A Montreal tech firm is looking to pull corporate events into the future by the lanyard and change the way conventions look, feel and are experienced..
The New York-based events tech company Bizzabo purchased Montreal-based Klik from PixMob for a reported $13.5 million, looking to take advantage of the local company’s popular wearable technologies.
“We created a unique networking experience with attendees with our smart badge, but also created unique insights for organizers,” said Bizzabo Montreal director of product and site manager Charles Truong, one of Klik’s founders.
Truong said the smart badges make Klik a type of “Google Analytics for physical events” where organizers can know where attendees went and what they saw.
“It’s a way to quantify the success of an event to know what actually happened to understand what was the intention, what actually happened, mapping the real world and be able to provide that data back to the organizers, exhibitors and sponsors,” said Truong.
The badges are a high-tech version of those dangling from lanyards and attached to wrists visitors to corporate events will be very familiar with.
“This object becomes the physical extension to their digital profile at the event,” said Truong. “So the object becomes something they can interact with.”
Attendees, Truong explained, can share contacts, request more information, book appointments and keep track of their experience at the event without having to haul a handful of flyers, notes and programs around.
“It can send you personalized information about what you actually attended during the event, so from an identity perspective, it’s really a way to personalize your event experience but also make it more interactive for you when you’re there,” said Truong.
Those who attended the C2 MTL conference used Klik’s interactive passes.
GIVING DOWNTOWN A TECH BOOST
The opening of the Klik office comes as Quebec is investing significantly in the province’s tech sector and the City of Montreal is looking at ways to revitalize its downtown core.
A recent analysis found traffic could be reduced downtown by as much as 25 per cent as businesses continue to embrace hybrid work models.
“It’s huge,” Montreal Chamber of Commerce (CCMM) president and CEO Michel Leblanc said on Friday.
Montreal, Truong said, has the ideal combination of tech and event expertise, and having an office makes sense.
“With the growth, having access to different pools of markets of talent, even though you can access them remotely, it’s good to have a local office so people can feel close to one another,” he said. “Clearly, the Montreal market in terms of talent is very interesting.”