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Sasha Frieze
Awarded Event
Producer of the
Year 2020 by
Conference News a
week before
lockdown, Sasha
leads The Business
Narrative, a
conference and
business events
agency, bringing a
combination of
curiosity, creativity
and commercial
reality to event
briefs, spending
time getting under
the skin of client
requirements using
the proprietary
Event Narrative
Framework - seven
questions
designed to
create a
coherent
narrative
communicating
your event’s
purpose – and a lot
of coffee.
A Fellow of both
the Royal Society of
Arts and Chartered
Institute of
Marketing, Sasha
is committed to
giving back to her
industry as a
Mentor for the Fast
Forward 15, on the
board of the event
industry’s Event
Apprenticeships
Programme and a
Visiting Lecturer in
Event Management
at Westminster
University.
6. Talk to
production early
Hybrid and online
events are effectively
TV shows. The quality
of event production
and broadcast
impacts how
participants
experience it, and so it
is vital to work with
your livestreaming and
production team early
to ensure the
programme you have
in mind is deliverable
from a production
perspective.
Start early, and loop
in your production
professionals to
ensure that any
challenges are dealt
with up front. You’ll
also want to consider
creating interstitials
and idents for slick
crossovers between
sessions. Branded
event studios, where
those speakers who
are able to travel can
record high quality
broadcast content are
part of all our futures.
7. A strong event host
Even more so than
physical events, online
events need a strong
MC to greet and guide
people through the
event, and we are
finding that
professionals with
broadcast TV
experience are skilled
at bringing people
along.
8. The all-important
engagement
Enabling participants
to engage with each
other, speakers and
sponsors is one of the
ways that your
live-online gathering
differentiates itself
from a series of linked
webinars. We are
looking at platforms
with live Q&A,
question upvoting,
chat and polls at the
side of the broadcast
stage, as well as 1:1
video chat and
random networking;
just like when you
meet someone at the
coffee station.
You could also
create themed
roundtables and
‘coffee lounges’. There
is a vast range of
activities that speak to
participants ‘authentic
selves’: yoga and drink
Event Design
mixing demos in
breaks, competitions,
gamification, virtual
goodie bags or online
scavenger hunts. The
list is endless.
9. Sponsorship
Virtual sponsor
booths, with short
video, 1:1 networking,
and active lead
generation techniques
such as downloading
white papers, can help
sponsors achieve the
value they seek, and
you may want to
enhance this with
session content or
roundtables.
10. Don’t forget
the tech
Once you have
established your event
design, giving you a
functionality wish list,
you can start selecting
your online event
platform. Let the event
drive the tech. The
market is fast-moving,
and there are new
event platforms coming
online, so be prepared
to compromise and find
one that meets the
majority of your needs.
You will need to
evaluate whether you
are looking for an
all-in-one platform, or
whether you are open
to integrating video
broadcast, Q&A or
other elements.
With a lack of
clarity from the
government on when
physical events might
open up, virtual event
design seems a skill
we’re needing to learn
fast.
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