Tag: tech
Startup Spotlight: Snapcastr
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
A growing trend that has been sweeping almost every event blog is the necessity for audience engagement and interaction! Conferences, Festivals, and Sporting events all call for larger scale audiences that must be enticed to attend, excited through out, and anticipating the event return for the coming year. So, the question is, how do we as event planners create this buzz? This Monday, we would like to highlight Snapcastr, a tech-driven company that provides all of these solutions through their social media platform!
THE BUILD UP!
Before we get to the main attraction, we must have a plan of action, and Snapcastr certainly does! Their #Hashtag Campaign supplies companies with clear marketing and event strategies from the very beginning to ensure that promotion is being maximized. In addition, their Social Event Display optimizes on audience connection. These event displays are customizable to create a unique and exclusive feel that can educate and boost audience interaction! By the way, sponsors they did not forget you! These displays have a space for your logos to market your companies and thank you for your support!
WE’VE ARRIVED!
Integrating social media interaction at an event is no longer a question, it’s a MUST. Snapcastr’s Live Social Wall enables guests to feel connected with their live tweets, posts, and shared experiences utilizing the hashtag you created with the #Hashtag Campaign! However, it doesn’t stop there.
Hosting a sporting event anytime soon? The FanPhoto feature creates guest incentive to tweet and promote your event at a chance to be featured on their team’s video board or Jumbotron!
Not sold yet? We have a few more to share! The Leaderboard feature highlights your top fans, top contributors, and/or top influencers! This is a great way to recognize your fans for their dedication or your contributors and influencers for their amazing support!
Have an opinion you want to share? Twitter Polling enables guests to participate in polls concerning your event, which will not only keep them engaged, but it will give you some great insight to their interests and what they’re looking for!
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
One of the best features of this company is the data capabilities that come with it! With all of these social media platforms being utilized, moderation and control is a necessity, and Snapcastr provides it. Interested in knowing your guest’s thoughts? The reporting features enables you to measure fan impact based on conversations. As well, you can monitor the growth of your social media accounts with real time analytics. This capability is a great way to track your success and pinpoint any problematic errors to ensure growth for the upcoming year!
What’s your favorite feature of our Startup Monday featuring Snapcastr? Let us know in the comments below or message us on Facebook or Twitter!
Top 3 Tech Trends for 2016
Who’s ready to kick off the New Year? As we say goodbye to 2015, and move forward into 2016, there’s a few technological developments that are just too good to leave behind! These trends are taking huge strides in not only the tech world, but the event planning industry!
ABCey explored 3 of the Top Tech Trends for this upcoming year! From planning to entertainment, these trends have been proven to be extremely beneficial for a successful event!
1) AFFECTIVA
Want to know what your guests are thinking? Affectiva has analyzed over 3.5 million faces to match expressions with emotions. This software has app capabilities that enable it to analyze an audience’s interest and reactions to give the host better insight on the crowd’s engagement level. Their online demo gives you an idea of how it works!
2) GEORAMA
Not enough hours in the day? No problem! Georama has made it easy for event planners to find anything from an event venue to entertainment- no car required! These live virtual tours can take place from something as small as your phone with two way audio capabilities so all questions can be addressed. Not to mention, these tours are access code friendly, which provides the luxury of privacy!
3) OCULUS RIFT
As we dive deeper into the 2000’s we can expect our technological development to expand with us. Live experience interaction is no longer a foreign topic when it comes to events. Trends like Oculus Rift, allow educational conferences to become less boring and more interactive! What was once a conference room could now be an exotic land, and this tech device can be utilized for training and simulation purposes to create a more “real world” experience.
We can’t wait to see what the future holds for event planning. What trends do you like the best? Let us know in the comments below or find us on Facebook and Twitter!
5 Father’s Day Gifts for the Tech Dad
Don’t have any Father’s Day gifts yet? Is your husband or dad obsessed with technology? ABCey Event’s has got you covered with these gifts for the techy guy in your life.
1. GARMIN HEAD- UP DISPLAY
With this GPS that displays right onto the dash, Dad can focus on the road. It works wirelessly and can even keep you updated on the latest traffic and safety alerts. Find it here.
2. GAME OF THRONES DESK LAMP
Is the man in your life obsessed with Game of Thrones? Get him this themed desk lamp so he can stay protected from all of the wights! He’ll also love the new office decor. Find it here.
3. IMPOSSIBLE INSTANT LAB
Is your dad the photographer in the family? But do those pictures just sit in the hard drive of his phone, never being physically printed? Let this mini printer develop those photos for you and have a memory to hang on the fridge. Find it here. 
4. COMPUTER CIRCUIT BOARD CUFF LINKS
This new spin on a classic gift is sure to have your dad smiling. These cuff links are made out of old computer board circuits and for under $50 it’s a win-win! Find it here. 
5. NETATMO WEATHER STATION
Dad can always be dressed for the weather with this microclimate weather station. Information like temperature, pressure, wind speed and even CO2 levels are wirelessly transferred to your smart phone. Made for iOS and Android. Find it here. 
With these gift ideas Father’s Day is sure to be a success. If you loved one of these ideas for dad, let us know in the comments below or message us via Twitter or Facebook!
Tech Tuesday: EventMobi, Create, Customize, and Launch Your Event App
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world!
“Create, customize, and launch your event app!”
This week, we are encouraging you to check out EventMobi. This application enables event planners and marketers to create their own event app for their individual needs. Millions of event planners, marketers, and attendees from more than 40 countries use this app, which is easily accessible from a smartphone, tablet, or any other online device.
How it works: You have full control over the creation of your personalized event app. Whether you want to include registration features, post-event reporting, or attendee activities, EventMobi helps you to set up the features you need. If you’re in doubt, you can contact the EventMobi support team, who will help you design your app according to your needs.
Why we love it: EventMobi is easy to use and cost-efficient! You can customize your personal event app exclusively with features you really need, without any clutter. Using EventMobi also reduces the need for paper, which helps your event simultaneously go green and stay organized!
No matter what kind of app you create, EventMobi keeps it secure and confidential! You can create pre-event, on-site, and post-event features, with individual branding for your company. Organizations like Disney, IBM, and SalesForce are just some of EventMobi’s popular clients.
Tech Tuesday: WanderList, A Digital Travel Guide
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world! This week we want to introduce you to WanderList, a digital travel guide that provides you with a hand-curated list of things to do in your current city!
WanderList is a digital travel guide which provides recommended restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and hotels around San Francisco with future plans to launch in other cities. This San Francisco startup was inspired by the more than 40 countries its team has explored.
WanderList’s main selling point is that travelers don’t have to lug heavy travel books around when they’re exploring different cities. Instead, they just check in on their phone to see where the best places around them are located. Since the content is frequently updated, globetrotters will always be given the most up-to-date information and be more informed about their traveling decisions.
Why We Love WanderList: Aside from being FREE, WanderList shows us where to go – places only locals know about – and tells us why that particular location is so cool. As event planners, we’re always looking to discover new venues and vendors, which is made so much easier by WanderList who finds us the best of the best. Since we use our phones everyday to call Ubers and post selfies to Instagram, why not discover favorite spots on your phone as well. Exploring cities was never easier! 
What city would you want to explore with WanderList? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
3 Project Management Apps To Help You Stay Organized!
Our number one priority as event planners’ is organization! When it comes to organizing large groups of people over a couple of months, a project management app can be a lifesaver. Sometimes a to-do list just won’t cut it, and these apps are great for planners & conferences, businesses, or even personal use! Here are 3 project management tools that ABCey loves!
1. Asana is a teamwork communication manager, which supports workspaces, projects, tasks, notes, comments and an inbox that updates information in real time! The app allows you and your team to plan and mange projects without having to use email. The coolest part about Asana is that you can assign tasks to each member of the team, and get updates on the progress. This project manager uses workspaces to complete jobs without the stress of coordination. Cost: Starts at $50 for up to 15 team members, and prices increase as number of team members does.
2. Basecamp is a project management tool that offers to- do lists, web based text documents, milestone managements, file-sharing, and time tracking and messaging. This is one of the most simplistic, easy to use project management softwares and is very good at keeping the user focused on the task at hand. We especially love all the project templates. Basecamp can handle any project that you throw at it with simplistic ease and make your project come together flawlessly! This app is well-known, and trusted by many! Cost: Free trial, and prices start at $20
3. Trello is a lot like the Pinterest of web-based project management applications. The method they use for managing projects is known as “kanban” and was originally for supply chain management at Toyota. The projects are represented by boards and those boards contain lists and cards. These show progress by being dragged and dropped to mirror the flow from idea to implementation. Trello adjusts to your project, team and workflow to keep you organized. Cost: The basic service is free but upgrades and premium features are available for purchase
Each of these three project management softwares approach management in different ways, so check them out to see which one is the best fit for your team or your schedule. Let us know which one you use for your team, or any that we missed in the comments below or on Twitter and Facebook!
5 Fun Apps for Working Out!
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world!
One of the many great characteristics of the San Francisco Bay Area is its emphasis on health and well-being. With the wave of apps and startups from this area, we have seen lots of fitness related tech that can help you get more from your workout, track it and even motivate you to get active! As event planners, we need to stay healthy so that we can be on our toes for long hours. We’ve compiled a great list of 5 of our favorite fitness apps that keep us on the go!
1. Zombies, Run is one of the most fun, creative apps we’ve seen. It places you in a scene where you really do need to run for your life, and gives you that motivation you’ve been looking for. You are set in a narrated apocalypse intermixed with your own playlist. The fun doesn’t stop when you stop running, because there are games that come with the app to immerse you even when you’re not working out. Even if you haven’t hooked onto the new zombie fad, this app is so much fun!
2. BitGym makes long treadmill runs a lot more fun, taking you on a visual vacation through the streets of somewhere far away. Fuel your run being immersed in a tour of the Grand Canyon, or sprint the trails of the Alps without a plane ride! The visuals are beautiful and it allows you to motivate your runs with the promise of seeing something amazing!
3. Strava is software that keeps track of your workouts, runs, bike rides and cross-training, and then helps you compare them day by day to track progress and effort. You can even compare against other athletes using Strava! You can upload your routes via GPS capable gadgets and when you get back, you can see your hard work displayed on Strava.com! The site even gives challenges for users to compete in to push themselves even more.
4. Spitfire Athlete is an app that promotes health and strength in women, to push them to be more than they imagined. It connects you for free with coaches, step by step training and the information you need to reach your goals. The app is action packed with scientific facts and motivation to build strength and be the best you can be! We love this because it strives to make working out about feeling good and we love how easy it is to the connect a community of healthy information sharing!
5. GymPact is a mobile app that sets up incentives with money! Are you trying to exercise more or eat healthier? Set goals on pact and if you don’t meet these goals, you pay. If you do, you are paid by other members who didn’t meet their goals. We love this app because it creates real world incentives. The most important way to grow is by setting goals, and earning money while you complete your goals is a just fun bonus!
What are your favorite workout apps? Did we miss anything great? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!
Startup Monday: AnyPerk
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events.
This week, we’re excited to feature AnyPerk — a San Francisco based startup that provides employee perks and benefits to other startups and small companies across America. We heard about AnyPerk in news about its recent partnership with the national ride-share company, Lyft, and we are really excited about its progress and the passion that it shows in changing office culture!
AnyPerk provides amazing perks such as markdowns on phone bills, cheap gym memberships, and discounts at restaurant to employees of small and medium sized companies. These perks are usually reserved for larger companies with lots of employees. This is made possible because AnyPerk unites employees of small and medium companies into one large target audience that appeals to the big brands providing the perks. Participating vendor partners benefit from increased visibility to large numbers of employees dispersed through the nation as they are now able to distribute perks to employees they might otherwise have missed in their marketing campaigns.
AnyPerk makes employees more efficient by rewarding them with perks, and spreads the fun atmosphere that we have in San Francisco across the country. Not only do we think this company is awesome, but we really admire the changes they are making by making perks accessible to everyone!
Wouldn’t you love to work for a company that gave you the AnyPerks? Let us know what you think of this great idea in the comments below, or on Facebook and Twitter!
Tech Tuesday: Maptiv8
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming companies for their innovative ideas and ability to think outside the box!
In today’s events world, we are always looking for ways to engage event attendees. Maptiv8, founded by Seth Familian of Familian&1, is a new private directory visualization platform for students, alumni, event attendees, and supporters.
The Map Admin sets branding and adds the member list, which enables you to visualize the list in an appealing and simple way. Maptiv8 will then invite members via email, and reveal affinities within the community. Once members sign in with Facebook, LinkedIn, or email, the map will automatically take shape! This ignites connections and actions among the Map members.
Some of Maptiv8’s powerful features are an easy 30-second profile setup, activity feeds and profile notes, up to three custom affinity groups which can be based off of cities, industries, or companies, campaigns and events, and volunteer tools to drive engagement.
What’s great about this platform is there are three different options that can be used based on the type of groups you are involved with. GradMap is designed for students, alumni, faculty and staff. OrgMap is for members and supporters of both non-profits and for-profits. RSVPeeps is for attendees of events and conferences to utilize, which will enable event networking!
The pricing is straightforward and aligned with the number of Map members. Mini is used for up to 100 members, Midsize is up to 500 members, and Mega is up to 5,000 members. We love Maptiv8 because it has so much versatility and adheres to audiences made up of different groups and sizes!
Would you use Maptiv8 to engage your attendees?! Which features do you like best? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!
Tech Tuesday: 5 Event Startups to Engage your Audience
The world of technology is constantly changing and is adding value to the event industry! Here at ABCey, we love to keep up on current startups and trends that can enhance the event experience for attendees. We did some digging to find 5 event startups that will engage your audience and make them active participants throughout your event.
1. Postano: Put your attendees in the spotlight and make them feel like social media rockstars through this unique platform! Bring your conversation to life at your next event by showcasing your attendees’ social content, tweets and Instagrams on social media displays. Attendees can actively participate rather than simply listen and this will enrich their experience and create visibility for your event.
2. Catchbox: The world’s first throwable microphone was created for audience engagement. It is a great way to get participants talking! Catchbox lowers the barrier for people to comment and present questions. The box comes in different bright colors and is easy to throw or pass from one audience member to the next, making participation easy and fun!
3. PowerVote: Maximize the value of your event by engaging your audience, encouraging your participants, and encouraging their feedback. If you want your to gather information about your audience’s opinion, PowerVote can instantly display voting results in an graphical format. Presentations can be directly streamed to the audience’s mobile devices and people can vote or provide feedback in the moment.
4. Sopreso: Through this unique platform, your audience can ask, comment, and like your presentation live. Once you develop a presentation and run Sopreso on your laptop, the audience can connect to the presentation with their smart devices. Additionally, this platform extends the lifetime of your presentation! You can easily follow up on your leads, answer all questions, and keep the community alive.
5. TweetWall Pro: A TweetWall offers a great opportunity to interact with audiences. Rather than asking a few audience members questions, inspire all attendees to share their thoughts. People can ask questions on Twitter and get live responses. Interesting topics can quietly be discussed, and interaction is highly encouraged. Onlookers of TweetWalls find it difficult not to participate, inspiring engagement from all viewers. Post event reports allow you to follow up with attendees directly!
With so many advances in technology, passive audience participation is coming to an end. We love each of these startups, and Postano really stands out to us because you can see what people are saying about your event and what popular topics of interest are, as well as create visibility for your event! Which of these unique event startups would you use to engage your audience members? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!