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all panellists were looking in the right direction to present well for the virtual audience too - i . e the London panellists where looking left to the co-panellist in New York , who were looking to the right at their co-panellists in London .”
To achieve this , NMR created the concept of a ‘ monitor forest ’, whereby each physical stage would include seats for the in-person speakers and the monitor forest would include a live stream of the speakers , wherever they happen to be sitting - either online or in-person in the opposite location .
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This turned out to be a more cost effective solution compared to an LED backdrop and enabled both in-person hubs to look very similar in style .
“ We wanted to get across that you may be in a different venue in a different continent , but you were still part of the same event - small things like the visual design have a significant impact ,” Lovatt says .
The next stage of the technical and production planning was to identify how many lines would be required to bring all of the speakers in from whichever location they were sitting
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with all audio presented in both directions .
“ This required us to be 100 % clear on how many speakers would be present in which location in each session ,” Lovatt says . “ As every experienced conference planner knows , speakers can change their plans last minute , or request change to their session timings and so on . We identified that the highest number of presenters that we would have in any one panel at any one time - whether online , or in person - was six and therefore we required six independent lines .
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“ With the benefit of hindsight , we would recommend arranging for at least one additional line to be present , so that in those last minute moments , when perhaps an in-person speaker changes their plans and asks to present online instead , you ’ re still able to accommodate for that to a high production standard .”
Towards the end of May , it became apparent that Glisser would be able to deliver 20 to 30 attendees in New York safely and would also be able to open-up attendance for a higher number of people in the London region . Working closely with etc . Venues , Hybrid Events Ignited was able to secure just under 90 registrations to join the in-person London hub .
“ A lesson learned on the venue requirements is that hybrid events enable a greater degree of flexibility for attendees and speakers . This , overall is an incredibly good thing because ultimately , it means greater event attendance , participation , and enjoyment ,” Lovatt says . “ However , the downside from an event organiser ’ s perspective is that those who have registered to attend in-person are able
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