U.S.-based CLIPr was crowned the overall winner of the 2020 TechWatch Live Award, which was presented during IBTM World Virtual, held online Dec. 8-10. The platform beat out four other leading event tech companies for its achievements in addressing “Zoom fatigue” with its intelligent use of machine-learning and AI technology to provide searchable, personalized recorded video recaps and insights of online meetings, events and classes.

By analyzing recorded video content and highlighting key topics, CLIPr enables users to search and share important moments from an online event in a fraction of the time. This empowers event organizers to get more mileage out of their digital content by allowing them to continuously repurpose it. The practice allows for engaging audiences throughout the year, according to CLIPr CEO and Co-founder Humphrey Chen. 

“Meeting fatigue is real [and] there are 55 million meetings per day in the world,” Chen explained. “In 2020, the pandemic moved much of this activity online, where it could be recorded. This gave us an idea: What if we could build an AI that would quickly prioritize the moments that matter most? What if we could search for what we needed from these meetings, rather than attend?”

He continued, “We noticed companies and individuals struggling to keep up, stay in business, watch at double-speed, use the time bar to try to find that perfect moment to extract knowledge from vast swaths of video content. We felt the pain ourselves and took the opportunity to reimagine and invent a way for everyone to unleash and capitalize on the knowledge locked within video content.” 

CLIPr was chosen from a group of five TechWatch Award finalists – all touting new products or services set to inspire and revolutionize the meetings and events industry. Each of the companies showcased their high-tech inventions to thousands of high-profile global buyers, influencers and media, on-demand on the IBTM Accelerate Stream on Dec. 9. 

The other four finalists included: 

• Pubsphere Exhibits, which is developing small wearable devices with built-in light detection and ranging technology to discreetly inform people nearby to respect and maintain their physical distances; 
• Troop, which uses big data analysis to help planners compare different event locations based on various factors including COVID-19 incidence to help restart safe in-person meetings;
• Socio, an event management platform and end-to-end solution for virtual, hybrid and in-person events;
• ConsensIQ, a polling tool that allows for deeper dialogue and more effective exploration of dilemmas, problems and challenges between groups.

The companies were selected based on criteria including innovation level, uniqueness in the market, concept and business model, progress in development and value to the MICE industry. 

The TechWatch Live Awards’ panel of judges comprised high-profile experts from IBTM’s technology advisory group, including Dave Lorenzini, founder and CEO of EventFX; Liz King Caruso, CEO of Liz King Events and Techsytalk, and Founder of IGNITE consulting program; Keith Johnston, managing partner of i3 Events and publisher of event industry blog Plannerwire; and award-winning entrepreneur, podcaster and bestselling author Jason Allan Scott.

According to David Thompson, IBTM World Virtual’s event director, the conference received an outstanding caliber of entries touting highly inventive solutions to help the meetings and events industry, particularly in navigating the current pandemic. 

“Our highly regarded TechWatch Award always highlights the best emerging technologies to support the meetings and events industry, but this year the global pandemic presented a whole new set of challenges and it is fantastic to see so many companies providing thoughtful solutions,” Thompson said. 

He added, “The quality of entries was superb, and I want to thank our judges as well as everyone who entered and congratulate CLIPr, this year’s winner. We look forward to seeing how their product develops in the future.”

Tech evangelist Dahlia El Gazzar, who serves as chief collaborator for the annual TechWatch Live Awards, said CLIPr couldn’t have been more deserving of being crowned the overall winner this year. 

“This year was different when it came to the TechWatch entries and what the highly esteemed judges were looking for: solutions to help the MICE industry and event professionals to create more engaging communities and events in the next decade, not only in 2021,” El Gazzar explained. 

She added, “The way [CLIPr] can help event professionals use their content for better curation purposes, monetization and as snackable content to prolong the life engagement with stakeholders, is going to be a critical factor in events, branding and storytelling going forward.”

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