Cover Feature
London Tech Week
( LTW ) is an annual event organised by Informa , which usually sees 300 events taking place across London over a seven day period in June . This year however , saw the event postponed until September and take place online .
The decision to postpone LTW was made in February , with the slim hope that it could take place in September as a hybrid event .
Suzy Pallett , festival director says : “ We held an initial digital narrative in June as we felt the flow of conver sation needed to have a digital space , but we were stoically hoping that by September , we would be back running some physical and some virtual events . Throughout July though , the pandemic didn ’ t seem to be chang ing , so we decided to go fully virtual .”
Whilst many events have been cancelled due to the pandemic , Pallett says that this was never an option : “ LTW is about building conversa tion and forming narratives , and we were fortunate this year that we could still host those conversations . For us , LTW as a narrative had to take place .”
When choosing a tech platform to host the festival , Pallett says that there were a number of things to consider :
“ Our decision making was focused on being able to have AI generated networking facilities as well as content streaming . We were very much thinking about what was going to be suitable for the environment we wanted to create . Ultimately , we went with Swapcard , because of its streaming capabilities and the ease of navigation for the audience .”
Pallett offers her advice for other organisers , currently deciding which platform to use for their online event : “ Always think with the audience in mind what do they want ? In a virtual envi ronment , it ’ s all about engagement ; in an exhibition or conference hall , people can be there for eight hours , whereas in a virtual environment , people can dip in and out as they please . So , it ’ s all about things you can do in short , sharp bursts that attendees can engage with .”
Pallett says that through out the pivot to online , conversa tions with festival partners and stakeholders of LTW were vital :
“ Our main discussion was ‘ What ’ s the key objective ?’. Normally , LTW is 300 different events across the city , and is quite structured in its approach with the audience . This year , we real ised we could use this as an oppor tunity for our stakeholders and sponsors to reach wider audiences .”
Pallett explains that this change in audience also allowed for a differ ent focus for the event : “ Normally , in an event environment , the focus is on metrics , numbers , and
“ On the day , we did have a couple of children interrupt a couple of our sessions , and one person was doing their session from a farm .”
future wave paving . It ’ s very much from a business point of view .
“ Throughout 2020 , we ’ ve seen narra tives change . Future of work has become very important , as well as up skilling and considering how we collaborate . This change was key for stakeholders .”
The data from LTW 2020 reveals that the event had over 2,500 regis tered attendees , ( a 20 % increase in attendance ), and saw over 750 speak ers across 700 sessions . In addition ,
28 — October