Watch as event organizers share their virtual event experiences
In many cases, the process of planning an event starts with the review of a previous event – to be used as a template. But what happens if the logisitics of a previous event no longer apply? Let’s face it, for the foreseeable future, events are simply going to be different. Even as the economy begins to open up after Covid-19, it’s going to take quite a while before events go back to the way they used to be – if ever. That’s a roadblock many event planners are facing now as they can’t simply recycle the previous plans.
While that roadblock is very real, the good news is that it’s not insurmountable. Start by shifting your focus away from previous logistical plans and zero in on the attendee, exhibitor and sponsor experience. What do each of these stakeholders need from your event? How many are able to participate in-person vs virtually? How much of the in-person “content” of your event can be mirrored in a virtual environment?
That’s where Omni Productions can be helpful. We start the process by asking these and many other questions so that you can start to discover ways to employ event technology that allows you to re-think your event so that you meet or even exceed your objectives. In fact, some event organizers have actually increased paid attendance as virtual attendees don’t have travel costs to contend with.
To learn more about each of the event organizers, watch their full interview for more in-depth details about their event and how they successfully managed their virtual event.
Amy Van Bergen is the executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Brevard. Amy contacted Omni to find a solution for transitioning the DSAB’s annual ‘Buddy Walk’ event into a virtual platform due to COVID-19 safety concerns. Omni was able to capture in-person interviews weeks before the event both on location in Cocoa Beach Village as well as studio interviews with local celebrities praising the event. The culmination of the Buddy Walk event was a half-hour long event that Omni live-streamed on both the DSAB’s YouTube channel and Facebook profile. DSAB more than doubled their fundraising goal for the event. Watch Amy’s video here.
Caroline Jones is the marketing coordinator with Cherry Lake – a top ecological and landscaping company in Florida. Cherry Lake hired Omni to help facilitate a virtual conference event for the Outside Collab Conference 2020, which Cherry Lake was sponsoring. Omni shot live panel discussions at Casa Feliz in Winter Park, Fl and streamed the conversations live through the Whova platform, a virtual conference networking site. With live presenters and virtual attendees, this hybrid event was a huge success. Video coming soon!
Cragin Mosteller is the director of external communications with Florida Association of Counties. Cragin reached out to Omni to ask for help making the FAC’s annual legislative meeting possible through a hybrid-meeting presentation. The 3-day conference originated from Jacksonville and included both in-person and remote presenters as well as both in-person and remote audience members. With this fully hybrid event, speakers and attendees could see and hear each other no matter their location. Video coming soon!
Janet Cohen is the Executive VP and lead event manager for MarketVision, a leading food supply-chain commodity analysis event that meets twice a year. After COVID-19 forced the cancellation of their spring event, Marketvision turned to Omni to make sure the fall event still happened virtually. Omni partnered with the virtual conference Platform V-Fairs and pre-recorded a series of keynote addresses, presentations and virtual greetings through Zoom in order to create a non-in-person experience that still provided the knowledge base and sense of community Marketvision was accustomed to providing. Video coming soon!
Joey Smith is the Operations and Program Manager for the Committee of Independent Education, a regulatory committee created by the Florida Department of Education for non-state colleges in Florida. When COVID-19 made in-person meetings unsafe, CIE wanted a hybrid solution to allow as many participants as possible to connect to the event virtually. Omni has worked to make this happen and gotten CIE back to a place where both attendees and committee members are able to interact both in-person or virtually if need be, creating a true hybrid meeting. Video coming soon!
Karen Wallace is the lead event coordinator for the Florida Chapter of the Design-Build Institute of America. The DBIA wanted to have a strictly virtual 2020 meeting and turned to Omni to help make that happen. Pairing with the virtual conferencing site REMO, Omni filmed both welcome messages and keynote addresses ahead of time and recording several remote presentations delivered through Remo. Omni also provided speaker training for the event in order to help remote presenters look and sound their best and day-of tech support for people getting used to a new conference platform. Video coming soon!
Rhesa Rudolph is the Assistant Executive Director for the Committee of Independent Education, a regulatory committee created by the Florida Department of Education for non-state colleges in Florida. When COVID-19 made in-person meetings unsafe, CIE wanted a hybrid solution to allow as many participants as possible to connect to the event virtually. Omni has worked to make this happen and gotten CIE back to a place where both attendees and committee members are able to interact both in-person or virtually if need be, creating a true hybrid meeting. Video coming soon!
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