PresentersWall makes events - and life - more fun digitally

What is PresentersWall? What is the background of the company that—in its own words—managed to launch "cool, new initiatives" at the time when the coronavirus was shutting down the Netherlands? We speak to Jerre Maas in a beautiful old notary's building on the Stationsstraat in Tilburg. Behind the facade of this monument, a conglomeration of companies appears to be hidden. The PresentersWall, originally founded by Maas in 2012, is part of LiveWall Events, which in turn is one of the teams of the LiveWall Group.

Experimenting with interaction

"2012... Uhmm... Yes, it's also been 10 years since I graduated from university here," Maas starts his story. "I had studied economic psychology and already worked 'for myself' as a chairman and presenter and as a communication trainer. Together with a number of other specialists in that field, I started a company in that area. At that time, we were already experimenting a lot with voting pads, twitterfountains, and all sorts of things to create interaction. And very soon I found out that there had to be 'something new' for that, especially because of the extremely fast rise of mobile telephony, mobile internet, and smartphones."

With a plan in search of capacity

Jerre Maas wrote a plan for PresentersWall (not yet called PresentersWall at the time) and asked several IT companies about the possibilities, and what it would cost to realize his plan. This confronted him with the (recognizable) aspect of the starting entrepreneur: "As a 24-year-old you don't have the money; no capacity to implement your plan".

Through his partner, at that time, Inge van der Heijden, Jerre Maas came into contact with Frits Mahovic and Eelco van de Wiel of LiveWall Group. They did have the capacity and the businesses were closely related. Maas: "Then we said: 'We are going to do that together'. LiveWall Events grew out of that, of which Eelco, Frits, and I are co-owners. A very nice group, currently consisting of 10 colleagues. We 'deliver' a tool, in which you can fulfill all your digital event needs. From ticketing to voting, to an event app and everything that comes with it."

First steps as an entrepreneur

Jerre Maas looks back on the first two years as an entrepreneur with a smile: "I was, that's good to know, during my studies at Tilburg University an information officer for the School of Social and behavioral Sciences. I did that for six years and when I quit—because I had graduated—they said to me: 'You have to train your successor.' And in order to send an invoice, I had to get a number from the Chamber of Commerce.

I had no idea what that was about. At the Chamber of Commerce they asked, ‘What's your company's name?’ I said, ‘I don't have a company. All I need is a number...' That's literally how it went! And from that moment on I was an entrepreneur.

With Inge van der Heijden, I started communication and training agency 'Presensatie' and pretty soon we came into contact with the Tilburg University startup program. If you ask me now what they mainly contributed, that's motivating me.

Added value

About his contacts with the Tilburg University startup program, Maas now says: "It's very good that someone thinks along with you. Especially if it is someone with more experience and who asks you: 'Have you thought about this?', or says: 'Take a look at this'. In the end, the greatest added value was in the meetings with other, young, starting entrepreneurs in the network."

Maas also points out the importance of a practical introduction to entrepreneurship: "I would like to say to Tilburg University that if you have young people who want to know more about what it's like now, with a company and so on, let them go and have a look at those companies. In any case, they are very welcome with us! I made the same mistakes a hundred times and would like to help young entrepreneurs to avoid making the same ones. 

Pair a starter who has questions, or who gets stuck with something, with one of your former members... Use that link! There are a lot of opportunities. Especially if you look at the guy who started before me, like Paul Veugen of Usabilla and Erik de Bruijn of Ultimaker. They have become truly renowned names in the business world. And they all started at Tilburg University. You have to show those examples a lot more. Plus make them available, as a kind of example for young entrepreneurs.”

Proud

Jerre Maas is modest about the impact of PresentersWall—and then again, maybe not: "Look... it's just something that has grown this way. Let's be honest... we make events fun, we provide interaction, and we might make education a bit more efficient—that's all very well—but if you look at it from a different perspective, we don't solve cancer and we're not feeding hungry children...

But on the other hand—apart from society—we do something we like, we're quite proud of it and we have ten people who enjoy working with us... that's all impact in a way. ”

After corona

For PresentersWall, in the weeks that followed the interview, this “impact story” has been given a slightly different interpretation: "We have launched some great new initiatives, with which we hope to provide a more pleasant effect on the lives of people in these strange times.

Soon at the beginning of 'the crisis' we organized the Digital Pub Quiz for the first time and after three weeks more than 2000 people participated. We organize it purely out of goodwill. The main aim is that people have a nice evening. As long as the hospitality industry is closed, we will definitely continue.

Of course, it is not our core business, but obviously, we have seen that the Digital Pub Quiz is a way to bring colleagues together, digitally, in a fun way. And we were not the only ones who saw that. We are now approached by various parties, such as Tilburg University, to help them organize and realize these kinds of events. In that sense, we were able to use our tools very quickly in a new way. A way that fits in perfectly with the current situation in which live events are not allowed to be organized for the time being."

“Crazy” about events

The subject may be slightly different, and certainly the circumstances, but co-organizing a 'tour de force' as a national digital pub quiz is in line with the nature of LiveWall Events. Maas: "I see entrepreneurship as a form of self-development. Seeing opportunities and seizing challenges. To be honest, every day here is also a bizarre challenge. If you look at the management team of LiveWall Group, which includes me, we come across new things every day, of which we say: 'How are we going to tackle this... Oh yes, like this! And just the fact that you get to go through that... that's very valuable to me.”

According to Jerre Maas, this requires a specific attitude. For the company, but also for the individual employees: "We mainly position ourselves as advisors, as partners. We don't want to 'particularly push a lot onto the market'. We are especially good at the digital part of events. So we say: 'If you have a question, come and join us. We'll solve it for you. It's especially important that you build a bond with someone. I sometimes say here: 'Guys, if someone calls who's going to organize an event, he should get the feeling that we're dancing on the table here, because we think events are cool.”

Top 3

Despite the good results, Jerre Maas does not dare to predict the future at the moment. Nevertheless, he does think that LiveWall (and therefore LiveWall Events) is on the right track: "We now have a unique position in the Netherlands: you can go to one company, who can offer you one integrated solution for all your digital event needs. And you can see that this makes event managers very happy. Normally they have three or four parties to meet their digital needs. Ticketing, interaction, voting, evaluation... and more... We can offer it all under one roof.

This puts us in the top three in the Netherlands, and I would like us to be among the top three worldwide in five years' time. And preferably with the complete package... that's the dream."

Presenterswall