IAPCO ’ s Martin Boyle and Ori Lahav tell Conference News how they picked their event technology partner : EventsAIR
What were you looking for in a technology partner , and how did that lead to a tie-in with EventsAIR ?
Martin Boyle : Since joining IAPCO as CEO in April 2019 , one of the improvements I was keen to implement was technology that would help communicate with our members and community more efficiently .
EventsAIR ’ s technology is well known in our industry and was recommended to me by several members . It was important they understood our mission and objectives and could work with us to ensure personal attention to our community .
Over the past two years , we have implemented several new technologies that have aided in procedural operations and we are now migrating our membership activities across to EventsAIR . This will be a game-changer as membership applications , quality reviews , communications and invoicing can all be managed from one source .
Using the same system linked to our members ’ profiles , we will deliver online educational content and ensure we can customise what we offer at the right time , to the right people and at the right level .
What is the objective of your annual virtual events programme , and does it differ from how you approached your traditional in-person events ?
MB : We had both the foresight and experience of the IAPCO Council advising that virtual content should be an element in all of our future education , and we had already made a significant commitment to this with the global re-release of our WebEDGE platform in May 2020 .
With virtual technology comes increased opportunities to deliver more content to a much wider global audience and especially in key geographical regions where we see membership development potential .
We developed new offerings such as the IAPCO Impact Dialogues and IAPCO Day and GA , and are launching CEO meet-ups , hackathons and online espresso exchanges and more regionalised Virtual EDGE Seminars – all focused on our overall objective and mission .
Has it made you re-evaluate your events programme in the future : will virtual events remain part of your strategy ?
Ori Lahav : One thing that came out of this pandemic is that organisations and associations have realised education can be done online . This will shift the way we think and design the future of the in-person meeting . While content will still be the core of the in-person meeting , more emphasis will be given to networking , community building , research collaborations and hands-on experience . This , alongside online viewers who won ’ t be able to travel to the event .
What about hybrid ? In-person and virtual experiences are inherently different for delegates , is hybrid a model you will consider pursuing in the future , and what support would you expect from EventsAIR to help make it a success ?
OL : Hybrid events are a spectrum of potential solutions . The simple definition is a mix of onsite and online participants .
However , there will be a big difference in offering based on the ratio between different audiences . There will a big change in the way we will design the programme and plan the spaces according to this ratio . If we have only 20 % onsite and 80 % online , more weight will be on the online platform and content capturing . This is where platforms like EventsAir come into place to accommodate the online needs .
Martin Boyle
Ori Lahav
The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers ( IAPCO ) represents 137 companies from 40 countries and 9,900 professional congress organisers , meeting planners and managers of international and national congresses , conventions and special events . www . iapco . org
37 Technology
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