Gary Clement, CEO of Evessio, explains his journey from building early event systems to founding a platform focused on owning its technology, avoiding reliance on third-party infrastructure, and scaling as a SaaS business. The episode covers Evessio’s use of AI to speed processes, create new revenue streams, and turn awards data into actionable benchmarking reports for entrants, judges and sponsors. Practical innovations discussed include judge-friendly tools (like voice dictation), BenchSmart reporting, ways to incentivise judge feedback, and advice to organisers to stay focused on their strengths while embracing AI-driven opportunities.