Youcanevent co-founder and CEO Antonio Trincao discusses his Forbes-approved web virtual reality company, building community among the events industry, and more.

Youcanevent is a virtual reality company and event platform based in San Francisco, boasting previous partnerships with Microsoft, TEDx, NASA, and more.

On March 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a guidance that all large events and mass gatherings of more than 50 people be suspended for at least eight weeks. "Large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the United States via travelers who attend these events and introduce the virus to new communities," wrote the organization.

Severely decreased travel and widespread event cancellations due to the outbreak could equate to an estimated $809 billion economic hit to the U.S. economy and the loss of 4.6 million travel-related jobs in this country alone, according to an analysis prepared by Tourism Economics and released Mach 17 by the U.S. Travel Association.

Planners, exhibitors, sponsors and attendees alike are now reassessing every still-foreseeably planner future event as huge financial and health risk. All this will hasten event cancellations, escalating the meetings and events industry at large. Thus, local economies will also suffer. Exhibitions generate some $135 billion in spending by visitors and exhibitors annually. Local restaurants, hotels, labor and local taxes will all take a hit, furthering the damage.

Industry leaders have already requested $150 billion in immediate federal relief for the hotel industry and an additional $100 billion for travel-related businesses. U.S. airlines are looking for $58 billion in relief After, doing some research there’s one fast-growing emerging technology company based in Silicon Valley, that has been leveraging it’s cutting edge technology to help the fast recovery of the event industry, by maintaining the same quality of in real life events, with virtual experiencesI had the chance to meet with Youcanevent, and its founder & CEO Antonio Trincao, and do an interview to learn more about the startup.

What does Youcanevent offer to event organizers?

Youcanevent offers a platform to organize virtual events that feel real. We've developed a technology that mixes online video streaming, web virtual reality, avatars with video-chat communication, and engagement tools that allow you to host your event virtually with unbelievable virtual environments. Our mission is to connect humans through celebration, and bring people together through amazing virtual and in-real-life experiences.

Building personal relationships with event professionals is an important mission for your company. How does Youcanevent foster that community?

From day one, we've been focusing on building a purpose-driven company that has community at the center of the brand's soul. Especially during this period of social distancing we are working closely with event agencies, event planners, conference and exhibition bureaus, to help them replicate their real life experiences virtually. They can still incentivize their customers to organize user conferences, product launches, or corporate parties virtually because through Youcan, your virtual environment design it’s almost unlimited, allowing these players to still monetize during the most complicated time that the event industry as ever faced. On top of that, we've developed philanthropic initiatives in partnership with Hard Rock Café here; we've launched a song on Spotify that sings the vision of our company; we've hosted episodes on our “Purpose by Youcanevent” podcast; and we've given back to the community by offering food waste from event experiences as you can see here. We believe that nurturing relationships with event professionals is what makes the event industry strive, and collectively, if we bring the best technology, operations, creativity, design, and ideas, we will create the best experiences globally.

Any special moments with clients that stand out over the years?

We've had several memorable event experiences with event organizers from brands like Microsoft, United Airlines, Deutsche Bank, TomTom, Pipedrive, Segment, Udemy, and many more. The one I'd like to highlight is recently two customers that were forced to pivot their events into a virtual format. The first one Neil Cramer with All Things Meetings, and Melissa McCready and Todd Wilms with MOCCA. Their events are both particularly interesting because both will recreate the experience of an exhibition event, and keynote speaking stages, that will be one of the very first examples to be seen in the world of virtual events.

In the wake of COVID-19, where do you see the industry moving? How does You Can Event fit into that vision?

I personally believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will particularly accelerate the "how" you create event experiences. I love real-life experiences, and I love people, but I also believe that the ability of designing an event virtually, visualizing the furniture, venue, decor, etc. to host it online for virtual attendees from all over the world, and then replicating in real life will be a major shift in the way the industry operates. You will be able to have more creativity, freedom of thought, and imagination, and enhance your ideas by applying it virtually first, and then executing in real life. That's where I see Youcanevent being the platform to enhance all of these experiences both virtually and in real life.

In the wake of COVID-19, where do you see the industry moving? How does YouCan Event fit into that vision?

I personally believe that the COVID-19 pandemic will particularly accelerate the "how" you create event experiences. I love real-life experiences, and I love people, but I also believe that the ability of designing an event virtually, visualizing the furniture, venue, decor, etc. to host it online for virtual attendees from all over the world, and then replicating in real life will be a major shift in the way the industry operates. You will be able to have more creativity, freedom of thought, and imagination, and enhance your ideas by applying it virtually first, and then executing in real life. That's where I see Youcanevent being the platform to enhance all of these experiences both virtually and in real life.

What's next for Youcanevent? Any projects you're working on?

Right now we are focusing on making our customers happy by providing the best virtual event experiences ever, but also opening new verticals such as retail and entertainment. We also have an initiative called Global Aid that helps governments rebuild their economies virtually, for which we are starting the first partnership with the government of Panama next month. On top of that, we have major announcements to be made (that I can't disclose yet!), but that will involve top American artists. The beauty of our technology is that it’s a hybrid and can serve any industry without a problem. The cherry on top is the waiting list pre-order sign-up for the Youcansee headsets—which will be unveiled by Q4 of 2020—is live.

For more information or virtual event inquiries, visit youcanevent.com