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UgoVirtual, a travel and hospitality virtual solutions company, is collaborating with Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) to rework the annual TechOvation competition into an online event through virtual conference and event technology. The TechOvation competition, formerly onsite, is held during HT-NEXT: a hospitality technology industry forum.
The TechOvation Awards, which recognize and reward products and solutions for the global hotel vertical market, involves a multi-step submission process. First, contestants submit their products through videos which explained them; these are shared on the HTNG YouTube channel to garner views and "likes." Then, ten finalists are chosen. Three are determined by the number of "likes;" the remaining seven are selected via a panel of industry expert judges. The remaining process to determine the top three, along with the selected TechOvation winner, was supposed to take place during the HT-NEXT Awards Program, an onsight event. Remaining contestants would've presented their products with the hope of earning votes. Since the online portion of the competition was already underway when the Coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions took effect in March, the 2020 HT-NEXT conference was moved to a later date. In response, HTNG decided to allocate the entire TechOvation competition to a virtual platform. UgoVirtual says its platform is a highly configurable and flexible solution that allows event organizers and meeting planners to virtualize events, such as industry tradeshows, brand ownership/franchisee events, and user conferences. The modular platform can be used to host an online-only event or to expand any onsite event for additional reach, revenue, and active participation opportunities. For more information, visit ugovirtual.com.
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