Reflections from EventsAir User Conference, RISE 2022 Gold Coast

Over 300 EventsAir users gathered on the Gold Coast for the EventsAir User conference, RISE 2022, earlier this week. They took this opportunity to connect with the EventsAir team and take part in educational sessions and networking opportunities. This was the first user conference in the APAC region since 2019 and everyone in attendance expressed excitement and appreciation for the chance to return to live events supporting the EventsAir customer community.

“There was great energy at the conference, and it was really fantastic to see everyone making new connections and learning new skills.” – Renee Elliott, Global Director of Success, EventsAir.

The user conference was opened by EventsAir CEO Chris Ridd who spoke about the state of the events industry and EventsAir’s plans to capitalize on market opportunities, especially the post-pandemic return to live events around the world. Reflecting on EventsAir’s exciting growth, he shared that EventsAir has hosted close to 18,000 events with 5.9M attendees and 4,653 event planners in the past 12 months.

Trevor Gardiner, Executive Director Product Innovation, shared the company’s vision for Hybrid 2.0, how event planners can approach event production, focusing on live events with built-in and affordable options to add remote attendees and presenters.

EventsAir is continuing to innovate, with new technology supporting hybrid events, including PTZ cameras and other tools that significantly reduce the cost of producing hybrid events. Using our cutting edge technology, remote attendees were able to attend and participate the conference seamlessly.

“Since I wasn’t able to travel to Australia this year, it was amazing to fully participate remotely from my home in New Zealand…The way that EventsAir continues to innovate and support our industry is amazing. I was able to watch sessions, make connections with other attendees, ask questions, and participate in the networking and gamification just like I was there onsite!” – Francie Granger, Event Planner

Winners of the APAC region Innovation Awards were also presented at the conference networking function. This year saw winners in 4 categories.

Helen Hodges of Flinders University was presented with the Innovator of the year award for her dedication to the coordination and implementation of a range of student events and initiatives.

The Best Hybrid Event award was presented to the team from Air Force Events who were recognized for the 2022 Air and Space Power Conference. The Air and Space Power Conference is the Royal Australian Air Force’s largest Conference attracting Industry representatives and senior defence and political officials.

The team from The Conference Manager was recognized for the Best Virtual Event Portal for the 54^th AAG Conference. This event was a large and well thought out virtual program featuring 200 live and prerecorded presentations over 3 days with an impressive use of the EventsAir platform features.  

And finally, The University of Queensland was recognized for the Best Use of Onsite Technology for the 2022 UQ Open Day student event. The UQ Open day program is a one-day student orientation and this year, more than 20,000 participants took part in the hybrid event.

Thank you to all the customers who joined us in person on the Gold Coast and also those that attended online to showcase how remote attendees can still be a part of a great event experience. We look forward to catching up again in 2023.

About EventsAir

EventsAir has been at the forefront of event technology and innovation for over 30 years, continually pushing the boundaries of what an event management platform can do. Built by event planners for event planners, EventsAir is a secure, scalable, cloud-based solution that can manage everything from virtual, hybrid to live conferences, meetings and events in a single online platform – anywhere, anytime and on any device. Used in more than 50 countries by multinational corporations, professional conference organizers, government departments and tertiary education institutions, EventsAir is also used in global congresses such as G20, APEC, CHOGM and ASEAN, as well as sporting events like the Olympic Games, World Rugby, Commonwealth Games and Pan Am Games. EventsAir is trusted by event professionals around the globe.