COVID19 and the resulting explosion of on-line event delivery solutions has given me cause to pause and reflect on some of the technological advancements in the corporate event industry since becoming an Event Producer (some time ago!) .
Acrylic light boxes with adhesive vinyl signage used to be used by Workshop Events before the use of high tech digital screens.
EVENTS BEFORE COMPUTERS…
I grew up and was educated in a world comprising telex machines, Gestetner machines and Golfball typewriters - most of you probably wouldn’t even know what any of these were - but a quick trip to a museum will most likely have one or 2 on display.
My lower jaw dropped during my time at advertising agency J Walter Thompson when shown the ‘computer room’ - an environmentally controlled sealed space, the size of a small house that contained rows upon rows of metal boxes, with flashing lights. Used only for the most basic of computer functions, but at the time so sophisticated. The fast growing popularity of the fax machine in the late 80’s and early 90’s revolutionised communication - no longer did we have to courier or post documents and wait an inordinate amount of time, sometimes weeks, for approvals or amendments. These days of-course we have e-mail and expect responses within a nano-second of hitting the ‘send’ button. And how much easier is it to keep an event checklist up to date these days…. no more pen and paper!
In the 80’s, I was greeted into the world of event management by the whirring sound and a burst of heat as I walked past banks of 35mm carousel projectors at the rear of the conference room, the unmistakable ‘clickety-clack’ sound of the carousel as it advanced to the next slide and the inevitable upside-down or back-to-front slide that evaded detection during rehearsal.
EVER HEARD OF KATHY-CAD?
Back in those days, all aspects of event planning were manual tasks. From spending days in a photographic studio, carefully considering and styling each and every shot (hundreds of them), to keeping a manual register of guests who had faxed or posted their registration forms. Floor plans were a particular pain point, and gave rise to a new industry standard I affectionately referred to as ‘Kathy-Cad’: the photocopying of plans, the manual cutting out of tiny tables, positioning these on a blank plan, affixing with sticky tape, re-copying and sending off to clients and venues with an NB in block letters - PLAN NOT TO SCALE! And whilst CAD programmes have been around for sometime, they were financially out of reach for smaller operators. These manual processes not only brought accuracy into question, but extended the time-frame for pre-production significantly.
LAST MINUTE CHANGES…
There was no possibility of last minute changes and the whole concept of amendments ‘on-the-fly’ wasn’t even a thing. It had to be right, before leaving the studio, before leaving the office and well before jumping on a plane, headed for your interstate conference destination. The learning curves were steep. For example, who’d have thought that taking your 35mm glass mounted slides from Sydney to The Gold Coast would result in condensation forming inside each slide! And that whilst the heat from the projector lamp would eventually fix the issue, this would occur at the cost of audience engagement as they focussed on the large black shadow on the screen as it slowly dissolved into itself - what a nightmare and one that required some quick thinking and fast action during the morning tea break before rolling on with the remainder of the event.
Old school name badges printed on card, trimmed and manually mounted in clear plastic clip on sleeves.
DEATH (OR BIRTH?) BY POWERPOINT…
When Powerpoint came along in the late 80’s it was certainly a game-changer. This was the technology that rocked the worlds of those of us who had done the hard yards in the 35mm scenario. And when this technology was combined with the digital camera, the shift was momentous. The biggest change was the ability to change … change our minds, change our designs, change our content, amend errors and produce content on-the-fly. I think we’ve all been sitting at an ops desk at one time or another when the presenter has thrown his USB at us while they’re on their way to the stage!
Powerpoint and its Mac counterpart Keynote suddenly made designers of us all (some obviously better than others). But at the very least, it allowed us to digitally map out the visual course of our events and identify where the holes were that needed filling. As a medium for building visual content, it remains top of class today. While we’re in the land of vision, I must give a nod to projection mapping, animation, VR and Hologram as frontiers that continue to stretch creativity and execution.
EVENT PRODUCERS ARE MOBILE…
One of the most startling evolutions in technology that I’ve experienced would have to be the mobile phone. How many of you remember the Motorola ‘brick’? My first mobile phone was a Nokia in the early 90’s. It was at least half a dozen times larger overall in both size and weight than my current phone and all it did was make and receive calls - no e-mails, texts, photos, web-surfing, apps or any other luxuries - just calls in and calls out! I’m not even sure it had a call-waiting function. It blows my mind to think that the technology driving today’s mobile phones is more sophisticated than the technology that put man on the moon.
TECHNOLOGY GEEK…
How do I feel about all this? As a self-professed geek, I love new technology and learning new tricks. I particularly get a kick out of those ‘aha’ moments when I stumble on something that enhances the way I work - no more single screen for me; Trello as my organisational tool and Instant Alpha in Keynote to help polish my props to name a few! There is a bit of a trade-off though... on one hand we have some incredibly powerful tools at our finger tips and on the other the expectation of what we are able to achieve along with this has increased significantly as we seem to have issues hitting the ‘off’ switch - throwing our work-life balance out the window. Although I’m not entirely convinced the French Governments policy of banning communication outside of office hours would readily transpose into the events space, we all have the ability to re-calibrate and work smarter.
ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD…
So where to from here? Our stride has certainly been broken in the live events forum as we grapple with the most catastrophic period ever inflicted on the industry. As I write, virtual event providers have exploded out of the gate at break neck speed, seizing the opportunity to give their platforms a share of the virtual events pie and promising incredible results. Whilst it’s been beneficial for some to deliver their events in this virtual event space, I would caution that it’s not for everyone. Some businesses have successfully diversified (I’m determined not to use the ‘P’ word) into this space - take the Sydney Seafood School for example with their home cooking kits coupled with digital lessons - a positive and sustainable initiative. At the other end of the spectrum, I watched a cringe-worthy virtual corporate awards event devoid of any fanfare or interaction with the award winners where the presenters wore their most casual garb, it felt very much like a presenter rehearsal. In this instance, a well-written press release and delivery of awards with champagne to recipients would have been a far better option.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRY NEW THINGS…
Looking forward, the most challenging aspect of moving back into the live event arena will be instilling consumer confidence. There’s no doubt attendee numbers will be down for sometime as delegates consider how comfortable they are sharing space with other attendees, most of which they probably won’t know. Even with stringent Government requirements and the implementation of event management agency policies, confidence has been rocked. How can technology move us forward here? The much touted hybrid event is the obvious stepping stone on the way back to normality, giving us the ability to combine smaller live audiences and a remote cohort both with equal importance and status. One thing’s for sure, technology will play a bigger role than ever in corporate events in the foreseeable future.
By Kathy Ferris, Senior Event Producer, Workshop Events
Workshop Events can assist with your digital event needs - www.workshopevents.com.au