INTERVIEW
SWAPCARD As the platform of choice for SXSW Online and 1,500 other virtual events since the pandemic, Swapcard CEO, Baptiste Boulard sits down with TPi Editor, Stew Hume – screen to screen – to recall the trials and tribulations of becoming the industry’s ‘go-to’ virtual event space…
Launched back in 2014, Swapcard’s initial goal was to create a digital alternative to trading business cards at events and, in short, provide a more efficient way of exchanging personal information and connecting with attendees. Through years of trial and error, the French start-up has continued to hone the Swapcard platform with increased functionality including the ability to showcase content, book meetings and host virtual roundtables. With in-person live events no longer possible in 2020, Swapcard found itself as the ‘go-to’ solution for live events in the COVID-19 era. Since March 2020, the company has hosted 2,000 virtual events within a number of B2B and B2C sectors, including TPi’s Production Futures Online, NAMM 2021 and more recently, SXSW Online 2021. “Before last year, we had
never done a purely virtual event,” stated CEO, Baptiste Boulard, speaking to TPi from Swapcard’s Parisian HQ. “Our goal prior to March last year was to provide solutions for more efficient networking at events.” Since then, demand has grown exponentially, with the company producing 1,500 virtual events in five months, with 5,000 new events scheduled to take place on Swapcard this year alone. This growth has meant the Swapcard team has also grown exponentially, from 40 to 130 employees. “We are in the midst of employing a further 80 people as we speak,” Boulard remarked. New employees are placed strategically across the globe – no mean feat in the midst of a pandemic – to offer global support regardless of time 46