September, 2020
Cover Feature 07
outcome, and where do you want to
take your audience from and too?
Start with building the storyboard,
let the journey decide what the best
solution is, not the other way around.
Be realistic with time and budget, this
isn’t a just cheap alternative. You are
building with pixels not bricks, so
room for creativity can stretch further
than planning permission allows.
Going it alone is not advised, how
should an organiser go about
looking for a creative partner to
help deliver a hybrid event: what
questions should they ask?
Now more than ever it is about collaboration
and partnerships. Once you are
clear on what you need to achieve, then
look for a partner that has a similar
business ethos and have demonstrated
that they can bring value. Look at how
they can support your current team
and resource, where are their gaps,
can they provide a flexible turn key?
You don’t want to spend a
fortune developing a hybrid platform
only to be given the keys and
told to run the event, you need to
find a partner from start to finish.
Surely you want to incentivise
people to be at the live event, or it
just becomes an online event: any
tips on how to do this?
Most definitely, it goes back to
customer journey and engagement.
Building an event community is vital
in the build-up to any event. We have
sent out home care boxes through
Lego that allowed a gamification
and interaction aspect to the event.
Focus on the storyboard, scripting
and the levels of participation.
If the session has its greatest
impact as a live feed then that’s what
it should be, if the audience can engage
with that performance, give feedback
and insight, then it’s a hybrid
event. I also recommend pre-recording
elements that have a complicated
production or when working
with presenters that might find the
environment un-nerving, remember
that it’s the production teams’
job to get the best out of everyone.
When speakers or panellists
appear on screen, sometimes the
backdrops can look unprofessional,
or they are not fitted to the screen
properly: have you found a solution
to improve that?
We all love a Zoom call, but I can’t
remember the last time we designed a
festival set to look like a dining room.
To improve this, we use ‘the studio
in the box’. This allows us to send a
remote camera out to a presenter and
the backdrop is matched with that of
the set. They also have an earpiece,
get cued up and can have autocue,
which ensures seamless presenting.
Always test bandwidth and
connectivity, all live sessions have
to be part of the rehearsals, this
includes the inevitable Q&A sessions
which can use live chat links too, as
not everyone likes being on camera.
Manage the wardrobe and avoid
presenting in a grubby T-shirt. If
you are capturing content from
home, then invest in an autofocus
web cam. We can supply these kits
to projects for these reasons, even
at the basic level this has to be right.