WOW Awards Asia 2024: Announcing the Next Set of Experiential Tech Awards Jury!

by  Komal Darji Industry Watch | July 15, 2024 | News

WOW Awards Asia

WOW Awards - Asia’s largest business and recognition platform for the Experiential Marketing, MICE, LIVE Entertainment and Wedding industry is all set to host its 15th edition on 17 and 18 August 2024, at JIO World Convention Centre in Mumbai.

With a two-phased judging process by jury members, audited and validated by EY, awards will be announced during the glittering ceremony. Each Jury member is selected from complementing backgrounds with extensive experience in the industry to ensure complete transparency in the judging process. Jury members are particularly very knowledgeable and thus have an upper hand in deciding the most deserving winner.

While you enter your best work in the event & experiential domain with the intent to take the coveted metal home, it’s time you meet the jury members of the Experiential Tech Group at the 15th Edition of WOW Awards Asia 2024.

Experiential Tech Awards known as Group C celebrates efforts in production and event technical’s by supplier partners. This category includes only service providers without the inclusion of agencies. Delivery of end-to-end production of an event while overcoming execution challenges and delivery of unique/ highly technical/ superior lighting design solutions at an event is also a part of this category and recognizes the efforts in lighting, trussing, tent solutions, SFX/pyrotechnic, projection mapping, design-construct/fabrication, hospitality/logistic, catering solutions and show running / stage management.

The esteemed Jury of Experiential Tech Group are:

Akshat Kumar, Director, WMS Entertainment

Akshat Kumar was right out of college when, at the age of 21, along with his partner Sharan Behl, he co-founded WMS Entertainment. It started out with a passion for music and a desire to bring top international artists to tour in India. Over the years, WMS has branched out to event production, artist management, and experiential marketing, working with brands like Absolut, Bacardi, Red Bull, Moet Hennessy, Diageo and Budweiser to name a few. The duo have also spearheaded and co-launched (along with Passcode Hospitality) pan-India festivals like India Cocktail Week and TOAST- Wine & Beer Fest. Nurturing a love for gourmet food and hospitality, Akshat is also a partner at restaurants – Saz On The Beach (Morjim, Goa) and Saz Delhi (DLF Promenade, New Delhi).

Andy Reardon, Managing Director ,Siddharth Kedia

Andrew (Andy) Reardon is the Managing Director of Creative Technology Middle East. With a career spanning over 25 years in the AV industry, Andy began his journey as a Lighting Technician in 1995 delivering projects in entertainment and corporate productions. He became the Technical Manager at AVC Live in 1998, and at Richard Martin Lighting in 2004. With his drive and passion for the industry, he became a Project Manager at Creative Technology London in 2007. The year 2011 marked a strategic milestone in Andy’s career when he identified an opportunity to expand Creative Technology's footprint by establishing a branch in Qatar and significantly broadening the company's market share. After relocating to the Middle East and establishing a solid business in Qatar, Andy was promoted to Managing Director of the Middle East region. Andy is a visionary leader who has been at the forefront of expanding Creative Technology’s growth in the Middle East. Under his leadership, CT Middle East has witnessed exponential growth, firmly establishing itself as a leading force in the industry. Andy is now responsible for CTME operations in the UAE, KSA and Qatar. Instrumental in securing world class projects like the award-winning Al Wasl dome at Expo 2020 and the FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies in Qatar, Andy has established Creative Technology Middle East as the leading AV solutions provider for Live Events and Permanent Installations across the GCC region.

Nowshir Engineer, Chief Executive Officer, SM Pro

An industry veteran with over 19 years of experience and is widely recognized as a pioneer in the Event industry. As the CEO of SM PRO leads strategy, business and project delivery teams of the boutique experiential agency. He has transformed the agency into a trailblazer, redefining industry standards and setting new benchmarks with a list of clientele from Government, Semi Government and Corporate houses across the UAE and KSA.

Prior to SM PRO, Nowshir was responsible for establishing a global event institution (EMDI) with over 10,000 students in 16 cities before moving on. He also founded an online portal www.eventfaqs.com, was responsible for establishing the World Media Academy, The International Institute of Sports Management and The Wedding Institute and is also a founding member of The Events Group (the regions only recognized event business group in the UAE).

Siddharth Kedia, Former CEO, Nodwin

Under my leadership, NODWIN became South Asia's largest esports company. The revenue grew 10X and the value of the company grew by 28X in the last 4 years. Gaming & esports is the perfect storm where interactivity meets 'digital entertainment' meets 'dreams becoming reality'.

I am always curious about changing consumer behaviors and business practices and have taken unconventional risks to capitalize on them. In the early 2000s, I joined the nascent payment services Industry in an early-stage VC backed startup that changed the Fintech landscape. In 2004 at efunds, I built one of India's first award winning analytics practice, which grew into a data science vertical globally.

In 2007, I co-founded Ambit Pragma Ventures - a US$150 million PE fund, which had a unique model of taking a significant minority to controlling stakes in high growth companies in select few sectors and creating value through high operational involvement. I built Media practice for the fund.

After having spent almost a decade analyzing changing consumer trends and preferences from Gen X to Millennials, I could foresee that cheap and ubiquitous bandwidth with affordable and powerful smartphones at the disposal of masses would cause serious disruption to hitherto prevalent media distribution models. On the anvil of the launch of Jio by RIL, it was an opportune moment for me to join the company for Jio was set to change the media landscape forever by not only democratizing content creation and access but giving rise to business model and distribution disruptions. Unicorns across edtech to healthtech to new media exist today because of this seminal moment.

During my stint at RIL, I led turnaround/restructuring of all of the Capital 18 portfolio companies and advised RIL's chairman's office on media M&A opportunities for Jio. As the Head of Strategy for Viacom18, other than looking at Corporate Strategy and M&A, I constantly pushed the envelope and challenged the age-old paradigms of the traditional TV business, whether it was geo-splitting ad slots or using data science to make creative decisions. My next career move into gaming and esports was conceived as one of the aha moments while I was evaluating the next big thing in entertainment.

Useful Links:

WOW Awards Asia website: https://asia.wowawards.com/

Details about Groups and Categories: https://asia.wowawards.com/categories/

How to participate: https://asia.wowawards.com/process/

T&C: https://asia.wowawards.com/support/

For more details contact: Charmi Janani | +91 88505 39096 or Ramesh Patil | +91 9892639236

Or Write us at: info@wowawards.com