you promotional tools to better market your event. This is becoming one of the hottest areas of the event tech arena.
Pixe Social helps you to take advantage of the visual revolution we are witnessing on social media. Pictures are becoming the strongest user generated tool you have to convince and convert your audience.
Pixe social by means of apps and photo booths helps you to brand each picture thus increasing the exposure of your event brand or sponsors.
– Rocketboard
Ok Rocketboard is not live yet, but just watching their video, excited me beyond belief. It was born as a Kickstarter project where it collected $23,000 in backing.
What it does is quite amazing. It turns any whiteboard or sheet of paper into an online accessible whiteboard. In this case the video is better than a hundred words.
Posters are a key element of most scientific congresses and conferences. Poster sessions are mostly a matter of printing sheets or having a small computer showing the audience the research.
iPosterSessions offers a software layer specifically designed for this type of sessions. Authors will be given templates and a full fledged content management system to create engaging and interactive poster sessions.
All of the above integrated in your current AV!
– Bang Bang Tents
Ah love the concept of Bang Bang Tents. Probably more geared at attendees than planners, but equally interesting for the industry.
Essentially Bang Bang Tents feature a 5w solar panel on top of them that will charge batteries of your beloved devices. They offer mobile phone USB adapters to keep charging for as long as you want.
Festival goers who want to keep tweeting during the event will appreciate the product. Also a great competition prize if you plan large festivals or gatherings.
In Conclusion
I hope some, if not all, of these cool event tech companies inspired you to plan your events more efficiently and to rethink the way we engage with attendees.
I am going to ask you once again to support event tech, attend more events where event startups are featured and to ultimately share this post, it would mean the world to those featured.