Well it’s definitely been an innovative few months. Virtual events have been launched by many different sectors and our team has been inundated with new ideas and requests. The big ask has been to personalise what used to be simple online event structures into those verging on the experience of a physical event. Behind the scenes, our developers have been working hard to make this happen, so we wanted to spread the word about some of the fun new ideas that dragged us away from our comfy corporate webinar formats!
We’ve certainly had a fresh new style of contributors! While Trickbox has long been a go to for corporate clients, it’s been great to see our virtual events promote interest from charities, musicians and artists too. The contributions have been varied: singing, dancing and musical performances… A particular challenge was coordinating a choir of over 200 singers worldwide, but with a little concentration and a whole lot of technical planning it turned out to be pretty spectacular!
A big thing has been the care put into welcoming guests; you may know you’re on your way to see a comedian, but there’s a difference between just watching a video and really experiencing it as an event. One new idea we’ve put into place is to use our virtual meeting rooms to facilitate a ‘drinks reception’. Some organisers go as far as to send hampers to VIP guest’s homes, but a main attraction is surely meeting your host as they do the rounds and arrive in your small group meeting room to say hello!
To complement this personal touch, we’ve seen people spending more and more time personalising our platform to encourage involvement. Whether that’s enabling each guest to choose their own language for the stream, or to design their own agenda from the main events. Giving people more chances for interaction never fails to boost engagement. A fundraising widget has also been really helpful to charities as it simplifies the process for any generous donors.
Once your live event does begin and everyone has settled down to watch, the Trickbox staples come into play. Whatever creative ideas surround your event, it’s the quality of your streaming production that will leave the lasting impression. Our team is meticulous about maintaining high quality throughout and the engineer is often the saving grace… ask anyone who has tried their hand at DIY event streaming over lockdown!
Finally, the aftermath. It’s been fantastic to see the buzz on social media after these entertainment events! Organisers have been arranging virtual after parties in similar styles to the drinks receptions and this has been a great way to share post-event information. As well as pulling people together to discuss the event and allow final rounds of donations, talk of other upcoming events gives people something to invite their friends and followers to straight after. Just make sure you invite Trickbox to help you host!
‘London is an international city’ – we get it. Arms of London businesses spread right around the world, with clients and colleagues in different cities and different countries, all coordinating to drive their business forward. However, there are always significant language barriers and travel times to overcome, so this coordination can seem a pretty frustrating task. Particularly so at the moment, speaking from the midst of the Coronavirus panic! The face-to-face element of large meetings, especially international conferences seem to be off the cards, so what is the best way to hold events like these, and to keep everybody involved?
We have a webinar solution that can link you with your colleagues, stakeholders, and participants all over the world. This is essentially a bespoke microsite custom-made for your event, that the participants can log in, to watch the live broadcast and interact with the event. Some people call it a hub or a platform or even a portal – but we don’t like labels! Recently, an enquiry from one of our international clients highlighted the need for a multi-language broadcast of their upcoming live webinar. In response, we set up some clever audio technology, so that along with the native English spoken webinar audio, we could translate the live broadcast into four other languages in real-time. This meant that the live webinar was available in five languages simultaneously! The clever audio technology can’t take all the credit, there were some clever translators – real humans – involved too!
An added bonus is the interactive nature of this kind of live online event. When audiences register to the platform they can submit questions in advance, however, further questions can be submitted throughout. Viewer questions can be moderated (and translated if needed) by the client, or by our studio team, then they’re pushed to the platform and seen by the on-screen presenter and audience all at once. Like this, the audience engage from wherever they are in the world, with no language barriers. For example, your client in China can submit a question, your English presenter can ask the on-screen panel, and your colleague in Italy can come through with the answer, while thousands of other viewers watch and listen from all over the world!
Is this the future of business communication? With the global panic about Coronavirus growing, travel is an increasingly unattractive prospect. In our fully equipped studio with views of the City of London, Trickbox are hoping that businesses will recognise the service we’re offering as a low cost, far-reaching alternative to real-world events. Well connected and adaptable, we welcome requests from all new clients and will create a bespoke package to suit any enquiry!