While production houses are
becoming virtual and hybrid event experts, meetings technology providers also
are adding pandemic-related services and enhancing remote offerings.
Bizly is
transforming into a platform for onsite, offsite, virtual and hybrid meetings,
said founder and CEO Ron Shah. “We’re enhancing some of our tracking
technology,” he said. “Knowing who met whom and where and when is going to be
really critical in a post-Covid environment. What we aim to do later in the
year is to connect that to travel data as well when travel comes back. You can
look at travel patterns and have more accountability.”
Meetings management technology provider Cvent has
unveiled a new virtual event solution. Dubbed Cvent Engagement Hub, it now
allows the company to support all types of meetings and events—in-person,
virtual and hybrid. The solution will power the company's annual event, Cvent
Connect, taking place Aug. 25-26. In July, the company announced it has been
offering its trainings
and certifications for free to industry professionals, and that it added its
Source Safely microsite, located within its supplier network, which compiles
the latest health and safety information for more than 31,000 properties around
the world.
Groupize has
added platform enhancements to address risk mitigation, including safety and
cleanliness standards, as well as introduced a risk assessment calculator. It
also now supports virtual and hybrid meetings and will add enhanced
duty-of-care integrations in the winter, said Groupize CEO Alisa de Gaspe
Beaubien.
The Inception Company, which introduced virtual event and engagement platform Pando in 2018, is expanding that offering in the coming weeks. The enhanced Pando platform will include breakout room options in addition to its signature interactive 40-foot Pandorama video wall with in-person moderators and
studio crew.
Called
Pando Branches, it will integrate breakout sessions into
Pando events with a single log-in. The Inception Company is also working to increase the number of remote participants displayed on the Pandorama video
wall from 60 to 100. The wall supports up to 5,000 off-wall participants. The Inception Company is also looking to expand its Pando studio locations. A spokesperson told BTN the company would build two more locations by the end of 2021.
TroopTravel has added virtual
participation as one of its optimization settings. “The system will tell you
what is basically the best place to meet with some people coming together
[in-person] and some virtually,” said co-founder Dennis Vilovic. “Where should
you create a hub and how many hubs do you need.” Further, the company now has
travel-restriction data points. And before the pandemic hit, it added local
transport, including public transportation, trains and driving, which will help
with determining where locally and regionally a group should meet, since those
are the meetings that will return first, Vilovic said. He gave a Midwest
meeting as an example, where some people would drive, some fly and some take a
train. Others would dial-in. “These data-driven decision processes are what a
meeting and events planner needs right now in order to restart their programs.”