This is a guest contribution by Pierre Lindh of iGaming NEXT. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.
It is ironic isn’t it. The event industry hasn’t evolved in decades, and almost overnight it’s faced with a threat that is bound to change it forever. And as difficult as this period may be for the event industry and indeed all industries, we now need to look at the opportunities that lie ahead.
As professionals, we are all impacted in one way or the other by the COVID-19 outbreak as the uncertainty continues. As business owners, managers and employees, we can only do our very best to navigate through this situation while having each other’s backs. Mark Cuban put it best: “How companies treat workers during this pandemic could define their brand for decades”. Will you choose to cut cost? Or will you choose to innovate?
As conference organisers, our primary goal is to connect the industry, facilitate business and knowledge sharing with as little friction as possible. With the new reality of social distancing and limitations on public gatherings for the foreseeable future, we need to adapt our organisations for these challenges. Ursula Von Der Leyen, the Chief of the European Commission said just the other day that “Life will not return to normal until vaccine”, a frightening thought. In reality, only time will tell how this will play out.
Some organisations traditionally relies on showcasing their products and meeting clients face to face at conferences to do business, and with so much uncertainty right now, it is understandably difficult for anyone to commit to the traditional conferences and exhibitions, which in turn creates more uncertainty, and the snowball is in motion. Instead, this is now a time for the industry to work together with facilitators like ourselves, SiGMA, SBC and others to ensure that we can continue to connect the industry and generate business and bring value to our delegates and partners.
‘Digital events’ is interestingly not something that has been on anyone’s radar, until now. Research the capabilities however and you quickly understand that there is an incredible amount of potential to facilitate business and promote knowledge sharing through these tools, if done right. My team put an ungodly amount of time into researching and understanding how to best take advantage of these modern tech solutions to meet the need that the industry has to connect and learn from one another.
Our research resulted in our new concept iGaming NEXT: ONLINE – The Big Reset, which is taking place 4th-6th May. We’ve taken a slightly different approach with a highly engaging personal and professional development conference targeting any iGaming professional with curated content focused on the future of the industry as well as current topics. Our partners have great opportunities to showcase their products at the virtual expo through a livestream, similar to Twitch, but inside the digital conference platform. Amazing. We are hoping to attract 1000-3000 delegates.
I know that our friends at SBC have their own innovative solution as well for their Digital Summit in the end of April, and SiGMA/Clarion are putting together their online conference too which is taking place in June. We are all working incredibly hard to make sense of the opportunities in order to bring value to the industry. To make this work however, we need the iGaming industry to take notice, and consider supporting us, so that we, and our competitors can continue to work hard to connect the industry that we all love. It is only hand in hand with the industry that we can take this leap successfully.
I encourage you to have a look at the various digital events that have been launched, reach out to us, and ask for a demo. You will be blown away of the capabilities.
Personally, I believe in a future where the digital events can go hand in hand with the live events. They both have their pros and cons. One thing is for sure however, the dinosaur event industry is now faced with lightning speed evolution, and that is exciting. Are you with us?
About the author:
Pierre Lindh, Co-Founder of iGaming NEXT.
