Events AI Playbook — AI for Event Marketing | Sep 24
NOW Expo Asia 2026
About
NOW Expo Asia 2026, the Nursing Opportunities Worldwide Ecosystem Expo, is billed by its organisers as the first trade exhibition built around the entire nursing ecosystem. Organised by NurtureRN, a Singapore-based company behind the NurtureNCLEX platform, the NurturePL placement agency, and the AlagaRN global community, the expo gives nurses and nursing students one verified place to find career, education and life information, away from the scams and fragmented advice that fill the digital space. Its inaugural edition brought hospitals, recruitment agencies, universities, review centres, language schools and regulators together under one roof.
Headquarters
Singapore
Industry
Healthcare and Nursing, Tade Exhibitions
Key Features Used
Free pre-registration, branded registration page, onsite self-service check-in and badge printing, name and company lookup, walk-in registration, pre-printed exhibitor and sponsor badges, exhibitor lead capture, organiser admin backend, attendee data filtering and post-event reporting, onsite crew support
Event
Name: NOW Expo Asia 2026 (Nursing Opportunities Worldwide Ecosystem Expo)
Date: June 26-27, 2026
Format: In-person
Venue: Megatrade Hall 1, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Registrations: Strong turnout for an inaugural event
Organised by: NurtureRN
The organisers put the number of nursing graduates entering the profession in the Philippines at around 50,000 a year. Almost all of them will eventually search for where to work, where to study further, or how to move abroad. That search happens in a space crowded with unverified claims and outright scams.
NurtureRN built NOW Expo Asia to answer those questions in a room instead of a browser.NurtureRN built NOW Expo Asia to answer those questions in a room instead of a browser.
The company already ran AlagaRN, an international online community of nurses, and through it the team kept hearing the same stories. “They don’t get the right information all the time,” said Christine Lasig, Event Director for NOW Expo Asia. “So this leads to misinformation, fragmented information, and unfortunately some get to the point that they’re being scammed.”
The plan started narrow and opened up fast. “The nursing ecosystem is big and vast,” Christine said. “So why not bring everything in one event, all the ecosystem stakeholders.” Hospitals and recruitment agencies, but also review centres, language centres, universities, uniform brands and phone retailers. “The event became a one-stop shop where everything a nurse may need, work or life related, is in one event.”
An inaugural event with nothing to fall back on
NOW Expo Asia was NurtureRN’s first expo. It was also Christine’s first event of any kind. “This is all new to me. This is an inaugural event and this is the first time that I actually set up an event.”
That raised the stakes on registration. With pre-registration open to anyone, there was no ticketing data to predict the arrival curve. As a new event in the Philippine market, the first impression at the door had to reflect the credibility and professionalism of everything happening inside.
The brief was one sentence. “All that we wanted was to make sure it was as seamless as possible. They just needed to scan a code, their name will just pop up, and then they got to scan their badge or print out their badge, and then it was a go.”
Why the team chose Gevme
The build-up ran on a shared rundown sheet with dated obligations on both sides. “The deadlines that you set for yourselves were all met and were all very reasonable,” Christine said. A design change and a logo amendment both came in and were turned around without friction.
Gevme also ran an online lead capture training session so exhibitors arrived knowing how to scan and manage their own leads. It turned into a working session. “Every question, every issue was resolved during the call. Johannes did not end the meeting without addressing all the concerns.” Exhibitors who missed it got the same treatment in the event WhatsApp group. “Not one was unanswered.”
The day before doors, the crew pre-printed exhibitor and sponsor badges on site. Some name lists were incomplete, which is where Christine found a feature she did not know existed. “Earl was very nice to say, if the list was missing, we could actually search by company. I didn’t know that that was an option that you had.”
Two days at one speed
Attendees arrived, scanned the QR code from their free pre-registration at a self-service kiosk, and collected a printed badge. “They were very pleasantly surprised that it took just so little time once it was scanned. It was printed out right away.”
Consistency mattered more than peak speed. “There was no issue about, oh no, it was not scanning, or there was a delay. Everything was very consistent in speed all throughout the two days. I did not hear of an issue.”
The crew worked the floor rather than the desk. When someone lingered at a kiosk, staff read it as a missing QR code and offered the name lookup before being asked. And because the hall sat inside a shopping mall, they started pulling in passers-by. “They were actually the ones introducing as well. This is a nursing event. If you’re a nurse, if you know of a nurse who might benefit, this registration is free. They were also doing that for us.”
For a team that could not stand at the entrance all day, that changed the feel of the arrangement. “You’re not just doing your job. You also want us to succeed. So you help bring in attendees as well.”
What the exhibitors said
Christine had not previously led an event of this scale, so she measured Gevme against the people in the hall who had. She did not have to go looking for the feedback. One exhibitor approached her unprompted during the expo.
“She said they have been to a lot of events. They’ve attended a lot of expos. They’ve been in the company for 15 years. And this is the first time that they experienced lead generation and registration so seamlessly.”
Others made the same point in fewer words. “They really approached me and pointed out, wow, where has Gevme been?”
A partner, not a vendor
Asked directly whether Gevme felt like an external vendor or an extension of her own team, Christine did not hedge. “You did not feel like an external partner. It really felt like you were a part of the team. You wanted to make sure that everything was seamless from the beginning, prior to the event, during the event and even after.”
That held after the closing day, with exhibitors still asking questions weeks later. The reporting held up too. “Even the backend information, we were doing the post-event reports, everything was seamless. We were able to access all of it right away, and it was easy to access, easy to understand, easy to filter.”
The results
For an inaugural event, the turnout provided a strong foundation for the expo’s growth and demonstrated clear interest from the nursing community. Exhibitors and sponsors had meaningful opportunities to connect with attendees.
On registration, the complaint count was the number that mattered. “There was not one complaint that we have, and they were all very friendly and accommodating.”
Asked what Gevme should improve for next year, Christine raised one thing, and it was about sustainability rather than performance: drop the clear plastic insert on the badge holders, because the printed badge stock is already thick enough on its own. “Not so much as improvement, because I have nothing bad to say.”
What comes next
The 2027 edition is already moving, with a launch targeted within weeks of the first one closing. One capability moves from off to on. For the inaugural edition, session check-in scanning was deliberately switched off, so that as many people as possible could come through the door. For 2027, the organisers are looking into possible session check-ins for certain speaking sessions. Gevme’s onsite session check-in supports that, and it is on the table for the second edition.
Asked to sum up the experience for another organiser weighing Gevme, Christine did not need long.
“Gevme as a registration platform and company that helped us with NOW Expo Asia is as seamless as I could actually think about. So do I recommend Gevme? Yes, 100%. You’ve delivered all that you said that you would do, and so much more.”
Do I recommend Gevme? Yes, 100%. You’ve delivered all that you said that you would do, and so much more.
– Christine Lasig, Event Director, NOW Expo Asia
FAQ's
How did NOW Expo Asia 2026 handle pre-registration for a first-time event?
The organisers ran free pre-registration through a branded Gevme registration page linked from the event website. Attendees received a QR code, scanned it at a self-service kiosk on arrival, and collected a printed badge on the spot. Walk-ins who had not pre-registered were registered onsite by the Gevme crew.
What happens if an attendee arrives without their QR code?
Onsite staff can look an attendee up by name, and organisers can also search by company, which is how exhibitor and sponsor badges were pre-printed the day before the expo when name lists were incomplete.
Can exhibitors capture leads with Gevme at a trade exhibition?
Yes. Exhibitors at NOW Expo Asia scanned attendee badges to capture leads, and Gevme ran an online training session before the event so every booth team arrived knowing how to use it.
Can organisers track attendee check-ins for individual sessions at a multi-day event?
Yes, using onsite session check-in, which scans attendees in at the door for specific sessions rather than only at badge collection. NOW Expo Asia left this off for its inaugural edition to keep entry as open as possible and is considering it for select speaking sessions in 2027.
Planning your first expo, or your tenth?
Gevme handles pre-registration, onsite check-in, badge printing and exhibitor lead capture, with a crew on the ground who treat your turnout as their problem too.