ORO understands the importance of great vendor partnerships, and a vital piece to any event are the services provided by your Audio-Visual partner. Having confidence and trust in your AV team is of the utmost importance, especially now more than ever. Read on as guest blogger, Sidney Stoper, National Director of Hospitality Sales for JSAV, focuses on the new reality of event production and how they have been able to adapt effectively.
Since I refuse to use the word “pivot,” I will say JSAV has adapted. We were set to exceed 2019 revenues throughout the company. We were planning to move into a dozen new hotels. We had a record number of new hires, and then…. COVID 19.
The event production industry had to adapt. And now, we are producing almost entirely virtual conferences and events. Instead of scheduling trucks to deliver equipment all over the country, we are now asking our clients if the keynote will be live or pre-recorded. Instead of creating CADS, we are custom designing websites for each virtual conference. Engineers who are used to operating multi-cameras in a convention center ballroom are now switching among keynote speakers in their homes or offices around the country.
I have also adapted. Pre-COVID, I was our National Director of Hospitality Sales, where I over saw the sales process and training in our hotels. Now, I am an Executive Producer, where I help wrangle speakers from the virtual green room to the virtual studio. Both our clients and their presenters are anxious as most have not been in this environment. I walk them through the process and help ease their nerves.
Virtual meetings have become our new reality, and we see our clients embracing them in all markets – association, corporate, and social. When in-person events (finally) return, there will be a component of a hybrid programming for some time. This could last for another 6 to 8 months, or it could be the standard, depending on the client and organization.
Our clients are tasked with ensuring that their programming is engaging - what will keep attendees from checking email and social media during the conference? Some ideas I have seen from past shows include, trivia questions and live polling during breaks, encouraging attendees to use the event hashtag, and meditation or yoga breaks. Of course, having an energetic emcee and dynamic speakers, just like any in-person event, is paramount.
I love collaborating with our clients and I especially love celebrating with our clients after a successful virtual conference. And this is why, I love what I do!
Here are a few helpful questions to ask your client…
· What is the overall scope of the conference (e.g. Plenary, Breakouts, Trade Show, Awards)?
· Do you need a platform to host the conference?
· Would you like to have a public chat feature for your sessions? Q&A?
· Will you have a virtual emcee?
For More About JSAV: http://www.jsav.com/
