Consulting/MV

Enjoy the Q&A below and then scroll further to ask Mo a question.

A quick fire Q&A with Monique Verdouw, Consultant, EventTouch.

How did you get into the events industry?

“I started out in the hospitality industry after finishing my studies. By chance I started working for an American tech company who were expanding into Europe and opening their headquarters in the Netherlands. Very quickly I became the person that picked up everything that wasn’t sales or technical and found myself organising the office opening event and setting up marketing events with our European distributors”

why did you build an event management platform?

 “From the moment I was getting involved in organising events I knew this was something I really wanted to do. I was hired by Cisco to build their events department for Europe which kicked off my career in event management. I learned so much, from planning and executing seminars, user meetings, partner summits, sales meetings, exhibitions and special events to using technology in any way possible to save time or enhance attendee experiences. When I left Cisco I started my own business, aiming to help event managers to integrate technology into their events and then, ultimately, I decided to put all my knowledge together to build a solution to help them do the job better, faster, more efficiently, and at scale - that became EventTouch” 

What has been the most prestigious event?

 “Throughout my career I have been part of many events. During my Cisco days, growing their Networkers event from a paper-based to a digital event and from a free event for 1,000 customers to a fully self-funding event for 4,000 paying customers (over 250 unique sessions, 3 days, social event, registration, keynotes, hotels, venue-sourcing, creative) was something I really enjoyed. I also help build programmes, like the International Graduate Programme that we delivered with ING (young starters spending 3 whole weeks together in an intensive programme hosting 3 events each day). In more recent years, it has been very special to manage access control for the national 4th and 5th of May events in the Netherlands and the Prince Claus Fund awards. I am of course particularly proud of our ongoing working relationship with the Royal House of the Netherlands”

name one of the biggest challenges for event organisers?

 “Companies struggle with tacit knowledge transfer, especially now! Event organisers often want to use technology and systems but they don’t always know how to implement tools strategically. There’s a lot of reinventing the wheel or changing resources without practical documentation from the past. All kinds of organisations and teams would benefit from a more practical, transparent and strategic approach to building a foundation to work from. Investing in this set-up pays off going forward and resource can be freed up to focus on content, attendee experience and return on investment”  

What impact did Covid have on the industry?

  “COVID obviously had a massive impact. Virtual events grew massively and in-person events declined drastically. There was a lot of real-time learning that led to some incredible innovation. What’s fascinating now is that in-person events are very much back and growing exponentially, which is awesome! Many business meetings and smaller events may still benefit from a virtual structure, saving time, travel and energy but post-COVID we see that in-person events are very much back and here to stay. People interact best in person”  

How do you see the market over the next 3 years?

 “AI will help bring insight, efficiency, personalisation and profitability to the industry and wider market in a plethora of ways - some of which we are already seeing and some of which we can’t yet imagine. The event industry needs to stay on top of innovation and development in this space. We also need to be cognisant of the upstream and downstream impact on people and society as a whole. Together with my team, my partners and my customers, I am excited to contribute and learn how we can make this next technology wave as positive as possible” 

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