Behind the Backchannel
While attending events in the pre-COVID days, did you ever notice the people in show blacks, hovering in the periphery with mics in ear? Probably not. Just as it should be! This was the event team working behind the scenes to ensure the event ran smoothly, giving catering direction and swooping in to handle any venue issues.
Event teams still exist for virtual events, we’ve just implemented a new approach to better suit the medium. Now, during an event, your event team is the blank screens with the event logo, named ‘Chat Tech’ or ‘Q&A Tech’. We're still hovering in the periphery, logging in from all over the country, ear buds in, swooping in to give direction in the chat, hosting the help desk and handling any tech issues. We work off of a run of show that sits in the cloud and is updated in real time by our producer and/or technical director.
What’s It Like Working a Virtual Event?
Virtual events absolutely still require a team of professionals working behind the scenes. Take one of our events from early February as an example. This event had 2,000 attendees, 10 Zoom rooms, with 200 guests per room and 26 pre-assigned breakout rooms. Without a team of a dozen online event professionals to oversee the event every step of the way, there is no way a virtual gathering of this scale could have worked. With our team of facilitators, the event ran smoothly from start to finish!
You might think that working virtual events for almost a full year now would start to make our team feel a little disconnected. Despite being in a 2-dimensional world, you still develop that team comradery that comes from prepping for and facilitating an event together. The backchannel, whether it's on a group text, WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams or whatever your preferred method of communication is, is usually filled with run of show questions, suggestions on how to troubleshoot issues and venting about something that isn't working correctly.
And let's not forget about the banter!
· There are still the jokes about ‘green room’ snacks: "Please remove all the brown M&Ms"
· We still vent about our ‘co-workers’ from time to time: "Sorry, my assistant was barking at the Amazon delivery guy!".
· We even vent if something isn’t working exactly as planned right away: “So basically we will play Hungry Hungry Hippos again?"
· Or our favorite: pointing out your favorite participants who are really getting into the event, and sharing positive feedback from guests on the event chat!
While being a part of an event team is different right now, there are still so many aspects of it that haven't changed! We're still a passionate team of event professionals working together to create an amazing event our clients can be proud of.
Book Your Virtual Event with Expert Virtual Event Producers at Innovative Party Planners!
Innovative Party Planners is your resource for event design and planning in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia. To learn more about our event planning services and how we can help make your event one of a kind, contact us by clicking here or call (410) 998-9999.