Do you want to win the worlds first #EventTechHack?

Thanks to our kind sponsor

Thanks to our kind sponsor

Are you an #EventTech enthusiast, a hard-core coder, a designer, business/marketing person or just a hackathon fanatic?

Join us for Event Tech Lab’s #EventTechHack on Saturday 13th through to Sunday 14th June at Campus London. Its going to be an innovative weekend of collaboration, creativity and coding.

Take the #EventTechHack challenge. Its going to be fast and furious!

Event Tech Lab is a partnership community of #eventtech start-ups, developers, event professionals and investors.

MORE DETAILS & SIGN UP HERE: https://pickevent.com/e/EventTechHack

Concerto Sponsors #EventTechHack – A World First – The Event Tech Challenge 13th and 14th June 2015

On the weekend of 13th June the Concerto Group will besponsoring the world’s first Event Tech Hack. The event, organised by Event Tech Lab, will coincide with the beginning of London Tech Week and will take place at Campus London, Google’s start-up incubator in Shoreditch. 


The hackathon is aimed at software developers, user interface designers and event professionals, who want to collaborate and develop ideas for new applications in event technology software. 


Hackathons are popular creative and collaborative forums where enthusiasts come together to develop ideas and then code basic demonstration models that can be developed and scaled into commercial applications. 


Event professionals are encouraged to participate sharingideas or acting as mentors to inspire software developers and user interface designers who will be attending.  Teams will consist of a maximum of four people. Winners will be announced at the end of the Hackathon on Sunday 14th June at 3pm. The winner will present and demonstrate their winning hack at Event Tech Lab’s Open Office and #CocktailHacksession at Campus London on Tuesday 16th June. 


Judges from the hackathon will be drawn from Concerto Group as well as software developers from well-known event technology companies in the UK and USA. The criteria for judging the best application will be based on the impact the application could have on the events industry, its feasibility in terms of implementation and how innovative the application is within the current event technology landscape. 


Teresa-Anne Dunleavy, Chief Executive of the Concerto Group said: This is going to be the world’s first hackathon where event technology takes centre stage. This hackathon is about building something that is ultimately of benefit to the events industry. The Concerto Group are looking forward to seeing what innovative ideas the hackers create over the weekend.

Event Tech Lab Launches Partnership Community

Event Tech Lab has attracted a lot of interest globally, from event technology developers, start-ups, event professionals and investors. The partnership community launches its partnership packages today (15th April 2015). The marketing and communications incubator for event technology start-ups has placed itself at the centre of the events ecosystem with its Open Office sessions; where start-ups, developers, event professionals and investors come together to collaborate and see demonstrations of the latest event technology available from around the globe. The launch of the partnership packages is the next step in the genesis of the lab’s vision – to promote London as the centre of the event technology ecosystem. James Morgan co-founder of Event Tech Lab says “London is fast becoming the global hub for event technology. Catalysts such as the locating of event technology companies with global footprints to London, such as Cvent, Double Dutch, Event Base and Eventbrite alongside the incredible talent pool and exciting start-up culture has spurred this phenomenon on”.

Event Tech Lab Tested v3The partnership scheme is designed primarily for start-ups but includes representing established event technology companies. The basis of the scheme is to promote the partners globally as well as offer education, showcasing and other marketing opportunities to companies that need to grow their user base and create further awareness of their tech. The scheme will also create a community that adheres to minimum product and service standards that event buyers will come to rely on as a stamp of quality assurance – ‘Event Tech Lab Tested’.

Event Tech Lab is creating a collaborative community that has event technology at its heart. Events such as the #EventTechOCD dinner on 29th April on hardware development, the #EventTechHack on 13/14th June and #CocktailHack on 16th June to coincide with London Tech Week are some of the other opportunities being offered by the lab. The purpose being to engage with the entire event technology supply chain and take the lab’s central vision forward. Educating event professionals is also part of the strategy. In May the first education session – ‘Growth Hacking for Events’ – will take place in central London. The content will be viewable via Google Hangout live, as are the Open Office sessions.

Event Tech Lab is also working with various organisations to fulfil the lab’s vision and promote new event technology. Organisations such as Event Tech Live and the Event Technology Awards are key partners to deliver benefits for the partnership community in the UK. Overseas opportunities are currently being developed. ‘This community is at the forefront of where the events industry is heading – and at a very fast pace. Representing the interests of the event technology community – whether to government bodies that promote technology as a growth area or to industries that use event technology is the most efficient way in terms of resource and influence to create a competitive advantage for the partners of the community’ says Morgan.

More information about partner benefit and how to join can be found here

The Big Social at Event Tech Lab

Learning PicEvent Tech Lab’s next Open Office session takes place at Google Campus, London on 31st March. The event technology partnership community for event tech start-ups, developers and event professionals has programmed six 5-minute pitches from fresh event technology companies from around the globe. As part of the session from 6pm to 9 pm, a panel discussion – Social Storytelling – moderated by Adam Parry of Event Tech Live will discuss the growing trend of using storytelling to market events.

Tamar Beck from Gleanin, Dana Rowe, Tweet Wall Pro, and Peter Kerwood from the Concerto Group will discuss practical tips on how to tell the story of events through social media. From selling the concept socially to engaging with the audience during and after the event Social Storytelling will include advice on the content required to create the event narrative that is woven into an event organisers communications and sets the agenda for social conversations around the live encounter.

Some exciting new tech companies will be pitching their applications, both live and via a live Google hangout sponsored by UK Biz Hangouts. Pitches include Headliner (UK), Init Live and Get Workers (Canada), Sponsor my Event (Luxembourg), Squad Up (USA) and Panel Sensor (Greece); with Headliner providing a live Easter treat for both live and virtual audiences. The audience should also expect to hear an exciting announcement about an event industry world first, due to take place during London Tech Week in June. To register for the event go to: https://pickevent.com/e/EventTechLabMarch?

To sign up for the live Google Hangout go to: https://plus.google.com/events/cei6td804174fgtcbogvijfthls

Start-Ups Shine At Event Tech Lab Launch

Panel

More than a hundred event professionals, event technology start-ups, hardware and software developers turned out at Google Campus, London (Tuesday 20th January) for the launch of Event Tech Lab. The evening sponsored by Google Campus and the #EventProfs Network included presentations by event technology start-ups and a discussion by an expert panel on future of event technology and its use at events. The panel included Robert Dunsmore from GES, Jamie Vaughan from Eventbase and Adam Parry from Event Tech Live.

The audience saw presentations from Showslice (an event venue and resource sharing platform), Gruve (creators of bespoke interactive technology for events), Weems (a multi-currency/multi language ticketing platform), Pickevent (on their new white label event microsite platforms) and Glisser (the new audience engagement presentation software).

James Morgan, co-founder of Event Tech lab described how the lab would assist start-ups, developers and event professionals, with the overall objective of forming a partnership community around event technology and its development and growth. The community of partners is still in the early stages with plans for the partner programme to be announced in mid-February.

The event professionals that attended the event were overwhelmed by the presentations as well as the networking opportunities with the many new event technology start-ups and developers who were also attending the launch. Maria Schuett, Marketing Manager for Westminster Central Hall explained: “EventTechLab is hitting a nerve in the events industry. Last night’s launch was a great for event professionals and start-ups to get together and talk about developing solutions to the technological problems our industry is facing. I love the innovative and collaborative take on all this and believe Event Tech Lab is creating a space that allows for further economic growth in our sector.

Cecelia Lavin, Group Head of Sales at Peyton Events was impressed with the many start-ups she met at the event, saying “Event Tech Lab is a fantastic new initiative to educate the industry further about current and upcoming event tech that we can use in our businesses. As this is such a fast moving area it was great to attend an event that gave us the opportunity to share the creativity and innovation available to enhance what is possible, all in a few hours. I am already looking forward to attending the next one”.

#EventTech Open Office #1

Event Tech Lab @ Google Campus

Event Tech Lab @ Google Campus

The first Event Tech Lab open office session is kicking off at 6pm 20th January 2015 at Google Campus.

The open office session will host both face-to-face and virtual pitches (via Google Hangouts) from start-ups. Attend the event in person or join us via Google Hangout.

Face-to-Face Pitches:

Damian Oracki of Showslice on how the sharing economy can be used to make events more sustainable by sharing your event resources with other event organisers.

Ru Barksfiled of Gruve on how to integrate differing event software applications into the overall event hardware landscape.

Jose Bort of Pickevent on white label event marketing and community building

Mike Piddock of Glisser on a mobile presentation application that engages audiences through real-time slide shows.

Virtual Pitches:

Ovanes Ovanessian of Weemss (Bulgaria) on new event ticketing technology that allows for automatic multi-language and multi-currency transactions.

Jason Harmer of Get Workers (Canada) on the new staffing platform to poll and secure freelancers for event projects.

The evening will include a panel discussion – Disruptive Futures – that explores the future of event technologies. The panelist: Robert Dunsmore (GES), Liz King (Techsytalk.com & Liz King Events),  Adam Parry (Event Industry News) and Jamie Vaughan (Eventbase).

 

 

Tech and Social Integration into Events: Our Confusing Landscape.

I remember a time when the most advanced events involved a key light on a speaker, a slide projector (or even transparency projector), a few duffed up speakers and some crazy people running around trying to get it all to work, whilst a client is literally writing on the slides before they go into the projector.

This was HIGH TECH and I’m really not that old. Now we live in a world where most people have seen full 360 degree projection, speakers boxes are to be heard and not seen, social integration is expected and used as a KPI on how successful an event is. This is a fast evolving landscape.

So how do you navigate in this bewildering array of terms and technologies? That’s principally why I set up Gruve to try and help individuals and agencies understand the tech available but more importantly how to integrate it into your event. Lets face it, our clients in the events industry expect us to be the groundbreakers and make them look like rockstars by bringing them the latest and best technologies, to show off their brand better than the competitor

There’s no real secret to understanding what the next big thing is. At Gruve we have been doing it instinctively for years, and can tell you about some new technology that is coming to the fray that will totally change our industry:

iBeacons

#OMG #YOLO this is going to transform the way we interact at events. As people are walking past your event/stand/interactive how would you like to be able to talk to them directly and shout your message to their phone? That may be a little invasive, but if people request it this is a great way of publicising your event and transferring data to the right person. It’s going to revolutionise indoor GPS. Attendees will no longer be left wondering where stand E15 actually is!

Oculus and 540 filming

You have probably heard of oculus rift but on its own it’s relatively basic and not very good quality. When you start to integrate this technology with other tech, it takes it too the next level. You can now transport delegates across the planet without them having to leave their office chairs. You can give viewers the ultimate fan experience – court side seats at the NBA All star game – you can put people on the stage with Coldplay. Who needs the Star Trek transporter?

Fan Apps

Stepping away from the more corporate to the more sports and music orientated, it’s now possible to connect to your fans that are not only inside the stadium but outside too. At the FIFA World Cup 2014 this technology was debuted in three countries outside of Brazil. It connected the participants with the atmosphere inside the stadium. If you were outside you could clap in unison, send messages of support and rally the crowd inside the stadium. If you were lucky enough to be inside the stadium you could see the messages on the big screen and talk back to the outside world on the app, creating a huge community of fans talking to each other and motivating the teams.

This is the tip of the iceberg with regards of use into tech. However, it depends on your clients KPI’s and as to what technology is best to use. One thing for sure – event tech is an exciting space to be in and every day new technology is coming to the fray to make our lives easier and make our events better and more engaging for attendees and fans!

Ru Barksfield @GRUVE

 

ESPN GOES POINT-OF-VIEW WITH PIVOTHEAD.

As the Wichita State men’s basketball team put the finishing touches on a perfect 31-0 regular season with a home win over Missouri State on Saturday night, ESPN decided to chronicle the event in an entirely new way. – Read the entire article at http://sportsvideo.org/


Pivothead – True Life Recording.  Hands-Free High Definition. Point-of-View (POV) 1080p Video and 8 Megapixel Image capture.

All wrapped up in a next-generation wearable computing device.