Best Event Networking App

Best Networking App

A leading global association of tradeshow organizers and the exhibition industry has recognized Grip as one of the top event apps this year.UFI, which comprises 725 member organizations in 85 countries worldwide, awarded Grip its 2017 ICT Technology Award in July. The Technology Award honors outstanding digital tools designed to make the next generation of exhibition professionals fit for the future, and recognizes new technologies that support the exhibition industry. The theme for this year’s Award was: “Digital Innovation - What will be our solution for the future?”.Grip, which also won last year’s IMEXPitch, stood out from the competition with an innovative product which offers an event networking app that has established more than 60,000 connections (and counting) for thousands of professionals.

Why Grip Won

Presenting at the UFI European Conference, Co-Founder and Grip CEO Tim Groot explained that the idea for the product emerged when the organizers of Cannes Lions 2016 wanted a smoother and more engaging way for attendees to network. Grip’s solution was to design a standalone custom event app using Artificial Intelligence to power a matchmaking API (Application Programming Interface) to deliver the best networking recommendations in a fast and friendly way.Put to the test at the 15,000-attendee event, the Cannes Lions networking app established an average of 8.4 connections per user and more than 20,000 connections over a few days, enabling hundreds of face-to-face meetings, meaningful connections, and creating a huge positive impact on the event experience.Also presented were

• Grip’s main functionalities. As an event networking app for the whole exhibition, Grip is not restricted to exhibitor, location of booth, or platform - it can be offered to all tradeshow attendees before, during and after an event. Its Artificial Intelligence matchmaking engine enables pre-event, onsite, and post-meeting scheduling.
• The value added to the event experience. Pre-event, Grip removes a lot of the hard work and cost of B2B matchmaking. With the ability to prospect who is going to be there ahead of time, meetings can be scheduled to make the most of exhibitors’ time from the start of the event. On location, Artificial Intelligence enables real-time insights on prospective buyers’ networking intentions and how well this matches exhibitors’ offerings. As users interact with Grip during the event, the AI recommendations improve, presenting more opportunities for serendipitous, meaningful connections.
• Measures Grip took to reach the organizers’ objectives. Grip offers the best of both worlds - exhibitors take advantage of the incomparable exposure to networking opportunities that tradeshows bring, with a quality lead generation strategy fortified by the power of Grip’s AI.According to UFI, “presentations from the finalists were of an excellent standard, making the selection of an overall winner a very challenging assignment”. However, Grip’s presentation was “clear, comprehensive and met all the requirements needed for the tool to be considered a winning solution”. Other finalists presenting to the UFI’s Digital Innovation Committee in Cologne, Germany, included Messe München GmbH, ExpoPlatform, and Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Center."The UFI Technology Award is one of the most prestigious technology awards in the trade show world.” says Tim Groot. “We feel honored to be chosen as this year’s winner among so many great companies, and it's great to see that the judges share our belief that technology can vastly improve networking and deliver an improved return on investment for exhibitors by leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence.”“We are looking forward to presenting our solution at UFI's Global Congress in Johannesburg later this year and will continue to push the boundaries of technology at trade shows."

Multi-Award-winning Professional Networking App

Grip’s win comes hot on the heels of last year’s IMEXPitch award, a competition for event tech startups to showcase themselves to event organizers and marketers from around the world. It’s run as part of IMEX America, the US’ largest annual meetings industry trade show, featuring the largest hosted buyer program in North America. Grip also won the standing-room only audience poll at IMEXPitch, and will be displaying at IMEX later this year.UFI’s Awards recognize and reward successful result-oriented initiatives in the exhibition industry in areas ranging from digital innovation, human resources, marketing and operations and services to trade fair poster design and sustainable development. UFI represents around 50,000 exhibition industry employees globally, and works closely with its 58 national and regional association members. Over 900 international trade fairs bear the UFI approved label, a quality guarantee for visitors and exhibitors. UFI members continue to provide the international business community with a unique marketing media aimed at developing outstanding face-to-face business opportunities. More information on the UFI is available at www.ufi.org.