Hopin Illuminate, broadcast 7 July from Los Angeles, brought together event organisers and marketers from all over the world to explore the future of the events industry, best practices for hybrid events, and more.
Attendees heard from leaders across the industry, including Salesforce, Marriott and Gap Inc., as well as the youngest Nobel Laureate, Malala Yousafzai.
Hopin made a series of announcements, including detail of its fifth acquisition of the year, Attendify, an integrated event marketing platform. The company also released its free event management plan, designed for smaller gatherings of up to 100 people lasting up to two hours. It also offers an integration with GoFundMe allowing for in-event donations. Hopin also raised USD$10,000 at Illuminate, in donations to support GoFundMe’s Learning and Education Cause.
Other topics covered at the session included:
- The Intersection of In-Person and Virtual: Leah McGowen-Hare, vice-president at Salesforce, joined Rosie Roca, chief customer officer at Hopin, to discuss how Salesforce has integrated a hybrid strategy to combat virtual fatigue by making moments small, editable and entertaining, and not pushing product.
- The New, New Normal: Executives from Gainsight, Gap Inc., and Marriott discussed learnings from hosting their own virtual and hybrid experiences and events, concluding that as we return to the new normal, the focus is bringing the human element back to events.
- Doing Hybrid On A Budget: Hopin CMO, Anthony Kennada and vice-president of Corporate Marketing, Lauren Sommers offered advice for hosting hybrid events on a budget, providing a list of suggested equipment for under $1,000.
- Attendees were also able to network both virtually and in-person at the live event element in LA.
Hopin also revealed its first global brand campaign created in partnership with creative agency Bokeh, set to debut on 12 July . See here for a preview of the campaign.
