Here is a roundup of new startups injecting innovation in the event industry. Get to know them, they can help you plan a better event.
I am positively impressed by the number of new players in the event startup ecosystem. Every week I learn about new ways of solving existing or newborn problems event managers and planners face every day.
This is an amazing trend for the industry. Giving space to these guys is something I enjoy and that you readers have rewarded with interest, clicks and shares. If you missed previous episodes, here are the first, second and third roundups of interesting startups.
As always I may have missed some, just let me know if that is the case using the Contact section on the blog.
Here are some services you may or may not heard of that deserve a spot on the blog.
1. XoomPark
The guys running XoomPark come from the competitive airport parking sector. They claim to GUARANTEE (yes, all in caps) a front row parking at hot events in selected cities in the US.
Parking vendors and Garages are the ones who can benefit from the service. For large events parking can be a pain in the neck. Inviting parking area managers to register could ease the way attendees experience the event.
A great idea for an old problem. I hope the reach will be extended to other countries.
2. Liveset
Liveset wants to be the HBO of live concerts. They have been around since 2010 and they offer an HD, mobile compatible stream of live concerts.
There is an overarching focus on quality in this service. Something I am really fond of.
In fact they really try to create an intimate experience between artists and remote audience by offering exclusive content such as backstage access and videos.
I’ve seen a lot of chit chat around hybrid events and online events, most of the times this ends up in just setting a static live cam with a crappy internet connection. I feel we should learn more by how these guys are involving remote attendees. Very well thought.
3. The Fetch
I discovered The Fetch a few hours ago. It was pointed out by founder Kate Kendall. Event discovery, serendipity and recommendation is becoming quite a hot trend.
I like the angle this platform has taken. The Fetch focuses on the subculture of creatives and digital enthusiasts, which I like to be sometimes part of. Essentially you get an email alert with great stuff going on in your city (selected cities available).
Planners can submit their event, the editorial team will then decide what to publish.
Fragmentation is a problem that most event discovery services have. The Fetch applies content curation to event discovery thus filtering only what is relevant.
I love this approach. Have a look at The Fetch in London.
4. Vivogig
Another interesting startup I discovered lately is Vivogig. They are a player is what is becoming a quite competitive space, event media aggregation. With a twist.
Attendees (specially concert goers) can upload a picture they shot and get voted to be featured. This competition component is what makes the service particularly interesting.
They aim to be content curators for artists and music performers, collecting all the relevant media in a stream.
5. Instavite
Instavite [iTunes link] is an iOS app for event lovers. If you are running an informal events with friends, I suggest to check it out for its great Facebook integration.
It allows to invite friends via Facebook or SMS and to then manage RSVPs on the app.
A very fresh and easy approach.
6. eval.me
Although not specifically just for events, I find eval.me a great ideas profit and no-profit events. These guys are genius.
eval.me helps you to build online surveys. The twist is in their pricing. eval.me charges you $1.25 for each survey completed.
$.25 goes to them and $1.00 goes to a customer selected charity. This will inevitably motivate the responder to give accurate answers and complete the whole survey.
Awesome.
7. Timevote
Being sometimes a speaker, I get very nervous when I discover services such as Timevote. And this is a good thing.
Tweet walls taught us that audiences want to be involved in conferences and meetings. That does not have to be nasty tweets.
Timevote allows the audience to vote for the current speaker. The more votes, the more time the speaker gets, and vice versa.
This is the ultimate audience response tool. I LOVE it.
8. Stublisher
Stublisher has an ambitious project, to become the Wikipedia for events. In practice we are looking at another take at what Lanyrd and the revived Plancast are doing.
It is still in private beta so there is not much I can share in terms of functionality. Yet I was captivated by their demo at Pie Day Day and their plan to value artists and sponsors along the route.
All of the above integrated with Facebook.
9. SunyRide
SunyRide is another startup in private beta that strives to connect attendees to share rides to events.
Car sharing is hot, I am hoping these guys are able to pull it internationally.
Here is the hilarious video of their pitch at DemoDay that shows how it works and integrates with Facebook..
10. Opus Capture
Here is one for venues. We are talking hardware. Opus Capture is a computer that features dual channel recording.
It means you can record directly on a disk the HD stream from two cameras. For example one pointed at slides and one at the speaker.
You have a combined capacity of 200 hours of recording. It comes at a price but I in the near future I would expect such a service from tech savvy venues.
In Conclusion
I hope you’ll join me in appreciating the great effort these guys are putting into solving event industry problems.
Not all of these ideas will be relevant to you but I am sure you will enjoy reading how startups perceive our industry.
As always I ask you to share this post to give these guys the visibility they deserve.
