Author: Lidia Dalton

Video marketing is a very effective way to promote your event and content can easily be recorded with most smartphones. For a very low cost (or free) you can create a meaningful video that can be used to promote your organisation or invite participants to your event.

Here are some easy and effective tips for recording on a digital device (such as an iPhone) and making a quality video.

Before you start:

1. Clear memory on your phone to make sure there is enough space to record
2. Wipe clean your phone camera lenses and up the brightness on your phone to get the best picture possible
3. Put your phone on flight mode when recording to make sure you don’t have any unexpected dings, noises or vibrations happening during your recording
4. Make sure you keep your device steady and at eye level. There are some low-cost selfie sticks and mic holders that are very effective – or place your device on a stable object
5. Write a script and make sure to include a clear introduction of who you are and how your role relates to the organisation
6. Remember that you don’t have to say everything you want to express. E.g. you can write over the video with text, or pop slides up with crucial points
7. Keep it short and sweet! If you have six people you would like featured, each person’s segment should be no more than 10 seconds
8. Keep your messaging clear and don’t try to include too much information. Ideally, your video should be a maximum of 60 seconds
9. List all the shots you need and make sure to include these three – wide shot (show where you are), mid shot (show the action), and closeup (a person reacting, a paper, magazine, texture or fabric)
10. Get creative – do you have a clear message or short story? Consider making cards with text on them as added interest to your story as an effective and emotive form of communication

Recording:

1. Keep it framed! Try and use a horizontal aspect when recording and lock in at this view for presenting
2. Make sure there isn’t too much background noise when recording – wind, children pets, music (unless it is deliberate), etc. that could distract from your voice and message from being heard
3. Give yourself some time before you start speaking and at the end before you stop the video, so when editing there is room for a slow fade in or out
4. Always make sure you are looking at the camera when speaking and if you are recording using the reverse camera mode consider covering the view that shows you to minimise distractions
5. Exposure – to prevent focus going in and out of your subject, tap the screen where you want the focus to be. You can also swipe your exposure up and down to change brightness until it looks best
6. Don’t be afraid to move around. You don’t need to stay sitting at a desk. Talking about farming? Get out into the farm and show us!
7. Make sure you tilt the camera up and get a shot of the sky, blank space, etc. this is important for adding in titles etc
8. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, sometimes these ‘bloopers’ make for fun recordings that show personality
9. Make sure you have pressed record
10. Remember to smile!
11. Record a version of what you would like to say as a perfect reading. It doesn’t matter what is seen visually while this is happening, the point is to get a great reading/sound that can be overlayed over other video footage
12. Record a version of what you would like to see, such as the team in action or event location. This is the reverse of the point above, as we can always add in your voice over the top later
13. Have a go at ad-libbing and recording both your sound and filming together, as sometimes the more natural and off the cuff recordings are the most engaging
14. Look back over your recordings and don’t be afraid to try again
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously – most people are their own worst critic

As December begins I am still so bewildered by the months that have preceded us. Before we start the annual hype up for the holiday season (albeit a bit more local this year) I reflect on the year and where we were this time last year. In 2019 we had run 17 major conferences and seven of those were held between October and December! Things were hectic and everyone I knew was ‘too busy’ and just wanted time to stop for a while. Stress was the norm and no one had enough time. What a difference a year makes….we have run one physical, face-to-face conference this year and while we are now running full virtual conferences online, it’s certainly not even close to the old ‘busy’.

Around the globe we all had to slow down and in some ways come to a complete halt. However, as devastating as this has been for our economy (and personally to my team and business) I do also feel like it has been an opportunity for many of us to take stock, evaluate and find so much to be grateful for. It has definitely been a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted. Some of the lessons I have been reminded of this year are:

Have a back-up plan

As we have seen so many businesses crumble, impacting on economic and mental health, it’s important to remember to have a contingency plan. If your job or your life as you know it was gone tomorrow, what would you do? How would you cope, survive or adapt?

Look after your health

Physical and mental health can’t be ignored. They must be a priority at all times or nothing else matters.

Do work that matters to you

One of our long-standing clients has been instrumental in the research for a vaccine for COVID-19. While things may have slowed down in many sectors, others have never been busier and it makes me proud to be associated with work that makes a difference. It has always been my passion to ‘connect people to share knowledge’ and while we now connect very differently to what we did last year, the desire and passion have never been stronger.

Value the simple things

Face to face events, hugs, sharing a cuppa with a colleague… nothing can beat these! So as we ramp back up and face to face events start to be normal again, let’s remember the value of connection and make the most of the simple but most fulfilling moments in life and at events. We have twelve large face to face conferences scheduled for next year and we are roaring to go, connect, and get back in a room with all of you!

Hand sanitiser and Zoom meetings are life now

Not sure this needs explanation… however COVID safe plans, social distancing restrictions, and hand sanitiser stations are commonplace now. Our team is trained and ready to meet health regulations and strive to keep our delegates and guests safe at all times.

Foundations

This year Expert Events celebrated our 14^th birthday. From a one-woman show with a newborn to the eight-woman strong team we are now, I am grateful that the foundations, business basics, industry associations and programs I made sure I invested in and put time aside for ‘a rainy day’, were all used this year. I have faith in the mentors, industry colleagues and friends that have offered advice and taught me what I know. My team is stronger and more capable than ever and I have confidence in our future success.

Remember to grow

This year has given my team and I the time to upskill and expand our service offering in many ways (well beyond what was planned). Many of us have done jobs that weren’t in our job descriptions and we are tougher and more dynamic for it. I’ve had time to get to the bottom of my to-do list and dust off old skills too. While using the best technology and staying abreast of developments has always been very crucial to our business model we now have a stronger, smarter and more technologically advanced offering. Our latest virtual conference the ASCEPT-APSA 2020 Joint Virtual Scientific Meeting was a huge success with over 100 speakers, 120 e-posters, 350 virtual delegates and 4 concurrent sessions over 3 days.

So as we move towards the end of the year, our thoughts go to 2021. I wanted to extend my thanks for your support and for riding through the year with us. We are now capable of running full virtual events, we earned more certifications for our team and we became closer.

As we stare down the barrel of 2020 ending, I hope you get to spend time with the people you love, cherish your connections and have much to be grateful for.

Thank you for your support. Here’s to what’s next!

Lidia Dalton Director

When you hear the term ‘online event’ it often conjures up an image of a free webinar where you struggle to pay attention to the sole presenter talking tediously about a subject that may or may not be relevant to you! To quote Trevor Gardiner, CEO of EventsAIR, “webinars are the junk food of the meetings and events industry”, so if you’re considering hosting a virtual conference, don’t be afraid of charging participants a fee to attend.

In reality and with recent digital and technological advancements, a virtual conference is far from a webinar. These online events include varying components and may have thousands of live participants watching and interacting in live or on-demand presentations, workshops, networking events, exhibitions, ePoster sessions and much more, providing extensive learning opportunities and audience engagement. A carefully considered registration fee or ticket pricing strategy is vital and there are a number of key considerations to take into account.

Considerations

• Delivering engaging and interactive solutions that go way beyond that of just a webinar should be a consideration of every virtual conference. What you charge sets the benchmark for its value in people’s minds. You don’t want to devalue your content by making the ticket price too low, but you should also factor in the savings made on not having physical expenses such as travel, venue hire and catering. When moving a traditional face-to-face event to a virtual format, a reduction in the registration fee of 20% to 30% is often appropriate. This retains perceived value for content (the primary reason for delegates attending).
• Virtual attendees do not have to spend money on travel, accommodation or meals, a drawcard for those participants that may have previously sat on the fence about registering and attending. Consider session capacities and contingencies for more (and also less) delegates than you would expect.
• Who does what? Don’t forget to factor in the requirements and cost out the entire planning process, including pre-production, the virtual event itself, and the post-event on-demand streaming platform.
• Even though there may be no need for a physical venue (such as a hotel or convention centre), meaning no traditional audio visual costs either, online technical support is still critical. Have you included this in your budget and considered your capability to provide this support internally, or the need to outsource to professionals?
• It takes a lot of time to organise and run an online event. Liaising with speakers, dealing with abstracts and posters, coordinating sessions, and collaborating with sponsors and exhibitors is vital for a successful virtual event. You don’t want to underestimate your time and value.
• What additional costs do you need to plan for? Are there licences for third party streaming platforms such as Twilio, Zoom and Vimeo that you need to subscribe to?
• How have you adapted the sponsorship and marketing packages on offer? Does your virtual conference or event present a better opportunity for sponsors who have the ability to engage in online meeting rooms and a virtual exhibitor platform? How does the cost of your sponsorship packages reflect this?
• The lead time for planning a virtual event or meeting can be the same as it is for a physical event. Make sure you have plenty of time to coordinate all of the virtual components and start promoting the conference (and the registration fees) well in advance.

Still not sure? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Expert Events for advice on managing your next event.  

It has been a stressful and uncertain time across the globe and particularly within our industry, but as we see hope returning and the new face of business events taking shape I wanted to personally reach out to you and provide an update.

Whilst it’s been difficult navigating the challenges of running a business that relies heavily on world-wide physical meetings, the entire Expert Events team have kept busy over this time and used it as an opportunity to do lots of rescheduling, responding, reengineering, rebooking, rethinking, redeveloping, renegotiating, rewriting, recreating and most importantly, reflecting.

So, what does the future of business events look like?

Although the virtual conference 2.0 model has many people scrambling at the moment, my prediction is that a hybrid version (where we have a blend of live face-to-face alongside a virtual/online component) will be a familiar model in the future. The desire to connect face-to-face has already and will become stronger than ever as a result of this year’s events. Delivering engaging and interactive solutions that go way beyond that of just a webinar will now need to be a consideration of every live event. By integrating virtual components such as live or on-demand presentations, workshops, networking events, virtual exhibitions, sponsor engagement, and ePoster sessions, we’ll be able to extend the reach of live events and ensure continuity of communication to those who participate in person as well as those who may not have otherwise had the means or resources to physically attend.

A silver lining

Over the past few weeks, the team and I have been doing lots of testing of OnAIR, the brand new virtual event platform developed by our event technology partner, EventsAIR. The platform is fully integrated with our existing software and provides us with the ability to run a full virtual conference program right now, and roll out a hybrid solution as soon as restrictions on physical gatherings ease. Initial feedback has been very positive, with a number of clients interested in booking virtual events for the second half of this year. The virtual exhibitor model will provide excellent value for money to sponsors and attendees can access more targeted information with the click of a mouse. This is an exciting new opportunity for both Expert Events and our clients, and if you’d like to see a preview of the system in action, please reach out to me at any time.

The change in pace has also allowed us to better develop our marketing resources and we now offer social media crafting and management for your organisation and event, tailored to any budget. If you haven’t already we invite you to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter and check out our new website and keep up to date with our latest news.

Things are looking up

The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has been working closely with the Australian Government to deliver a strategic set of principles to instil confidence in Australia’s business events sector so that COVID-19 restrictions can be safely lifted and the events industry can start to rebuild itself. With the recent announcement that New Zealand will allow events of all sizes to proceed from next week (abiding by track, tracing, health and hygiene protocols already in place) we are hopeful that a similar approach will also be adopted in Australia soon, and when it does we will be ready to go with new regulations and safety precautions in place to protect all attendees. Whilst physical gatherings may be limited to a state or national level initially, it will certainly be a positive and welcomed step on the road to recovery of our industry.

Whilst we are very grateful for the technological advancements this time has allowed our business and are really enjoying new online event platform events, we can’t wait to collaborate and create highly engaging face to face meetings and hybrid events with you all again very soon.

Take care

Lidia Dalton Director

Our team has put together a short, quick reference glossary of terms relevant to virtual and hybrid events:

Remote presentation This is where an offsite speaker/presenter streams their presentation to your onsite audience at a venue, such as a conference in Adelaide where speakers from Europe present remotely from their location.

Web streaming Is a one-way broadcast, live, or pre-recorded which allows your audience to connect to your event via an online digital platform from any location with an internet location.

Video conferencing Video conferencing is a two-way form of communication, providing connectivity from your meeting or event to multiple destinations, anywhere in the world with the ability to see and hear the other party, much like a face to face meeting, but online instead.

Web streaming with video conferencing Here you can provide connectivity to an offsite speaker or event via a two-way video conference and live broadcast the event online to an offsite audience, anywhere in the world.

Webinar An online seminar or other presentation that allows participants in different locations to see and hear the presenter, ask questions, and sometimes answer polls. This is an online, interactive presentation or demonstration.

Hybrid event Is a traditional face-to-face event held at a physical venue, with an online component, such as sessions that are streamed allowing for live virtual attendance.

On demand streaming Presentations, live or pre-recorded, are made available via an online digital platform for on demand viewing post-event. Viewers can be provided with access free of charge, via a paid subscription or pay-per-view fee structure.

Virtual event A virtual event is an entire event held online rather than a physical location like a convention centre. This could be a small or large event such as a conference with speakers and presenters, networking and live interactive discussions, video sharing and text based chat.

Still not sure? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Expert Events for advice on the best way to host an event, connect or present your information.

With the large numbers of people now working from home and practising social distancing – online learning, meeting and collaboration platform use is at a peak. But with so many options to choose from you may be wondering what is what when it comes to online events?

Our team has compiled a brief summary of the different ways of engaging with an audience online, to help you decipher which format of delivery is best for your organisation.

• Live streaming

Here sessions are available for live viewing via an online digital platform, like a live broadcast.

Pros

The content is available to anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world and presenters don’t have to pre-record any material so it can feel more like a real face to face connection. This also allows for questions and comments to be answered live if you choose to do so.

Cons

There are a lot of risks that are outside of your control, including presenters having issues with technology, presenters not attending or unexpected interruptions or curveball questions. We’ve all experienced those awkward moments when people are live streaming and don’t realise that they’re live yet, or get interrupted by something non-related at home or in the office!

• Recorded

This is when all presentations are pre-recorded and released on the day of the event as per a pre-set and released program or agenda.

Pros

You have more control over the technology here so there is less risk of technology issues and speakers/presenters have the opportunity to fine-tune and edit content.

Cons

There’s more work involved with presentations needing to be edited, pre-loaded and compiled and the interaction/engagement opportunities are limited during the actual presentation, so you need to work much harder to keep your audience engaged.

• Recorded, but with live interaction

In this format, the speakers are present during the session to run Q&A following (or during) their pre-recorded presentation.

Pros

This type of event creates a balance of live and recorded formats so that presenters can focus on interaction and increasing participation and interest in the session.

Cons

More work is involved with presentations needing to be pre-loaded and you need to be careful about how this process is managed when live. For example, if 200 questions are asked within a 15 minute period it will be difficult to answer and filter through in a way that ensures all participants feel heard and involved.

• Hybrid

This type of presentation involves a traditional face-to-face event held at a physical venue, with sessions also streamed digitally, allowing for live virtual attendance.

Pros

You may be able to secure additional revenue from virtual delegates who would not normally have attended in person (ie they might be located in a remote location and cannot travel due to restrictions). This also allows speakers to present remotely.

Cons

There are additional costs involved in recording live presentations and the risk of technology not working needs to be carefully planned for.

• On-demand streaming post-event

Where all presentations (live and pre-recorded) are made available via an online digital platform for on-demand viewing post-event.

Pros

You can create and re-use valuable content by recording sessions, which offers an additional revenue opportunity and increased sponsorship opportunities.

Cons

Additional costs and time involved in recording live presentations and making all sessions available to stream via an online digital platform.

Still not sure? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Expert Events for advice on the best way to present your information by hosting a virtual or hybrid event.