Top 25 -Tales From The Virtual/Hybrid Crypt

By new NYSAE member, Arnie Roberts, DES, President & CEO, SMART-reg International, Inc.

We all have been affected in one way or another by the COVID pandemic. Needless to say, the

events industry is faced with a new set of challenges which we will overcome. I'd like to share some small breadcrumbs of information that might make your path a successful one.

Here is a check-list to consider, with possible solutions:

• If you plan on have presenters connect via ZOOM, WebEx or some other platform, plan on doing a simple lighting, bandwidth and sound check. This involves "connecting" pre-event with your presenters.
• Bandwidth. If your presenters are connecting to the Internet via Wi-Fi, sometimes simply moving a laptop to another location can improve bandwidth. Use this link to test the current connection speed. https://www.speedtest.net/  The most important component is your upload speed, anything above 6Mbps should work.
• Lighting. Most times turning on an overhead or desk lamp solves basic lighting problems. Even letting in outside light from a nearby window helps.
• Sound. If the sound quality needs improvement, one inexpensive suggestion (under $24) is a USB connected Condenser Cardioid Microphone, which is an easy fix that can be shipped directly to your presenter using Amazon.
• Most important take-away for a Livestream event is rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!  This is critical for testing the lighting, video, and sound quality; and, most important of all, the comfort level of the presenters who are now speaking to a camera instead of an audience - it is a different experience!
• Expect to be thrilled! At a recent Livestream event, which included remote presenters, the attendance exceeded previous face-to-face meetings by 63%. This is a typical experience for organizations hosting virtual or hybrid events.
• Does your platform provider have the ability to provide a virtual vendor hall so vendors/exhibitors and sponsors  are able to load videos, product or service descriptions, and contact information?  Do your attendees have the ability to view the supplied videos and download documents, as well as real-time Q&A interaction? Creative methods for attendee engagement are considered critical.
• Make certain your platform provider is able to track actual attendees -who attended which sessions, participated in activities, and visited vendor booths. Actual participants not just numbers. These can also provide leads for vendors.
• If the content provided is required for professional credit is there a means to validate that someone is viewing the presentation?
• Typical techniques include a timed pop-up that verifies attendees are actively watching the presentation, and/or if the attendee is interrupted while watching the presentation, they can access the content at a later time and complete the session.
• Does your platform have the ability to host and deliver an unlimited number of recorded and live presentations that don't require your real-time interaction?
• Will your livestream presentations be recorded and available along with your pre-recorded presentations? Are additional presentation materials available for attendee reference and download after the event?
• Does your platform provider have the ability to provide session score ranking (i.e. 1-4 stars) and comments, as well as polling?
• Does the post-event virtual experience have your branding?

Horrors to Avoid

If you plan on a DIY virtual event using some very good free products like OBS Studio https://obsproject.com/, keep in mind when recording your Livestream sessions you will need about 1 TB of disk storage for 8 hours of recording. Eliminate the horror of discovering what your computer will do when it runs out of storage space during your event! It is also suggested that you utilize an external SSD storage device due to the required high data transfer speed. The SAMSUNG 2TB Model: MU-PA2T0B is a perfect choice.

Another DIY *horror* to avoid -finding out all of your video recordings are out of sync with the audio tracks. If you used OBS, check out this YouTube video before this horror haunts you, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrS5l0zKQg

If you did not follow the advice mentioned above, or used a different software product and

experience an out of sync audio track, here is a recommendation. This super-free product will correct the issue... Avidemux - http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrS5l0zKQg

Another DIY Horror: Your livestream (low-bandwidth) viewing audience complaining to you in

real-time that they are experiencing delayed viewing and browser caching issues. Don't make the mistake thinking that bigger (higher) is better. Use a Bandwidth streaming setting of  6.0 Mbps.

If your event has an International audience, make sure the platform you use utilizes a fast Content

Delivery Network that is highly optimized to deliver, video-on-demand and livestream content with

high transfer speeds to millions globally. One such service is provided by Amazon Web Services.

Don't Forget the Social Element

The "social" check list for your Event:

• Audience engagement
• Participant networking
• Gamification
• Colleague locator capability -where attendees can find other participants who are attending
• Private Messaging
• Group Chat Rooms
• Face-2-Face Video Chat Rooms
• A Message Board
• Integrate with Zoom and Google Hangouts
• Customized User profile complete with an avatar

Questions? You can contact Arnie Roberts via e-mail arnie@SMART-reg.com