Tech News: RainFocus, Map Your Show, Grip and More Make Tech Acquisitions, Launch New Services

A host of event technology companies have been forming strategic partnerships and adding new services to help trade show organizers and exhibitors streamline their events and elevate ROI.  

RainFocus Acquires WebEvents Global 

Event marketing platform RainFocus has acquired WebEvents Global, an established event technology and data analytics firm. The acquisition will allow RainFocus to extend its leading event marketing position through WebEvents Global’s strong client relationships with leading enterprise technology organizations and long-standing industry expertise, according to RainFocus officials. 

“[WebEvents Global’s] vision is closely aligned with ours, prioritizing the integration of sales and marketing teams across event programs, and recognizing them as key consumers of data to enhance experiences and drive revenue,” said JR Sherman, CEO of RainFocus. “Since its inception, WebEvents Global has demonstrated impressive success through its strong client relationships, agility, and flexible products and services. We’re excited to bring their industry expertise to our platform and customers.” 

Founded in 2002, WebEvents Global focused on data strategy and technology as a prime enabler for managing events by offering data-driven, highly integrated, and fully customizable event solutions and services. In addition to technology, the company provides event clients with comprehensive support and services.  

Karis Takiya, president and principal architect at WebEvents Global, joins RainFocus as principal integrations architect, focused transitioning clients to the RainFocus platform and growing its strategic data integration consulting practice. 

“RainFocus has revolutionized the industry with its single-platform architecture for data unification, scalability, real-time reporting, and seamless martech integrations,” Takiya said. “Having worked with leading world-class organizations for more than 20 years, I recognize the game-changing power of a consolidated architecture and the benefits it can bring to our clients and the industry. By marrying our expertise with this modern, data-driven platform, we’ll provide a strategic single source of truth across our clients’ entire event portfolios.” 

Aira Launches Visual Interpreting Service for Visually Impaired Attendees 

Event organizers seeking to make their meetings and events more inclusive and accessible for visually impaired attendees now have a new solution: Aira Access Events, an on-demand visual interpreting service for blind and low vision event participants designed to help them more efficiently navigate, engage, and socialize at events.  

Through a simple click on their smartphones, Aira users can connect with a trained visual interpreter to assist with tasks such as audio description for keynotes, wayfinding, website registration, and form completion, as well as social interactions, descriptions of multimedia and displays, and navigating from the venue to the host hotel. 

Available for use either one-on-one or as part of a group, event attendees simply download the Aira app for free in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, click on the app to join an event, tap a button, and a visual interpreter then uses the user’s phone camera to assist with whatever task they require support.  

By geofencing the event boundary, Aira can be made available for free to any individual within that area, which means there is nothing for event organizers’ IT teams to set-up or maintain. Anyone at an event can also use Aira’s free Access AI feature to upload or take a photo and receive an instant AI-generated description, plus verification with a visual interpreter.  

PR Newswire and Map Your Show Collaborate on Enhanced PR Opportunities for Exhibitors 

Leading global press release distribution platform PR Newswire recently announced an enhanced PR opportunity for exhibitors working with leading event management platform Map Your Show with the launch of Exhibitor PR Boost, a new feature that provides exhibitors a convenient way to announce and promote their upcoming event participation using PR Newswire. 

Created to provide exhibitors with easily accessible tools to build event attendee interest and gain maximum exposure, the new offering gives exhibitors access to discounted web distributions and fill-in-the-blank press release templates. 

“As the leader in global distribution, PR Newswire is consistently providing innovative ways for brands to effectively and efficiently amplify the reach for their story,” said Matt Brown, president of PR Newswire. “With this new offering, event participants will have a turnkey solution to announce their attendance with the largest and most-sourced distribution network in the industry, while event organizers can experience all the benefits of engaging with their event community.” 

Through this strategic partnership, exhibitors can purchase the discounted Exhibitor PR Boost offering, with which they can craft and upload their press releases without ever leaving the Map Your Show event dashboard. 

“Map Your Show is thrilled to partner with PR Newswire to amplify exhibitors’ reach and offer both show organizers and exhibiting companies seamless PR opportunities,” said Don Kline, CEO of Map Your Show. “This collaboration is a win-win for all involved, as it strengthens our industry’s ability to enhance exhibitors’ visibility, attract more attendees, and ultimately drive better outcomes.” 

Grip Acquires Event Management System from Connectiv Holdings ‍ 

AI-powered events platform Grip recently acquired the event management system (EMS) built by Connectiv Holdings, a New York-based live events studio co-founded by CEO Jay Weintraub. With this acquisition, alongside “Engage,” Grip’s existing suite of products, Grip now offers business event organizers a complete, end-to-end event engagement and management solution. 

Named “Manage,” Grip’s new EMS includes four products: 

• Event Registration:  A seamless registration platform that helps large conference, trade show and conference organizers increase registrant conversions 
• Sponsor and Exhibitor Management:  A portal that gives exhibitors and sponsors all the tasks and resources they need to succeed 
• Side Event Management: Sponsors and exhibitors are now able to list and launch their own side or “satellite” events as part of the main show 
• Smart Badges: Participants can now easily exchange contact information with the click of a button on their electronic smart badges. Organizers benefit from a 10x increase in connections plus rich insights, such as heat maps showing where connections are taking place, plus session tracking 

“This acquisition means we’re now the most complete solution for event organizers wanting to increase revenue,” explained Tim Groot, Grip founder and CEO. “In addition, our research shows that using the Connectiv Holdings’ EMS results in significantly higher event app activations, connections, and meetings. This is because having such a powerful event management solution, including registration, means we have more control of the data flowing into our platform, improving outcomes for event organizers and their participants. This leads to our customers benefiting from better event satisfaction scores, increased growth, and ultimately, higher revenues.” 

The Trade Group to Launch Exhibit IQ 

On Sept. 11, full-service event marketing company The Trade Group launched Exhibit IQ, a new real-time, in-booth analytics service for trade show exhibitors that provides real-time data and comprehensive reports to help measure and optimize booth design, visitor engagement, and marketing effectiveness. 

Using cameras and AI analytics to track and analyze multiple data points throughout an exhibit, the multi-faceted technology includes foot-traffic cameras that track the number of visitors entering and exiting the booth, while heat maps help exhibitors visualize which areas within the booth are visited most and least. The system also measures dwell times in specified areas, and a meeting analytics feature monitors the number and duration of meetings inside the booth. 

“We were approached by a vendor offering a similar technology, but after evaluating the service, we felt that it didn’t prioritize privacy,” explained The Trade Group Marketing Engineer Bailey Carpenter, who played a key role in developing the technology. “This led us to develop Exhibit IQ in-house. Our service ensures that only text is sent over the network, effectively protecting individuals’ identities.” 

Bailey added that during the development of Exhibit IQ, he also focused on creating a service that would benefit exhibitors both in real time and over the long term.  

“It was important to our team to create a solution that would drive more value for every exhibit we offer,” Bailey said. “Exhibit IQ does that by enabling our clients to make data-driven decisions at every stage. Real time data allows exhibitors to pivot their strategy, while the comprehensive reports provide actionable insights trade show managers can use to make decisions for upcoming shows.” 

Have some event technology news to share? Reach out to lisa.savas@informa.com and danica.tormohlen@informa.com.

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