🎙️ | Yusno Yunos, The Genesis of Evenesis
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🎙️ | Yusno Yunos, The Genesis of Evenesis
Ep. 52
Yusno Yunos is the founder and CEO of Evenesis. Evenesis is a complete cloud-based end-to-end event management system that integrates event planners, participants and suppliers.
In this conversation, we cover the events space, where it is and might be heading after the wild past few years, and also how the Metaverse may impact future events.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Yusno Yunos :)
Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or on your favourite podcast platform.
My takeaways and lessons:
Physical events are back baby!!!
“What we are seeing is actually a decline of virtual events. So I think this is very much due to the reopening of borders and the reopening of the events industry itself. I think the pent-up demand of doing events physically has caused a lot of organizers to just shift to simply all 100% to face-to-face and physical events this year.But online events will still be a thing
“But that to me does not mean virtual or online events will just go away. I think in the next few years we will be seeing a lot more of these hybrid events coming up. I think we are seeing it already this year, and this is simply due to the fact that event organizers are now able to cater to bigger and wider audiences. So we are looking at not just the engagement that you can have on the ground for physical events, but also for those who can’t really make it because they had to travel.
Show Notes:
[00:00:31] – [First question] – The genesis for Evenesis
[00:02:41] – What was the events space like when Yusno started
[00:04:44] – Covid’s impact on Evenesis
[00:06:14] – Growth for Evenesis going forward
[00:07:46] – Business lessons from Covid
[00:08:54] – Evenesis’s approach to rebranding
[00:10:43] – How have problems changed as Evenesis has matured?
[00:11:56] – Early days of Evenesis
[00:14:01] – How Evenesis found early customers
[00:17:27] – Misunderstandings around Evenesis and the events space
[00:18:33] – Evenesis and M&A
[00:20:52] – Evenesis and the Metaverse
[00:27:22] – Existential risks or challenges to Evenesis
[00:33:06] – Yusno’s favourite Michael Crichton book?
[00:33:44] – Yusno’s advice for university students
[00:34:24] – Influential books for Yusno?
Connect with Yusno:
Transcript
[00:00:31] Kalani Scarrott: My guest today is Yusno Yunos, founder and CEO of Evenesis. Evenesis is a complete cloud-based end-to-end event management system that integrates event planners, participants, and suppliers. So in this conversation, we cover the event space. Where it is now, but also where it might be heading after the wild past few years and how the metaverse may impact future events.
[00:00:55] So this episode was all very new and very fun for me. A lot of learning. So please enjoy my conversation with Yusno Yunos. Cool. Yusno, Thank you so much for coming on today. And an interesting place to start, I think is the story behind Evenesis. So could you explain how the problems encountered in your wedding ceremony, and just, just to be clear, it’s not marital problems, but um, could you explain how that was the genesis for Evenesis?
[00:01:20] Yusno Yunos: Sure Kalani. So I think it was back in the days, I think it was in 2007, where we first planning to get married, my wife and I. So we had a lot of challenges. I think all of you who are going to, to get married would soon know that in terms of arranging your invitations, finding place to, to get.
[00:01:42] And all of the other interesting stuff. Yeah. So all of that were done manually without an event planner or any planner. So as a technical person I, I saw this problem and I thought, hey, we could actually find a solution or provide a solution using a web technology. So we developed a simple web application to help manage wedding RSVPs.
[00:02:02] So that was the beginning of, of the, the, I would say the mvp, the minimum viable product of Evenesis.
[00:02:09] Kalani Scarrott: And was that your first taste with entrepreneurship? Yeah. What had he done prior to that in your life?
[00:02:14] Yusno Yunos: Yes. That was my actually first taste of entrepreneurship. So I was working with a utility company before.
[00:02:22] That was my first job. And then I move on to another consulting firm. And yeah, during that time we were actually trying to get married and we were building that solution. And I think two, three years down the road, we decided to actually leave the company and start this thing full-time. Yeah.
[00:02:41] Kalani Scarrott: So when you first started, what did the events industry look like then? So what did it look and feel like and then yeah, how was the business evolved? Yeah, but what, what was it like at the start?
[00:02:50] Yusno Yunos: I would say when we first started, we were only looking. Weddings and other customer or clients B2C events. So I would say the, situation was really lively in terms of, I mean, you would have a lot of events week in, week out.
[00:03:07] But the challenges that we had at that point in time was we had a very good solution on a free model. We were getting a lot of signups, but we were not able to convert them to. subscribers. So people were basically, they were excited about the solution when they were GI being given for free. But once we started to get them to upgrade and pay, I think in weddings you had a lot of other priorities. Technology would be, I would say, the, the last thing in your mind. So you would go back to your manual way of doing things or even on Excel file, those kind of things. So that, that’s where we started to look into the bigger portion or the bigger side of events where a lot of B2B. Uh, events are happening and we started to pivot into the business events, or some would call it the mice industry meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions.
[00:03:59] So that, that’s a story from weddings to mice.
[00:04:02] Kalani Scarrott: to further add on that, would you be just for viewers who are new to ess, could you explain the business as it is today and what it offers?
[00:04:09] Yusno Yunos: So, Evenesis is an event technology company. So we are very passionate technology guys in the events of business events, industry.
[00:04:18] So we currently have a platform, a solution that covers the entire range of pre, during, and post-event processes. So what it entails is it covers everything from your registration email marketing, database management event, mobile app through on-site registration. Um, engagement life, q and e, polling post events, analytics, and reports as well.
[00:04:43] Kalani Scarrott: I think maybe a common example that’s not, not super related, but everyone knows how well Zoom fared during covid, but for you guys as well, how did Covid impact your business? Given your so online, but yeah, what was that whole scenario for you, like from start, middle to end?
[00:04:58] Yusno Yunos: I think we were as impacted as everyone’s else at the very.
[00:05:04] So yeah, we were looking at a very good year before Covid. I think we were scaling two, three times year on year basis. But then when Covid hit, I think a lot, I would say a hundred percent of the events that we are having in our platform are either cancel or postponed because majority of them are basically physical face-to-face events.
[00:05:27] Yeah. So the first few months were really. In a sense that how do we recover? Because majority of our technology solutions are geared for physical events. And then of course the demand was to definitely go online virtual. So this is where I think we use up the first two, three months to develop our own virtual product.
[00:05:52] So that actually helped to for us to recover during Covid in 2020. Um, and then we did quite well in 2021 with the product and then went to hybrid as well. And it is actually very, very good that we are now having a complete solution covering. Both sides of events virtual, physical, and, and hybrid as well.
[00:06:14] Kalani Scarrott: Yeah. So with everything going forward, starting to open up, how do you view growth going forward? Is it predominantly back to physical events being the main driver or is there a shift? Um, how do you say it?
[00:06:25] Yusno Yunos: Yeah that, that’s a good, um, an interesting question because what we are seeing this. It is actually a decline of virtual events.
[00:06:34] Yeah, so I think this is very much due to the reopening of borders and the reopening of the events industry itself. I think the pent-up demand of doing events physically has caused a lot of organizers to just shift to simply all a hundred percent face-to-face and physical events this year. But that to me does not mean virtual or online events will just go away.
[00:07:00] I think in the next few years we will be seeing a lot more of this hybrid events coming up. I think we are seeing it already this year, and this is simply due to the fact that even organizers are now able to cater bigger and wider audience. . Yeah. So we, we are looking at not just the engagement that you can have on the ground for physical events, but also for those who can’t really make it because they, they had to travel.
[00:07:30] They do not want to spend so much time on the plane, right? So this, this allows them to consume contents rather than actually attending the events. So moving forward, I believe the trend, the future trend will definitely hybrid events.
[00:07:42] Kalani Scarrott: Yeah. I’m the best example. I live in the most isolated city
[00:07:46] Exactly. And then for running your business, did you have any takeaways from covid, whether it’s management styles or having a runway, a greater runway and safety net in your business? Or Yeah. What did you take away and learn from that?
[00:07:58] Yusno Yunos: Yeah, I think we learned definitely a lot. The, one good thing that we are very thankful is the ability to have reserves in terms of cash.
[00:08:09] Those are the things that we need to have, especially when we do not have any businesses in the first few months. So the fact that we have always looked at profitability first. , um, as opposed to just gaining traction, getting investments. So we are more like the camel rather than the unicorn side of things,
[00:08:30] So I think those are the things that has been proven really useful, , during covid times. And I think even now during the pandemic and post pandemic, we are looking at investors getting savvy and looking at companies that they can invest where they have good runway. The ability to manage cash flows really well.
[00:08:50] So this is something that we, we, we, we have learned really well
[00:08:53] Kalani Scarrott: during the pandemic and one bit that piqued my interest when researching esses. So, um, the company’s carried out a rebranding exercise twice. So you’ve changed your visual identity, image, and brand promise. How did you come to, to both times, especially after the first one?
[00:09:07] What did you change the second time around?
[00:09:09] Yusno Yunos: Okay. The first time was when we were really, really, So we were sort of like techies, right? Trying to get into the events industry. And we, we, we, we don’t really know the how. So we, we had to engage a, a branding consultant to really help us to position us so that we are the subject matter expert.
[00:09:31] We know what we do, and fit them to whatever the events industry needs. So we, we’ve been basically seen as this. , kind of cool techies trying to get into this event industry. So that works. For the first five, six. when you are, when you were early a startup trying to get into the industries, but as you mature, um, I think the second round when we had that rebranding exercise, it is more to trying to make them understand that technologies are everywhere you see.
[00:10:03] So, I mean, we have a lot of competitors, but how are we different and unique than the others? So our promise, our brand promise is right now after the secondary branding exercise is to make sure our clients. Get better event experiences. So it’s all about how technology can give our clients a much engagement better experiences, personalization.
[00:10:28] Uh, so this is what we are trying to do with our team. It’s not just giving them a platform without services. So software service yes, is a platform, but our team will come in to ensure the event will be managed and organized successfully with our technology.
[00:10:43] Kalani Scarrott: Yeah. And you made a good point there about how you’ve gone from a startup to a now mature business as you’ve matured, what problems have changed?
[00:10:50] Like maybe earlier on it was cash flow, whereas now it might be something else. Like how have problems changed as you’ve grown and matured?
[00:10:56] Yusno Yunos: I think we really had to change teams because, um, as you grow and look at the d. Way of scaling your company. Um, the team or the people that you have with you, um, is either they, they understand where you’re trying to go.
[00:11:16] They believe in your vision and mission. So we also had to, recruit a few more senior team members who understand how to basically scale the company, especially entering or expanding into a new market. So yeah, I think that the initial team was very, very good when we were at a startup. . But when we had to go into expansion trying out new markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, so this is where we started having these challenges of recruiting right talents, recruiting the right senior talents within the team.
[00:11:52] So this is something that we, we learn trial and error. .
[00:11:56] Kalani Scarrott: If we go back to the start of Evenesis, is there any stories you remember of that time about some of the hard moments of life, early life in the company, like, and how you overcome them? Like whether it’s proof of concept or raising capital?
[00:12:09] Yeah. What are some of the early problems you look back on and have stories about?
[00:12:12] Yusno Yunos: Yeah, I think it’s all about raising capital at the very beginning because you have fantastic. Uh, you want to do a lot of things, but at the end of the day, how do you do that with limited resources, right? So there’s so, so much thing you can do with getting right people, but these people needs to be paid as well.
[00:12:28] Technologies you need hardwares, you need a lot of licenses. So so how do we get. To that. I think the first, I would say the first two years were really, really challenging. Uh, we got not, I mean, we got a government grant at the very beginning, a very minimal amount, but it is good enough for us to get our software to the first version.
[00:12:52] All right, so that help us to have at least three part-time staff. Part-time developers, not even a full-time. But the, the problem. Arose when we completed the product, the funding ended, and we do not have any clients yet. So at the end of the day, business is about having customers, right? Because you need customers to pay you and your team, your team salary.
[00:13:17] So this is the moment where we started to realize, remember the earlier I mentioned about pivot? because we, we were, we, we, we had really good solution. It’s just that we cannot turn it into sort of like clients, right? We cannot get clients from, from our free solution. So this is where we had to change a lot of things.
[00:13:36] Our business models fine-tuning the solution and now Chase uh, a lot of bigger sort of like events and clients who are able to pay. So those are the shifting moments at the very. and yeah, I think that, teaches a lot about the agility of the team, the company, the ability to shift quickly once you realize that your current business model is not working.
[00:14:01] Kalani Scarrott: An interesting point, I just, I just wanna know myself, curiously, being in the event space, how did you find your customers early on? Like, where did he go to find them? How did he pitch them? Yeah, just walk me through that.
[00:14:10] Yusno Yunos: Wow, that’s interesting because what. Very, very early on, because we had limited resources, so we had to do really guerrilla marketing, you see?
[00:14:19] So all of us, two or three of us, we just basically knock on all the doors. We, um, basically those days in, I mean in, in, in Malaysia, especially in with, with the government agencies, with the ministries, you still have to write letters. You see , I mean, so we do two things. So we had we wrote a lot of letters, official letters, and we scanned them, send them via email, fax them.
[00:14:41] So those are those. I think I order of hundred letters, emails, we send, we get one or two replies. But I think those are the things that we had to really hustle about and it did get it get us our first client via that method. And, um, that basically started uh, I mean it kickstart our progress to getting better. Based on that moment. Another thing that we also did was we collaborated with a lot of bigger, technology vendors. So this includes partnership with Microsoft and I B M. So we were among the few early startups who went on their cloud. . So in Malaysia I mean if you are the, the, the, the earliest ones to get on these programs, normally they will bring you around, you see.
[00:15:29] So this is where they, we, we, we will help by giants, right? To basically, , access the market. So basically if people, or the GLCs or the Cs that we are being backed by Microsoft or IBM, um, it is much easier for them to. In terms of the solution itself. Yeah. So those are the early things that we did in terms of how do we market ourselves.
[00:15:53] And over the years things have changed. Definitely. Now I would say we did whatever that we did. 10 years ago, maybe still about 20 to 30%, but the majority of the work right now is purely digital marketing. So we’ve moved on to, , fine tuning our SEO, doing a lot of Google ads. Yeah, so those are basically, driving a lot of leads to our businesses nowadays.
[00:16:19] Kalani Scarrott: I love that first story. Yeah. For a tech company. Just write letters. . So good. and is there anything, you know, now that you wish you knew when starting at Vanessa? Like, what would you, what advice would you give yourself if you were starting over again?
[00:16:30] Yusno Yunos: Wow. I would say, I wish I knew that the events industry.
[00:16:38] When I first started so that I would maybe do something different or maybe focus. I mean, I know it is big, you see in terms of the size, they do a lot of things, but I, I did not know. It is so hard to move things. , um, especially when you have a lot of these giants, the old timers who are so used to doing things that they, they were not willing to change.
[00:17:00] So it is, it is, it’s really hard to, to, to break that down. So it took us a lot of years and time to do education. You see, so this is sometimes if you, you are not willing to go all out. along the way, you’ll just break down and basically say, I’m not gonna do that anymore. , but I think we prevail. , and and that’s interesting because now we can see the shift digitalization, covid has expedited a lot of things as well.
[00:17:27] Kalani Scarrott: And you can apply this to either your company specifically or the events industry in general. But what do you think is most mis uh, sorry, what do you think is most misunderstood there?
[00:17:36] Yusno Yunos: Um, I think it’s all about, Understanding the benefits of the technology itself, the cost-benefit analysis. , a lot of organizers who are writing shows on their own, they looked at profitability. So technology is just another component that will reduce that numbers, you see? So you’re adding more things and plus when you are in a market where the cost of labor is cheap. Yeah, especially in Southeast Asia. So the investment on technology might not give them the right return.
[00:18:09] You see, they might just say, I would have spent this and get more people who can do more things rather than deploying technology. It is more about paradigm shift, trying to understand with technology they can do more so they can earn more, rather than reducing whatever that they’re making right now. . So yeah, I think that the next generation, the generation that we are in now is basically we, we understood
[00:18:32] Kalani Scarrott: Yeah. And for Evenesis growth going forward it’s around the topic of acquisition. So could you walk me through the decision to acquire Txtsy in order to expand Evenesis? Like what was that process?
[00:18:42] Yusno Yunos: like? Right. I think that, that, that is our first acquisition this year. So, um, actually we met the founder, I think the second quarter of the year.
[00:18:53] So the initial discussion was to collaborate. I mean, I’ve always been a believer of collaboration, even among competitors. So, , we saw Synergy, , between the two companies. Even those, some of the things that we do are quite similar, but our markets are different, you see. So, , taxi at that point in time has been around for almost three.
[00:19:16] And they have been serving very specific towards the trade shows market. So this is a big B2B market that we’ve been, um, not to say ignoring for the past couple of years because our focus has always been on seminars, conferences, but not trade shows specifically. So when we saw that opportunity to grab a bigger market share in trade shows, and this is one of the good.
[00:19:42] That we believe can expand our market. We decided to come together and see whether this approach can allow us to gain greater market share in AsiaPac because they’re already in Thailand. They’re already in Philippines, so it, it makes more sense for us to come together and grow in, in a faster way. So that, that’s basically the, the reason why we decided to come together much quiet and we have great talents.
[00:20:10] So we have good talents now in, in our company.
[00:20:12] Kalani Scarrott: Any thoughts on doing further acquisitions? Like, yeah, what do you feel about
[00:20:15] Yusno Yunos: that? That could be, I mean, um, I’m always open to first collaboration and if that collaboration means acquisition. Then is a definite yes. Um, it’s all about understanding the synergy between the two parties or three parties or how many parties that we are gonna bring in.
[00:20:31] Uh and it has to align with our vision and mission as well. So we do not want to get just talent, but then again, they don’t believe in what we do. So we, even though we are a tech company, we believe in ensuring our tech provide sustainable events as well. So this is something that, , we want. To, to be, um, in the future.
[00:20:52] Kalani Scarrott: I wanna talk about is the metaverse super-hot topic. So there’s plenty of strong opinions on both sides, but how do you and Evenesis, view it?
[00:20:59] Yusno Yunos: I mean, I’m a believer of that definitely. , as a tech. , I’m passionate in tech. I think this is not something new. I think all of us know that, , virtual reality has been around for quite some time.
[00:21:11] So it is just a, a evolution. Uh, we are not there yet, but it has been hyped a lot recently, especially when Facebook changed the name to Meta people. Now everyone is trying to do something in, in Metaverse. So what I would say on this meta is that the awareness needs to be there. The, we need to really understand what it can do, how it can benefit, especially in my industry, in the events industry.
[00:21:41] , it’s not a one off. So we, we’ve seen a lot of failures during covid, especially when you are doing, , online virtual events because it lacks engagement. It’s a one off because everything that is one off will not give you the right returns. You see, you spend a lot to build. But it’s only for that one time event or maybe an annual event.
[00:21:59] , in any metaverse or a virtual reality, sort of like world, the digital world that you are creating, you need a lot of engagement. You need people to really transact. You need people to be educated. Yeah, a lot of gamification factors in there. So it will take time for events to understand how they can really put these elements into either their own.
[00:22:21] Or utilizing an existing metaverse that are already in place. So it could also be something that you do. Roblox or within decent land or within Sandbox, right? So you don’t really have to create your own new metaverse. So this is something that we’ve been educating, you see. So this is the part that we’ve always been doing whenever there is a new hype or a new technology that is coming in the industry, because all of the organizers will ask you, what’s the new thing I heard about Metaverse?
[00:22:49] Can I do metaverse for my events? , I’m not the one who would always say, yes, you should. Yeah, you should. You need to spend this. It’s more. Why, what’s the purpose of your event is, is, is meeting the objectives and filling that with the right technology so that you get the best experiences. So it’s not always about what’s the latest and what’s the best, , technology that is out there.
[00:23:12] So yeah, metaverse is something that is gonna be there. Our new generation, my kids. Yeah, our. They are basically very aware they, they’ve been playing Roblox so they know what it is. Um, so for the events industry to understand that it’s about catering to this new generation in five, 10 years time, this will be the generation that will just go and step into Metaverse.
[00:23:36] So if you’re not ready now, You’ll be basically a dinosaur later on. Yeah. And it’s, it’s
[00:23:41] Kalani Scarrott: obviously early days, so it’s hard to say anything with concrete confidence, but how do you see early use cases for the event space? Obviously maybe trade shows might be harder than normal events or even like fan base meetups might be better for, , the metaverse and events.
[00:23:55] But how do you view early use cases for what you guys do and the metaverse?
[00:23:59] Yusno Yunos: I still believe it has to be, complimenting technology. Rather than again, as I mentioned earlier, when you’re moving to hybrid. So this is a part where you can actually allow people who are not able to attend the event physically to join in virtually, but in either a digital twin.
[00:24:20] So mimicking whatever that the physical events are happening. So you could have a very well designed, , venue space. So when you could actually use Metaverse as their digital twin space. So they could make revenue as well from having a very specific replica of whatever that they have on Metaverse.
[00:24:40] So they could, this could be something that, um, I think right now some venues are already exploring. , in fact, um, I would say last year we had a client who is doing this conference, , outdoor exhibition, those kind of things in a virtual reality world. So we created a game where they could just use, choose their avatar or some things go in interact, network.
[00:25:05] , but it’s a good first try. I would say, um, again, the fallback from that particular event was mainly due to the. So if you’re getting 40 years and a birth kind of audience for them to use this, a w w a SD keys, right? It’s is, it’s not that easy. It will take time for them to move front, left, right? Those kind of things.
[00:25:28] So once they are not used to that on the first day of the event, they’ll just get basically, , I’m done. I’m, I’m not gonna basically do this. So a lot of awareness, a lot of understanding about the demographics of your attendees as. So, yeah, I think it’s, it is really at the early days, but it has huge potential.
[00:25:47] Kalani Scarrott: You discussed some of the opportunities there and also touched on one challenge, but is there any other challenges do you see with the metaverse and plans to overcome it? Whether it’s just younger generations coming through and age, like you mentioned, or is it access to tech? What are some of the challenges do you think maybe right now?
[00:26:00] Yusno Yunos: if we are looking at the cost? Yeah. , that could be another big factor as. , a lot of metaverse development right now I think is being undertaken by agencies because they have a lot of brand activation and as you know, their clients are basically those who can really afford. 3D development because these are not yet cheap and mass, so you need to pump in quite a lot of money.
[00:26:26] So if you are doing, something for events on a smaller scale, it might not be realistic enough for you to create something new. So it might make more sense for you to utilize an existing space. It could be a VR chat or it could be, as I mentioned earlier, either you, you jump into the central land wagon or sandbox wagon.
[00:26:49] So yeah, I think cost would be something that could be a factor right now once it matures. And also the cost of the hardwares as. So besides having it on desktop mobile, you are, you’re seeing a lot of things are happening on VR headsets as well. So once we are able to get those things down in terms of price, which I don’t think it is not that affordable at the moment.
[00:27:13] It’s just a matter of making people more aware. And willingness to try the, this technology. Yeah. And
[00:27:22] Kalani Scarrott: we’ll finish with a couple general questions about Evenesis. So in the spirit of Charlie Munger’s co tell me where I dice or I’ll never go there. What do you think are the biggest existential risks or challenges that you face in the future?
[00:27:32] So what are the problems you may face, do you think, going forward?
[00:27:35] Yusno Yunos: Well, moving forward? Um, I would definitely see challenges in terms of having. events that are really, really engaging, and different, I mean all, all events right now are trying to be different, trying to be unique and how technology can play a role, and definitely incorporating the elements of sustainability.
[00:28:04] So this is something that is gonna be really, really important because I know in certain parts of the world, they’re taking this seriously. . But I think the awareness is still lacking in this, I mean, in, in, in our country, in this part of the world where we talk a lot, but we are not implementing or taking any action yet.
[00:28:25] So we, we have a lot of corporate guys, we have ESGs, right? We’re talking about sustainability. But how can events achieve that net zero carbon events by 2050? So a lot of things need to be done along the way. , we have started doing things in terms of making people aware via technology. So one of the things that we did this year is to do a simple carbon calculator.
[00:28:50] , it is exactly like any other calculator that you can use on the web, but how are we different? Is that once you register for an event, once we know where you are gonna be traveling from, we’ll be able to project your carbon emission. So if you’re saying you’re coming from her, on an airline, on an economy class, right?
[00:29:10] So the distance we know, so we’ll basically tell you that you’ll be burning this much carbon, right? So by showing the numbers to you and aggregating the total of that emission and providing that dashboard to the organizers is a d. . So now the organizers will have a better awareness. Oh my God. Is this what we gonna basically emit, right?
[00:29:32] If everyone is travelling? So how can we reduce that? Can we do a hybrid version of it? Yeah. Can we reduce some sort of things in, in this event? So first step is all about awareness. Showing them data that will make them act. Yeah. . So this is something interesting, something that we are, we are gonna really push more next.
[00:29:52] In terms of how we are gonna get them to really implement some of these changes to ensure we are, able to achieve this sustainability events. Yeah, that’s a
[00:30:02] Kalani Scarrott: great point. Something I never really thought of at the start there. You did mention one challenge can be engaging events. So just curious for you, what makes an engaging event like Yeah, what do you think makes a good event?
[00:30:11] Yusno Yunos: I always put myself from the attendee's point of view, so when I’m choosing an event to attend, I would want to first understand what’s in it. So if I am, I’m looking at the event, I look at the content, I like the topic, I let that speaker, but I’m at the place where I don’t think I can engage. I just want to consume content, right?
[00:30:32] So to me, I would rather be attending it virtually cause I just wanna listen, see, consume. I was just wanna take notes, those kind of things. And then I can do my other things. Number two, if I’m actually won’t be engaged, I want to be part of the event. So this is where I looked at the speakers. I looked at how I can ask questions, how I can basically approach the speakers, how I can network with the other attendees.
[00:30:58] What are the exhibitors that are available? Uh, what are the things I can get from these exhibitors? So it has to match my expect. and not just engagement, but I also mentioned about personalization and this is something that is not easy to do, but this is something that we have been cracking our heads and trying our best to ensure that if I am able to know you and differentiate you from everyone else in the event and give you the right experience that tailored to you.
[00:31:30] I think that is engagement. You see? So I already know your dietary preferences and the history is being tapped. As you walk to the counter, there is someone, or a robot, whoever it is, or a kiosk that can basically greet you. Hey, Kalani how, how are you doing today? Right? This is your ticket, right? Go ahead.
[00:31:47] So all of the experiences are smooth. You feel that you’ve been taken care of, and of course all of this can be, viable via technology. So engagement, personalization, this is something that we strive for events.
[00:32:02] Kalani Scarrott: I appreciate that answer. That was yeah. Very in depth. And generally, before I get into my closing round of questions, is there anything we haven’t talked about today that’s consequential about the future of Evenesis?
[00:32:11] Yusno Yunos: I think we’ve covered a lot Kalani. I think a lot of questions that you, asked was really, I mean, were really, really relevant. I think we are at a phase where, believe events are changing, events are right now looking at, I mean, we, are, we are actually in the hospitality segment, you see, so events, tourism, it’s all about people
[00:32:37] So whenever we are in the people business, I mean, a lot of the people in the industry saying that we are in the people business. So we, we, we bring in tech. Yeah. It’s not about replacing people. So we have to be really aware about, so tech is not to replace people. We will always be in the business of people.
[00:32:54] Tech is an enabler. Tech will just be something that will elevate whatever that you do to a different level. So that that’s what we are transcribing for and trying to do here. Perfect.
[00:33:06] Kalani Scarrott: Love that answer. All right, so closing round of questions. Favorite Michael Crichton book and why?
[00:33:12] Yusno Yunos: good one. Um, Prey. I’m not sure whether you’ve heard of that because I haven’t read that yet.
[00:33:17] No. Yeah, because it, it was done in 2002 and it talks about nanotechnology and then there’s another one called Timeline. Uh, of course about time machine, but it was done in 1998 or 1999. But it talks about quantum technology. So way back. We already talked about that in the book. I love it
[00:33:34] Kalani Scarrott: I’ve read a few, obviously Jurassic Parks and then The Andromeda Strain, was it Sphere as well?
[00:33:38] It’s got such a big backlog, Airframe too, I’ve read. I love it. Awesome. So, most undervalued life experience that university-aged students don’t give weight to. So like what do you think is an underrated skill or an experience that you think young people should have or even something you wish you.
[00:33:54] Yusno Yunos: Earlier on, I think we should be given more opportunity to fail rather than to succeed. Uh, because once you are in entrepreneurship, then you’ll start to realize that you will not always get things or that there’s no one right way to do things. And there are many ways to fail as well. So if you are given the opportunity or you are being given the chance to fail and you basically appreciate the failures so that they can learn from.
[00:34:20] I think that would make them a better person once they graduated from college.
[00:34:24] Kalani Scarrott: Yeah, totally agree with that one. And is there any books, or even people that have been influential in shaping your worldview?
[00:34:29] Yusno Yunos: I think when I first decided to step into entrepreneurship, I read this Robert Kiyosaki book, I think you know that yeah. I reached that for that Right? Yeah. So the Quadrant and those kinds of things. And that basically told me that, ah, okay, this is an interesting way. Yep. I think that was quite influential at that point in time.
[00:34:51] Kalani Scarrott: Awesome. Love that answer. And yeah, thank you so much for coming on today. Lastly, anything else you’d like to plug or add?
[00:34:55] Where can people find you? Um, yeah, any parting thoughts?
[00:34:58] Yusno Yunos: Sure. I mean, um, I’m so my name is a bit unique, so you can simply search me on LinkedIn. Yeah, you, you, you, you can find use, know your there, and if you wanna know more about the company, you can just go to Evenesis.com. It’s spelled E V E N E S I S and it is pronounced as Evenesis.
[00:35:18] It’s actually a combination of events and genesis.
[00:35:21] Kalani Scarrott: Perfect. I’ll include links in all of the show notes, so Yusno, thank you so much for coming on today. I’d have blast.