What is the likelihood of fans returning to sports venues?
What mental health resources are available to event industry professionals?
In this tenuous period, when the world is slowly opening up, how do you plan and execute a large-scale event?
Host Anthony Kennada (CMO, Hopin) and Lauren Sommers (VP Corporate Marketing, Hopin) explore these topics in Episode 4 of Back of House LIVE—Hopin’s original podcast for event professionals.
Streamed live on Hopin, the series discusses what’s new in events, offers a venue for event professionals to come together and connect, and shares ideas and insights from the brightest minds in the events industry.
Conversation with Charlie Muirhead (CogX Festival)
CogX Festival is among the world’s largest tech conferences, which focuses on the impact of AI on society and business.
The annual gathering attracts luminaries from industry, government, academia, culture, and entertainment—with a focus on challenging the status quo and helping shape innovation in the years and decades to come.
In 2020, CogX transitioned to a fully virtual event, hosting 324 hours of programming across 18 online stages and attracting more than 40,000 online attendees.
This year, with opportunities for in-person events re-emerging, CogX decided to host a first-ever hybrid event—combining in-person and virtual elements to craft an altogether new kind of conference.
Read the takeaways from Illuminate, Hopin's first-ever hybrid event.
The latest festival was organized around the question “How do we get the next 10 years right?” and convened an array of speakers including actor Matthew McConaughey; musician Nile Rodgers; Daphne Koller, founder of Coursera; Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways; and Kara Hurst, Head of Global Sustainability at Amazon.
It programmed sessions across 18 virtual stages and 5 physical stages, including levers for in-person and online audience engagement.
In this episode, Anthony and Lauren speak with Charlie Muirhead, CEO and founder of CogX, about what it takes to conceive and execute a successful hybrid event.
Latest in event industry news
Fans at sporting events
In recent months, the pendulum has swung back and forth for fan participation at physical sporting events.
As vaccination levels rose, it seemed as if events like the NBA Finals and PGA Championship were ushering in the return of packed arenas and fairways. However, as Covid variants are causing a global uptick in infections, we have seen sporting events—most recently, the Tokyo Olympics—backtrack.
Mental health awareness
The events industry took a big hit with the pandemic. And the unpredictability of the coming months has only added to the challenging environment many event professionals find themselves in today.
To support event professionals—who already hold one of the most stressful jobs—Stress Matters has launched two online courses: “Managing mental health and stress for event professionals” and “Designing and delivering mentally safe events.”
The courses are designed to help event industry professionals cope with the unique challenges they deal with in the performance of their jobs—all with the aim of promoting mental health awareness and actionable strategies.
Listen to Episode 4 of “Back of House LIVE”
For all this and more (including the musical stylings of one-man house band Juan Ariza), play Episode 4 at hopin.com/podcast/ or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Also, join us for a live taping of future episodes. You can follow our recording schedule on Hopin’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. “Back of House LIVE” is recorded before a live, remote audience on Hopin, using StreamYard.
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