SW Event Technology was founded in British Columbia nearly 30 years ago and is the technology and creativity behind many of Canada’s premier live events and now many of BC’s premier online events like the Vancouver International Privacy & Security Summit.
SW has quietly been behind the scenes supporting the staging and delivery of sports, entertainment, conferences, meetings and public events throughout the country. You will see their work in places like BC Place, and the VCC as well as on television on most any news cast delivering the government’s regular news conferences.
Pre-pandemic, SW was primarily known as a live event service provider, with 175 people on staff and over 100,000 sqft of warehouse equipment in BC. “We needed to make a quick turn to online event hosting. Our previously small webcasting team became the focus of our business realignment strategy. We built our online platform solution, as well as reconfigured our many regional warehouses to television studios” said Founder and CEO Cal McCarthy. By September 2020 SW had a digital first virtual and hybrid platform for delivering large scale events anywhere in Canada and the United States.
Reboot Communications was a long time customer that was the first to use this “digital first” platform. The successful results set the bar for the more than 100,000 users of the SW platform since September. “The platform has opened up new customers including in the US and Europe and revenue is again flowing. We have a 90% close rate…once we demo to a prospective customer they nearly all convert to users” said Ben Pidskalny, VP Business Development. “We have some really innovative features including custom animated 3D environments, custom avatars, as well as the usual features like registration, ticketing, built-in website, along with all the analytics and even a mobile app. Another benefit of the platform is its ability to host large scale trade shows with 3D exhibit halls and booths, in both a virtual and hybrid environment. Hybrid is the next step in online events and will be the new buzz word for 2021”.
SW provides main other services around virtual and hybrid events. These include services such as pre-recording keynote speeches or panel discussions physically in one of their many studios or remotely using software based broadcasting stations. They also have a full creative services department to create and edit any content required for the event. SW also provides many other platform add-ons to keep attendees engaged such as prize draws, photo booths, virtual mosaic’s, virtual swag bags, and on-line games.
SW’s approach to all virtual events is to make the experience from the attendee’s side as smooth and engaging as possible. They understand that not everyone is tech savvy and for many attendees this is the first virtual event they have ever attended. Through the consultation process with the client they outline key processes to achieve this outcome. They also provide live help desk support leading up to the event, as well as during the event, for all attendees and sponsors.
Over the past year SW has provided its virtual and hybrid services to almost every major business sector including finance, privacy, security, healthcare, education, government, sporting, and tourism. They have produced events from as little at 50 attendees all the way up to events with 15,000 attendees. Whether it’s an AGM, corporate conference, tradeshow, sporting event, press conference, gala, or awards ceremony, SW has you covered.
SW expects to see continued growth in the platform business post pandemic, as customers and audiences will want the option to attend live events both virtually and in person. A lot of SW’s customers have already said once in-person events return they will still always have a virtual component. Virtual and Hybrid events aren’t going away. You want a trusted partner with a proven track record on your side.
For more information visit www.virtual.sw-online.com
