Unofficial IMEX Networking App Sparks Confusion
Skift Take
As thousands of IMEX America 2024 attendees were heading to Las Vegas this week, they were offered two apps in Apple’s iOS app store. One was the official IMEX app developed by ExpoPlatform.
The second one was called the “IMEX USA Networking” app, and IMEX initially labeled it a “scam” in an email to attendees and in a statement online that has since been deleted. The app has also since been taken down.
IMEX CEO Carina Bauer told Skift Meetings that the app’s launch was “misguided rather than malicious.” IMEX also confirmed to Skift Meetings that no data breach occurred.
The unofficial app came from an event technology company called Sarcon.
Skift Meetings reached out to Sarcon CEO Jaichander Ramesh, who will be at IMEX this week. “We removed the apps as soon as IMEX asked us to,” he said in a private message on LinkedIn. “The app was clearly labelled as ‘unofficial’ by us to avoid any confusion of it being a scam.”
Here’s how the iOS app store description read: “This is an unofficial networking app created solely to facilitate connections among attendees of IMEX for personal and professional purposes.”
According to Ramesh, the intent was to help attendees network at IMEX, as only buyers can use the networking features on the official app. “At IMEX the majority of attendees do not have a way to network. Only buyer attendees can access networking on the official app. Lot of attendees might be smaller event pros who might not have a way to network. Be it for partnerships, jobs or even carpooling.”
The company included more information about the unofficial app’s intentions in the app’s Apple iOS app store description. “While IMEX provides excellent tools for networking between attendees and exhibitors, this app offers additional opportunities for attendees to connect with each other for things like job opportunities or partnerships. Please note that this app is non-commercial, independent of IMEX, and developed solely to enhance the attendee experience, with no official endorsement or affiliation with IMEX.”
Confusion For IMEX Attendees
On Sunday, users looking to download an IMEX app from the iOS store were offered two options with very similar icons. The unofficial “IMEX USA Networking app” appeared first when searching for “IMEX.”
The app design used the same colors and style as IMEX.
Once users downloaded the app, they were prompted to enter a passcode to log in, as well as the “Forgot Passcode?” option that led to a single field with a prompt to “Enter Registered Email.”
A description in red said, “Invite mail will be sent if registration exist with this email.” Skift Meetings entered an email address but received no email confirmation or option to reset.
Ramesh said the login feature of the app “requires a fresh registration, and each user gets a unique alphanumeric passcode, which is not connected to the IMEX event. For “forgot password,” users will only receive their credentials if they’ve already registered on our unofficial app.” He said the login functionality was linked to “a separate registration page” that had not been “made live.” Regarding the email passcode recovery option, Ramesh said, “We don’t store the email ID entered at this stage.”
IMEX launched the official app two weeks ago and shared a post promoting it on LinkedIn. It is not clear when the unofficial app was launched.
Ramesh said this was the first time Sarcon had created an “unofficial” app for any event.
What is Sarcon?
According to its website, Sarcon is an event technology provider founded in 2017 by former Intel, Oracle, and Kellogg Alumni. The company lists Delaware as its headquarters. However, in the Skift Meetings Event Tech Directory, it listed itself as based in Bangalore, India, with a staff of 45. On its LinkedIn company page, it has San Francisco as its headquarters, with 32 associated members, seven of which are in the U.S. and the majority based in India.
Sarcon is not exhibiting at IMEX America 2024 and appears to have yet to exhibit at any IMEX event.