eventproductiontechnology - Decibel Events

Heads up: Pixmob Makes Events All Twinkly

Well, February sure turned into a month of event tech spotlights on the Decibel blog, so rounding out that theme, we ve got a nifty piece of lighting technology that caught our eye. Take a gander at Pixmob, a company whose sole purpose in this world is to make events sparkle. And really, who couldn t use a little more sparkle?

Pixmob specializes in creating LED products which are designed to sync with live music (didn t we just say that LEDs are the future of event production?), and which can be deployed at the largest scale. Their existing products consist of translucent, RFID-enabled wristbands, PixMob brandable ballsthat engage fans who bounce them around in a crowd , pendants, beads, and our personal favorite, Helicos, which, like a swarm of fireflies gracefully descend into an audience creating immersive visuals. Check this out:

The Tech

For a back-of-the-house look at the technology that drives the products, A/V nerds might be interested in checking out the details behind the tech, which details the different ways the lighted products can be controlled either via impact or wireless controls. They can also be set to display video as opposed to basic light.

More Eye-Candy

Kinda can t stop watching these love the engagement!

Private Beta Alert: Blokks Plans to Make Festival Timetables Pretty & Embeddable

A quick Thursday morning heads-up for event tech nerds: keep your eye on new micro-feature startup Blokks, which aims to tackle the event timetable.

As the event-tech market attacks ever more specialized problems, it was only a matter of time before someone turned their attention this famously pain-in-the-butt aspect of event website creation. Currently in private beta and featured on Betalist, Blokks aims to provide event planners with a drag-and-drop interface for creating multi-day, multi-feature time tables that can be embedded and shared anywhere. Here s the sneak-peek that got us excited:

Though the timetable is a necessary feature on event websites, organizers are still forced to rely on (best case scenario) specialized WordPress event themes and custom content management system plugins, or (worst case scenario) downloadable PDFs, to keep their online schedules tidy. In other words, the only real existing options are expensive or stone-age, so we can t wait to see the product that Blokks turns out.

Wanna be on the over to Blokks and sign up for their private beta to get exclusive early access (we did).

The 10 Best #eventtech Tweets from July 2015

The #eventtech trend is anything but over, with event professionals turning increasing attention to integrating apps, wearables, and other hot-button technology into their event experiences. Most notably, this month saw the launch of the Paper.li #EventTech Daily site, cataloging the best #eventtech news from Twitter and around the web, and the venue and shortlist announced for the third annual Event Technology Awards. Check out our highlights from Twitter this month:

Three Ways to Leave Conference Speaker Selection in the Hands of your Audience

In the age of social-everything, there s no need to take the close-your-eyes-and-pray method to choosing conference speakers.

Survey Last Year s Attendees

Your attendees from last year are one of your best resources for constructive feedback. It s best if you can collate feedback collected right after last year s event was over, but if you don t have access to that data (it was never collected, or maybe the organizer from last year s conference is unavailable), jump onto last year s mailing list and send out a survey. Whose speech did attendees most enjoy? What do they best remember about the previous year? What topics would they be most interested in hearing about this year? Anyone they d particularly like to hear from?

Use Klout

Professional event speakers are typically very active on social media, and they should have a significant following. The more followers and the more reach their posts get, the more support they have from the community, and the more likely they are to put on a good show. Klout is a free web app that measures the impact of experts by topic, using their social media oomph as a measurement. Search for any topic, and Klout will return a series of experts in that field, ranked by their social impact.

Use Speakerrate

Speakerrate, a sandbox project by the innovation lab at Viget, is a cool social startup that benefits event organizers, speakers and attendees, allowing planners to find the perfect speakers for your event based on real audience ratings and recommendations. You can view past talks, and see how attendees rated these speakers in the past.

It Just Won t Stop: More Killer Projection Mapping Videos

So, uh, we can t stop staring at gorgeous light sculpture and projection mapping videos. It s like getting your fortune told and finding out you re gonna get magic powers. Our industry is already pretty fun, but now that this kind of stuff is moving from experimental to mainstream , A/V and production design is about to go spare. Join us while we ogle the future and applaud the architects that are making it happen:

The Skrillex Cell

Yes, hunty, yes! A deep bow to the particle artists over at V Squared Labs, who created this intense live-robot-DJ-booth-thing for the Skrillex Mothership Tour. They say, The Skrillex Cell is a multidisciplinary touring production that mixes 3D projection mapping and real-time motion capture for live performance. Collaborating closely with Production Club, Phil Reyneri, Leviathan, and Blood Company, the V Squared team helped bring the Skrillex Cell to life. V Squared Labs created custom animation for real-time projection mapping and generative, audio-reactive effects using elements of the proprietary V Squared Labs Epic 3D mapping video server.

Student Projects in Creative Media

Tobias Gremmeler, Visiting Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media in Hong Kong and researcher of new media, showcases some incredible student work over on Vimeo and his personal site. He combines light and media installations with what he calls kinetic sculptures , which are actually, we ll let the expert explain:

A Kinetic Sculpture is a physical object that contains moving parts, driven by electronic motors or other forces. Its motion behaviour can be controlled by a software sequencer or input sensors. When using sensors, the objects motion is reacting interactively to its environment. Thus, the movement is triggered by gestures, sounds or other processible impulses and data. Furthermore, a Kinetic Sculpture can produce sound similar to mechanical music or is able to dance a certain choreography.

Real-time Projection Mapping in 3D

ROM is a lab that explores the boundaries between art and technology . In this look behind the curtain, ROM shows off a simple interactive projection mapping technique that we think will form the basis for a throng of new approaches to experience design.

Aquaszenarium Krimml

The Aquaszenarium is the interactive heart of Krimml s Waterfall Center, located at the base of Europe s highest Waterfalls. The installation features a fully interactive 3D projection, immersing the visitors in magically transforming water worlds. Floor as well as walls are multi-touch sensitive, allowing the visitor to dive directly into the scene, interacting with artificial lifeforms and playing with water particles.

mayer+empl

My personal favorite (and naturally, also German), this interactive light sculpture by mayer+empl responds to sound.

Event Tech Heads Up: New Eventbrite Features for WordPress

Ooh, new event tech. We recently got wind that Eventbrite has increased its compatibility and integration with both WordPress.com and self-hosted sites using WordPress.org, which is super exciting considering the number of event professionals that use Eventbrite as a ticket sales platform and need to deploy sites quickly.

A quick reminder for those of you who aren t super plugged in to the world of WordPressery: WordPress.com is the fully hosted version of WordPress, while WordPress.org is the self-hosted, get-your-hands-dirty, DIY version. Still don t get it? This chart illustrates the difference.

About the Eventbrite upgrades for WordPress.com:

Previously there were only a couple of themes that could be connected with Eventbrite, limiting what you were capable of doing with events on your site. That has all changed now! WordPress.com has just launched a new feature that lets you connect to Eventbrite using any theme you want. It s just as easy to connect your site to Eventbrite as it is to Facebook or Twitter by using Publicize.

This is huge news: it means WordPress.com users are not limited by themes that are created with events in mind. Now, event data can be placed inside of any WordPress.com theme. Three cheers there.

And for self-hosted sites using WordPress.org:

You can now choose from two WordPress.org themes specifically created for Eventbrite: the Eventbrite Venue theme to promote multiple events in a calendar view or the Eventbrite Event theme to promote a single event. There are two new plugins now available for Eventbrite too. Find out more information in their Plugin Directory here and here.

WordPress.org users are still a little bit restricted here in the sense that they must be sure to choose a theme that is known to be compatible with the Eventbrite API plugin if they want to be able to use all of the new features and functions. Here s the list of WordPress themes that are officially compatible:

Twenty Fifteen
Twenty Fourteen
Twenty Thirteen
Twenty Twelve
Twenty Eleven
Twenty Ten
Bosco
Chunk
Coraline
Edin
Fictive
Goran
Ryu
Sketch
Sidekick
Singl
Superhero
Sorbet
Tonal
Writr

Happy event tech-ing!

Six Examples of Brands Using Augmented Reality in Experiential Marketing

It s been all over the brand activation net since the release of the Oculus Rift: brands are diving into cutting-edge marketing via virtual reality headsets. Here are a few kick-arse (and in some cases, very experimental) example videos showcasing the new headset s potential uses in marketing scenarios.

British Airways

Brilliant: British Airways hit the streets in cities around Europe to get potential travelers excited about visiting the USA in a try before you buy kind of campaign via virtual reality America tours of the airline s US destinations.

SIEMENS

Electronics heavy-hitters SIEMENS called on virtual reality art and development team Masters of Pie to to produce a fully immersive virtual reality experience for the Euroblech tradeshow in Hannover, Germany . They go on to explain:

We had the task of explaining complex, invisible processes of Siemens Metal Forming Engineering products, so we took some inspiration from Tony Stark style holography to better showcase the products. We also attached a buttkicker vibration device to make the chair vibrate and add to the experience of presence and immersion.

Sleepy Hollow

Created by Secret Location created an experience to promote FOX s supernatural show, Sleepy Hollow.

Using the Oculus Rift VR technology combined with a 3D shoot, top quality CGI graphics, 360 sound, and a compelling story, Secret Location transported users to the world of Sleepy Hollow, giving them a truly unique and memorable Live experience.

Merrell

One way to make sure people remember you? Scare the living daylights of them. The adventure clothing and gear merchants at Merrell created an edgy augmented reality experience called Merrell TrailScape in which hikers took their chances walking on dangerous trails.

Mountain Dew

The guys over at agency firstborn created a VR experience for Mountain Dew, allowing fans to skateboard with their favorite extreme sports idols.

Lexus

Why even get in a car to test drive one? Using the very latest DK2 OR headsets, consumers are able to virtually experience the car via an immersive and interactive car configurator, allowing users to create their own NX by selecting from a range of features.

Throwback Thursday: Retro Audio / Visual Equipment

Here s one for the A/V nerds we dug through some of the web s best collections of historic photographs and found five awesome vintage A/V images. Enjoy!

Hang the DJ

Early DJs? The fabulous historical photo archives on Shorpy.com features this 1931 picture taken in Washington DC of Man with portable radio receiver and phonograph. The caption goes on to remark that he seems to be using the amplifier to play a record into a microphone. Note handy Radio Spectrum chart. Credit: Harris & Ewing glass negative.

Vintage Microphones

Wow, here s one for the history books: this photo shows Emile Berliner, one of the inventors of the microphone, in 1929, before receiving the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia s highest award, the Franklin Gold Medal.

PA System

One from the more recent past: The left hand speaker assemblage at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music 1970 This P.A. System was supplied by Watkins Electic Music (WEM) and also shows their red parabolic reflector tweeter atop the supporting framework. Behind are rows of slave amps. It was at that date, the highest wattage used at any British venue. The projection screen can be seen behind it and to the left.

Edison loudspeakers

Large loudspeaker horns and crated Edison radios from 1929 are stored in a side room on the third floor. Thomas A. Edison Laboratories, Building No. 5, West Orange, Essex County, NJ

Making Loudspeaker Bells

In this 1925 photo, a laborer operates a shaping machine for loudspeaker bells.

Heads Up and a Quick Review: Show Themes Specializes in Event Themes for WordPress

On what s turned into an essentially endless quest to catalog good event themes for WordPress, we stumbled across Showthemes.com, a WordPress theme development provider whose work is targeted at the event industry.

Before we dive into the detalis, perhaps a peek at their promo video:

Thank freakin goodness and hats off to Show Themes it s about time a development shop sat down to tackle this, and a good event industry theme catalog is very needed. Show Themes currently offers a catalog of 5 theme options, some of which are geared towards conferences, some toward expos, some towards managing multiple events. The basic features are all there: speaker management, Eventbrite / Etouches integration, schedule listing, countdown clocks, ticketing levels, and tiered sponsor management good stuff.

Now, a small critique: I know that Show Themes is just really kicking off and is bound to evolve quickly, so take this with a grain of salt, but I m not 100{04d9822e7d95da125d508d8e1efbcf2edc79acd8aec1f0bbdcbd6a6f684f9bb3} sold on the front-end and I think the themes still seem a tad clunky on the visual design side. Tyler Theme, for example, could benefit from some work on the typography (Vertoh Theme fares better in this regard).

Where Show Themes really shines in terms of evaluation is that they provide access to the WordPress back end prior to purchase many theme developers don t offer the same courtesy. A look at the Vertoh administration panel:

Wordpress themes for event planners

The back end is off to a good start, utilizing WordPress custom post types features to create event-specific input categories in WordPress upon theme install, but benefit from some tweaking and extras. For example, it would be nice if we could see each session s time and location on the session listing page, then drag-and-drop to reorder sessions, as opposed to having to enter each event and manually re-set the time and date in case the event schedule changes (which of course, it will).

Event Production WordPress Themes for Conferences and Meetings: Showthemes

Speakers & Exhibitors

Nice one: session administration pages list all speakers present in the system, and allow event managers to associate speakers with sessions. This is crucial, because it means that you can easily edit session content in a couple of clicks without a ton of fiddling around with code.

201504-event-production-wordpress-themes-showthemes-4

At the moment, speakers and exhibitors must be entered manually by the site administrator, meaning that application submissions must happen via a different system. It d be nice if future themes offered a custom registration that automatically created an unpublished draft speaker / exhibitor entry in the system for the administrator to review.

The verdict

While in its infancy, Show Themes should be on your must-watch list. We very much hope they continue to develop the concept and their list of theme offerings this is a much needed niche that we re excited to see filled.

The Best #eventtech Tweets from January 2016

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:

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?

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.

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?

Tag: eventproductiontechnology