Retevent, the event platform that shouldn't exist
In the spring of 2020, working at Edukácia@Internet, we were still unaware that international events, one of the core fields of activity of the organization, would be such seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At that time we were getting ready to held the Polyglot Gathering, expecting a few hundreds participants to come in May in Poland, but quickly became clear that the event has to be canceled.
However, the team at E@I was determined to find a solution and virtualize the event. While existing platforms did not meet the specific needs of the event, a technology stack such as Google Firestore, Vue.js and Vuetify allowed even a small team like ours to create a conference platform from scratch in just a few weeks.
The virtual Polyglot Gathering was successful, with positive feedback from participants. As the pandemic continued, the platform was used to hold other virtual events, such as the World Esperanto Congress 2020, which drew over 2,000 participants. The platform has continued to evolve with new features and has hosted a dozen international events to date.
I'm happy to have been a part of that adventure, which will always remind me how challenges can be overcome with team-work and determination.
