Alex Balding, Events Manager at SaaStock

Alex is an Events Manager at SaaStock, a global community of SaaS (software as a service) founders, executives and investors. SaaStock boasts Europe’s biggest SaaS conference which takes place in Dublin every October with 4,000 attendees from 50+ countries in addition to a calendar of global conferences.

As the Operations lead on upcoming events in Hong Kong, New York and Sydney, he is constantly working with a range of the latest event technologies to deliver these events successfully. Alongside this, Alex is an active freelancer in the live music industry and over the years has undertook various roles across Production, Site and Backstage for clients such as Ginger Owl, Live Nation, MTV and BBC. 

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Frankie Tee, Production Manager at EnTEEtainment Ltd

A director of and production manager at EnTEEtainment Ltd, Frankie specialises in technical production management, artist liaison and CAD drawing at a variety of events. 

Mainly working on live music events such as Radio 1s Big Weekend, Reading Festival and BBC Proms in Hyde Park, Frankie has worked her way up from laminating during summer holidays to graduating from Leeds Metropolitan University and being awarded the ‘Rising Star Award’ for the festival industry in 2014. 

Having worked in a wide range of event types for over 10 years such as fashion shows, corporate parties, product launches and experiential shows, Frankie has recently added live touring to her portfolio.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Aleksandra Panyukhina, Head of Event Marketing at SEMrush 

Aleksandra is a highly skilled event marketing professional with more than 10 years of experience in business, entertainment and sport events. Currently Aleksandra is specialising on event and experiential in the digital marketing industry and is leading the global event team at SEMrush.

Together with her team she successfully manages 40+ events a year across 5 continents and ensures the events strategy is aligned with the overall brand’s customer engagement strategy and business goals.

Her major focus is on creation of unique experiences and establishing personal relationship between brand and customer through the offline events while driving up the ROI of this marketing channel.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Scott Cullather, Co-Founder & CEO of INVNT

Scott Cullather has more than 25 years of brand communications and live event experience. He co-founded INVNT in 2008, and under his leadership, INVNT has redefined the way organizations communicate to their employees, customers, and business partners. Across his career, Scott has led teams in the design, production, and execution of hundreds of large-scale B2B and B2C events in more than 40 countries, for dozens of the world’s leading brands, companies, and trade associations. 

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Alison Church, Marketing Director at Easyfairs UK & Global

Alison is an experienced exhibition and conference marketing professional with 18 years’ experience encompassing conferences, exhibitions, marketing and PR. She is as passionate about delivering exceptional events to both exhibitors and visitors as she is about travelling the world in her spare time.

As Marketing Director at Easyfairs UK & Global, she ensures best practice and effective marketing strategies across its event portfolio, including shows run in the UK, France, Algeria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Singapore, China, and the US.   

Before joining Easyfairs, Alison spent nine years at Venture Marketing Group working on its exhibitions, conferences, awards and publications, with a particular emphasis on building high level and valuable content across all products. Her early career included roles as a conference producer at Centaur and PR account director.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Charlotte Hammerbeck, Director, Meetings Technology at GSK 

GSK is a science-led global healthcare company with a special purpose: to help people do more, feel better, live longer. operating in more than 120 countries. As Director, Meetings Technology, Charlotte Hammerbeck drives the use of systems and processes to simplify and improve the way GSK plans and delivers its events across the organisation.

Prior to working for GSK, Charlotte has held a number of positions in tech, communications and event management, amongst these being as UK Communications Manager for Sodexo on their largest global account and global configuration lead for the GSK implementation of EMS (room booking software). Charlotte is a member of a number of professional bodies, is a judge for the International Business Awards (Stevie Awards) and regularly appears at industry events, either speaking on panels or delivering expert sessions on all things meetings, events and associated tech. 

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Marco Giberti, Founder & CEO of Vesuvio Ventures

Marco is a successful serial entrepreneur and investor with more than 25 years of intensive experience in media, technology, and the events industry. He is Founder and CEO of Vesuvio Ventures, providing early stage entrepreneurs access to coaching, partnerships, advisory, and capital. 

Marco is a Harvard Business School OPM Graduate, and member of YPO, the Young Presidents Organization and a frequent speaker at industry conferences. He is also a co-author of the best-selling book The Face of Digital focused on how digital technologies are changing the live events business industry.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Rick Stainton, Founder & Group Executive Director of Smyle Group

As Founder & Group Executive Director, Rick oversees the growth strategy of Smyle Group which owns leading creative agency Smyle, that delivers live and video projects for some of the top global brands in a range of sectors including IT, Telco and Media. It has won the UK Event Agency of the Year award a record 5 times in last 11 years – in 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. 

Smyle has also been recognised as the fastest growing leading agency in the industry through its entry in The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 in December 2018 and The Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 in February 2019.

Rick has delivered numerous key-note speeches at industry events and has been voted into Event magazine’s Event 100 club every year since its inauguration.

As a co-founder of The Global Sustainable Events Summit, its new format came from Rick’s belief in engaging with the full spectrum of the events and live communication industries, as well as building on Smyle’s ISO 20121 certification.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Craig Mathie, Managing Director of Bournemouth 7s Festival

Craig Mathie is Managing Director of Bournemouth 7s Festival, the UK’s favourite sport and music festival. A qualified and experienced Project Manager, Craig leads the team responsible for all elements of the planning and delivery of this truly unique festival, which is fast approaching its 11th edition.

Craig is a passionate events man and sports enthusiast who has gained a wide breadth of skills and expertise working on some of the UK’s most celebrated and reputable live events. 

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Simon Levitt, Global Creative Technology Director at Imagination

Simon is a Creative Technical Director who consistently drives forward ground-breaking digital projects that are changing the nature of consumer experiences across the globe. He has 15 years of experience working for clients such as the Science Museum, Sony, Canon and Ford.

Always putting customers at the heart of the experience Simon has delivered many programmes of work including integrated live digital experience platforms with personalised content that can be shared with visitors instantly. The experiences he creates always connect the client and the customer while being measurable in real-time.

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John Regis, Global Technology Adoption Manager at Informa

With a prodigious and unrivalled passion for technology and progression, John has spent the last four years improving the adoption of event technology for UBM’s EMEA Region, working on various events including CPhi Worldwide, IFSEC International, MedTec Europe and Decorex International before progressing on to managing the global adoption of Technology across the Informa Group, with a focus on improving the End User Experience.

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Michael Shapiro, Editor, Technology, Northstar Meetings Group

Michael has covered the transformative effects of technology on meetings and travel for more than a decade at Northstar. Previously, he was a founding editor of a pioneering digital-photography magazine, and has written for two decades about tech, travel, business, cameras and culture for a plethora of publications.

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Sam Chance, Portfolio Marketing Manager at Fresh Montgomery

Sam Chance is the Portfolio Marketing Manager at Fresh Montgomery overseeing shows including Hotel, Restaurant & Catering, ScotHot, Independent Hotel Show, PUB and The Foodservice Show. With number of visitors ranging from 3,000 up to 20,000 technology and the efficiencies it creates is vital in helping drive visitor attendance.

Sam has worked in Events marketing for more than 10 years, having had previous roles at Centaur Media, Reed Exhibitions and Clarion Events. With number of visitors ranging from 3,000 up to 20,000 technology and the efficiencies it creates is vital in helping drive visitor attendance. Sam has worked in Events marketing for more than 10 years, having had previous roles at Centaur Media, Reed Exhibitions and Clarion Events.

Read the Event Tech Q&A here

Kizzy Allott
Author: Kizzy Allott