New in Events is a new podcast by IBTM, which brings you new episodes every fortnight. For episode one, hosts Mike Fletcher and Paul Cook visit Cvent’s European headquarters to chat with the technology firm’s European Marketing Director, Felicia Asiedu.

The regeneration of the area behind Paddington Station in West London has taken 25 years and the results are striking. Picturesque canal towpaths now connect a thriving mixed-use community the size of Soho, complete with restaurants, hotels, cafes and glass-fronted businesses.

Amidst the pedestrianised realm, Cvent has its European headquarters and just before Christmas, Paul Cook and I paid a visit to the technology giant to interview Marketing Director, Felicia Asiedu.

For anyone not familiar with Cvent, the ‘software-as-a-service’ company grew out of Virginia in the US and specialises in technology-led solutions for in-person, virtual and hybrid events.

Its ‘Supplier Network’ has a free-to-browse directory of over 300,000 venues worldwide. Plus, its ‘Attendee Hub’ provides everything from event website templates and mobile app-powered polls, surveys, chat and Q&A functionality, to webinar and broadcast content creation, on-demand video libraries, one-to-one appointment scheduling, agenda-building tools and more.

Cvent is now privately owned by asset management company, Blackstone following a deal worth $4.6 billion last year, which brought an end to a period of trading publicly on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Its Marketing Director for Europe, Felicia has been with the company since 2019. A passionate advocate for the meetings and events industry, in 2021 she also co-founded the Diverse Speaker Bureau to improve diversity across all conference and event stages.

In this first episode of New in Events, Felicia talks about technology’s evolved role in the day-to-day lives of meetings and event planners.

She discusses whether or not virtual events still have a future, why she hates the terms ‘hybrid’ and ‘do more with less’, plus offers her advice on how to keep audiences better engaged.

“We have to think harder about what tech, what digital pieces, why, when and for whom,” Felicia tells us. “As an event organiser, if you can plug into the reason why people come to your events - even ask them outright and then use technology to help them connect with the right people or achieve their objectives, they’re much less likely to object when handing over their data. Data-driven insights have become a real value exchange, which has to feed into their ‘whys’.”

Felicia then goes on to share insights from Cvent’s annual Planner Sourcing survey of European MICE planners and reveals some of the biggest challenges facing organisers for the year ahead.

She also reveals plans for future AI integrations into the Cvent platform. “We aim to introduce AI as a time saver for more manual tasks. We’ll then look at how AI can help write RFPs and responses to RFPs as we know that’s a big pain point between planners, hoteliers and venues,” she says.

Felicia concludes by talking about event accessibility and how planners need to work more closely with registration data to determine what additional elements may be required to cater for individual needs.

“As an industry, we’re already leaving people out of our events so we have to be thinking about how to bring those people in. Understanding how many extra BSL interpreters are required is just one aspect of that,” she notes.

Each episode of New in Events runs for around 30 minutes so you can pick up new ideas, new insights, advice for newcomers, and new ways of working while on the go or taking a well-earned break.

Season One also features bonus interviews from the show floor at IBTM World 2023 in Barcelona. For our opening episode, Catherine Southall, Head of Business Development UK & Ireland, American Express GBT Meetings & Events, discusses the findings of Amex’s 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast.

New in Events is available to download wherever you get your podcasts from. Be sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode from Season One.

We hope you enjoy episode one of New in Events as much as we’ve enjoyed recording it. Look out for episode two featuring two more insightful industry guests in two weeks.

In Episode One of New In Events you’ll discover:

• Felicia Asiedu’s views on technology’s role in meetings and events

• What AI solutions Cvent has planned for planners and event marketers

• How planners need to think about accessibility

• What insights are covered by Amex’s 2024 Global Meetings and Events Forecast.

• What advice Catherine Southall has for anyone new to the events industry