Companies Hosting Great Digital Events
- By Declan McManus
- Oct 05, 2020
As we look at the coming months, it seems that we will be living in a virtual world for the foreseeable future. While March and April were a tough adjustment period for companies and organizations across the globe, we have seen many companies become more technologically enabled and virtually empowered over the past several months.
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to pose challenges, companies have found new and exciting ways to adapt their virtual events and conferences in an effort to connect and motivate their employees and stakeholders.
Below are some examples of companies that have gone above and beyond to host great digital events in the current environment:
Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM)The ACM Awards happen every year in April live from Las Vegas. However, this year was different. As COVID-19 forced the Awards to be repeatedly postponed, they pivoted their strategy to host “ACM Presents: Our Country,” broadcasted live on CBS and CBS All Access on April 5, 2020.
Instead of the full-scale awards ceremony, ACM invited the biggest stars in country music to practice social distancing and stay home while performing, but also invite fans to join them. The two-hour special featured "intimate conversations and at-home acoustic performances with top country artists," along with clips from the ACM Awards' 55-year history.
In a time where everyone is isolated and tensions are high, this event brought people together for a night of music and togetherness. It was a night filled with “entertainment, hope, and reflection,” helping to bring the healing power of music to Americans at a time when they needed it most.
The 2020 ACM Awards were hosted on September 16 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville in front of an empty audience. Despite extensive masks and social distancing, the show was spirited and fun, helping to bring an ounce of normalcy to a very abnormal world.
The NBA
While it may not seem like a virtual event, the 2020 NBA restart is just that. The season, which picked up on July 30 after shutting down for more than four months, has been far from normal. With a strict no-fans “bubble,” the league relied on technology to involve fans and keep an element of authenticity and urgency.
Through new technology, the NBA is giving fans the opportunity to be projected on in-arena video boards for players, coaches, and anyone tuning in around the world to see. This virtual fan experience is created using Microsoft Teams’ Together mode, which “uses AI segmentation technology to bring people together into a shared background like a conference room, coffee shop, or arena.” Through these projected fan video boards and carefully-orchestrated sound effects, the NBA was able to create an (almost) normal season while avoiding any COVID-19 outbreaks.
Tomorrowland
While normally hosting up to 400,000 attendees at a massive in-person event, Belgian music festival Tomorrowland joined the virtual events trend this past July, giving fans a never-before-seen virtual music experience with “Tomorrowland Around The World.” While a digital music festival is extremely difficult to pull off, Tomorrowland was able to immerse fans in a virtual 3D island through special effects, fireworks, laser shows, sound effects, and more.
In addition to performances from artists like Katy Perry, Steve Aoki, David Guetta, and Martin Garrix, Tomorrowland offered “activities, webinars, workshops, games and other interactive entertainment” for attendees. The festival featured artists performing on virtual stages in front of thousands of virtual fans on a virtual 3D island.
Tomorrowland created its stunning virtual platform in collaboration with creative firm Dogstudio, who “worked hand-in-hand with Tomorrowland’s in-house 3D, creative and development teams to build a compelling, immersive, user-friendly, but also highly premium experience.”
Zoom
As Zoom has cemented itself as a must-have technology tool during the COVID-19 era, Zoomtopia is Zoom’s annual user conference designed to celebrate users from around the world and all those who share interest in the future of frictionless communications!
Scheduled for October 14-15 of this year, Zoomtopia is a virtual conference presenting Zoom’s vision of the future, latest product announcements, and all-star speakers. The event allows attendees to connect with like-minded peers from across the globe, discover solutions from the expansive partner ecosystem, and uplevel their skills with specialized learning tracks.
The event is a complimentary two-day experience presenting how video-first unified communications are empowering the workforces of today and transforming the workspaces of tomorrow. The agenda will be packed with exciting product updates, guest speakers, virtual networking opportunities, and customer appreciation.
For more information on virtual events and to browse Engage’s virtual popups and livestreams, visit the Engage website at https://www.letsengage.com/.
