“My vision is to exploit the full potential of video communication”
Q: What do you desire the most at the moment?
Travelling. While being a boost for our company I do wish that this pandemic will find an end soon.
Q: Why do you love organising events?
Events are occasions where people come together and get the chance to exchange ideas, build connections and explore opportunities. In the old days (speaking before this “new normal”) we attended a lot of events worldwide, e.g. TechCrunch, UCExpo or SaaS Stock. Because virtual events just skyrocketed the last year, eyeson technology started to be a part of big events. We are hardly organizing events for ourselves, eyeson API enables more and more virtual events. So we all understand that in our age of information, organising and participating in events is becoming increasingly important. This is what we love: being part of the technical solutions to bring people together even though a physical event is not possible.
Q: Can you present the tool or app you use the most during the corona crisis?
Being a company developing a solution for virtual conferences, our day to day work is more or less organized online to “work and thrive wherever you are”. Apart from the tools that were widely used before the corona crisis, I would here list eyeson and, of course, LinkedIn. My vision is to exploit the full potential of video communication and collaboration in a globally networked world, therefore, I highly appreciate tools that enable people to network and share experiences.
Q: How would you explain to a client why organising events is essential?
With today’s incredible stream of information, it can easily happen that we oversee some information or opportunity that could be of interest. We add value to different providers, services, products and ideas – by bringing them together in one space – be it physical or virtual or hybrid and by appointing/providing a time and an audience. Thus, organising events is important to make possible and enhance networking and communication as it is also important for creating and adding value.
Q: Is it easier to organise digital or live events?
This depends very much on the type of event, activities and features that will be needed. We can argue that live events where we aim to have a broader reach require more effort in logistics and planning. By organising a digital event you can achieve a cost reduction and resource optimization in terms of time and money. Furthermore, with digital events, travel expenses and other planning resources can be neutralised, making it possible to organise and broadcast live events with shorter notice. As we learnt in the last year and eventually in the post-pandemic time, travelling and big gatherings will still cause some discomfort. I, therefore, believe that organizing digital events is much quicker and easier. Digital and hybrid events will remain an established practice, especially with easy-to-use solutions like eyeson.
Q: Is organising digital events cheaper than organising classic events?
Yes, by far. With digital events, we have a significant cost reduction. The costs of the logistics, venue and facility management, as well as the travel costs, are spared, saving valuable time and money. Virtual events can be held small with a very small target audience, for example. And you can integrate people from far away as they do not have to travel.
“Technology is improving our lives and empowering us”
Q: If the future of the meetings industry will be green, where do we start?
Reducing fly-in conferences is key to go green. These conferences typically emit more than 1000 times more CO2 than virtual conferences. But as every tCO2 matters and virtual meetings increased a lot recently, low bandwidth solutions are another key to further lower the CO2-footprint. In general electricity usage and the associated carbon emissions scale with the amount of data being transferred. The eyeson product works with low bandwidth because of its patented single-stream technology, reducing the need for both bandwidth and computer power.
Q: What will be the key trait of a great event organiser after the corona crisis?
Flexibility and the agility in responding to the needs of the different audiences/stakeholders. A lot has changed since the start of this crisis and we seemed to be able to adapt quickly, at least concerning the online meetings and communication. With the lifting of the restrictions, people will feel the need for meeting and interacting in person. On the other hand, the comfort that is now offered by remote working and online meetings will remain important. The agility in managing these needs and preferences will be decisive.
Q: What is your view on the future? Where is the meetings industry headed?
Virtual events have proven themselves in 2020. I believe that the meeting industry is looking at the best way of using technology and all other resources. Providing an excellent solution for online meetings will give people the opportunity to have a choice of making their meetings online, requiring less commute and fewer resources. I envision faster business transactions, improved communication and reachability that will on its turn impact the sales pipeline reducing time and effort that could be saved with better and faster communication everywhere at any time.
Q: What is the most surprising fact about organising events?
The relationship and community building experience. This is the most important part of any kind of event and is the principal motive for most people to attend events. The common purpose of networking and communicating makes people especially open and perceptive. We can see communication as the transportation of ideas and information and the events as a medium to facilitate and optimize communication. In 2020, more than ever we saw how important events are by the high level of readiness to shape events responding to the needs and lately also responding to the restrictions that are applied to all of us.
EXTRA QUESTION FOR ANDREAS
Q: High Tech or High Touch?
I am sure that balance is key. Technology is improving our lives and empowering us. That’s why we are developing and improving the #1 European meeting solution to help people to stay in touch. No one can deny our human nature and the inclination to high touch. Seeing this important need, we provide a product that cannot substitute high touch but can complement it in the best possible way and highest quality.
