The event industry has undergone a major transformation over the past few years with the addition of completely virtual events, conferences, and webinars. These events have come a long way since 2019, but still have room for improvement. Companies around the world are constantly trying new tactics to keep attendees engaged and rethink what a webinar should look like. Among these strategies, we’ve honed in on four crucial elements.
One of the biggest challenges of event planning is keeping information centralized and streamlined to maximize everyone’s work loads and time. Luckily, the event planning market is saturated with many different tools for executing events. The best part? You don’t have to choose only one!
Using an assortment of tools to manage and organize your event will help your team reach new heights to deliver an elite event. Check out these top 5 best tools for maximizing productivity when collaborating on an event.
Events can have a variety of price points. Event and conference budgeting can be hard to navigate, with hidden costs and unexpected details that can build up and easily break the bank. But with a good plan, you can avoid those surprises—we’ve compiled some quick tips to consider to ensure your event, no matter what the budget, is a success.
It’s no secret that we are living in an unprecedented time, and the impact has been felt in one way or another across industries. As we adapt, we find ourselves looking for a way to maintain a sense of normalcy. Since the spring season is a prime time to host an event, one way we’ve been able to establish a new normal is bringing events to life—with a virtual twist.
AllThingsRTC, an event hosted by Agora.io, kicked off its first year in San Francisco on June 13 with 35+ speakers from companies such as Google, LinkedIn, Mighteor, Microsoft, and Meditation.Live, along with 250+ attendees from across the real-time communication (RTC) space.
Tony Zhao, Co-founder & CEO of Agora.io, opened the conference explaining the many ways RTC is evolving and changing the world around us, from how we work, play, and enjoy entertainment, to how we find and maintain meaningful relationships. Tony emphasized how live engagement is the future and welcomed us to the ecosystem that is AllThingsRTC!
With two separate tracks throughout the day, attendees had the option to either attend the Technical Track, where developers discussed topics ranging from the growth of AR to machine learning, or the Use Case Track, which showed us how RTC is being used in new ways across industries—from gamers talking to their teammates on the other side of the world to fitness coaches teaching live classes in the comfort of your living room.
Didn’t have a chance to make it to AllThingsRTC? Check out clips from the keynote speakers on the Agora.io YouTube page.
More than 2,000 global SaaS founders, senior leaders, and venture capital firms gathered in the City of Light on June 12-14 for the 2nd Annual SaaStr Europa. Our event management team was onsite curating the two-day agenda with topics focused on how to scale your company’s growth in sales, people, culture, and funding.
Attendees heard from the best and brightest in cloud, including CircleCi, Algolia, Lucidchart, and unicorns like Talkdesk, Doctolib, and Twilio. SaaStr’s mission to “Share. Scale. Learn.” was prevalent throughout the candid and informative speaker sessions, and there were countless opportunities for attendees to meet and engage with SaaS thought leaders, VCs, and like-minded peers. Audience members were able to submit live questions through Slid.o, schedule braindates for more intimate mentoring sessions, and in true Parisian fashion, network with all day rosé.
Highlights from Day 1 included the Equality and Inclusion brunch–where SaaStr Founder Jason Lemkin reiterated SaaStr’s mission to promote diversity and encouraged attendees to join in prioritizing more inclusion in the space—and the Ingram Micro and SaaStr’s Startup Pitch Competition. During the hour-long competition, five startups presented pitches in three minutes in front of four investor judges. In the end, $75,000 in funding was awarded to three worthy companies. Process Street secured the coveted, premier title of “Most Likely to Be a Unicorn” and $50,000 to continue their growth.
Funding was a common theme for Day 2. Here are some key onstage takeaways from SaaS celebrity founders:
Raise 30-40% more than you think you’ll need. You’ll need it.
European (and international) startups can thrive without having to move to Silicon Valley, but U.S. partnerships and funding have an undeniable benefit.
Always be fundraising even when you don’t need it.
VCs have very little attention spans. Successful founders need to be salespeople.
Don’t forget that a “not now” can become a “yes” in the future.
According to Alex Ferrara, Partner at Bessemer Ventures, there are currently 61 $1B+ private cloud companies compared to 0 in 2018. There is no doubt the industry will continue on this trajectory and we’re excited to keep up with latest SaaS trends and leading innovators.
Didn’t have a chance to make it to Paris? SaaStr Annual is back in San Jose March 10-12, 2020. Join us there and check out our coverage from February!
This week the cred event management team will be onsite and part of the action as AllThingsRTC presented by Agora.io kicks off in Downtown San Francisco at the Parc 55 Hotel on June 13. We’re anticipating 350 attendees to make their way through our sponsor booths and two tracks of content throughout the day. One track will be technical, tailored for developers and engineers, and the other will be a use case track covering the current state and future of RTC implementation.
cred will be well represented both offstage and on as two of our very own speakers will be speaking on panels at the event. Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder and CEO of Mighteor, will sit on a panel about the power of real-time content and how it can shape our perceptions of the world. Shortly after, D Sharma, Founder of Meditation.Live, will be talking about the impact of real-time communication on the future of fitness and wellness through online video coaching.
Interested in attending? Join the cred team at AllThingsRTC by registering here with the promo code: CRED
If you can’t make it for the event, be sure to follow activity through the hashtag #AllThingsRTC19!
The spring stretch of RampUp on the Road shows have officially come to a close. We wrapped things up in DC last week at Nationals Park, home to the Washington Nationals, with a full day of engaging speakers, networking opportunities, and even a tour of the ballpark. The day began with attendees mingling over breakfast and registration in the large conference room—which was packed to the brim once we kicked off with content.
Fatemeh Khatibloo, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, opened the day, and provided an insightful look into the world of “Decentralized Digital Identity.” The audience was taken on a journey through behavioral advertising, identity resolution, and future of privacy-respecting marketing. Following Fatemeh’s presentation, one of our own speakers, Lucy Caldwell, Founder and Principal at Mockingbird Lab, moderated a session on “Achieving the Diversity Trifecta.” Speakers Anneka Gupta, President and Head of Product and Platforms at LiveRamp, and Justin Antoinpillai, Founder and CEO at WireWheel.io, joined Lucy onstage to discuss empathy and the role of diversity in leadership and policymaking.
After lunch, both content and audience divided into two tracks: New Wave Technology and Policy, and Building an Omnichannel Strategy. For the Policy track, attendees varied from those involved with data and consumer policy and regulation, as well as members of the advocacy/agency world. Panelists joined us from PwC, Google, Datavant, ANA, Mockingbird Lab and more. The evolving process of doing right by consumers was a constant theme during this track, with each session coming to a close through a dynamic Q & A discussion. During the Building an Omnichannel Strategy track, speakers from Macy’s, Under Armour, T-Mobile, DISH Media, and more took the stage to provide powerful real-life experience from which the audience could assimilate and apply to their own roles. Attendees of both tracks learned best practices to construct a better future by addressing the policy issues of the present.
Missed RampUp on the Road? Here’s a quick look at our 2019 spring roadshows!
RampUp on the Road Columbus: April 9 - Discussed the importance of observing your marketing efforts through a consumer-first lens, as well as how beneficial it is to involve the entire team in the customer journey.
RampUp on the Road Atlanta: April 11 - Jim Nail, keynote speaker in Atlanta and Principal Analyst at Forrester, spoke about using empathy to improve the customer relationship— a theme we saw throughout the entire spring roadshow lineup.
RampUp on the Road Denver: May 14 - According to Jeff Smith, General Manager of Brand and Agencies at LiveRamp, it is the era of personalization. Focusing specifically on consumer-privacy uncertainty, the shift from target marketing to personalization is absolutely imperative.
RampUp on the Road Seattle: May 16 - Keynote speaker Fatemeh Khatibloo, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, shed light on the key to maintaining customer loyalty: shifting from one-to-one marketing to one-to-moments marketing.
RampUp on the Road DC: May 21 - Learned our differences shouldn’t go unnoticed. In order to invent a better future, policymaking groups and omnichannel strategy-focused agents can collaborate to solve the consumer-privacy issues of the present.
