The 7 Stages of Grief (I mean, Virtual Event Management...)

Another Zoom Anyone?

 
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We get it! No one’s happy about all these virtual events! While we seen some incredibly successful virtual events, (Many fundraisers are out raising previous years!) in general, it seems the overwhelming majority of planners and attendees long for the days when we can gather together again. Trust me, I’m with you!

Since the reality of our situation indicates in person events as we knew them may be a ways off, (I’m ignoring you, hybrid events, for now…) I thought it might be helpful to take a look at how we here at AVEX approach the production of your fully virtual event.

 

1 - INTRO

It all starts, with an Intro. Maybe it’s an email, a phone call, a text message… “Hey Tim, are you and your team available Oct. 6th for a gala?” (yes, we are BTW) That starts the ball rolling on a project. Once we hear from you we start the process of gathering as much info as we can to get a sense of what your project is all about. If you interact with a company that sends an “all in” price or sends you an estimate without requesting additional information, I’d consider that a red flag.

I’m leaving some space here for “repeat” events that don’t change much, or quick budgetary specs for companies looking for a budget range rather than a detailed estimate. However, even in this situation, I think that you should always have a brief conversation to get the basics understood. Many times we uncover something important.

Check out the blog we did a while back, with some qualifying questions if you want to know more about what we are looking for.

 
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2 - TECH REVIEW

Now that we have an idea of the scope of your project, we bring that information to the geniuses behind the scenes. We meet internally to discuss the general scope of the project and any potential technical issues we feel may arise. We confirm your expectations of the production and ensure that our in house studio or on site equipment is adequate for those tasks. We also discuss any value-added services we may be able to offer. AVEX is also skilled in landing page web development and can assist in creating a fully customized website for your event. We also partner with incredible vendors to provide integrated products like virtual photo booths, hosted trivia, virtual gaming, live and silent auction services and much more!

Click below to learn more about the additional offerings we can help you with!

 

3 - CONTRACT

Once we’ve designed the studio spec and timeline of your event, your salesperson will draft up a preliminary contract for your review. It’s important to understand that in the early stages, the budget is flexible, and things may change along the way. This is your chance to ask questions and confirm the scope of your project. It’s important that expectations on both sides are clearly defined at this stage. Make sure you send your provider as much scheduling and program information as possible to ensure the contract is acurate to your needs and that there wont be any surprises along the way.

 
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4 - PRE PRODUCTION

Once we agree to a budget and a scope of work, it’s time for the fun to begin! We start the pre production process by sending you a list of deliverables that we need to get started. We’ll also likely define some target dates for these deliverables to ensure we stay on track. Some important things we need from you:

  • Event Agenda (are you planning other activities / engagements that you’d like included on the site?

  • Pre Produced Videos you would like included in your final stream

  • Graphics for your landing page (some clients hire us to create these graphics, but that isn’t mandatory. ZIf you have a designer you like or an in-house resource, no problem!)

    • Logos, Backgrounds, Speaker Headshots,

  • Run of Show document (This is a high level outline of each “segment” in your event.)

  • Scripted Materials (If applicable)

  • Brand Guide for putting together landing page / video graphics.(If you have one)

  • Preferred Landing Page URL (www.exampleevent.com) It’s good to give us a few options incase your first domain isn’t available or is too expensive.

Once we have these items we can start building out our show documents, as well as begin construction of your landing page. The more materials and info we have at this stage, the better.

 

5 - PRODUCTION

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Finally! We’ve arrived. At AVEX, this is our favorite part of the process. Once we have our scheduled rehearsals, pre-records and studio time all booked, and our pre production materials in hand, the only thing left is to create and capture your event. AVEX handles this phase in many scenarios, we use our in house studios to capture content, we pre-record and capture remote presenters via our web-call system (or yours, if you prefer.) or, we come to you, wherever you are to produce your event on-site (either in your facility, home, or at a venue like a hotel.). AVEX has a comprehensive Covid-19 preparedness plan, and can safely and effectively manage onsite events with ease.

6 - POST PRODUCTION

Once we have completed all of our capture, and the live portion of your event passes, we begin the post production process. For some clients, this is a simple clean up of the live program to get rid of anything you don’t want included in the archived or on-demand version of your event. For some though, this process is crucial. Many clients are choosing to pre-tape most (if not all) of their programs to avoid the potential issues with speakers and technology. Pre-taping means you can take your time in production to really hone the message and get it right. With all the political and social turmoil happening in the world, it’s absolutely critical that your message reaches your audience, un-hindered by Internet glitches, speaker flubs, orother live broadcast issues.

 

7 - DELIVERY / ARCHIVE

All that is left is to archive your project and prepare your landing page for on-demand viewing. AVEX has multiple simple solutions to host your video for the future so attendees can return and experience the event if they missed or would like to re-watch. All you have to do is tell us where you want the video to live, and we make it happen.

Once your event is done, we‘ll typically reach out to see if you have any feedback for for us to help us get better every day. We love to hear your kind words of encouragement during these times, but we also want to hear from you if a change needs to be made. We aren’t too proud to improve. We stand by our services because we think they are the best in the industry, (In fact, we just won an award that says so!) to continue that legacy, we seek to improve and provide you with the best service in the industry. Thank you!

Tim McVean