Adam Parry Ate My Hamster and Other Fun at Day One of Event Tech Live 2023!

Last week, Paul and Joe headed off to ExCeL London for the tenth incarnation of Event Tech Live, this year co-located with its new sibling, Event Sustainability Live, and what a fun-filled two days they had!

The show kicked off with a packed first day, with Paul being unexpectedly selected by Simon, the show host, for one of the first live-streamed interviews from the event.

“I hadn’t even finished my first coffee of the day when Simon asked me to join him for a quick chat about what we were hoping to achieve at the show and the ‘Ask the Expert’ hub; he also asked about the panel session I was chairing later that morning, and my talk on pr in the digital age, at the end of the afternoon. Fortunately, Simon is a consummate professional and made it all very easy,” commented Paul.

“It did get a little worrying when Simon’s prompt screen flashed “Another 3 minutes”, but fortunately, I wasn’t expected to fill the time, or I would have ended up talking about my dog!” Added Paul.

As with many shows, Vividink’s audience at Event Tech Live was as much the exhibitors in the room as the visitors attending the show, and Paul & Joe were delighted to meet Rob from Event Footprints and his team on the stand adjacent to us, a fellow expert, but this time in tracking event value.

As the day warmed up, Paul was despatched to host the panel session - 'Hybrid and virtual events, don't drop the online value in the rush back to in-person events'. “Although I was a little nervous to begin with, having never worked on stage with either Rich Belcher of First Sight Media or Neil Thompson of The Delegate Wranglers, it immediately became apparent that these two gentlemen were experienced panel professionals and more than happy to share views and ideas with their audience, thanks gents, it was a blast!”

The day saw many more conversations with visitors and exhibitors, catching up with industry friends like Rob Dunsmore, who stopped by our stand. The team caught up with Lewis Walters of Priority Graphics with his amazing cardboard exhibition stand!

Clients in the show were all hard at work; First Sight Media were everywhere, filming, streaming and doing everything to capture the salient moments of the day, and Ash Austin of Evolution Dome participated in a panel session on the Event Sustainability Stage.he ay closed with Paul delivering his “Adam Parry Ate My Hamster” presentation, looking at