Rachel Moore, Director of Content & Communications at Hubilo, welcomes Vaibhav and Janet to the show. She kicks off this episode of In Any Event by asking Vaibhav and Janet about the importance of partnerships between organizations like Hubilo and Freeman in the events industry. Janet talks about how critical it is to partner with the right people for any live event. A successful event has many moving parts. And by forging partnerships, we can make the entire event management process much more streamlined. Vaibhav shares the initial vision of Hubilo and talks about how they never wanted to disrupt the events industry or take away somebody's business. Since the very beginning, Vaibhav explains, Hubilo has tried to partner with other organizations to improve their way of doing things.

Rachel asks our guest what this new partnership means for both companies. Vaibhav explains that Freeman, being an industry giant, has a lot to offer to a relatively new player in the market like Hubilo. He sees this partnership as an opportunity to learn how to tackle complex problems and reach a bigger user base. Janet points out that innovation and evolution are necessary for a company as old as Freeman(95 years!). And after the pandemic, they realized that they had to enhance their digital and hybrid event game, and that is where Hubilo came in. She points out that Hubilo's sparkling track record of delivering on its promises of quality, celerity, and innovation is a great asset for Freeman.

Rachel talks to our guests about MIX 2022, a hybrid event organized by Hubilo just a few weeks before the taping of this episode. She asks our guests about the event's key takeaways and their thoughts about the future of hybrid events. Janet explains how hybrid events merge the best of both worlds. MIX 2022 showed that while having people present at the venue is a lot of fun, by providing a digital medium as well, we can increase our reach and get a lot more people to attend the event. Vaibhav shares that the inspiration behind MIX 2022 was Hubilo's drive to educate people on what a perfect hybrid event would look like. He also talks about all the effort and hard work that goes into making hybrid events possible and thanks his team for their unwavering support and undying motivation.

Vaibhav talks about how following the pandemic, there is an itch among event-goers to attend more physical events. As a result, virtual events have become slightly less popular recently. But once people have gotten this pent-up need to attend physical events out of their systems, the virtual and hybrid events will both see steady and sustainable growth. Janet adds to Vaibhav's comments and tells us how virtual and hybrid events will become more commonplace going forward. She explains that event planners could conduct smaller virtual events to stay connected to their customer base. Furthermore, she also talks about how the attendee demographic has changed and how millennials and Gen-Z are digital-first generations, which will shape the events industry in the coming years.

Janet talks about how the events industry is going through a second massive shift in less than five years and how it is opening up so many new possibilities. While these changes can be scary, she believes that the future of this industry is bright, and there's a lot of exciting stuff yet to come.

Vaibhav talks about how talent can make all the difference for a company. He also talks about the value of growth and upgrading your skillset as you progress through your career. According to Vaibhav, it is vital to challenge your employees and give them difficult tasks so they learn and grow. Janet explains that you have to be solution-focused to make it in the events industry. She talks about how curve balls will always be thrown your way during an event, and if you really want to do well in this space, you have to learn to think fast and move faster.