On April 16, B2B event management software company Bizzabo launched an integrated networking suite. It aims to address a growing industry challenge: While live events are widely considered the best medium for networking (per 72% of attendees, according to Bizzabo’s 2025 State of Events Report), they often fail to deliver enough meaningful opportunities.
Bizzabo’s report published earlier this year found that just 30% of 1,500 event attendees felt that their last event provided enough networking. Womp womp.
With event budgets and attendance rates on the rise in 2025, it’s increasingly likely that networking at live events will fall short. Enter: Bizzabo Networking.
What is it?
In a blog post, Bizzabo billed the networking suite as not an add-on, but rather an integrated feature that’s fully embedded within its platform, Bizzabo Event Experience OS. Event professionals who have a login to Bizzabo—which runs for $499 per user, per month—can access the operating system (OS) and, simultaneously, Bizzabo Networking.
It launched with four key features:
1. Data-rich matchmaking
In other words, an AI-powered engine analyzes each attendee’s interests, noted preferences and activity throughout a live event to then recommend the most relevant people to set up a meeting with. Goodbye, “browsing aimlessly or relying on chance encounters,” Jodi Whitehead, Bizzabo’s marketing coordinator, wrote in the blog post.
2. Web and mobile scheduling
This one speaks for itself: Bizzabo’s integrated scheduling feature allows attendees to find open time slots, book meetings and coordinate locations without toggling between calendars, time zones and on-the-ground agendas. “That means no double bookings, no confusion and no need to chase calendar links,” per Whitehead.
And during an event, Bizzabo Networking syncs with session schedules so attendees can avoid booking one-on-one meetings that conflict with any live programming they want to see. Similarly, event organizers can limit when attendees can book meetings to ensure that they make it to a particularly important keynote or product launch.
3. Customizable location settings
Organizers can pre-determine where meetings take place, choosing between a dedicated networking zone, a specific sponsor’s booth or even a virtual Zoom room, for instance.
4. Time-blocking capabilities
For event attendees, focusing time on specific tasks is proven to be an effective form of time management as it sets clear boundaries by showing others when you’re available–and when you’re not—plus eliminates the need to decide “what’s next.”
For event organizers, these time blocks serve as real-time insights to see who’s meeting, who’s working, who’s on the expo floor and who’s tuning into live sessions. “Use these insights to optimize future events, prove value to sponsors and personalize the experience even further,” Whitehead advised.
Why does it matter?
…because content alone no longer drives event attendance.
“Event organizers today face a fundamental shift in what drives attendance. Content alone no longer fills seats—people are coming to build relationships,” Alon Alroy, Bizzabo’s co-founder and CMO, said in a press release on the networking suite’s launch. “When networking becomes frictionless, everyone wins: attendees make meaningful connections, sponsors meet qualified prospects and organizers see higher satisfaction scores and return rates.”
Of course, Bizzabo’s leadership would say that networking is among the highest drivers of attendance at live events. But Alroy’s not wrong. The stats speak for themselves: Freeman’s Q4 2024 Trends Report found that 83% of event organizers believe that networking is the most crucial factor in attracting attendees, while 67% of Gen Z attendees attend events primarily to build their professional networks.
Maybe data like this pushes your organization to do more events this year, as 66% of event planners surveyed for Bizzabo’s 2025 State of Events Report are. Or maybe you’re in for a bigger events budget thanks to these optimistic stats—like 53% of respondents who said their event budgets have grown this year, per Bizzabo.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bizzabo is walking the talk. It hosted an in-person cocktail experience for event leaders in New York City, where it’s headquartered, on the heels of Bizzabo Networking’s launch. On April 23, the three-hour to-do, billed “Bizzy Building Connections,” put a focus on—you guessed it—meaningful connections and lasting relationships. Per the event’s registration page, it was “a celebration of community, connection and the power of coming together.”
Representatives for Bizzabo declined Vendelux’s request for comment.
