Socio Labs, an all-in-one event management solution, provides event planners the ability to host in-person, virtual, or hybrid — a combination of in-person and virtual — events.
The Cisco-Socio Labs deal is aimed at expanding Webex's event management capabilities to include large-scale, multisession hybrid events and conferences. According to Cisco, the acquisition will allow event organizers to deliver the same inclusive experience to attendees whether they attend in-person or virtually for events of all types, sizes, and formats.
“Hybrid events need to serve both in-person and virtual audiences alike, and Socio delivers equally engaging and inclusive experiences to all, said Javed Khan, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Collaboration.
“Event attendees can view sessions, participate in audience engagement and enjoy interactive networking – regardless of how they join an event.”
Socio personalizes the meeting experience from the get-go with a dynamic ticketing system and 1:1 networking. Following the acquisition, the tool will feature live streaming, sponsorship, advanced analytics, and engagement tracking. It’ll also include existing Webex features like polling, Q&A, chat, and real-time translation.
Furthermore, Socio Labs complements Cisco's recent acquisition of Slido. Slido’s audience interaction platform helps boost participation through easy-to-use Q&As and polls.
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“For meeting participants that might be reluctant to ask a question or share their voice, Slido’s ability to display questions anonymously enables a higher degree of participation and feedback,” added Khan.
By integrating features from Socio Labs and Slido, Cisco hopes to make Webex a full-featured, cost-effective event management platform, from registration to post-event analytics.
“With Webex’s cutting-edge meeting innovations like immersive share and real-time translations, Slido’s audience engagement capabilities like polling and Q&A and Socio’s full lifecycle hybrid event management technology, event organizers will be able to plan and execute hybrid events with a unified tech stack from one vendor,” said Khan.
The Cisco-Socio Labs merger is expected to close in the second half of the current fiscal year.
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