Event Tech News Roundup – May 2024

May was a slow month for event tech news. However, among the slim pickings, there is plenty of innovation on display. From AI assistants to LinkedIn integrations, there is plenty to explore in this roundup.

You can review last month’s event tech news here, and explore our complete event tech business tracker here.

Product Launch

Hot on the heels of the AI trend, a company called Nowadays has debuted an AI assistant for event planning. The Nowadays platform is an AI copilot that promises to eliminate the hassle of organizing events, particularly when it comes to sourcing. The tool prompts users to input event details, and the AI-powered platform will contact venues and deal with negotiations. It also promises to continually adapt to each user’s needs to provide a “truly personalized event planning experience.” This video introduces the platform’s capabilities. Nowadays is a graduate of the Y Combinator Summer 2023 batch.

Singapore-based event technology company Gevme introduced Snapsight, an AI-powered real-time multilingual content insights tool, at IMEX Frankfurt 2024. Snapsight offers event participants instant shareable summarized takeaways and a topic-aggregated ‘Idea Cloud,’ accessible through a QR code scan. The product is now a standalone offering, not part of Project Spark, launched in collaboration with PCMA. Insights from learning sessions that took place at IMEX Frankfurt 2024 are available here.

Acquisition

Association management software provider GrowthZone has acquired the community engagement and learning platform JUNO. JUNO will be re-branded as the GrowthZone Community application. GrowthZone will retain and provide support to current JUNO customers. JUNO previously partnered with PCMA to provide a community platform for PCMA’s Convening Leaders 2022. It raised $10 million in Series A funding in May 2022, following a $3.5 million Seed round in August 2021.

Partnerships

RingCentral Events announced a partnership with LinkedIn that enables organizers to nurture an event’s community. This partnership enables a seamless connection between event registration on RingCentral Events and the corresponding event on LinkedIn. It prompts attendees to easily connect with fellow attendees on LinkedIn, directly from the event’s registration confirmation page.

AI event analytics provider Zenus and digital signage specialists Popshap announced a strategic partnership. The companies will now integrate Zenus’ technology into Popshap’s interactive digital displays. This integration will enable organizers to capture and analyze real-time data. The metrics include signage impressions, dwell rates, demographic breakdowns, and sentiment analysis. The companies hope to use these insights to help sponsors and exhibitors optimize content and placement strategies.

Event marketing platform Splash announced a partnership and integration with mobile event app provider Guidebook. From June onwards, Splash users can access a seamless integration with Guidebook with a single source of event information and added benefits such as on-site communication through the mobile app and new opportunities to build networking connections.

Event analytics company Bear Analytics announced a strategic partnership with Cvent, making its data analytics platform, Bear IQ, accessible through the Cvent Marketplace. Bear IQ offers event organizers a unified view of their event’s registration, content, and lead data across a series of easy-to-use interactive dashboards and AI-powered insights.

Workvivo by Zoom was named Meta’s only preferred migration partner for its customers as it retires Workplace from Meta. Zoom acquired Ireland-based employee communications tool Workvivo in April 2023. Workplace from Meta and Workvivo by Zoom plan to provide migration tools for customers migrating and will also offer additional implementation services at no further cost to support customers’ transition.

Norwegian event tech platform Qondor announced a strategic partnership with corporate travel and event management company Reed & Mackay. The partnership aims to optimize event operations teams’ processes and provide them with enhanced data-driven insights.

Product Updates

UK-based venue-finding platform HeadBox launched HeadBox 3D Studio in partnership with Radisson Hotel Group. The platform enables users to create immersive 3D tours of venues embedded with AI-generated narrator videos. Venues features include 120 Radisson Hotel Group properties across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

AI-powered translation and captioning tool Wordly announced it added support for three new languages. Icelandic, Tagalog, and Ukrainian are the new additions, taking the number of supported speaker interpretation languages to 52. Additionally, the platform now supports mass upload of videos to create subtitles in dozens of languages. Lastly, it shared that it had surpassed the 3 million user milestone.