VouchPro was founded in 2016 and today it is one of India’s fastest-growing virtual and hybrid events service providers.VouchPro offers one-stop-solution for its customers as it provides an array of services right from virtual and hybrid events including live streaming solutions, video APIs, digital activations, and customer engagement enablers.
Anubhav Bajpai, Founder & CEO, VouchPro in an exclusive chat with Medianews4U talks to us about the Event Industry in the new normal, the steps Vouch Pro is making to create hybrid events for their clients and much more…
2020 was a dampener for the events industry, 2021 post-May things had opened up. How are you seeing 2022 for this sector?
The beginning of 2020 might have thrown the events industry into a rage, but virtual events calmed their nerves towards the end of the year. They gained massive popularity within a blink of an eye and there was no looking back ever since. With over 93% of event marketers using and investing in virtual platforms, it was established that virtual events are not here to just stay, but to grow exponentially. While hybrid events are not unique to 2022, the movement was accelerated by the business world’s need to replicate meetings, events, and similar functions online. Although, this shift was bound to happen at some point in the future as evidenced by many industries during the past couple of decades however things evolved early in 2021 and the future now belongs to hybrid events. In the year 2022, events will probably be the combination of virtual and face-to-face experiences in ways that will increase their return on investments, improve efficiencies, and make them environment-friendly.
As VouchPro, what would be the strategy when it comes to business events for your clients?
Hybrid events have quickly become the norm, so planning them has become a large part of any event creator’s role. Hybrid events can be incredibly successful for a number of reasons, including the fact you can host them from anywhere in the world. They can save your money, increase engagement with your audience and potential customers, generate leads, build your brand and help you establish yourself or your clients as industry leaders.VouchPro unlocks the exciting possibilities for many organizations than ever before to successfully leverage the power of business events. At VouchPro, we integrate AI-driven interactive elements like gamification for the audience that has incredibly involved in virtual events. We help the companies with significant virtual event strategies, regardless of what happens with physical events.
How is VouchPro ensuring that the clients experience on a virtual event is the same as the live event in terms of networking etc?
The integration of AI, AR, and VR into virtual events has made things even better. From conferences to award shows, to meetings and whatnot, AI-powered bots drive virtual partnerships for audiences and deliver the best customer engagement because of the personalized experience they offer. Adapting technologies like machine learning help in observing and learning customer behavior to enhance engagement. We provide our customers with better networking opportunities across live and virtual audiences, richer data, enhanced attendee experiences, and better ways for sponsors to engage with virtual audiences.
What are the innovations in this sector now as we are seeing more hybrid events?
Event organizers are looking for new ways to engage attendees and stakeholders are demanding more value than the traditional 2D platforms can provide. VouchPro modernizes traditional events and promises to eliminate the top frustration of event professionals by bringing life-like experiences into the digital realm with a 3D immersive experience. Growing an event portfolio while minimizing operational costs is the Holy Grail for the event planning community. At VouchPro, we are significantly raising the digital bar. We are set to lead the revolution of virtual events with the introduction of a cutting-edge metaverse platform. Considering this, the metaverse offers a fantastic opportunity because in the virtual world there are no upper limits on capacity and participants can join from thousands of kilometres away. This innovative platform helps create 3D look-alike avatars that can animate and communicate instantly. One of the keys to developing the metaverse is high-quality virtual reality, which allows users to interact with different elements, in the same way, they would in the real world. Metaverse will have virtually countless benefits because it will provide people with new opportunities and capabilities not known earlier.
In regards to sponsorship, how do sponsors look at virtual events in terms of ROI?
The kind of eyeballs brands can get in virtual events is immense. Involving sponsors in virtual events increases ROI. Such sponsors can aid in gaining exposure in the event sector as a whole. As virtual and hybrid events do not have any geo-boundaries, events can be prompted globally which will also attract global sponsors.
Where do you see this industry in 2022?
The trend of hybrid events has acted as a catalyst to change all kinds of in-person events that companies will be hosting in the future. The term “hybrid event” has been around for years. Yet, the pandemic and post-pandemic action plans have brought this idea to the front and centre of many event planning strategies. The world has changed many times, and it is changing again with virtual and hybrid events. Therefore, all of us are adapting to a new way of living and working which is easy and convenient. With the introduction of the metaverse, the world of engagement will go to the next level.
What are your expansion plans and growth strategy for 2022?
In terms of business, we are eyeing clock revenues of around 12 crores in FY22-23. Till now we are providing our services to over 250 clients nationally and internationally. In the year 2022, we are focusing on all the sectors with Pharma and BFSI leading the way. After establishing our niche position in the Indian markets, we are planning to expand our operations in the middle-east and south-east markets starting from Dubai and Singapore this year.
