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Webcasting is the live streaming of video and audio content over the internet to be viewed by a remote audience and the terms are often used interchangeably.

Webcasting has generated a lot of attention in the live events industry and provides huge benefits to companies and guests alike. These include:

  • Extending the reach of your live event experience and its message – with the internet being more accessible than ever, webcasting can help you reach a far wider audience with your message than any event space has capacity to hold
  • Increasing your live event’s ROI and reducing event costs
  • Overcoming geographical boundaries and time constraints
  • Reducing the environmental footprint of your live event and business
  • Convenience – on-demand viewing can be done in the comfort of the home or office

Webcasting is an extremely effective tool for enhancing and extending the overall event experience, building customer relations, boosting exposure, launching products and strengthening a brand. It’s a great option for many live event types, in particular:

  • Corporate Events
  • Conferences and exhibitions – consider video and testimonial interviews from event attendees, or live streaming of presentations?
  • Gala dinners & awards nights – a live webcast can increase attendance, exposure and drive a higher profile and on-demand webcasts can be used for post-event marketing
  • AGMs – a live stream can be useful for shareholders unable to attend the live event
  • Product launches – a live webcast for the release of embargoed information is a great option and also works well for product demonstrations, tutorials and customer support

The options are endless. Contact us if you would like to discuss how to integrate live streaming or webcasting into your next event

As technology advances, hybrid events are becoming increasingly more popular and accessible. Hybrid events combine a live (in person) and a virtual (online) audience experience, blending and engaging the two elements. The technology and capability for web streaming is growing rapidly, and event organisers are actively trying to include this option in as many events as possible.

Hybrid and online events can be great for an array of event types, including meetings, product launches, conferences, trade shows, company announcements, training, and sales and marketing updates. Those that attend virtually can view live streamed content of the event, such as keynote presentations, guest speakers, workshops, launches and education sessions via a webcast direct to their computer, tablet or smart phone. Generally, these attendees are also able to interact with the speakers and other virtual attendees via messaging tools such as live chat or social media.

When holding a hybrid event, you need to consider whether your event is fulfilling for all attendees both in person or online. It is important to effectively engage both audiences, and where possible, facilitate interaction between them through networking or online chat features.

Here are some things to consider:

Be prepared

To have a successful virtual experience, you must have a flawless live streaming experience. Information such as video, presentation slides and other event data needs to be prepared, input into the streaming system and tested in advance to ensure everything is working as planned.

Make sure you identify the ideal camera positioning on the stage, the main focal areas and the spots to avoid filming. Some time should be taken to ensure your speakers are prepared and comfortable. Some people may be a little more nervous knowing they are being live streamed to a much larger audience.

Keep on time

It can be hard to keep events strictly on time, but this is even more important when conducting a hybrid event. Like waiting for a TV programme to start, your virtual attendees will log on specifically at that time, for that speaker or presentation, and if there are delays or confusion with timing, they may log off or become disengaged.

Acknowledge your virtual attendees

More often than not, many presenters fail to acknowledge or communicate with the online audience. Take some time during introductions to acknowledge both in person and online audiences – this will ensure that both will feel welcome and part of the event.

Participation and engagement

Allow time and access for both online and in person attendees to participate in discussions or workshops, and remember to allow time for online attendees to contribute, as they may not be able to answer as instantly as those within the room. Consider having a session chairperson to monitor the online platform for questions via Live Chat or other Q&A modules.

Hybrid events that utilise live streaming are a powerful communication tool and can assist you to save money, extend the life of in person events and broaden your audience and exposure, offering different perspectives and an exciting experience for all involved.

To find out more about our Online & Hybrid Event services, please contact us or check the following links.

 

 

Live streaming has become a craze ever since the pandemic of Covid-19 has forced event organisers into alternative ways of holding their events.

The capability of live streaming has become hugely popular in recent years, especially for events that attract global attention. Live streaming offers people the opportunity to experience events, even if they can’t be there in person.

Perhaps you’ve considered live streaming your event, but you’re not entirely sure if it’s the right thing to do. Maybe you’ve thought, “Well, it could be great exposure, but then again who will purchase a ticket if it’s going to be live streamed for free?” This is a very sensible question to ask. Although there are many benefits to live streaming events, it’s important to consider whether it is right for your event. Some events thrive on exclusivity. Keeping an event exclusive might help with setting ticket prices, selling tickets, or attracting thought leaders. These events might benefit from being kept intimate instead of being live streamed. But for many events, especially ones that have an objective of broadcasting information or selling a certain product or service, live streaming can be greatly beneficial. Here’s why:

Maximise your exposure

Live streaming, especially via social media can help build exposure for your event. Your event can be live streamed to your social media audience, but it can also reach a larger audience if the content is shared and interacted with online. Live videos tend to attract more online engagement compared with other types of content. They incite a sense of urgency, compelling people to watch. When you share your live stream to social media, you also have the option of running ads in order to reach an even wider audience.

Use data to improve your events

When you live stream your event, it gives you the opportunity to learn more about your audience through online data. Bringing your event online can help you gather important information about who your audience is and what they like (or dislike) about your event. Whether you’re live streaming on your website or social platforms, you have access to data on who is engaging with your content. This information can help you make improvements on your event next time around.

Provide a channel of communication for your audience

If you’re broadcasting your event on social media, your live stream will give your event goers and online audience a platform to interact with you while the event is running. It gives them the opportunity to ask important questions about keynote speakers, products being launched or whether there are follow up events.

When you’re live streaming a corporate event, it’s important to get it right. The last thing you want is a major disruption or delay in the audio or video. When you do it yourself there are many risks involved that can disrupt the smooth running of your event. Make sure to hire a professional audiovisual team to do all the hard work so that you don’t have to. At AVPartners we have the right technology and expertise to broadcast your event so that you can rest assured that it’s done the right way.

Get in touch with us today about your next live streamed event.

Steve Rowe and Ben Hamblin have been promoted to Partner and Associate respectively at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre as of January 2020. 

Steve Rowe

Steve has worked for AVPartners since April of 2012 as a Technical Event Manager in Sales managing high-profile national and international events and was promoted to Associate in 2018.

Now leading a crew of 50 staff, Steve said, “We have a close-knit team that really work together to deliver some of WA’s most prestigious events. Everyone has been supportive of my move into the Partner role, and I look forward to continuing to do what we do best: deliver exceptional events.”

Ben, previously a Technical Event Manager in Sales has been promoted to Associate and under Steve’s direction will be working closely with the Operations and Technical Event Management team. 

Ben brings a wealth of technical knowledge to the role having started with AVPartners as a Trainee Technician in 2011 and moving through the ranks to Technical Director in 2014, where he spent four years executing some of the largest shows in Perth. 

Ben Hamblin

Between them, Steve and Ben boast 25 years of experience in the AV industry and both are excited to continue AVPartners Perth’s legacy of event excellence with concepts that engage, entertain and delight. 

AVPartners’ Senior Partner Merv Jones said, “Both Steve and Ben have extensive experience in the industry, and approach their roles with incredible innovation and dedication. These promotions are well deserved and we are excited about the future of this leadership duo.”  

AVPartners and the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre have enjoyed a partnership for several years. AVPartners provides integrated AV solutions for conferences and events at the venue.

The lead up to Christmas can be quite hectic, especially when you are planning a special Christmas function. With so many elements to an event, it’s important to remember how crucial your audiovisual needs are to the event’s success. Keeping in contact with your AV Event Coordinator in the week leading up to your Christmas event will ensure everything runs smoothly on the day.

Here are four tips for ensuring your Christmas function goes smoothly:

Hand digital content and run sheets over

You have spent countless hours preparing incredible content to display throughout your Christmas function. In the week before the event, hand the content over to your AV Event Coordinator and their team who will test your content and ensure it performs as expected. Leaving the content to the day of the event and discovering that the file does not open or play correctly on the screen is a pitfall nobody wants. Checking this a few days out ensures that any corrections can be made in time.

Put your entertainment in touch with the audiovisual team

If you booked any live performers such as a band, it is a great idea for them to touch base with the audiovisual company before the event. This ensures that they can discuss equipment requirements, stage set-up, sound-check and anything else that will ensure smooth transitions between event audio, speeches and live music.

Finalising floor plans

Finalising the floor plans locks in the layout of your event space and ensures correct catering for the event. Confirm the final numbers — particularly on large events, confirm any dietary requirements, check floor plans and make any changes to the room layout. If you have assigned seating, discuss how seating charts can be displayed; if this will be digital supply the media content.

Have a walk-through with your AV Event Coordinator

Your AV Event Coordinator is your contact for all aspects of your audiovisual needs, and it is important to schedule a walk-through with them if possible. If time and geography permits, this face-to-face meeting is when you have an opportunity to see your event space and make any last-minute requests or changes to audiovisual needs or setup and have a final review of the digital content.

About Ritchie Harland

Ritchie Harland is the Partner at Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort for AVPartners, an unrivalled provider of fully integrated event solutions to premier conferencing and event venues in Australia. AVPartners delivers superior technical production and audiovisual technology, tailored event design and styling, with teams of highly-skilled industry professionals. www.avpartners.com

Originally published in Business Events News publication 26th November 2019 for the column ‘Partner Up’.

AVPartners has once again demonstrated their dedication to nurturing talent by appointing Michael Berger as Associate at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney. 

Previously the leading Technical Event Manager at the premier Sydney venue, Michael brings to the Associate role 13 years of AV industry experience. 

The promotion will see Michael apply his knowledge of complex events and team leadership to a wider scope of operational responsibilities and day-to-day processes.

Regarding his promotion, Michael said, “I am looking forward to taking a more central role in AVPartners at the Four Seasons Hotel. I’m excited about the opportunity for continued growth and the new challenges I have yet to face in an industry that truly never gets old.” 

Michael joined AVPartners in 2016 with the Sales Team and acknowledges the support of Venue Partner, Nigel Taylor, and Regional Partner, Teresa Amey, in his career progression.

Michael said, “AVPartners has allowed me to grow in not only my career but also on a personal level.” 

AVPartners’ Partner at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, Nigel Taylor, said, “It was important that whoever took on the role possessed strong leadership skills and an entrepreneurial approach; Michael has demonstrated this over the last three years and his promotion was an easy choice for management to make. I look forward to seeing him take on the responsibilities of his new role.”

User generated content is an easy way for brands and companies to expand their marketing reach with little to no hands-on effort. With the prevalence of social media, companies can easily share content that their audience creates. The power of this is that their audience effectively becomes an endorser for the company, without payment having occurred. This also means the company gains trust amongst its audience.

So how can you translate this to encourage user generated content at your next event? Here are 8 tips.

Create a hashtag

Create a relevant hashtag with your delegates prior to the event and if it’s annual, make sure you include the year so your delegates don’t accidently post about a different event. For example, if you are hosting the National Safety Conference 2019, your hashtag might be #natsafetyau19.

Create a social media wall at your event.

This consists of a large screen, or wall that you can project onto and is linked to popular social media feeds like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The wall should focus on your event hashtag or handle and see all the pictures, tweets and status updates your delegates are posting live throughout the event.

Create a selfie wall

Different to a social media wall, this consists of a physical frame or backdrop featuring your event hashtag, theme colours and anything else that will clearly identify your event. Attendees can then take a selfie with the frame to add to their own social media pages. As added incentive to take a selfie, you may wish to allocate certain times your delegates can get a photo with a superstar speaker. Having the chance to get a picture with an expert in their industry is a great incentive to get involved, and effectively promote your event.

Run a contest

This is a fun way to encourage your attendees to upload their own pictures and videos of the event. You could run the competition like a treasure hunt and the first person to post a photo of a certain exhibition stand, for example, could win free tickets to next year’s event. If you change the competition frequently enough, this will encourage your attendees to continue posting photos and videos for their chance to win.

Create an interactive conference program

Encourage your attendees to get up and take part during the presentations. Whether it be by sharing their opinion alongside an industry expert or running a roundtable, give your attendees a reason to take pictures or videos and connect with one another. This is the perfect opportunity for the ‘humblebrag’ where you delegates can say “look where I am and look what I did.”

Theme your event

Theming allows you to create interesting concepts, images, colours and shapes that your attendees are bound to want to take photos of. If you choose to have a theme, you can promote it through your audiovisual elements, dress code, invitations, programs, marketing, decor, entertainment, food and music. For example, an Alice in Wonderland theme might include a big screen with a looped video of Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Your tables could have teacups and red roses as centrepieces.

Hire awesome entertainment

Impressive entertainment can really set your event apart from the rest. By choosing highly visual or sound focused entertainment, you can give your attendees something to video or take photos of. You might consider hiring comedians, puppeteers, magicians, dancers, trapeze artists, balloon artists or DJs. Encourage your attendees to share the photos or videos they take on your social media pages to get the word out.

Leverage influencers

If you have held your event previously, you will already have social media followers. Turn these followers into influencers by encouraging them to write a review on your social media page about their favourite part of the event. Sharing their feedback is a great way to encourage new people to attend and shows your past attendees you value their thoughts and opinions. This feedback can also help you learn and create a better event.

AVPartners is an in-house audiovisual specialist for hotels and event venues around Australia. We can help to bring your event alive with a theme and can support the technical needs of your event. If you would like help encouraging user generated content at your event, contact us today.

One of the biggest challenges when hosting an event is ensuring you have enough guests attending to make the event worthwhile. Here are 5 tips that can help you to boost your numbers at your next conference, without the last minute ‘free-ticket’ scramble.

Consider the timing of your event

It’s important to do careful research when considering what time of year to hold your conference. To encourage guests to attend, ensure there are no other competing conferences, events or holidays that may draw your delegates away from attending.

To avoid conflicting events, the first step is to conduct some research looking for other conferences, awards ceremonies and gala dinners that may be of interest to the industry. Take note of when they are being held and when there are reasonable gaps.

Secondly, think about busy holiday periods, like summer when people are inclined to travel and also any holidays that are industry specific, for example bank holidays for those in finance or school holidays for educators. Steer clear of those.

Next, consider how long you want your event to run for. While you may have a lot of content to cover, it may not be practical to host a week-long affair. You will need to consider the cost of venue hire and how much time your potential delegates are likely to get off work.

Offer early bird pricing and reward last year’s attendees

If this is an event you have held previously, an easy way to encourage attendees to register is to offer a returning delegate discount. This is a good starting point to gauge early interest in your event.

You may also wish to offer discounts for colleagues working at the same company. For example, if two delegates from the same company register (at the same time), a third can come for free!

Alternatively, ‘early-bird’ pricing for keen attendees who register far in advance is another way to draw a baseline of expected numbers. If you get good takeup for your early bird pricing, either your discount is too good to refuse or your attendees believe you really have something exciting and important to share.

Invite a high profile speaker or entertainer to present

Whether it be a celebrity in the industry or an actual Hollywood celebrity, getting a notable person involved in your event is sure to boost event registrations as your attendees want the opportunity to see and meet this high-flyer.

Remember that high flyers may ask for payment to be involved in your event, so if you plan to go down this route, make sure you factor that in to your budget.

They may also only be available at certain dates or times, so either consider this when choosing a date to host your event or make sure that your agenda is flexible.

Use reputable suppliers for your catering, audiovisual and venue needs

Choosing well-known suppliers for all your event needs, demonstrates the professional calibre of your event.

Some suppliers work in-house, like AVPartners, so they have strong knowledge of the venue you have hired and will be well connected with staff. This means aspects around setup may be integrated, creating a more cohesive event. For example, if you are choosing to have a theme, the way the room is dressed and the lighting and sound utilised to reflect this theme will be in sync.

Having a strong understanding of the venue is particularly useful for audiovisual suppliers as they will know the quirks of lighting and sound inside your chosen venue. With strong venue knowledge, they can set your lighting at the appropriate height and sound at the appropriate level to achieve best results.

Likewise, if you have any type of query, it’s easier to be pointed towards the right staff member who can assist. Using seasoned suppliers also means you have strong support should something go wrong.

Promote your event using social media

Social media has the ability to reach far and wide very quickly. It’s easy to create a social media page advertising your event and have interested people share this and talk about it. People are far more likely to be interested in an event if their friends are attending.

It’s worthwhile encouraging attendees to get involved in a conversation on social media as a way to promote the event. Or better still, provide your attendees with a ‘sneak peek’ of what they can expect to see at the event. Perhaps a short video of a speaker or photos from a past event. This is a great way to create excitement around your event and it’s easy content for your attendees to share and hopefully entice others to register.

AVPartners are the in-house audiovisual specialists for a range of hotels and event venues across Australia. Contact us so we can assist you to boost your delegate numbers at your next conference.

Recently, we wrote about how to hold a successful seminar, but it’s also important to know how long it usually takes to organise a seminar. Whether you are planning to host a seminar for the first time, or you have held many before, it’s always handy to have a checklist and clear plan of what you need to achieve success.

So, what do you need to know to plan your seminar and how long will it take?

6 months prior to your seminar

Establish your goals for the seminar

  • What is the purpose of the seminar? Think about why you are running the event and what will the attendees get out of it.
  • How many people would you like to attend? You may wish to take into account the amount of people who may be interested to attend your event virtually. This is a great way to increase your numbers but means you need to consider technological requirements.
  • What profit would you like to make? This will affect how much you spend and how you set ticket pricing and sponsorship packages (if applicable). Look at budgets from previous years for advice.

Select a venue and date

  • Think about where your attendees will be coming from and choose a venue that is convenient and also within budget. Since you have set a goal of how many people you would like to attend, this may help narrow down your venue choices.
  • Speak with the venues about which dates they have available and choose what you think will be most appropriate.
  • If you plan to webcast your seminar, confirm the venue has wifi available and check the speed and quality to avoid dissatisfied virtual attendees.
  • Ask if the venue has preferred suppliers or in-house vendors for things like audiovisual (AV) and catering, and what the pricing structure and contractual agreements are with those companies.

3 months out

Research and select your speakers

Research is important to choose the right speaker, to give the right message at your seminar. Look into previous presentations your favourite speakers have given and contact them to see if they are available and willing to present.

Consider what you need to deliver to reflect your goals

Now you know when and where your event will be held, and what your seminar will discuss, you need to decide how this will be conveyed.

  • Consider the style of room setup. Will the seminar be highly interactive with ballroom roundtables or will it be presentation style where a classroom setup will suffice?
  • How long will setup and packdown take? Does the venue have certain requirements?
  • What are your AV needs? Will you need handheld microphones for questions? Will your speakers need lapel microphones? Will you need many big screens? Put a request in for the AV equipment you will need.
  • Draft the agenda. Think about the start and finish times, meal times and what times each of your speakers will be presenting, including how long they will speak. You can use your agenda, once finalised, to increase your marketing and promotional efforts via social media and printed materials.

Organise your website and promote your event

Now you have a clear topic in mind and a venue and date, you can start encouraging your target attendees to register to attend. If you have confirmed your speakers then you can use these as a promotional tool to encourage your attendees to register. Consider offering early-bird rates to secure those initially interested.

1 month out

  • Apply for any special permits.
  • Organise a menu with the caterers.
  • Start designing your signage for the event.
  • Organise an event runsheet for the day including what time your suppliers can enter the room and start setting up.
  • Organise your shipping arrangements for big materials that cannot be personally delivered to the venue.

2 weeks out

  • Confirm all external parties involved including AV, catering, decorations and speakers. Ensure each of these groups know what they need to bring on the day and see if they have any questions.
  • Confirm your shipping arrangements – know when and where your items will be picked up and dropped off.

The day before

Write a checklist and stick to it. Think about what you need to pack to bring to the event, like attendee badges, printed programs, writing materials and what you will need to setup and organise on the day. Make sure all relevant people have a copy of the event runsheet.

This timeline will help you organise your next seminar by providing a solid plan. AVPartners serve as the preferred in-house AV suppliers to a variety of venues across Australia and can assist with lighting, audiovisual requirements and event theming and styling. If you would like help with your next seminar, contact us today.

Planning and executing an event can be an exciting, yet very busy time. Most require months of preparation and strong plans in place to achieve the best outcome. However, from time to time even the most seasoned of event planners can face challenges.

So, what are some common event planning mistakes and how can you avoid or overcome them?

Poor communication

As an event planner, a key responsibility is to know what is going on across your internal team and external parties like suppliers and event speakers and attendees. However, if you don’t communicate clearly to each relevant group what you are expecting from them, then it’s likely that mistakes will be made as each member of your event delivery team will be unsure of their responsibilities.

The best way to overcome this challenge is to make a runsheet – this is a clear breakdown of what should be happening throughout the event and who will be completing each task. It must include times to start and finish certain tasks and should have the contact details of key members of the event delivery team so that each member of the team knows who to speak to if they have questions.

Lack of clear signage

Don’t have your event attendees running late for their favourite speakers or preferred sessions because they can’t find where a certain presentation is being given. The best way to overcome this challenge is to make sure each room is clearly signposted and there are clear directions to other spaces. Digital signage can assist with this as you can use one screen to give multiple directions and even feature moving maps, directing event attendees to main events like keynote speaker sessions or lunch.

Leaving equipment rental to the last minute

So you’ve organised the big ticket items like screens, projectors, lights and staging, but what about handheld microphones, lapel microphones and laser pointers? These are often requested by speakers. It’s tempting to only put in an order once you know what you require to avoid excess spending, but your AV suppliers will likely be working on many events at once and may not have excess inventory to accommodate your last minute requests. Plan in advance and order a few things, despite what your speakers may need, so you don’t miss out.

Not allowing enough time for setup

One of the biggest areas that event planners overlook is underestimating the amount of time it takes to set up their event. Event setups often take longer than anticipated as challenges generally will arise and you might have to make changes. The best way to avoid running out of time is to include setup time in your runsheet and always add more time for setup than you think you will need. It’s better to have excess time and be relaxed before your event starts than running around at the last minute. You must contact your suppliers at least 48 hours before the event to confirm what time they will be arriving and ask if they have any questions you can solve beforehand. Doing this can help to  speed up your setup on event day.

Forgetting to anticipate that problems will arise

Even the most seasoned of events organisers know problems will arise on the day. It’s Murphy’s Law! The best way to avoid this is to make contingency plans, anticipating what might go wrong. Make sure you have extra copies of programs, ensure a speaker has sent their presentation through ahead of time in case they leave their USB at home, give any materials you shipped a few extra days to arrive, check, double check and triple check how the technology works, order extra food and make a packing list. If you have a checklist of all the things you need, you will be less likely to leave anything behind.

Sometimes mistakes happen and this can be stressful. But if you are prepared, this can help lessen the blow and make your event appear smooth, professional, and seamless despite how you may be feeling inside. If you would like help with your next event, contact us today.