Valentines, shmalentines: the World s 7 Least Romantic Event Venues
LOL, VENUES
Hey, don t give us that face. We don t have anything against romance. Romance is great. It s the chocolate sprinkles on the cupcake of life. But every other blog on earth has that one covered, so in preparation for that special day of the year when single event professionals eat grocery store sushi and ruminate on dying alone, here are seven libido-killing locations for your next event.
Costa Rica: Fuselage 727
Hey, I know. Why don t you throw a party in the body of a downed airliner that looks like it just finished doing an impression of your last relationship?
In fairness, Fuselage 727 wasn t built inside a crashed plane, it was restored from an out-of-use chassis that was dragged through miles of jungle, gutted, and refurbished into the unique monument to making your own fun that you see here today. Still, though.
This fully outfitted, meticulously detailed, two bedroom, Boeing 727 fuselage suite jets out from the jungle canopy, affording you views that will make you feel like you re flying. We salvaged this airframe from its San Jose airport-resting place. We carefully transported the pieces on five, big-rig trucks to the jungles of Manuel Antonio where they have been resurrected into a unique jumbo hotel suite.
Latvia: Karosta Prison
Housed in a real soviet naval port prison, Karosta Exuberant TripAdvisor guest reviews crow, Scary place! and Most awkward museum I ve ever been to . Venue staff can organize activities including an Escape from the USSR game, in which teams dress up like emaciated prisoners and scrabble to freedom through a series of dirt tunnels (no, really). Plus, catering s available:
In our authentic prison buffet we have warm pies and aromatic coffee, also rich hot food. And do not forget to try our special refreshments! You will be served by a real soviet-time buffet-lady.
Oh, man, special refreshements . Book it
New York: Ripley s Believe it or Not
18,000 square feed of shrunken head collections, cockroach attack simulations and albino giraffes. Ladies be goin crazy, amirite? Event planners can book either of two theaters, the largest with a max capacity of 150. Book it
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Once a poorly-managed house of horros, now an event planner s dream locale for cocktail parties and team building retreats.
Originally designed to house 250 patients in solitude, the hospital held 717 patients by 1880; 1,661 in 1938; over 1,800 in 1949; and, at its peak, 2,600 in the 1950s in overcrowded conditions. A 1938 report by a survey committee organized by a group of North American medical organizations found that the hospital housed epileptics, alcoholics, drug addicts and non-educable mental defectives among its population. A series of reports by The Charleston Gazette in 1949 found poor sanitation and insufficient furniture, lighting, and heating in much of the complex . By the 1980s, the hospital had a reduced population due to changes in the treatment of mental illness. Those patients that could not be controlled were often locked in cages.
The Ocean: Frying Pan Tower
Frying Pan Tower, formerly the U.S. Coastguard Frying Pan Light Station, is a lighthouse situated at the end of the Frying Pan Shoals, 32 miles south of Bald Head Island N.C. This is the southernmost end of the feared Graveyard of the Atlantic which stretches up to the northern end of the Outer Banks of N.C.
Tower organizers can arrange for guests to be flown in by helicopter or shipped in by boat, and can tailor your event to include team building activities like deep sea fishing or diving, skeet shooting and golfing contests with biodegradable targets and golf balls! Hey, man, nobody said these weren t cool. We just said no one s getting laid afterwards. Book it
Taiwan: Grand Hyatt Taipei
I envy the no-nonsense, fate-tempting practicality of whoever decided to build this place on a former World War II execution ground. According to Vogue
During its design phase, feng shui experts were hired to place sacred scrolls and various chimes throughout the lobby to ward off evil spirits. Rumor has it that actor Jackie Chan abruptly left the hotel after seeing a ghost.
Myrtle s Plantation
No. No burial grounds. Burial grounds are a guaranteed sexytime boner-killer. Thrillist reports:
This stately home is said to have been built on an ancient Native American burial ground, which pretty much never works out. And apparently 10 murders were committed within the hotel s walls since the 1700s, the most well-known of which was William Drew Winter, who was shot on the porch and managed to crawl up 17 stairs before dying. He can occasionally still be seen doing today, according to legend.
Holiday Engagement: 6 Christmas Experiential Marketing Campaigns that Really Nailed It
BRAND ACTIVATIONS & MARKETING
Christmas marketing is its own animal. It s gotta bring the warm fuzzies while staying on brand. It s gotta be clever but hold to tradition. It takes planning, prep, and a whole lot of creativity. Here are a few campaigns from the last couple of years that scored high on memorable Christmas magic.
Post Office Christmas Stamp shop
Aw. Cute. This pop-up shop experience, created by Immerse Agency, lets visitors make their own personalized stamps for sending Christmas greetings.
Control the Choir Campaign
UK kinda-Tivo-but-not-Tivo television service provider Freeview launched a campaign in 2012 called Control the Choir , letting audiences use a comically large remote to stop, start and re-wind live performances by carolers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSqYo6_f578&feature=youtu.be
Gingerbread Bank
PNC opened a life-size gingerbread branch over the weekend in Philadelphia to promote its annual holiday financial report that calculates the prices of all the gifts in the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas. Created by Deutsch with some help from Philadelphia s Bredenbeck s Bakery, the 340-square-foot bank was made with 5,000 pounds of gingerbread. Those who came through its doors over the weekend could open an account with the bank or use a cookie-covered ATM. Best. Event. Breakdown. Ever.
The Christmas Spirit Tree
Social media, interaction, Christmas and data visualization all in one? Canadian Tire, you re on the nailed it list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daip9S4piP4
Share a White Christmas
You know who s the hands-down king of Christmas marketing? Coca Cola, that s who. It takes more than one fistful of genius to turn a soda into a holiday brand, but they did it. Makes sense, really: they ve been refining the art of seasonal ads 80 years. They even kinda invented Santa. And last holiday season they were at it again with an international snow-transporter-portal-kiosk deal that let kids in Lapland send snow drifts to kids in Singapore instantly. Respect.
Wrapping-paper Billboard
Just a smidgen more love for the C-and-C:
In their most recent Christmas campaign, Coca Cola has teamed up with Duval Guillaume Modem to create outdoor advertising with a twist. Instead of showcasing a flat poster, as is traditionally the medium for such billboard type advertisement, Coca Cola has run a simple guerrilla marketing campaign that has proven to be very effective. Seen in Belgium a few days before Christmas, Coca Cola set up outdoor billboards that dispensed Christmas wrapping paper, in a variety of Coca Cola friendly designs, for the shopping masses to take as much as they pleased.
Seen any good Christmas marketing campaigns yourself? Tell us in the comments.
Mobile (Road Show) Marketing Trends of 2015: Ideas & Inspiration
MOBILE MEDIA
The Kenzo Fashion Bus
Kenzo, who s marketing department are quickly proving themselves masters of experiential fashion, show off their hottest print of the season on the exterior of the Kenzo Fashion Bus.
The lower deck features a Kenzo fashion showroom where new SS15 runway collection and accessories are out on display, and available for exclusive pre-order for fashion bus passengers only. Whilst the upper deck plays host to the Kenzo lounge where refreshments are served up. (Buro 24/7)
Holiday Inn Pancake Selfies Bus
Narcissism and breakfast: two of our favorite things. Decibel was honored to work on the Doubletree by Hilton Cookie Careavan tour a couple of years ago, and we re twice pleased to tip the hat at the new Holiday Inn s innovative pancake selfie bus. Take a photo, and get your face printed on a pancake. And then eat the pancake, because Freud.
Volkswagon Truck Tracker
Volkswagon took a clever approach to promoting its new truck tracker: glow-in-the-dark truck wraps. From Trendhunter:
Volkswagen s Volksnet truck tracker system is extremely valuable for truckers, since they are often susceptible of having their cargo stolen, especially as they sleep. In order to get the word out about this truck tracking system, the S o Paulo-based agency AlmapBBDO sent out a unique truck to deliver an advertisement rather than cargo.
A standard cargo truck was set up with a phosphorescent wrap that became illuminated and ever-visible, even in the black of night. Simple bold text was used to reiterate that cargo will never disappear. With the Volksnet Glowing Cargo, the truck was driven up major roads in S o Paulo, serving as a way to show that your very precious cargo will never be out of sight. The ad is simple and extremely clear, since the trucks themselves serve as the messenger.
Samsung Safety Truck
Speaking of using trucks in ways other than intended, take a gander at the Samsung Safety Truck, which uses a mounted Samsung TV screen to help drivers conquer the frustrating visibility issues created by driving behind a massive carriage.
Air France Food Truck
Giving out samples of airline food to folks on the ground is risky. Unless, that is, you re Air France, you have a Michelin star chef creating the meals, and you re dead sure you ve got a solid product. According to Airline Trends:
Items on the menu included Pain au Chocolat for breakfast, cucumber and smoked salmon brochette (lunch), French Shepherd s Pie with duck confit (dinner) and assorted French macarons and petits fours as a dessert.Parked in one location per day, the Air France food truck could be found at respectively Rockefeller Center, Union Square, SoHo/Broadway and Wall Street.
The most promising event startups you should be following in 2016
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Events are one of the hot-button categories for new apps and startups this year, and some of the concepts in the earlier stages of development have us excited. We re taking a look at some businesses that are recently charging out of the gate and into the public sphere, so some of these apps aren t yet wearing their slickest outfits, but the concepts are solid and we think they ll get there.
Bizly
The Pitch Bizly is a mobile app for instantly booking meetings at leading hotels! In less than a minute, professionals can compare prices/options, pick a stunning meeting room, choose food, beverage and other amenities, and invite their guests. We feature meeting rooms at many of the world s leading hotels including Mandarin Oriental, Ace, Morgan s Hotel Group and Sixty Hotels. We believe that enterprises need more than tables and chairs when their teams are offsite. Our hallmark is delivering consistently quality experiences with the service, technology and accountability enterprises need, without the pain of RFP contracts and lengthy negotiations.
Why this is cool: We ve all been waiting for someone to finally do this right. It s not gonna eliminate a little footwork, cuz let s be real, if you re crossing all your t s, you re still gonna need to do some on-the-ground scouting to vet locations, but if you need a quick list of options, or you re already familiar-slash-comfortable with the venue, this will save you time, time and more time.
More: bizly.com
DoubleDutch
The Pitch: DoubleDutch creates a branded event app for attendees, exhibitors, and organizers to communicate, navigate, and engage at events like never before. By leveraging game mechanics and social functionality, DoubleDutch apps are designed for maximum engagement. By processing and analyzing every tap of the application, DoubleDutch is able to map users to content types or products. In this way, every event attendee can be scored and assigned to the appropriate lead or content category. The analysis of this data offers a precise, actionable guide that will help marketers better serve stakeholders, and optimize future events.
Why this is cool: The search continues for the perfect event app no one s really taken the crown there yet. This is one of the few new apps that pays strict attention to post-event engagement and follow up.
More: angel.co/doubledutch
FoxTales
The Pitch: FoxTales is an enterprise engagement platform that captures photo experiences (and user data) at events and then drives consumers to interact with their content online, creating organic social conversation. Marketing agencies, brands, event planers, and venues license our technology to entertain guests while capturing opt-ins and key consumer insights.
Why this is cool: There s a lot of photo kiosk-y nonsense floating around out there, but these guys have test-driven their concept at big-deal venues like Coachella and met with some success.
More: Vimeo
Turnstile
The Pitch: Turnstile is a mobile live events platform that connects artists and sports teams with their fans in real-time. Once installed, the Turnstile mobile app uses location-based technology to provide users with an exclusive live experience that changes from event to event. Open the Turnstile app at a Linkin Park concert, and it takes the form of a Linkin Park live app. At an LA Lakers game, Turnstile transforms into a hub of LA Lakers-related content, merchandise shopping, and venue information.
Why this is cool: This app s got an interesting pedigree: it s backed by Kendrick Lamar and Linkin Park, who both allowed Turnstile to push exclusive in-app-only content to fans and attendees. While those two endorsements alone probably aren t enough to keep the project rolling, it s a sweet start that might speak to some long-term viability.
More: angel.co/turnstile
EventSlice
The Pitch: We have built a complete event marketplace that helps people connect and solve problems when throwing an event.
Why it s cool: Geared more towards mid-sized events than large-scale to-dos, EventSlice shakes it up with some interesting search categories like karaoke bar and tech space . The database here isn t quite ready for public consumption, but we re excited to see this grow.
More: eventslice.com
EventSorbet
The Pitch: EventSorbet streamlines group reservation sales for over 500 restaurants, facilitating booking, lead qualification, event space inventory management across online channels, and marketing to interested local planners (event professionals, casual planners, large group reservations, private events).
Why it s cool: Moar marketplaces! EventSorbet covers similar ground to Eventslice, but we re all high on options over here, so the more the merrier.
More: angel.co/eventsorbet
A White (House) Christmas: Decorating Tips from the First Family
EVENT DESIGN
You think you ve got it bad doing the interior d cor for your holiday event the White House has a dozen rooms that it needs to decorate each Christmas, all of which will be toured by tens of thousands of guests, not to mention top-level media. The first lady and her decorators, however, have always proven up to the task, and this year was no different.
Based on the theme A Timeless Tradition which aimed, according to the White House s official website to inspire visitors to celebrate long-held traditions while also creating new memories this year s holiday d cor features 12 spectacular rooms of Christmas spirit, dreamed up by First Lady Michelle Obama in conjunction with Boston- and New York-based event design company Rafanelli Events (nice job, guys!). Read on for tips on how to curate a stunning holiday display.
Photo: The Washington Post
Involve the Community
For a venue like the White House a public institution as much as it is a private home it s only appropriate that the d cor include members of the community. The White House achieved that this year by hanging 8000 paper snowflakes hand-cut by Washington DC students from the ceiling of the East Colonnade. Best of all? The kids wrote their education aspirations on each one.
Photo: Michael Blanchard
Personalize the Decor
Avoid making your event look like an upscale department store by personalizing elements of your d cor. For example? This year, the White House features larger-than-life dioramas of the Obama family s two dogs, Bo and Sunny, spun from thousands of feet of knitted yarn. Who would ve thunk family pets could be so impressive?
Photo: Michael Blanchard
Incorporate seasonal elements
We know, this one sounds kind of duh, but when you re decking the halls with spools of electric lights and plastic holly (which, by the way, you should never use), it can be easy to forget. Natural seasonal elements are a great way to create bold-colored accents without going over the top. This year, the Red Room, according to boston.com, features apple wreaths, red cardinals, crisp golden oak leaves, and a garland. Of course, let s not forget the other obvious pics for natural highlights: pine wreaths and poinsettias.
Photo: Sacbee
Make It Delicious
What s better than Christmas d cor that represents the aspirations of schoolchildren or the beauty of nature? Stuff you can eat. As the Starbucks cup debate has shown us, there s a diversity of opinions about what the holiday season does or should represent, but there s one thing nobody can deny: That it is, in large part, about stuffing your face. The White House got this one right by showcasing what is essentially the most magnificent cookie any of us has ever seen a gingerbread White House. Now if you can t manage something quite this impressive, try something a bit simpler; reindeer-shaped cookies may be a bit more your speed.
Featured image: Whitehouse.gov
Decibel Event Wrap Up: Mighty Morphin Backdrop at the 67th Emmy Awards
LIVE EVENTS
If you re in the advertising industry, you don t watch the Superbowl for the football. You watch it because every single one of those 30-second spots cost like, 4 million dollars, and you wanna see how the big boys are spending their money. And if you re in the event production industry, you don t watch the 67th Emmy Awards for the Tracy Jordan speech (though, hey, welcome back, man), you watch it for the audio-visual and stage design goodies.
For those of you who didn t catch the full show, here it is:
The Emmys aren t known for their over-the-top production, focusing more on the classic award presentation, and the set designers tend to go less for distracting wow-factor and more for subtlety that supports the content of the show: TV clips, frequent on-off staging by a rotating roster of presenters and winners. That being the case, there s really only one thing to talk about from this year s Emmys: that mighty morphin door-portal fabricated backdrop thing.
This is a great example of a single static set piece that is all things to all people, appearing to seamlessly evolve through the clever use of LEDs. We get our first glimpse of this baby as soon as the curtain goes up at 00:00:00, with the undulating side-wall of LED and red-tone lighting, and it spends the rest of the show doing a chameleon thang:
The main wrap-around presentation screen is actually a construct of panels that all work in concert to display award category banners (00:09:10) or separately to display video feeds from the audience (00:23:13).
Set designers for heavily-televised events also must take into account close-ups on each speech, taking care to create a pretty background that s TV-friendly, that varies without becoming distracting, and that works from any possible camera angle. Again, good job on that one, guys.
So, Emmys #67: glitzy, classic, simple.
The Best #eventtech Tweets from January 2016
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Virtual reality beaches, upmarket event transport services and live event streaming apps: Here s a quick roundup of January s most interesting #eventtech Tweets.
Brilliant Transport
In an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine, the wave-making CEO of industry up-and-comer Brilliant Transport talks about filling the upmarket, hands-on, relationship-focused void left by cheaper one-off services like Uber and Lyft. In other words, if you can t afford a fuck up, this is who you call.
Event Manager Blog reviews EventPilot
All-in-one event production apps don t always do a great job of supporting large-scale events. In January, Event Manager Blog took a look at Event Pilot, the new app purpose-built for large and complex meetings . The details are in the post, but the final verdict reads:
Pros
- the visual calendar and schedule planning options are outstanding
- the app is fully accessible offline
- even the largest of events can go completely paperless
Cons
- the app file size is bigger than other event apps to account for the offline content
- no native version of the app for Blackberry or Windows Phone
- if something goes wrong with a 3rd party integration people can assume it is the app itself, when it is actually an issue with the integrated tool
Using Slack for Engagement
https://twitter.com/eventgrid/status/690009629494005760
Slack is a killer project-based productivity and collaboration webapp. If you ve never had the pleasure, let me assure you my friends, Slack is the bomb-diggety. In this post, Event Grid covers the basic features of using Slack as an event production pro.
Congestion App
Um, yes please?
We ve all been there. The time comes to leave the big game, Black Friday shopping, or some other event that draws a crowd, and everyone is left shuffling their feet due to the inevitable congestion. Fujitsu wants to change that and has begun field trials on a smartphone app that gives incentives to those who would wait it out. Using an artificial intelligence-enhanced system it calls Human-Centric Zinrai, the app aims to find the best candidates for staying behind and the incentive most likely to entice them to do so.
Hunger Games Exhibition
Check out the photo gallery from this immersive, tech-heavy Hunger Games installation in Discovery Times Square.
Virtual Reality Miami
How do you make guests reluctant to leave your experiential activation? Temporarily transport them to a sunny beach in the middle of winter.
Dubbed the Virtual Voyage, Kayak developed a VR experience that transported visitors to sun-soaked Miami for a few minutes. The venue was also themed around the concept of a summer holiday, allowing guests to literally experience the sand beneath their feet as they viewed and listened to the beach.
Redifining Service in the A/V Industry
And he wants to see A/V people take a shower once in a damn while.
Periscope
Periscope, periscope, periscope. Do we hear the rumblings of a new buzzword?
The Periscope app allows anyone with a smartphone to broadcast or view a live stream. The technology to enable instant access to a global audience may be one of the most profound innovations in the event industry over the past decade. Why? Because broadcasting live events takes event marketing outreach to a new dimension.
Capture more leads with RFID
Five Gifts for Every Event Planner s Wish List
EVENT DESIGN
With Christmas coming up, it s time for all you event planners out there to review the year and tally up whether you ve been naughty or nice. Did you organize your time well? Go eco-friendly with your event venues? Take care of your contracts ahead of time? Use local vendors? Refrain from having a meltdown in front of your staff? Avoid having leftover cake for dinner?
Then you, my friend, deserve to reward yourself with a few gifts that will make your life a heck of a lot easier in 2016. Sure, event planner fun might not be the same as normal people fun, but if you like us are familiar with long days spent keying in logistics on your phones, and long nights losing sleep over stage girders, then these doo-dads are just for you.
Drones
Let s start out with something that s actually fun drones. There s been a lot of buzz over the past year or two about the potential uses of drones in large-scale events, from deliveries and advertising to dramatic unveils. Their biggest use, however, seems to be capturing videos and photography. Just strap a camera to those babies, achieve lift-off, and soon you ll have birds-eye shots of your event beyond what you ever imagined. (Don t forget, of course, you need qualified operators able to comply with FAA standards.) Personally, we think it s all just an excuse to play with remote-controlled top helicopters, but so what? We need to get our jollies when we can.
Zapier Subscription
Now for something a bit more practical: an app. Generally speaking, it isn t wise to try and impose your (however well-intended) ideas for organization on type A personalities, but believe us when we say any event organizer would happy to receive a subscription to Zapier. A favorite among organizers, this webapp-automation service helps integrate all the different sites and apps that you and your staff may be using (Mailchimp, Twitter, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram, Todoist, etc.). For example, need the info from your web forms transferred to a Google docs spreadsheet? Zap it. Need your Evernote notes turned into a Trello card? Zap it. Need web-based schedules to appear in your calendar? You get the idea. While the basic version of Zapier is free, the subscription plans, which range from $20-125 per month, can handle a greater number of zaps, more tasks for month, connection to premium apps, task logs and more.
Getting Things Done
This one s an oldie (relatively speaking) but a goodie. Released in 2002, this self-help book aims to up your productivity while easing your panic attacks through a system based on prioritization and delegation. Written by David Allen, a management consultant and executive coach, Getting Things Done helps you focus your energy strategically and most importantly for people whose work contains a creative element helps you achieve a Zen state that ultimately frees your mind up to work on more important matters.
iPad Keyboard Case
If there s one thing that defines event planners, it s that they re always on the go, whether that means meeting with clients, liaising with event partners, or inspecting the venue. With all that travel, it just doesn t make sense to lug around a laptop, which is why a lot of planners now rely on iPads. One of the best ways to get the most bang for your buck out of your tablet is by buying a good keyboard case, which functionally transforms it into a lean, mean working machine. Our recommendation is the Belkin QODE Ultimate Pro Keyboard Case for iPad Air 2, which boasts perks like backlit keys, magnets that hold the tablet at two viewing angles, and a detachable keyboard. Whether you re using your tablet to send emails or make a presentation, this case (or one like it) well help multiply its functionality.
Mindfulness Meditation Course
Over the past few years, scores of studies have been released revealing the benefits of mindfulness meditation, a practice that has the potential not only to reduce your stress levels, but to improve your focus, clarity and creative thinking. For those of us who don t have the time to sit down with a book or take a class, a good option is to take an online course like this one, offered by UCLA, which combines lectures, discussion and practice in a six-week-long session.
The Virtual Audience: Tactics for tackling engagement problems of the future
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Hybrid and virtual meetings are becoming commonplace, but both event planners and attending audiences are split on the issue of virtual attendance. In the fourth annual American Express Meetings and Events Report, hybrid meeting technologies in other words, partial in-person attendance coupled with partial virtual audience attendance were names as one of the four empowering digital event solutions for the current year, but at the same time, as reported by Skift:
The AMEX report asked how many meeting planners offer virtual meetings at least 50{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of the time, dependent on the group s size. Attendees were asked how often they attend online events based on the same criteria. Planners responded that they offer an online meeting option at least 50{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of the time for smaller events (10-49 attendees), compared to 42{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3}, 32{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} and 24{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} for medium, large and very large meetings (500 or more attendees), respectively.
Meanwhile, 38{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of attendees participated virtually in at least half of their small meetings, going down to 18{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} for very large meetings. It would seem as a meeting grows in size, the perceived value of attending that meeting increases due to higher levels of available networking opportunities and educational experiences.
A total of 68{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of planners argue that attendees are too easily distracted when they attend virtual meetings, while almost half (45{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3}) of attendees agreed with that view. Furthermore, 74{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of attendees and 85{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} of planners responded: In-person meetings are more valuable to me because they allow more social interaction.
So how do you connect in a genuine, authentic way to a virtual audience? We collected a few tips from the experts and from our own experience.
Match the Experience to Real Life
As much as possible, create an experience online that mirrors the attendee s experience in other areas, maintaining a thread of familiarity. You can do this by structuring the virtual content to be similar to television programming the viewer is used to seeing, or by striving to keep virtual content as in line as possible with an in-person experience.
Keep Segments Short
A study conducted in May of this year posits that the average human attention span around 8 seconds in 2015, down from 12 seconds in the year 2000 is now worse than the average goldfish. If you present your event in long, unbroken streams, you re much more likely to lose your audience than if you attack the content in easily-digestible chunks.
Use tech to keep the audience connected to each other
Not only is it too easy for virtual viewers to get distracted, they can also easily feel disconnected from the events on the ground. The Amex report suggests that event organizers:
Poll the webcast audience live, then push the poll results for the audience to see, and discuss the feedback live. Use polling features that display both percentages and easy-to-read pie graphs, to allow the audience a glimpse of how their fellow remote audience members are responding.
but structure for response delays.
While snappy back-and-forth dialogues between virtual attendees and live presenters sound great in theory, in real life, delays between attendee input and answer can cause disruptions and lower the quality of dialogue. Even if you test drive your technology, it s very hard to get a realistic assessment of how your event networks will respond to a heavy attendance load, so it s best to structure any live-to-virtual back-and-forth so that delay issues are minimized.
Any other tips? Let us know in the comments.
Unique Event Formats: CityDash
EVENT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
This is part of Decibel s series on Unique Event Formats, where we feature off-the-beaten-track approaches to event organization, and some of the more interesting ways event producers are bringing people together.
Everyone has super agent fantasies, man. Don t tell us you ve never wanted to hand someone a manila envelope under a Viennese bridge. Or back-handspring through a laser field. Or evade Storm Trooper ninjas while cracking riddles. You want to do this. I want to do this. All people want to do this. And now you can.
What is it?
CityDash was actually created by the guys over at Fire Hazard, who specialize in high-energy immersive experiences , and who totally did not pay us to write this (no, really. We re just super into it.). With plots inspired by action RPGs, CityDash is a multi-player live action game that blends brainpower with motive power. From the horse s mouth:
[Citydash is] an hour-long team game in which players try to locate hidden codes while hiding from guards. Finding the codes scores points, but being spotted by a guard stops your team from being able to use some of the codes. The game rewards caution and stealth as well as speed and cleverness, and requires teamwork and strong leadership to win. Each team plays with a smartphone logged into the Citydash web site, which provides them with clues about the location of the codes. The codes are printed on small stickers which are hidden in difficult to find places: under benches, on the backs of signs etc.
Decibel actually batted around the idea of creating an IRL immersive experience at one point, but there were ton of moving parts, the planning required was incredibly complex and the project timeline couldn t handle starting from scratch, so we reluctantly set that aside. Seeing what has been done with Citydash, our hats are off to the organizers.
Why it s cool
I m sorry, did you not see the part about evading guards? You need another reason? Ok: how about we throw in chased by the Mad Hatter . CityDash events can be themed, like the upcoming Alice in Wonderland version slated to run in Adelaide ( Peer around corners, duck behind cover, and recruit passers-by to help you outwit and outrun the Red Queen s guards. Will you escape detection.. or lose your head? ), or the May 2015 version with a Sherlock Holmes twist ( Can you stop the evil Professor Moriarty before he destroys England? Will you uncover all of Moriarty s calling cards in time to evade disaster and attend tea? ).
How do I hold one?
Wise to get in touch with the dudes that invented it, wethinks. Yes, you could do your own, call it something else, blah blah blah. But events like this require more than knowing where to put the port-a-johns: the narrative element is key, and the timing is also touchy. So do call in and partner with the experts for consulting and help organizing.