A Virtual Conference about Virtual Conferences

Parakeet Virtual Conference

A POP UP EVENT FOR MEETING PLANNERS TO HELP THEIR EVENTS SING

September 10 – 11, 2020
9:00 am – 12:30 pm PST
Everywhere

Planning a Virtual Event?

The Quarantine Pivot! Everyone who plans meetings knows that virtual events can’t be just thrown together like stitched together webinars. They need to be reinvented. Parakeet will be a one-stop shop for what you need know about the platforms and tools that best replicate the human experience before you waste time and money in the tight-budget environment we’re all in these days.

Parakeet will cover these three areas:

  • Reduce confusion by inviting the top platforms and API’s to demo based on unique features
  • Showcasing cutting-edge tech that best replicates human engagement.
  • Highlight most creative ways other organizers have used platforms

SPONSORS

Our Story

We have been producing “boutique” networking events in the travel industry for 24 years. With the exception of TravelAbility Summit, a start-up we created to help the tourism industry connect with the  disability travel community, all of our conferences were acquired last year.

Once it became clear that this year’s TravelAbility Summit would need to be online, I started to research the virtual conference landscape looking for the ideal platform that would best replicate the chemistry and serendipitous encounters of real-life events. It led me down a rabbit hole of confusion as I eventually found 112 platforms self-identifying as virtual conference platforms.

Over a three-month period, I sat through 39 platform demos and uncovered 17 API’s, tools, plug-ins and widgets. The experience led me to create Parakeet, this one-day pop-up event where I would curate the best and most useful of what I found, and share it with meeting and conference creators so they could more easily navigate the challenges of the new normal in the post-Covid world.

Who Should Attend?

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO’s), Conference Organizers, Meeting Planners, Event Planners, Audio Visual Companies, Convention Centers, Hotel sales and marketing staff, Hotel convention staff, chambers of commerce, PCMA, ASAE, MPI, Meeting trade and Travel Media

Produced by: Jake Steinman, Founder TravelAbility Summit

AGENDA

DAY 1: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER  10, 2020

9:00 – 9:30 am
What I learned in performing Due Diligence on 112 Virtual Conference Platforms
We’ll share insights about the 112 software and SaaS companies that self-identified as virtual conference platforms 39 demos we sat through, and 12 API’s, widgets and tools we found over a three month period. Jake Steinman, Founder, Parakeet

9:30 – 10:00 am
Tips and tricks when training virtual event speakers.

  • What they need to know about lighting
  • Make up tips from a Drag Queen
  • Wardrobe advice from modeling agency

10:15 am – 12:15 pm
PLATFORM DEMOS: WHAT MAKES YOU SO SPECIAL?
Parakeet has sat through demo sessions from 35 different platforms and asked each the same question: “What does your platform offer that cannot be done on Zoom? and How are your different than your competitors?  We honed the list down to the following that we have invited to make “mini-demo’s and answer your questions.

All in One-DIY Platforms-Engineering Serendipity

  • The most affordable platform– $2/per attendee—$25/hour per hour—taking advantage of India’s low-cost tech staff and designers.
  • Most elegant platform of all—super intuitive user interface, explainer video for every step, cool features such as virtual handshake, a networking cocktail party and other features. And, of course it was founded by two former senior Facebook staff.
  • This easy-to-learn, platform which launched last year has already hosted events from 100 to 50,000 with a highly flexible and affordable pricing structure.

Platforms that enable you to use third party suppliers to cherry pick your way to maximum engagment.

  • This platform has the most robust virtual fundraising features for non-profits
  • Finally, a platform for those of us who are too lazy to create content. Let the attendees generate their own content (AGC?) Find out how!
  • This Berlin-based platform exudes networking simplicity from its core.
  • A platform where attendees’ pictures which can be moved within a breakout room by cursor
  • World’s most Advanced 3-D platform allows users to customizable their own avatars and watch them dance.
  • This platform allows you to embed Youtube videos without those pesky ads right into a presentation and features tool that allows you to “snap a slide” from any presentation.

12:20 – 1:00 pm
Speaker Q&A Tables
Representatives from our platforms will have a table for Q&A.

 


 

DAY 2: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

9:00 – 10:15 am
TOOLS, APIs, Widgets and Plug-Ins
Many are free or super low cost.

  • This API embeds a live American Sign Language translator into virtual presentations at a fraction of the price of an in-person signer
  • This app is a Virtual business card where you can embed a video with a personal message from you
  • A virtual Roulette wheel with names of attendees; ideal for raffles!
  • Audience Lottery tool where random attendees receive a quiz & can win prizes redeemable at a sponsor’s booth
  • A tool that provides virtual goody bags for easy (and cheap) swag distribution—average open rate: 85%
  • Here’s a great find: Embedding this API allows your event to have closed caption translations in 52 languages
  • Ever have a meeting where you need a virtual whiteboard? And it’s free!
  • This app uses a brief questionnaire to form small groups with a great deal in common.

10:15 – 10:35 am
Random Networking

10:40 – 11:30 am
ROUNDTABLE: UX FROM AN ORGANIZER’S PERSPECTIVE
Best and worst experience producing virtual events or hybrid events. What’s worked and what hasn’t—for attendees, for sponsors and for hosts.  Invited Panelists: Beth Zeisenes, Your Nerdy Best Friend (i); Monica Rhodes, Manifest Creative (i), Don Welsh, Destinations International (i) Rosa Lagana, STEPNetwork

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
ROUNDTABLE: CARE AND FEEDING OF SPONSORS
A panel of sponsors discuss their experience with virtual conferences and how the features that provide the most value to them.

  • What are expectations for success (live vs virtual event)
  • How is ROI measured
  • What “value-added” benefits matter most

Invited Panelists: Steve Paganelli, TripAdvisor;  Monya Mandich, Expedia Media Solutions; RD Whitney, Virtual Events Institute,

Optional Network: Icebreakers

PLEASE NOTE:  Names of all curated platforms and tools will be revealed at Parakeet.

INNOVATIONS

13 innovative platforms and tools you will only find at Parakeet:

  1. One that includes closed captioning in English and 52 other languages
  2. All-in-one DIY platform with pricing beginning at $.99/attendee
  3. Self-service platform by two Facebook product managers–opens with a virtual handshake
  4. “Birds of a Feather” virtual rooms where like-minded attendees can meet
  5. Most advanced fully 3D conference platform Demo(and one that is 2.5D –whatever the hell that is).
  6. An Avatar-based platform with full simulation
  7. Attendee’s pix in circles which can be moved around by a mouse
  8. A virtual platform that facilitates an all-networking event—attendees generate their own content.
  9. Virtual business card tool that includes a brief video intro.
  10. Virtual Roulette wheel w/ names of attendees for on-the-spot raffles
  11. Audience Lottery: random attendees receive a quiz & can win prizes
  12. Virtual platform that specializing in fundraising for non-profits
  13. Virtual sponsor goody bags for easy, low-cost swag distribution–with analytics

Additionally, as we were researching 112 tools and platform we also browsed their blog posts. Here’s a “Waste of Time” calculator that we came across that you may find amusing.

Send Me the List!

If you would like to receive the list of all the virtual conference platforms we reviewed complete the form below.

Media or Sponsorship Inquiries contact: jake@travelabilitysummit.com

Parakeet Virtual Conference
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