Amid COVID-19, a new business category has arisen – virtual events.
When the pandemic hit, organizations that typically hold annual – or more frequent – networking, educational or trade show events found themselves cancelling them one after the other. Forward-thinking tech companies, such as Forj, seized the opportunity to help these organizations stay connected to their stakeholders, employees or members by providing platforms that improve attendee access and experience, and the results are mind-boggling.
One such example – and one of the most robust and complex events Forj has provided service for to date – is the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Congress 2021), Canada’s largest academic gathering, which takes place each May at a different Canadian university each year. The massive event typically attracts 5,000-10,000 attendees and the participation of dozens of different scholarly associations, with more than 1,700 sessions presented during the nine-day event.
After cancelling last year’s event when COVID-19 hit, the Federation and partner University of Alberta were set on ensuring that Congress would happen online, regardless of the enormity involved in putting on a dynamic, real-time virtual event of this size and complexity.
Overnight, the Congress teams at the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the University of Alberta turned their focus to the technical aspects and the unlimited online possibilities that a virtual Congress could offer. In addition to the hundreds of sessions, the idea was to provide attendees with the ability to network, navigate the virtual Expo hall and association poster halls, tour curated galleries, enjoy pre-recorded performances, and be entertained with virtual tours of Edmonton from May 27 to June 4.
Working with Forj full time over the last six months, the Congress teams are poised to deliver results that are nothing short of remarkable, using breakthrough technology to enable the thousands of attendees worldwide to get the look and feel of the beautiful University of Alberta host campus and forge relationships through their shared experience.
The number of people working behind the scenes to make this happen is jaw-dropping. Upwards of 400 team members, including volunteers, technicians, live support teams, webcast hosting teams, data archive teams and client success teams are involved. There will be live people:
- Operating association greeting tables to welcome attendees as they “arrive” in the “lobby.”
- Directing attendees to take advantage of the virtual event bag being offered to visitors.
- Managing help desks and information centres throughout the event.
- Monitoring each of the 1,700+ sessions in real time – with 98 of those sessions starting simultaneously at 9 a.m. one of the days of the event.
- Acting as technicians in each room (with the majority of sessions being live, with some simu-live sessions, including a live Q&A period following live or pre-recorded presentations)
- Chairing and moderating each session.
- Acting as green room operators.
- Ensuring every presenter shows up prior to their presentation and is ready to go live on time.
- Doing tech checks 15 minutes before each session with every presenter.
- Managing and monitoring attendee chat and video boxes in real time.
- Recording 1,500 of the sessions and archiving them in real time for re-upload onto the platform, accessible until June 30.
- Coordinating the trade show and networking portion of the event, with visitors able to leave their business cards at booths, like a real-life scenario.
- Coordinating breaks and games throughout the conference, from yoga classes to play-to-win challenges (with QR codes placed throughout the virtual platform and major prizes offered for winners).
What’s more, the Forj platform provides options for sessions such as closed captioning, simultaneous interpretation and sign language interpretation, which added to the intricacy of the platform. It also focuses on accessibility, providing visitors with the option to customize colours and fonts on their screens, and use e-readers as well as special lights for those with disabilities, ADHD, etc.
The complexity, planning and coordination that goes into an event of this nature is enormous. Everything has to go off without a hitch – to the exact minute. Everyone knows that one faux-pas will affect the entire daily schedule and isn’t an option.
Multiple training sessions for volunteers and contractors are currently taking place as the event approaches, and volumes of handbooks are being reviewed by all involved. Rehearsals with keynotes are also underway with event technicians as needed.
The most amazing thing about this seemingly larger-than-life virtual event is that – aside from teams working from three virtual production locations; Command Centre-East (Ottawa-Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences), Command Centre-West (Edmonton-University of Alberta) as well as the virtual headquarters (Forj) during the nine days of the event to do their coordination work – all staff, keynotes, presenters and attendees will be participating from the comfort of their homes. Congress 2021’s virtual production locations have maintained all COVID-19 protocols to keep the teams safe and sound.
After all is said and done, response to online conferences such as Congress 2021 will determine if virtual events, or some kind of in-person/virtual hybrid, will be our “next” normal for public gatherings. Time will tell…
$25 community passes grant access to hundred of open events. Get yours at https://congress2021.ca/general-public.