Ascending the summit
Paddy Cosgrave , CEO of tech conference Web Summit , recently sat down with Tarsus Group CEO and SISO Chair Douglas Emslie , to discuss the future of virtual and hybrid events for virtual events . s CEO of one of the world ’ s largest tech conferences , Web Summit , Paddy Cosgrave is familiar with the world of virtual and hybrid events . His company has been creating software to streamline the process of running large-scale , digitally connected events since it was founded in 2009 , while also integrating that technology into the extremely successful Web Summits themselves .
Since the first Web Summit in 2010 , the event has now grown to a global brand that welcomes 70,000 people to Lisbon every year . The company also runs sister events RISE Conference in Hong Kong , Collision in Toronto , SURGE in Bangalore and MoneyConf in Dublin .
Since the pandemic began , Web Summit has been forced to take all of its exhibitions and conferences into the virtual space , but it has more experience doing so than most . Web Summit is a highly techintegrated show , where everything from registration to ticketing and interacting with stands is done through phone apps , QR codes and other kinds of technology .
Cosgrave recently sat down with Doug Emslie , CEO of Tarsus Group and SISO Chair , to discuss how his company organized a successful virtual edition of one its shows – Collision at Home – and how organisers and exhibitors can maximise their return on investment
‘ Mingling ’… and virtual tomatoes Cosgrave ’ s key message was that the value of virtual events is to be found in one-to-one networking , not in endless streams of digital content . He stressed that what all exhibitors want from any event is lead generation , and this can still be achieved without face-to-face interaction . In fact , Cosgrave said that in many ways a purely digital event can provide more opportunities for one-to-one networking than a physical event .
“ You can hold more meetings online , when you ’ re not walking from one end of a giant hall to another , so certainly it can be more efficient ,” he said . He then outlined how Collision at Home made use of a ‘ mingle ’ feature which delegates could use at any time , whether during sessions or in dedicated networking breaks .
“ You can press a button and it launches a three minute call with who we think is the best person available at that moment for you to meet . And at the end of three minutes it ’ ll close and you can rate the call , and we use that feedback to refine the algorithm that matches you with other delegates .
“ We actually found the majority of people who attended Collision at Home were using these one-to-one interactions . People loved the idea that there ’ s a three-minute clock , and when it runs out the conversation is just over . Because let ’ s be honest , we ’ ve all been in conversations on show floors with people where you ’ re thinking ‘ ok great great , I actually need to go ’ – you ’ re too polite to cut it
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 6 2020 27