What is the role of French Event Booster?
Jeanne Choffé - French Event Booster is a accelerator for several types of player: for start-up of course, that we help them to access the events market, to grow and create jobs and value for the end user. But we are also innovation partners for professionals, leaders in the events industry, and potentially for corporates, key accounts, institutions, in the public or private sector. This is what we call innovation design. We intervene internally, to 'de-silo', bring agility, run co-creation workshops, but also externally, with their customers, to untangle situations and irritants. That's why we shouldn't reduce French Event Booster to an incubator role, because we're also a source of value for professionals, and we organise events to stimulate the industry. And beyond that, in the future we'd also like to be a think & do tank for the sectorwith a much more global innovation platform. We also have a role to play in monitoring market trends: we receive a lot of requests in this area.
Do you work with French Tech, for example?
Jeanne Choffé - We didn't really have a link until now, but we've now initiated meetings with the French Tech Paris to build more bridges. We're going to be in more direct contact with them in the future.
Do you see yourselves as a Paris-based or national organisation?
Jeanne Choffé - We were set up in Paris in 2018, as part of a project led by VIParis, because there was no structure to support innovation in the sector, either nationally or even in Europe. We have links with the City of Paris, and with Paris&Co, the city's economic and innovation agency. So we're firmly rooted in the metropolis and the Ile-de-France region. On the other hand, the market is pushing us outwards Over the last two years, we've seen an increasing number of start-ups apply for contracts in the regions, in Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux, and even in French-speaking countries around the world: Canada, Belgium, North Africa, etc. Our 2022 strategy therefore includes a commitment to evangelising our model and methodology in the regions. For example, we have initiated a dialogue with the Palais des Congrès in Bordeaux, as well as in Nantes and Lille. We are also increasingly in contact with other organisations like ours in market segments that interest us. For example, the MT Lab in Montreal, which specialises in the world of entertainment, and in particular everything to do with immersive entertainment. It's a theme we're very interested in, because professionals are looking to 2022.
What are your key priorities for the coming year?
Jeanne Choffé - We will focus on three themes : l'immersive So, with all the experiential side, linked to the cultural industries. We want to take the energy of this sector and inject it into events. The second theme will behybridisationThere's been a lot of talk about it recently, but no clear definition that everyone agrees on. It's still a nebulous subject, I think. Everyone wants to do something about it, but nobody really knows what it is. All we know is that digital, the digitisation of the customer journey, of the experience, of community management and engagement, will also be achieved through digital. So we need to look at how we can fit into this market trend in the wake of the crisis. We will be producing a special hybridisation booklet. The third area will be everything to do with "out of eventwhich is fundamentally part of the event. We need to reinvent the visitor experience outside the event to make it all the more value-creating. As a player in the long-term transformation of the industry, in terms of impact and sustainability, French Event Booster does not place the emphasis on the visitor's experience. CSR as a specific theme: it will run through all the themes I have just described. It's a prerequisite for all the topics we cover. What's more, in our start-up selection criteria, environmental impact is of course a mandatory consideration. This wasn't entirely the case in 2018, to be honest...
What about the start-ups brought together by French Event Booster, their viability and their profile?
Jeanne Choffé - This represents around forty start-ups since 2018, of which around 45% have decided to stay with us beyond one year. Their survival rate has reached 90%, exceeding the national average of 80%, and this in an industry in crisis.
Didn't the figures fall with the crisis?
Jeanne Choffé - No, on the contrary, we're getting more and more requests, particularly from start-ups who weren't initially targeting the events sector, but who were positioning themselves in culture, the media and sport, and who are coming to us because they realise that there are a lot of things to do in an industry in crisis. That's where innovation can really come into its own. It's also part of our strategy to take innovative solutions from other industries and bring them back to us. I think that people want to get away from the "in-between-the-scenes" approach that the events sector has long been confined to.
So you haven't lost any start-ups because of the crisis?
Jeanne Choffé - Only one start-up decided to leave us. Smaller structures are more agile, and we have also helped them with their financing. We never stopped working during the crisis. And there has been a lot of government support for start-ups.
Conversely, have certain solutions 'benefited' from the new challenges posed by this unprecedented context?
Jeanne Choffé - Yes, this has been the case for some start-ups. For example, a start-up focused on counting entrances and exits, or another specialising in streaming recording, the creation of studios, etc. Their growth accelerated considerably with the crisis. So there is a positive side to the disruptive effects.
Will your development also affect start-ups?
Jeanne Choffé - Our selection strategy is going to change. Until now, it's been fairly academic. We used to work by promotion, once a year, with a dozen or so start-ups. It doesn't really make sense to operate like that any more, given that now access to the events market must be rapid in this crisis context. This is another area where French Event Booster has added value compared to other players. We will now be recruiting five start-ups every four months.These themes are linked both to the choices made by our partners on the board, and to what comes up in the market. So we're trying to inject more agility into our model to keep up with the market as closely as possible. In 2022, we also intend to open up our board to other partners, and offer greater flexibility. We are now providing more one-shot advice on an ad hoc basis.
Does the organisation of the first FEBXperience last October also mark a change in direction for French Event Booster?
Jeanne Choffé - We are event creators for the industry, through sector keynotes, inspirational events and networking events such as this one. FEBXperience. This is effectively a new format for events, to liven up our venue and bring our ecosystem back to life physically. With the crisis, we're no longer operating on a competitive basis, but on the basis of partnership. We've entered into a partnership with l'Innovatoire, and every three months there will be a start-up that will bring the event to life in immersive terms. Our entire ecosystem will be invited to come and network in a relaxed atmosphere. Another new feature will be the Side Events. We are located in a park, which by definition hosts events. We're going to capitalise on these events by creating themed events. For example, we've just organised a Side Event at the Salon des maires around the theme of green tech. And we plan to do the same with other events. For example, theIFTM Top Resa could be an excellent idea. We'd like to do this at least once a month, but it all depends on the relevance of the event's theme.
You described hybridisation as "nebulous": how would you define it?
Jeanne Choffé - According to the definition I heard at the conference, thehybridisation is to interweave a physical event with a digital device, with fragmented audiences. The aim is to create unity between the digital and the physical, and to animate and engage this audience. But community involvement in hybridisation is still in its infancy. It seems to me that over the course of an hour of hybrid event, the average concentration time of an online participant is less than ten minutes... There is still so much to be done, including on our side. Many players have positioned themselves in this field. We are already trying to categorise them, prioritise them and identify how they fit into the chain. With hybridization, there is no longer a unit of time in the event; you have to animate a community all year round. If hybridization consists solely of digitising an event, it makes no sense. We need to find other relays, get to know visitors better, build bridges between visitors. And for the moment there is no economic model for the players involved. That's another important step to take.
Some convention centres seem to have been disappointed by their hybrid experience. Will this trend really last?
Jeanne Choffé - I think that hybridization is a lasting process, that it is becoming a prerequisite, but the model has not yet been found. The convention centre business is based on physical meetings. So they focus on that, and that's normal. One cannot replace the other: the two must complement each other. You only have to look at the development of a venue like VIPariswhich is one of the European leaders. VIParis used to be a space rental company. Now we're diversifying our business models and offering advice to organisers. Hybridisation is one of them. There has to be momentum: organisers can't do it alone, so host venues have to get involved. Today, we're not thinking about stopping hybridisation. On the contrary: we need to define how we can collectively support this transformation. The idea for the future is for the two formats to intermingle, and indeed for an on-site participant to be able to draw on the digital elements of the show as well. Everything also depends very much on the environmental, economic and social situation... If tomorrow there are again problems of confinement or other issues, digital will take over. But we remain convinced that the physical meeting remains the driving force behind an event.
