From August 25-26, 2011, more than 100 marketing and event professionals gathered at the McNamara Alumni Center in Minneapolis, MN for the EventCamp Twin Cities (ECTC) conference. With a vision to experiment with technology for event gatherings, ECTC walked a fine line between the possible and nearly impossible. This is a first of several articles harnessing the best thinking from event and technology thought leaders within the meetings and events industry.
In this first article, we look at the top THREE innovations that may be coming to a hybrid event near you from executable today to downright experimental.
Facebook Application for Streaming Content
Instead of leveraging a virtual event platform to livestream the content to remote audiences, ECTC leveraged two solutions: Sonic Foundry’s Mediasite and Ustream. To show the capabilities of both streaming platforms, both platforms were embedded into the Facebook Application custom developed by ECTC. According to Samuel J. Smith, co-founder of ECTC, “We wanted to show people the difference between the two platforms. If you look at them closely, you can see that there is quite a difference.”
Developed by Ray Hansen, co-founder of ECTC, the ECTC Facebook app was deceivingly simple. With just a click of the mouse, remote attendees were instantly viewing presentations from the main podium. Virtual attendees had several options for viewing the presentation to full screen or even changing what appeared in the window within the screen view.
This simplified interface demonstrates the power of social media platforms, such as Facebook, for holding online events. In this case, vision and reality performed beautifully, which requires user design understanding and resources to build a customized application.
EventCamp Twin Cities 2011 Facebook App
Skyping in Remote Pods
The medical industry has worked with the concept of broadcasting from a central location to several remote locations, known as “hub and spoke.” ECTC leveraged a similar model called pods, where groups of individuals gathered in various locations in the US (Silicon Valley and Philadelphia), Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) and as far-flung as Amsterdam.
ECTC connected the pods to the proceedings in Minneapolis via Skype. The vision was to allow presenters in Minneapolis to interact with any of the pods, which were displayed on two plasma screens adjacent to the podium, to drive the hybrid experience. The reality proved more difficult with streaming delays of upwards to 20 seconds, and conversations from different pods interrupting interactions between a presenter and a specific pod.
Overall, the pod concept was a hit allowing the Minneapolis audience to view participants all over the world and back again. The technical issues can be easily remedied with dedicated Skype conversations with each pod or other similar streaming solution.
by TNOC.photostream via Flickr
Hybrid Game Challenge
The goal of most hybrid events is to drive interaction between the physical and virtual audiences and games has been seen as one avenue to achieve this. Designed by Kurt Nelson, ECTC introduced a series of game challenges that pitted teams comprised of physical and virtual attendees. These challenges included:
- Badges: Teams earned badges for completing specific tasks, such as posting a video to YouTube or creating a Facebook event page.
- Camp Challenge: Incorporated into the conference schedule, teams worked on project, such as a Virtual Treasure Hunt or What will events look like in 20/20.
- Case Study Challenge: The main team challenge was to develop a video hybrid strategy for one of three mock scenarios, post it to YouTube, and receive points for each like.
Due to the time commitment to complete just one – not to mention three – challenge, teams tended to interact with one another throughout the two days. In some respects, teams opted to work on challenges in lieu of attending some presentations.
Rather, focusing one game activity, such as developing a case study based on content from presentations, creates a cohesive learning and engaging experience for all participants. The tricky part is having the right balance of teamwork, education and practicality for all involved.
Conclusion: Innovation Has a Cost
While ECTC leveraged free technologies such as Skype, Facebook, and Ustream to create a hybrid event experience, implementing them has a tangible cost in terms of design and staff. Smith recommends that marketers and event professionals “consider each audience that you are bringing into your event – face-to-face, remote Pod location (by timezone) and the virtual attendee group. Then, look at how you want to integrate them into the event. Will they be using video, text chat, twitter, or some other means of communicating? Then ask yourself – what are the support people and processes required to execute these concepts?”
However, if done well with forethought and your audience in mind, the end result is deceptively simple and seamless for all involved.
Related posts:
- Turn Your Physical Event into a Hybrid Event, Cisco Style
- Virtual Edge Institute and ROI of Engagement’s Multi-Year Study Reveals Effectiveness of Hybrid Events
- Experience the ‘Virtual E3′ This Summer – The Hybrid Event for the E3 Show
- Research Drove Elsevier to Launch the Vaccine Virtual Conference as a Hybrid Event
- Cisco Wraps up the Massive 2010 Global Sales Experience (GSX) Hybrid Event and Shifts from Event to Environment
Cece
As I read your post and owning a production company for the last 10 years. plus producing two EventCamps and a Pod for this years Twin Cities I have to point out that dong a hybrid event takes lots of communication and basic meeting production 101 knowledge. It isn’t easy, and bringing in professionals is a key element.
I ran a Pod(Silicon Valley) for Twin Cities and we had our technology set up and ready to go. The first day passed and we were never interacted with. No interaction except twitter. The second day at the very final segment they tried to come to us and it did not work. This should have been fixed the morning of the first day if there was a problem. (also the day was cut short)
The Facebook application was cool but the streaming provider they used Ustream hung up constantly and never worked so we couldn’t watch it. (I have never heard of using two live stream providers for a two day event)
The game was very confusing and we could never access it from our pod. So much was devoted to the game and we wanted to watch the sessions. It was overwhelming to have to sign up to so many things to play… Again we ended up scrapping it becasue none of us could figure it out.
When I founded EventCamp my co-founders and I wanted a place that Meeting Professionals could learn about social media and event technology. Have it low cost and accessible to all.
This whole event was painful for me to watch as a meeting production owner and as someone who ran a pod which cost me and my sponsors/attendees time and money. Also I was brought into a room at the end of the event and was part of a large joke which is now floating around on the internet.
I understand mistakes happen but with good communication planning and meeting production they can be quickly fixed and interactive content and learning can be shared.
After reading your article I wanted to share my experience as a Pod.
mike
@Mike, thanks for sharing your thoughts as I think it’s an important component for everyone to consider when creating “pod” experiences.