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Articles by Julius Solaris
The Future of Trade Shows: Where Does Technology Fit?
By Julius Solaris, VP of Marketing Strategy, Events at Hopin In early 2020, while the pandemic was battering the event industry with its first wave, the industry got enrolled in a crash course in technology that would change things forever. Julius Solaris is the VP of Marketing Strategy, Events at Hopin. He previously founded EventMB (exit to Skift in 2019) and Showthemes, exit in 2018. He has worked for high profile technology companies and tech events.
The Future of Events Is Being Written Today
Event professionals know that IMEX America is an important show. Whether you're able to attend or not, everyone knows it’s one of those industry-defining landmark events, the kind where literally everyone gets together to do business. Needless to say, this year’s edition of IMEX was even more important. After two years of cancellations, it was the very first large gathering of the global event industry to collectively ponder a scary yet exciting future. Bottom line? Events have changed.
The Future of Events. And Some Personal News.
This is my last post as Editor in Chief of EventMB. Join me for a look back and a look forward to the future of this incredible industry. I know, it’s not the best time if you work in events. Depressing news, furloughs, layoffs. Why state the obvious? The last year sucked. Yet there is something that always amazes me about this industry and the people that work in it. I am constantly bewildered by event professionals’ ability to fight, persist, and give back, even in the most difficult times.
Companies Focus on How to Make the Most Money From Virtual Events
There is no question that virtual events remain the only viable option to give continuity to companies’ event programs. As the market matures, the focus is shifting towards more tangible objectives. When the pandemic hit almost a year ago, companies were caught off guard. Very few were ready with a virtual alternative to their in-person events.
The Next Phase of the Virtual Event Tech Sector is Here
Hopin’s acquisition of StreamYard is just the latest signal of a market that has changed for good. Who will dominate when things will go back to normal? I’ve been writing and researching event technology for the past 14 years. I’ve never seen anything even close to what has happened in the past 3 months. The amount of interest, funding, and revenue of virtual event tech is gigantic. We all know why. Nobody woke up one day and decided virtual events are cool.
Hopin Acquires Streaming Platform StreamYard for $250 Million
Shortly after announcing a massive round of funding and the acquisition of event app company Topi, Hopin has just announced the acquisition of streaming platform StreamYard. There is no stopping for Hopin. The virtual event platform, born in 2019, managed to raise unprecedented levels of capital and closed its first acquisition by the fourth quarter of 2020. In an incredible turn of events, Hopin has now announced the acquisition of StreamYard for $250M — a mix of cash and stock.
Remember When 75 Percent of Events Industry Said It Would Be Back to Normal in This Quarter? Not Happening
As Covid-19 cases skyrocket and vaccine plans lag, the event industry is set to face a difficult start to the new year. When EventMB first asked its readers in 2020 when they expected a return to business, over 75 percent answered that the industry would be back to normal by the first quarter of 2021 at the latest. At this point, it is fair to say that this scenario is impossible. Subsequent surveys shifted the comeback to the second quarter and then to the third quarter.
20 Things We Learned From Our Virtual Events That Drew 50,000 Attendees
In March 2020, EventMB embarked on a monthly journey to support the event industry through a series of online events. It turned out to be quite an eventful journey, and here are the learnings. ‘What if we do an online event?’ That was the talk among the EventMB team while we were asking ourselves how to make sense of the destruction happening in the event industry.
Hopin Acquires Mobile App Topi As Virtual Events Consolidation Begins
A strong wave of acquisitions will define virtual event technology in 2021. With massive investments flooding the virtual event technology space, acquisitions are the next most logical step for companies looking at growing faster. In the first of such moves, Hopin the acquisition of the event mobile app Topi.
Virtual Events Are Not the Enemy - Superspreader Events Are
The event industry is facing an existential crisis that may continue for several years. While many insiders bicker online about the value of face-to-face versus virtual, the task of going back to live events becomes more challenging. The culprit? Superspreader events. Let’s be honest. If you work in the event industry, it is not a great moment. What seemed like it would be a couple of months’ hiatus in March turned out to be a nightmare, but finally one that has a clear end in sight.
Hopin's New $125 Million Raise Signals Continued Investor Interest in Virtual Events
November 10, 2020 Virtual event technology company Hopin just announced it has closed one of the largest funding rounds in the history of the event industry. The Series B is led by existing investor IVP plus new investor Tiger Global, and joined by Coatue and DFJ Growth, along with Hopin’s returning investors Accel, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures, and Seedcamp. The news comes only a few months after the company raised a Series A round of $40 million. The round comes at a whopping $2B valuation.
New Vaccine Optimism Boost The Event Industry
November 9, 2020 The massacred event industry has been in need of some good news for a while. The news came this morning with the announcement of a 90% effective vaccine. Eventprofs are convinced that only a vaccine can bring them back to business. Recent research from EventMB sees 40 percent of planners ranking a vaccine as the number one factor out of eight that would impact an event comeback.
Questioning Whether the Future of Events Is Really Hybrid
The event industry seems to agree that the future is a hybrid of in-person and virtual experiences. Is this what attendees want? The second wave of the pandemic has hit, virtual events keep gaining traction. The environment is uncertain. The signs of polarization we covered a while ago have worsened. On one side, there are those that want to go back to live at all costs. On the other, those that are thriving with virtual events. The two extremes have very legitimate reasons.
LinkedIn Is Reportedly Stepping Up Virtual Events Products
LinkedIn is reportedly building more products for virtual events. And it’s not what you think. Right after posting this tweet on the state of networking during virtual events Most agree that networking at virtual events is a problem. Yet Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Snap do social networking. The question is should we ask virtual event tech to deliver it or integrate with those that do it right?
20 Questions Facing The Event Industry in 2021
What we know about the Covid-19 crisis is that we don’t know much. As the worst crisis ever to hit the event industry is wreaking havoc with damage that it will take years to contain, there are lingering questions that will shape the future of events. We’ll explore some. Europe and the United States are facing a resurgence in cases — one that is pushing many governments and states to re-introduce containment measures. It feels like we are quickly moving back to square one.
Why Every Tech Investor On the Planet Wants to Invest in Virtual Events
Zoom keeps adding 100,000 users per quarter. Event tech software startup Hopin is reportedly pursuing a $2 billion valuation, in its first year of launch. Many virtual event platforms are raising rounds of over $30 million — and likely to grow bigger — for the first time in event tech history. While the pandemic keeps impacting our lives, virtual events seem to be the only certainty.
Virtual Events Need a Better Business Model
The virtual event revolution is well underway, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Here's how to supercharge the revenue model. When the first signs of what turned out to be the most disastrous moment for the event industry started to surface, many of us thought that we would be back in action by the summer. The truth is that we are still at square one in the fourth quarter of 2020. With many countries experiencing second and third waves of the virus, it seems that our worst are materializing.
Wynn Bets on Testing For a Faster Return to Events
Wynn Resort CEO Matt Maddox shared its vision for a faster return to events, doubling down on testing with an onsite lab. Will it help to come back to large meetings? Las Vegas is getting serious about getting back to events. After the news of Governor Sisolak allowing conventions of up to 1,000 attendees, Wynn's CEO Matt Maddox just announced in an op-ed on a local newspaper the vision for a faster come back to events.
Breaking: Las Vegas Can Now Host Conventions with Up to 1,000 Attendees
September 30, 2020 Nevada’s Governor Sisolak just announced that gatherings of up to 1,000 attendees can happen in Las Vegas. In a press conference, Governor Sisolak outlined that gatherings of up to 250 are now allowed. If a venue has the capacity to keep cohorts of 250 attendees, the limit goes up to 1,000 for a total of four groups. This limit applies to conventions. No mingling allowed, no mixing of the groups, distancing and masks measures have to be respected.
The Rise of Audio in Virtual Events to Combat Zoom Burnout
Zoom fatigue and new platforms such as Clubhouse are spurring a new way of hosting your events: audio. Clubhouse is the app of the moment. Extremely popular within Silicon Valley, it is spurring what Jeremiah Owyang described during our last event as ‘ephemeral content’. Strangers start rooms talking about a variety of topics, from inclusion and diversity to technology.
What Will Events Look Like After the Vaccine?
Many countries are announcing their vaccine rollout plans. How can the industry be prepared for the gradual rollout of a vaccine, and what will the ‘vaccine effect’ be on events? Here, we investigate these questions. US President Donald Trump announced last week that, by April, most Americans would be vaccinated. Both China and Russia are going ahead, rolling out their vaccines.
What’s Next for Virtual Event Technology?
Virtual event technology has accelerated more in the past six months than in the past six years. What can you expect to see in virtual events in the near future? At our latest event, I argued with a few of our speakers. While we discussed hybrid events, many on the panel started saying that they had ‘been doing hybrid events for years’. Saying that anything we are experiencing today is remotely related to our industry before January 2020 is plain wrong.
Events Are Not Dead, But They Need to Change
Skift CEO Rafat Ali published a piece last week on how the event industry is facing its Napster moment. Is the industry really doomed in favor of virtual events? Not really, but change is required. I was watching a documentary on the phenomenon of the hikikomori. If you are not familiar, it is about kids that leave school and any connection with society to spend the whole day and night in their rooms, mostly playing video games. In the worst cases, it goes on for years.
The Case for Rapid Covid Testing to Accelerate the Event Industry's Recovery
As rapid testing debuts in airports, the events industry watches on to assess the implications for live in-person meetings. We spoke to Carlos-Henri Ferré of E25Bio, a company planning to produce an at-home rapid test solution, to get his take. The event industry does not seem to have its eyes on the ball when it comes to a faster comeback to live. Many are concentrating on distancing and masks at reduced capacities rather than concentrating on the real game-changer for the industry: rapid testing.
Restream Will Use $50 Million in New Financing to Take On Virtual Events
In a sign of the times in events, Restream announced it has secured a big financing round led by Sapphire Ventures and Insight Partners. The company now aims to eat away at some of Zoom’s market share. Photo Credit: Restream Press Kit Restream is a platform that allows content creators to live stream to multiple social networks such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and more. Restream solves the problem that many face when streaming their event online in terms of distribution to multiple outlets.
What You Need to Know
The Event industry has entered a new phase of its recovery from the devastation brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. While uncertainty remains, there are positive signs that rebuilding can start. 2020 is a year that the event industry will remember for a long while, and for the worst possible reasons. Events have been among the businesses worst impacted by the crisis. For a long time and in many cases still to date, there is little clarity about when events will come back.
Exclusive Interview: Cvent CEO Reggie Aggarwal on the Future of Events
EventMB sat down with Cvent CEO Reggie Aggarwal for an exclusive interview -- the first he's accepted since the Covid-19 crisis hit. We discussed what the past six months has been like for the event industry's largest tech company, Cvent's pivot to virtual for its flagship event and for its product, and of course, the future. It’s not easy to get to talk to Reggie Aggarwal.
8 Takeaways From the Democratic National Convention Virtual Event
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) just wrapped up, and for the first time ever, it was in a virtual event format. Here is an analysis of what happened and what event planners can learn from it. Credit: Alex Hanel/DNCC This year, the DNC was different. Regardless of the political implications of the content, what the speakers said, and how they said it (which goes beyond the interests of EventMB), the event was a virtual event.
Eventbrite CEO Outlines Her Plan for Recovery
Eventbrite has been one of the most successful event tech brands for years, but has recently experienced deep losses due to the pandemic. We spoke to CEO Julia Hartz about Eventbrite’s experience and what is on the horizon for the tech giant. Credit: Stefan Wieland Eventbrite’s most recent earnings indicated a significant decrease in year-over-year revenue, resulting in layoffs and cuts, but things could have been worse.
Do The Right Thing: Create Event Bubbles by Requiring Negative Tests
As coronavirus cases continue to climb around the world, planning event bubbles may be the only chance to go back to in-person meetings. We explore the prospect of bubbles happening within the industry. As part of the Future of the Event Industry, I talked to Dan Berger for a pre-event chat on the future of events. He invested in an event company that put together a music festival for 200 attendees in Northeast PA.
Why Are Live Events Still Moving Forward in Areas With a 99 Percent Risk of Infection?
The live event industry is desperate to go back to business. Some events are willing to pursue a comeback at all costs, even if it means getting attendees sick. Who is right and who is wrong? The event industry is bleeding. Painting a nice picture is not helping anyone. If you know anyone who works in events, they have either been furloughed, been laid off, shut down their business, or transitioned to another job. Some planners were able to contain the damage by pivoting to virtual.
The Future of Events Is Definitely Hybrid: What Will They Look Like?
There is one question on the minds of event professionals looking at getting back to live events, what will hybrid look like? Here is a potential scenario. 62% of event planners say that the future of events is hybrid. When we asked the direct question in our latest report, The Virtual Event Tech Guide, the majority of our sample seemed to agree. What we don’t know are the characteristics of these hybrid events. Every country is dealing with reopenings in their own way.
Event Technology As We Know It Is Over: Here’s What’s Next
Eventtech never kept its promise to change events forever. Now that events are only happening online, we are witnessing a seismic market shake-up. What does the future look like? Five years ago, Johnny Boufarhat had a severe reaction to a medication he was taking. It got so bad, he was forced to stay home for years, barely able to go outside. He quickly realized that he could pretty much do everything from home other than attend events. This insight sparked the development of Hopin.
Governments' Indecision Leaves Event Industry Screaming for Help
The event industry is surviving the fourth month of total shutdown. Immediate action is needed from local governments before irreparable damage is caused. Events have been shut for a while now. While a part of the industry is trying to embrace the virtual event revolution, many are struggling. When we asked over 1,000 event professionals what happened to their last major event, only 32% answered that they pivoted to virtual. The other 68% either canceled or postponed.
Eventbrite CEO: Live Events Will Take Time to Come back
Julia Hartz, CEO of Eventbrite, recently held a Q&A session as part of the Extra Crunch Live event series. She discussed the future of events and the impact Covid-19 has had on the tech giant. Eventbrite as most companies in the event industry has felt the catastrophic wave of event cancellations for the Coronavirus crisis. In Q1, the company posted a $146M loss. There is a lot of attention to what Eventbrite is doing and saying.
New Coronavirus Fears Risk Delaying Event Industry Comeback
While the event industry is busy with its reopening plans, a resurgence in hospitalizations is once again casting serious doubts about the safety for attendees. As a result, we have updated our coronavirus Outlook and Recovery Timeline. Ron Rich was a volunteer at the National LGBTQ Task Force event. He helped out with hospitality for the annual gala fundraiser for the association. He is also one of three people who died as a result of contracting Covid-19 during the event.
CDC New Guidelines for Events
The CDC has updated its guidelines for gatherings such as conferences, concerts, festivals and weddings. Here is what you need to know. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released a new set of guidelines to take into consideration for those planning events. We have looked at the document and here are the takeaways for event professionals. General Assessment Addition to Local Guidelines. These new guidelines should be considered as a supplement to state or local guidelines.
Are Virtual Events Killing FOMO?
Virtual events are slowly killing the biggest event marketing tactic for the past few years. We are entering a seismic shift in the industry. A very risky and rewarding one. Remember that time you used to check your social media feed and you spotted that event you really wanted to attend? Remember the frustration you experienced because, for whatever reason, you could not attend? FOMO, or the 'fear of missing out,' was the origin of your frustration.
Black Event Industry Leaders Call for Action
The event industry is suffering from inaction and a lack of representation. We spoke to four black leaders and they gave us a plan to change that. At EventMB, diversity and inclusion in the event industry is a topic that we hold very dear to our hearts. In one way or another, we have added diversity as a top trend in our annual report for the past few years. To be honest, it wasn’t as strong a trend as the others.
New Research Opens Up For Faster Event Industry Comeback
New research in Italy, the epicenter of the European Covid-19 outbreak, potentially reconfigures the comeback of the event industry. If confirmed, better news may be on the way. Dr. Alberto Zangrillo is the head of the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. He has seen first hand the devastation that the virus has brought to Milan, the largest business city in Italy.
WHO Issues New Guidelines for Mass Gatherings
"However, in countries where restrictive measures are being progressively adjusted in response to an evolving epidemiology, the decision to proceed with an event and how to proceed, becomes highly relevant." Venue: location, size/type, indoor/outdoor, crowd density. Attendees: age, health status, provenance, international/local travel to event.
Epidemiologist Says the Future of Events Will Be Small and Local
We spoke to Dr. Brian Labus, epidemiologist and health sciences expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to prepare event professionals for the challenges of the next few months. The future looks daunting, but there are safe ways to go back to business. The event industry is buzzing with a heated debate about how and when we should go back to business. Confusion is mounting over what business meetings will look like in the next six months and beyond.
Event Industry Split on Restarting Business
As the uncertainty continues, the event industry is discussing the path forward. Some event professionals want a comeback as fast as possible, others feel the risk for attendees and staff. Should events open or wait? The latest data and research point to a very complex comeback for the event industry. Physical distancing, sanitation, and thermal scanning are just some of the items giving headaches to planners around the world.
Eventbrite's $146 Million First-Quarter Loss Signals Rocky Path Ahead
Eventbrite announced a massive hit to its revenue during its latest earnings call. The news comes after the announcement of a substantial restructuring of its workforce that saw 45% of its employees laid off. What does the future look like for the ticketing giant? Eventbrite just reported a very painful quarter performance. Many analysts expected this to happen with the event industry massively impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and its recovery looking very rocky.
Events Are Reopening. Will Attendees Show Up?
Germany and China just gave the go-ahead to restart trade shows. As planners and owners rush to restart their events, will attendees show up? Michael Webber attended CES in Las Vegas on Jan 21, 2020. He was part of that large group of attendees that caught the ‘CES flu,’ the bug that every year attendees catch at the event. This year the CES flu was different, particularly harsh, with dry cough, shortness of breath and high fever.
How Revenge Attending Could Help Events Bounce Back
After months in lockdown, many will flock back to events. Will revenge attending save the event industry from the deepest crisis ever faced? A few weeks ago, Hermès, a luxury brand in fashion, reopened its flagship store in the southern region of Guangzhou, China. It managed to sell inventory for $2.7M, the highest ever figure for a boutique store in China. The term ‘revenge buying’ was born. After months in ‘captivity,’ herds of frustrated buyers could finally let go and indulge in retail therapy.
Is Virtual a Wake-Up Call For The Event Industry?
Virtual events are currently the only way to meet in groups larger than 10 across the world. While despised as the unlucky sibling of live events for over a decade, they are offering business continuity, substantial savings, and increasingly high revenue. And event owners are starting to notice. ‘There is nothing like face to face.’ This is the motto the event industry lives by. Live events had never been more popular when January 2020 hit. The industry was at an all-time high.
The Technology That Can Make Events Possible in a Pandemic
As many countries announce the easing of lockdown measures, many event professionals wonder when we will meet again. Technology will make some events possible. Here is an overview of what to keep an eye on. The current outlook for the event industry is a complex one; the new normal of events looks challenging. Venues are looking at all available options to prepare for a potential re-opening.
What do Post-Coronavirus Events Look Like?
The most pressing question on event professionals’ minds is what events will look like once the lockdowns have been lifted. We explore some potential scenarios of the aftermath of Covid-19. The event industry remains one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. A lot of uncertainty remains on the future of meetings and events. We have extensively covered how events are one of the few proven vehicles for spreading the virus. The pressure on the industry is at all-time high.
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