We’ve been looking at the Brazilian market for a while now, so when MCI, one of the world’s leading conference organizers, asked us to provide our event app at one of their conferences in São Paulo, we jumped on the opportunity.
And seriously, the Brazilians are masters at making you feel at ease. The set up was beautiful: imagine a futuristic speak-easy with soft lights and live jazz in the background. It created a perfect atmosphere for some relaxed business networking over breakfast. And just as everyone started settling in, a tribal bongo player broke the spell, reminding everyone that they were actually here to learn about the future of event management in the digital age (the bongo player was there to remind us what communication was about in the good old days…)
Under the banner “Eventos 3.0”, our own Chieftess, Areti Kampyli, kicked off the conference by talking about what makes a successful event app, and how it can facilitate business networking. She also ran through the main features of the Yasmo app, which for this occasion had been completely branded with MCI’s gorgeous designs. And because MCI had centred this event around the future of event technology, they made sure to use all our best features, from in-app tweeting to live streaming, as well as our core ice-breaker feature which allows people to discover each other via their mobiles and then meet each other face-to-face.
Without wanting to blow our own trumpet too much, it went down a storm. The thing about Brazil is that even though it has one of the world’s largest social media adoption rates, it is still pretty new to the use of digital networking for business purposes. But that is changing fast, and the speed at which the country is catching up is astounding.
That was followed by a series of thought-provoking presentations on sustainability, corporate gifting, global trends in the events industry, and an expert panel from some of São Paulo’s most prestigious meeting venues, including the iconic Hotel Unique, where the conference was being held.
We rolled out at about 3pm, slightly disoriented by the fact that it was still daylight outside, given that Eventos 3.0 ended in a nightclub atmosphere, with a group of flash mob dancers leading delegates in a surprise boogie. It was the first time our event app was used at a conference in Brazil, and given how fun that was, we hope there will be many more to come!