Elevate Your Next Virtual Conference Like TechfestNW 2021
No risk, no reward: when you decide to live stream the majority of your virtual event, your production better be on-point. With viewers seeing your content in real-time, there’s no editing out human mistakes or technology mishaps.
Our featured client, TechfestNW, knew that preparation, compelling content, rehearsals and lots of polish would keep their audience engaged. Learn how they maintained momentum throughout their day-long symposium — and why they needed an AV partner with experience executing complex virtual events.
Who: TechfestNW (TFNW), an annual technology conference. TFNW 2021 was presented in partnership with Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN).
What: This year’s fully virtual event highlighted Oregon’s technology entrepreneurs and culminated in awarding a sizeable check to the Angel Oregon Tech competition winner during a live awards presentation. To ensure their AV production team could manage anticipated technical challenges as well as create a visually appealing event with high production value, TFNW organizers partnered with Seamless Event Solutions.
Background: The annual conference brings together innovators, startups, entrepreneurs, tech companies, and investors from around the globe. Attendees come for solutions, ideas, and inspiration; this year, event organizers called on attendees to build a more inclusive tech economy.
How Seamless Events Helped TechfestNW Produce their Virtual Conference
TFNW 2021 packed their day-long event with a variety of content designed to keep attendees’ interest high. The majority of the one-day event was live streamed, with pre-recorded content integrated where appropriate. The program included:
- Live Fireside Chats with successful Oregon founders
- Live Keynote presentations
- Live Angel Oregon Tech (AOTech) Competition Finale, a three-part segment that included:
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- Interviews with past winners
- Finalist Pitches with Investor Q&A
- Award Presentation (a TFNW / OEN partnership)
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- 1st Annual Include Award, a celebration of fledging BIPOC startups (a TFNW / Black Founders Matter partnership)
- Networking breakouts with lively topics
The AOTech Award Presentation itself was a stimulating challenge for our AV experts. Seamless dove in to find a visually sophisticated solution that let 10 people share the screen in real-time. In the end, host and finalists got to see everyone’s reactions as the winner received $125,000 in investment funding.
WATCH THE AWARD PRESENTATION HIGHLIGHTS:
Programming tip:
Creating a flawlessly executed virtual event with live components is an “Advanced Level” undertaking
To create a more dynamic attendee experience for TechfestNW attendees and help them track speakers and presenters, Seamless used a variety of audiovisual production techniques. These included:
- lower thirds, a graphic-text combination that appears at the bottom of a screen (for all participants)
- combination custom background with Picture in Picture feature (for Fireside Chats, a Keynote interview, and AOTech finalist pitches)
- “Picture in Picture” to show speakers while their slides were shown (for AOTech finalist pitches)
- split screen to permit interaction between multiple participants — including a design that highlighted a primary speaker while integrating others (for AOTech finalist pitches with investor Q&A)
of the $125,000 Oregon Angel equity investment
Production Tip:
For more complex panel discussions, interviews, or multi-speaker interaction, lean on your AV team for ideas and plan for rehearsal time
We have to congratulate TechfestNW program participants for making live virtual presentations, Q&As, and hosting look simple!
Amongst other victories, Emcee Paige Hendrix Buckner (COO, Founder Gym) kept transitions smooth while AO Tech Competition host Amanda Oborne (President & Executive Director, Oregon Entrepreneurs Network) stoked anticipation from the finalists’ pitches all the way to the winner’s reveal.
We enjoyed executing the TechfestNW 2021 program from start to finish and extend our congratulations to the Black Founders Matter Include award winners, AO Tech winner Rewire Neuro, and the eight other AOTech finalists!
Debating how to structure your own event?
We applaud TechfestNW for creating a compelling agenda designed to stimulate interest in Oregon’s technology entrepreneurs.
If you’re planning an event, our Live vs Semi-Live Virtual Events: The Case for Pre-Recording post may be helpful for ideas.
If you’d like a free consultation to learn how we helped TechfestNW and to explore your AV options for in-person, virtual or hybrid events, we are happy to help.
