Attendees to the Singapore FinTech Festival were treated to a fully immersive digital experience that closely replicated the interactive atmosphere of physical events
Event brief
The Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) is the world’s largest FinTech event and a global platform for the FinTech community, comprising FinTech players, technopreneurs, policymakers, financial industry leaders, investors including private equity players and venture capitalists, and academics.
For its sixth annual instalment, SFF 2021 needed a highly customisable platform that could create an engaging experience for its global audience. The 2020 edition had brought together 60,000 participants from over 150 countries in a hybrid format, while SFF 2021 had to keep up with that experience virtually.
The virtual event needed to have networking and one-to-one opportunities for discussion among attendees, and between attendees and sponsors/exhibitors. Some of the functionalities required were live streaming across multiple stages, directory, and one-to-one chats and meeting schedule functionalities.
The week-long SFF featured more than 350 sessions, over 700 speakers, over 260 exhibitors, and 14 international pavilions. The theme of the event focused on the impact of Web 3.0 on financial services.
SFF 2021 also saw the inclusion of new features including the facilitation of online learning, enabling participants to earn a verified digital Web 3.0 Knowledge Certificate in Financial Services.
Event highlights
The event was successful, with over 60,000 attendees and over two million views from around the world. Over 7,500 companies participated, out of which 260 exhibitors set up virtual booths, including 14 International Pavilions.
Sponsors of the event had the option of adding triggers when an attendee came to their booth, as well as the ability to host livestreams from within their booths without interrupting any of the ongoing live programmes.
On building the virtual venue, Veemal Gungadin, CEO and founder of GEVME, said: “The focus was always on enhancing the attendee experience, to replicate the connectivity and interactive atmosphere of physical events while tapping on technology to fuel improved connections and build upon various ideas.”
Attendees were able to use features to have a live chat and live call or to schedule a call with fellow attendees and exhibitors at the event. The platform saw over 4,000 virtual meetings happening between participants not bound by physical proximity and geography.
GEVME’s recommendation engine made use of machine learning and natural language processing to suggest relevant exhibitors to attendees based on the interests they put in during the registration process.
Additionally, a payment gateway was available for attendees to purchase an accredited digital certification in Web 3.0 issued by The Asian Institute of Digital Finance, National University of Singapore and in partnership with APIX, ElevandiI and Affinidi.
The virtual event integrated the use of a learning management system to allow attendees to watch certain sessions, attend workshops and complete certificate programmes, all within the venue. Over 5,000 certificates were awarded digitally via blockchain technologies and attendees are able to access and attain certification until September 30, 2022.
Challenges
With over 52 per cent of registrations coming from outside of Singapore, the key challenge was making it as accessible as possible to the global audience. As a fully virtual event, the platform, GEVME, had to be able to stream the live broadcast of speakers from different parts of the world while allowing attendees to tune in and interact with the content, fellow attendees, and other features of the event.
A payment gateway also had to be included so that purchases could be made at the virtual venue.
Event Singapore FinTech Festival 2021
Organiser Monetary Authority of Singapore and Elevandi
Venue GEVME Virtual
Dates November 8-12, 2021
Attendance More than 60,000
