Event tech today is nowhere near where it was even 6 months ago — because the industry itself is constantly evolving, and goal posts are continually shifting. Zoom fatigue might have been the primary challenge a year ago, but today it’s creating demand (as per 62% of marketers), and it’ll be something else a few months down the road.

Our Co-founder and CTO, Vedha Sayyaparaju joined other panelists at a recent discussion hosted by NXUnite to speak about High tech, high impact: Event Technology for modern associations and mission-driven businesses. Panelists discussed challenges around tech, and offered insight and advice. Here are the three top takeaways from the talk:

1. Let the goals of your event determine what features you need to look for in an event platform

There’s so much tech nowadays that being able to choose from what’s available can be overwhelming. Start by analyzing your event goals, as this will help you zoom in on where and how technology can help. And this then becomes what you need to look for in the platforms you evaluate, the panelists recommend.

For instance, perhaps your registration is too cumbersome so you would look for platforms that could help with that. “Look at where your inefficiencies are - where are you spending so much time on low return or high risk” said speaker Nikki Bell, Co-Founder at Fundraising Everywhere.

2. But don’t feel pressured to use all the features available on the platform you choose

Echoing an earlier point: there’s so much tech available, and as each platform is always promoting its suite of features, people can feel pressured to use every single feature that is available to them. But this is a mistake.

“You don’t need to use everything,” cautioned Vedha. “All the features on the platform you’re using may not be a fit for the goal of your event or for its agenda. So you need to really first figure out what is the experience you want to curate and then choose features that enable that.”

3. You don’t have to go it alone. Lean on the event community for help

“Be bold”, urged the panelists. Having to navigate the modern event landscape can be scary - the industry is changing as are audiences, but organizers shouldn’t let this discourage them, and can lean on the event community for help. Here’s how:

• Ask peers for advice: “People are more forthcoming nowadays about their experience hosting events'', Vedha said.” They are more willing to share tactics - what worked and what didn’t.” Your peers in the community are therefore a great resource to turn to, and happy to share what they learned over the past few years. (Click here to join our online community for event professionals!)

• Work with experienced partners: Working with a company that has worked in turn with many others in the event space can be helpful. “They’ve already seen others through [event hosting] journeys, and can help guide you,” Vedha said. “They can tell you what worked best, and what mistakes to avoid making.”

• You don’t have to invent the wheel: Attend as many other virtual events as you can and look to ones you enjoyed for inspiration, Vedha recommended. “It’s okay to see what you like at those events and pick up ideas from there. You don’t need to be the first to try something entirely new.”

Want to hear more?

Watch a video recording of the entire panel here!

Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.

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