Join us for a candid look behind the scenes at run.events, the platform that has become essential for many event organizers worldwide who want to manage their events efficiently. Taking the road less traveled, without relying on outside funding and with a dedicated, compact team, was what formed run.events into its current state. Our reliance on the robust Microsoft Azure public cloud platform (we'll share why we eliminated the last two AWS services from our architecture only a few weeks ago), a focus on user experience, and the integration of automation workflows have been the foundation of what run.events is today, enabling us to serve a global audience. In this session, we'll share the architectural, developmental, technological, and emotional challenges encountered while building the platform. We'll discuss the good and not-so-good decisions. We will discuss how our first European Collaboration Summit taught us that standard Azure load testing isn't always sufficient, leading us to scale our Azure SQL Server to the max to get through the event (which we did!). We'll also talk about why you should be in Microsoft for Startups program during the initial development and early go-to-market stages of building a SaaS product, and how being in that program has saved our money and our skin. :) To wrap up, we'll provide some insights into where we are now, the challenges we're currently facing and how we're addressing them, our ideas for the future, and how Microsoft taught us that a bug in production is not the end of the world. :)

In today's dynamic event landscapes, meaningful connections between attendees and sponsors are more crucial than ever. Discover how integrating AI-powered solutions can revolutionize networking experiences by providing personalized and impactful matchmaking opportunities. In this session, I will show how did we use Microsoft Semantic Kernel and Azure OpenAI to develop intelligent matchmaking for run.events. We'll explore a practical scenario where an attendee's interests, session participation, and professional background are analyzed to recommend the top 10 individuals they should connect with during an event - complete with insightful reasons for each recommendation. Key discussion points include: * Different technologies and methods used * Architectural Insights and Best Practices * Real-World Examples with run.events Join me to learn how to harness the power of AI to create enriched, personalized networking experiences that add significant value to event participants and stakeholders alike. Whether you're an event organizer, developer, or tech enthusiast, this session will equip you with the knowledge and tools to transform attendee engagement through intelligent technology solutions.

We all know the drill: event organizers agree with the venues on the expo plan, then they send it to potential sponsors and exhibitors who decide if they are going to participate and choose their spots based on that plan. They purchase booth furniture and equipment from the booth builder, and then at the event, there is a surprise moment to see if everything looks the way it is supposed to and if the chosen spot was really good. But what if sponsors and exhibitors could walk through and around their booth months before the event happens? What if they could configure their booth based on the impressions from that walk-through and immediately place their order with the booth builder? What if event organizers could then walk through the expo where all booth configurations would be immediately applied, all of this months before the event? This session will talk about how event organizers can effectively use Metaverse to automate and visualize the process of booth selection, planning, and ordering, as a collaborative process between organizers, exhibitors, and booth builders. You will see how the legendary Rheingoldhalle in Mainz, Germany, has been recreated in the Metaverse to help organizers plan the event expo, and sponsors and exhibitors to configure, visualize, and order their booths. This session whil shed light on how Metaverse can *really* be used to the benefits of the event organizers, how this particular use case has been implemented, and what the experience was like for both the event organizers and the sponsors and exhibitors.

This session delves into the critical issue facing event organizers: the effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) of paid social media advertising. In the realm of event planning, substantial funds are allocated to platforms like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn for event promotion. However, the challenge lies in accurately tracking the ROI and understanding the direct impact of these ads on ticket sales. Traditional analytics tools face limitations, leaving a gap in understanding which campaigns actually drive sales. In this session, we will talk about a novel approach to precision marketing tracking in event marketing, focusing on linking social media campaigns directly to ticket sales. This method provides a granular view of the customer journey, identifying not only the successful conversions but also shedding light on incomplete transactions and consumer behavior drop-off points. The session aims to highlight how this advanced tracking can revolutionize event marketing strategies. By offering data-driven insights, it enables organizers to allocate their marketing budgets more effectively, reducing wastage on ineffective campaigns. Furthermore, it emphasizes the long-term benefits, such as crafting more personalized and impactful marketing strategies and establishing stronger connections with potential attendees.

This session offers an insightful exploration into the various aspects of designing and printing event badges, attendee registration and self-service check-in possibilities, and entry control, which are all critical components of successful event management. We will talk about the key decisions involved in badge printing, including whether to opt for pre-printing or on-site printing, the role of self-service kiosks versus staff-managed registration desks, and the management of badge replacements and lost badges. We will explore choices between kiosk-printers, high-end badge printers, and cost-effective thermal printers, as well as the trade-offs between cost and quality, the complexity of operation, and the efficiency of different printing technologies. This session will also discuss badge invalidation and reissuing, as well as handling invalidated badges in all attendee registration and entrance control scenarios — things which are often forgotten during badging, registration, and entrance control planning. Overall, the session aims to equip event organizers with the knowledge and tools necessary for efficient badging, registration, self-service check-in, and entrance control, leading to a more streamlined and successful event experience.