Shepard, the third-largest event services provider in the U.S., has teamed with  Bear Analytics, a leading data analytics firm for event producers, trade associations and professional societies, to help event professionals address the ever-important aspect of event data to drive success. 

Knowing that event professionals don’t always have the time or resources to invest in big data projects, the partnership is a win-win on all fronts, according to Cory Smith, vice president of strategic services at Shepard, which is committed to providing clients with signature full-service capabilities, including a robust network of solution-based partner benefits.

“This partnership feels like another step forward for us in this new era of in-person events,” Smith said.

Smith added that Shepard’s corporate partners are interested in understanding their audience, their interests at the event and how they are engaging with the content. 

“With Bear, we can help our corporate clients gain a better understanding of their audiences’ interests and engagement with corporate initiatives,” Smith said. “This will help measure the effectiveness of the programming and training. This fact-based approach will help influence future programming for the corporate event planner.”

According to Smith, the primary value centers for corporate events with Bear and Shepard include:   

• Understanding the audience, such as who is attending, topics or areas of interests
• Onsite or online engagement with customers and their interests and intent 
• Sales training, education and team training engagement 

Through the alliance with Bear Analytics, Shepard’s clients will be able to harness the power of Bear IQ, a new industry-leading event analytics platform for live, hybrid and virtual events. The easy-to-navigate platform is designed to enable users to unlock metrics, insights and trends on audience demographics, company participation and revenue growth.

“Event organizers are finally able to prove impact and ROI," said Joe Colangelo, co-founder and CEO of Bear Analytics, of the Bear IQ platform. "For decades, the Shepard team has enabled their clients with the tools and technologies to drive efficiency in event production. Bear IQ supplements this forward-thinking ethos by surfacing insights that drive event success in real-time."

Bear Analytics was founded in 2013 to build tools to address the pain points of quantifying attendee engagement, audience composition and growing revenue. Its Bear IQ platform was created to streamline and visualize event data and metrics to drive action and engagement throughout the event lifecycle. 

With over 100 years’ experience, Shepard provides trade shows, corporate events, conferences and exhibits with the solutions needed to produce fresh and evolving face-to-face experiences that transform spaces into engaging and immersive environments. Shepard’s solutions include marketing strategy, creative and design, logistics, event technology, digital tools and production and entertainment.

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