Are virtual events inherently boring? Here are some thoughts.
Remote Production is here to stay
As I'm working on #hybridevents I'm seeing reminders in the real world that remote production is here to stay.
What are the ways you see tools and techniques from remote / REMI becoming mainstays of in-person event production?
Production Recap: Hybrid Outdoor Graduation
As in-person and hybrid events return, here’s a little recap of an event Talon produced for the Davis Joint Unified School District.
Look Both Ways Before You Step Out: Looking Back at Virtual 2020 as we head into Hybrid 2021
The end of the first quarter of 2021 marks a full year of the events industry in a Covid world. I think this is a good time to look back at the year past, and to look forward to my view of what's next for our industry.
I am also excited to be in a ballroom again, but I don’t think we’re quite going to just jump back into where we left off when the industry froze in Q1 2020, and I don’t think we should want to.
Improving Virtual Meeting Attendee Engagement with an Interactive Coffee Break
Let’s take this online
In mid May, the staff at Veloz, a nonprofit organization focused on electrifying transportation in California, came to me with a challenge. Their July member meeting, scheduled to be an in-person round table in Downtown Los Angeles, was going to be impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions. Like most event planners, they wondered how to take the meeting online. The conference involved 50 members around a table discussing state policy, industry marketing, and increasing member investment. How would we move it to an online format while maintaining the networking, conversation and attendee engagement of the in-person meeting? How could we make members feel valued and invested in the organization without being with them in person?
Not Quite Live Stream: A Virtual Event Video Playback Solution
I got a call this week from a client asking “how do we do an event that looks like a live stream, but is actually pre-recorded?”
Lots of the virtual events I’ve been working on have had pre-recorded sessions, if not been fully pre recorded, so I thought I’d share how I’ve been handling playback for Zoom calls or Live Streams.
Presenting the Class of 2020 (Virtually)
I got a phone call in March from a long-time-client - can you make our graduation virtual?
When Da Vinci approached me to reimagine their graduation as an online event, I knew their event needed more than a pre-recorded video or a teleconference link. Working with school administrators and district officials, we got permission to build a studio in a classroom and broadcast their event live from the high school campus. Over June 10th and 11th, we transformed the media classroom into a studio with pipe and drape, lighting, a few lecterns, two vans full of video equipment, and 4 technicians: Technical Director, Graphics Operator, Robo Camera Operator, and Producer/Show Caller, all all positioned to preserve safe social distancing.
24 Months and Beyond: The Event Industry in a Post-Social Distancing World
2021 : An Events Odyssey
“The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and we get to a vaccine.” -Governor Newsom of California, April 14, 2020
"Large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city for at least 1 year... It's difficult to imagine us getting together in the thousands anytime soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year," -Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles, April 15, 2020
This is about what I was expecting, but for those of us who make our living in events, it means we’re likely out of work until mid 2021 or beyond.
I’ve honestly been expecting that timeline for a while now, so while it’s devastating news, it’s at least somewhat validating to have more official certainty on that point.
Our industry is extremely adaptable, extremely flexible, and extremely nimble. Show business will still exist now and in the future - there are too many of us addicted to the craft for it to disappear. Online productions will fill the gaps, creative technologies and solutions will be more and more common, and communication, education, and entertainment will continue.
Live from Quarantine - The New Normal of Live Events
Live Events are changing and we’d better keep up
Watching The iHeart Living Room Concert for America presented by FOX on Sunday evening, I was struck with the overwhelming sense that this is the “new normal.” This is what a live event looks like now, at least in the immediate future.
Clients have been calling me all week, assessing how to put traditionally in-person events like galas and graduations online. As an events professional, my job is to bring the expertise, technology, and teams to execute my client’s vision, whether that’s projection mapping an abandoned cement factory, holding a benefit concert in a downtown intersection, or figuring out how to hold a graduation or a gala fully online. Events bring people together over shared goals and shared connections, teach and share knowledge, reinforce social bonds, and build communities. The challenge now is how to convey to an online audience the messages and emotional impacts we experience live and in-person. This is the problem I hear over and over again among my peers, friends, and even competitors as our whole industry grapples with connecting services to our communities during COVID-19. How do we continue to educate, inspire, and bring joy to our audiences in this time of social distancing?