Introduction
Nice to have you with us again. Another episode of Digital 4 Productivity and the summary of the seventh chapter of my book “Using digital tools effectively”. What is chapter 7 about? It’s about turning your digital event into a live stream event.
Online is stupid!
And as usual, I’ll start with the introductory story. Online is stupid. Do you know that? You see an invitation to an online trade fair and conference on LinkedIn entitled Universe in the Metaverse and think to yourself, cool, I’ll go along. On the day of the opening conference, you go online five minutes before the conference starts, as usual. But what is that? First you have to create an avatar. Hey, I don’t want to get clothes for my avatar and I want to see the first presentation, which has been going on for ten minutes now. Of course, it said somewhere that there was a preparation meeting two days before the event where everything was explained. But even at an on-site event, you don’t have to do training two days beforehand on how to take part in the event, do you? No, not with you. You’re out. Online is stupid. An example of what I often experience in this form is that cool formats are built, but they simply overwhelm the participants, so that I have to put my clothes together again and things like that. Of course, this issue is being driven by Microsoft Mesh, for example, where I can now also take part in meetings with virtual reality glasses. But many people don’t even have an extra headset for a video conference. And if I now say that this would be a good idea because of the topic of audio echoes and you look at me a little questioningly through your podcast player, then perhaps listen to the episode from last time.
What I also experience is that this kind of jumble-total is always shown. In other words, a large picture that doesn’t change is shown here, no details. Then of course online is no fun either.
Online is NOT stupid!
So I keep hearing that online is stupid. But I disagree. It’s not online that’s stupid, but 95% of all online formats that I see are simply stupidly made. So if I just show a camera with no details in our so-called “cluttered” shot and no details without any variety, then of course it’s no fun at all.
Yes, the other extreme is what was described at the beginning, that the gaming kids simply exaggerate a bit and the man sometimes thinks you have to sign up for a new computer game here. And not everyone is used to being in this gaming scene. Even me, who is very computer-savvy. I’m not a gamer, so these are things I have to get used to.
The main problems of online events
So what are the three main problems with online events? Firstly, from my point of view, for many organizers the online format is still a stopgap solution that had to be chosen during the pandemic, but is no longer really necessary. And that’s how carelessly the events are organized. Yes, that means that no great effort is made, especially when it comes to the delivery of external speakers. Sometimes that really leads to hair-raising results. And I myself am amazed at how poor the quality of the feeds is in professional programs such as Tagesthemen, where I have feeds with ring lights, for example, which are then artificially reflected in the pupils or I have nose-hair perspectives because the camera is not at eye level and other things, just to name a few.
Yes, or what I also see. In other words, investments are really being made in online high-tech. So it’s a case of splashing out rather than splashing out. But the users fall by the wayside and that’s simply not the focus, that I say, what is the viewing experience like for the participants? Because everything that is not in the camera, that cannot be seen, makes the crew on site happy, but is completely irrelevant for the viewing experience. And in some cases, an effort is made where formats with a green screen or simply in front of a real bookshelf are much more useful, regardless of the saying that relevance trumps frippery. Yes, in other words, many people really do say, wait a minute, yes, if we’re doing it online, why don’t we just do GoToMeeting or Zoom and add them on? A video conference is different to an online format. I always compare it a bit to watching a little pixelated, homemade YouTube video on your cell phone or the daily news. Of course, you can also get a live reporter, such as Neckermann, an external reporter or a student reporter using a shaky cell phone video you shot yourself. But you will agree with me that the quality of the Tagesthemen is somewhat higher. In other words, when it comes to online formats, you should simply work with high-performance systems. And many video conferences, or systems such as GoToMeeting, for example, are not optimized for particularly high image and sound quality, but for the smoothest possible transmission of image and sound. And quality is sacrificed for this. This means that if you look at the image resolution alone, FullHD is the format you want to see today. And that’s not what standard video transmission systems usually offer! We now have a FullHD broadcast account for external connections at Zoom. You can order this from Zoom for ten or more accounts. Only very few have this and then they are at 720p, which is half the resolution and the picture is not as sharp. So that’s why it’s really the case that, on the one hand, you have the systems here, and on the other hand, you simply have this issue of direction, and I have to apologize for that. At the beginning of the pandemic, I didn’t understand why you need a sequence director for online events and, above all, with Ulrich Thon, we have learned that it is important to have a professional sequence director for larger events that we have built for Toyota, for example, or for Aldi / Hofer in Austria and Aldi Suisse, just like you have on television. So the reference is not the video conference, but the reference for me is entertainment shows. You can have whatever opinion you like, but for me the reference is still from my childhood. Thomas Gottschalk, who communicated with TV viewers like no other in his prime, on the one hand, and with the studio audience on the other. I know it from both sides. I watched Wetten das a lot as a child, even on television. And I’ve seen Thomas Gottschalk live in the studio twice. And it’s just great how easy-going he is with his audience. Even as an audience member, you don’t feel excluded, but addressed. And that really is the great school.
These are the classic errors in recordings
Yes, then so be it. What’s really bad is this issue of switch-ons. I experience really hair-raising things that simply limit the viewing experience significantly. I’ll just give you the classics. For example, the classic is the nose-hair perspective, which means that the laptop is on the desk and then, of course, it is always much lower than the eyes. And then you look so beautifully into the nose hairs. It also reminds many people of the perspective they had of their teacher at school. And since most people unfortunately have a rather negative experience of their school days, it doesn’t have a positive connotation.
Television habits play an important role
Yes, then it’s often the case that the image section is simply so unfortunate that the participants are either still in the middle of the picture at best. That’s the natural impulse or they’re stuck to the bottom of the screen. If you look at television news, the camera is always positioned in such a way that the presenter is always stuck at the edge and at the top of the screen, even slightly cropped at the top. This is more in line with our television habits.
Sound intensity can be irritating
Yes, then I often experience that the sound of the connected devices is either too quiet or too loud. And if you have different ones, they are also differently loud and quiet. You have to keep switching back and forth and keep adjusting the volume control. Then I often experience that the sound and picture of the connected devices are not synchronized. If it’s a few milliseconds, it doesn’t bother me. If it’s a lot, it’s totally irritating.
As little background noise as possible
Yes, then you can often clearly hear background noise, i.e. church bells, children playing and other things. So it’s really difficult. In addition, there is also the issue that the microphones are often on when they shouldn’t be. This simply means that there is no radio discipline and they can be heard in the program when they shouldn’t be.
Or the other way around, the classic case of people forgetting to discourage themselves. So professional organizers do it by saying that we will discourage and discourage the participants so that success is freed from chance. As Karin Burger always says so beautifully.
Yes, another classic. Those connected do not use headphones and a clear audio echo can be heard. Or airports that like to reconnect and then suddenly, when a call comes in on the iPhone, are no longer connected to the computer, but suddenly to the cell phone.
Pay attention to the background color
Yes, then there’s also the issue of saying that an untidy background or a window with backlighting are the classics that simply look very, very bad, just like patterned tops. I’ve even worn a jacket that started to flicker in the camera. Or the East Frisian national flag, a white eagle on a white background. In other words, if you wear light-colored clothes against a light background or dark clothes against a dark background, the contrast is simply so bad that, unless you do it on purpose, you usually don’t get a good picture.
Ill-fitting tie or shirt collar
Yes, then there’s also the issue of the ill-fitting tie and shirt collar. I really can’t follow the content any more, I always just look at this tie sitting at half past seven, for example. It’s a bit like when you’re at panel discussions and you can see your legs and you see gentlemen wearing short socks because they have pale chicken legs sticking out of their badly polished shoes. These are things that you don’t want to see and are simply distracting.
Different sizes
Yes, then you can also see that there are different sizes. One very large in the picture, the other very small. Ideally, it should be quite homogeneous and sometimes less technology is more. In other words, what I also experience is that Zoom’s green screen is used, for example, and that sometimes looks more like a steel helmet than like headphones that are on. So not necessarily wonderful either.
Use a gallery instead of a teleprompter
Yes, then the classic. That’s why I now work with a teleprompter. Many people then look at the gallery and it’s a bit lower than the camera.
I have a teleprompter with the gallery itself on it. That means I can look at the other participants and look into the camera mounted behind the teleprompter. And then there’s the issue of using WLAN instead of a stable network connection and the fact that it’s jerky. So all the classics that they have, right through to low-performance computers that are simply there.
Summary of classic errors
Yes, these are the classic technical mistakes that are often made, which as a rule cannot be blamed on the panelists, but it is simply a question of the organizer and the lack of experience and clear briefing. In fact, I’m now so brutal that I say that if we know that the legs will be visible on a panel, knee socks will be worn, where many people look at me and say, I’ve never worn knee socks in my life. And as I say, can you wear anything else with a suit? So maybe there are different socializations and as an organizer I make sure that it really is a professional image so that the participants can really concentrate on the news and not on the distracting other effects.
Onboarding
Yes, onboarding the connections is also a classic issue. I always hear, oh, I don’t need to test it. I’ve already used Zoom a lot. Yes, these are usually the ones that come in three minutes beforehand, where the connection is jerky, where there’s an audio echo, the wrong microphone is connected. Testing makes sense.
And if you have an important event. Of course, you don’t always get to test every federal minister and SPD leader we’ve had on Zoom beforehand. Fortunately, they are now so experienced that it works wonderfully. I even had Kevin Kühnert with me once, when Norbert Walter Borjans was unable to attend at short notice, and he was very, very professional in his dealings with each other. So that’s why I had a very positive experience. But not everyone is a politician who is used to being called in regularly. Yes then. Of course, the pictures have to be put together in such a way that it really fits.
Yes, what’s the next problem? Marketing and high-tech come before user experience. So I keep hearing people say, what, you don’t do holograms, you don’t do 3D, you don’t do virtual reality.
Yes, I also have a Metaquest two and a Metaquest three. So I have two pairs of virtual reality glasses that I can even use to test things like this in interaction. And yet I experience that many livestreams are watched on smartphones, for example. That’s why we make sure, for example, that charts are designed in such a way that they can also be read on smartphones in portrait format. So there’s no chance of assisted reading, especially in online formats. Yes, then I experience again that, just like in a face-to-face conference, there are a lot of air pumps instead of relevance. So I’m a big fan of simply making the whole thing professional again. So to say that online is stupid, hybrid is stupid. Always plan your event formats as hybrid today! Because even if you have planned face-to-face events, you don’t know whether someone will have to be added at short notice. This has become more and more common after the pandemic. That a speaker or audience member might not be able to be there after all. Yes, and it’s always important (…) to ask conceptual questions. So who is the target group? How can I reach as many people as possible from my target group? What should the participants know, feel and implement at the end of the event? The classic questions, even after presentations. As a result, how can I emotionalize facts as much as possible? Because you can only move people through emotions. What added value can I offer the participants who will be there in person? And what added value can I offer online? So please, it shouldn’t be a stopgap solution, but ideally it should be such that both have more benefits. And how can I create meaningful interaction between the speakers, the moderator and the participants?
So against the backdrop of saying, build the whole thing really professionally? Sometimes, by the way, such a small side note can also be quite attractive if you look at how many DAX companies have now converted their annual general meetings to online formats. One of the reasons for this is certainly that I may have fewer annoying discussions with small shareholders. Or I have, we also held such representative meetings for a housing cooperative during the pandemic and afterwards, for example. And here the panel was also very grateful that they were able to discuss one or two questions when they weren’t on air (…), just among themselves.
Online trade fairs
Yes, also the topic of online trade fairs, for example. So think about how you can use formats that you could perhaps only do once a year or every two years when you were present. Like Bauma in Munich. It only takes place every two years or every three years. So, what if you could do something like that again in between? Or if you look at TV formats like this in between, Apple, for example, has an internal TV channel on which products are regularly presented. This means that I can easily maximize sales-active time by having short online snippets instead of pulling the entire sales team out of the field for 1-2-3 days.
Learning from role models
Yes, then always very important. Take high-quality productions as role models. I already mentioned Thomas Gottschalk, I mentioned Tagesthemen, talk shows like hart or Herzlich or Lanz, Netflix series like 24 that work with real-time cuts. You can also take a look at YouTube or Twitch live streamers from the gaming sector. So that really means taking a look at Instagram influencers, those who are simply shaping the viewing habits of new target groups.
Yes, so the good news, or let’s say the bad news, is that the standard expected is quite high. The good news is that there are now many good tools that allow you to build exactly this kind of thing with minimal effort. And it’s still relevance before frills, authenticity before filters. If you look at TikTok, for example, it’s a medium where, unlike Instagram, filters are generally not used. So that means looking at what you can take from these formats. First and foremost, the staging, the professional design of the image section, so and there simply always, every time, look at what went well, what can be done better, which charts may not have been recognized? With charts, for example, we don’t rely on others to approve them properly, we always have them sent to us beforehand. And then there is a solution with the Internet Clicker, where the speaker can practically control the slides remotely on their smartphone or tablet or in a browser, where they can see the preview, scroll forwards and backwards. And the charts are with us.
Using intuitive platforms
Yes, then of course you should also try out new platforms that are as intuitive as possible and perhaps also have a better license cost structure. Because these online platforms quickly become relatively expensive if you have a lot of participants. But please always remember that you are not using video conferencing here, but event platforms. Because the focus is always on the smoothest possible video and audio transmission in video conferencing. And with event platforms, it is a very high-quality image and sound transmission where you usually have a slight latency. In live streaming, the program always goes on air around 18 seconds later. You also have to be able to moderate this. However, this buffer simply gives you a much higher picture and sound quality.
Yes, then just to say it should logically also perform accordingly. And the simplest form is of course to embed a live stream on a website. Incidentally, you shouldn’t go for a consumer provider here, but we work with StreamDust, for example, a professional streaming hoster based in Germany, with which you can even store access data again. Pfefferminzia, for example, for whom we produce a monthly format, it is always important that their customers can generate good consultant points as part of the idea. We can easily monitor who has seen what, when, how and where. An important prerequisite for tracking training times. Of course, it is always very, very important to have a chat with you. Online voting tools if required. So interaction is always very, very important here.
Virtual trade fairs and showrooms
Yes, if I now look at the topic of virtual trade fairs and showrooms. So here it’s always very important that you can ideally also integrate live streams, chats, PDF files, presentations, audio files, that you have gamification elements. So if you have a trade fair like this, a virtual one, we always had a puzzle at Pfefferminzia, for example, where you had to find different pieces of the puzzle at different stands. And whoever had the puzzle together then took part in a final prize draw. So here it is.
Augmented and virtual reality
When I look at the topic of augmented and virtual reality, the idea of virtual reality is that you no longer see anything from outside. Augmented reality is that you superimpose things over reality. It’s also an upcoming topic in the event sector, as I said at the start of this episode, and Microsoft is currently in the process of integrating it into Teams. And if you don’t have Meta Quest 3 yet, you should get one. Because virtual reality, and to a certain extent you can even do augmented reality with it, because the Meta Quest series has very good cameras out there, not as good as the Apple Vision Pro, but it also costs ten times as much. So it also has a different professional target group. In my opinion, the Meta Quest 3 is currently the best consumer device, even with excellent pass-through cameras, where you can try out things like this.
Yes, there are also platforms such as Engange, Raum or Spatial Chat. Some of these platforms are also hybrid, meaning that you can participate both on the computer and via glasses. I think that’s the future of this platform, that one person participates on the computer and the other via virtual reality or augmented or mixed reality glasses.
Top ten tips at the end
Yes, let’s finish with the top ten tips from chapter seven.
- Get a regular overview of new platforms.
- Use AppSumo, I’ve also mentioned it a few times. A platform where you often get good lifetime deals and then you can get to know new platforms and save money.
- Always use the platforms that are easiest for the participants to use.
- Less chichi, but easier to use.
- Always include a chat back channel and make sure that all speakers and moderators can read it.
- Always think about the goals you want to achieve before choosing a platform.
- Think of trade fairs as year-round showrooms.
- Today, anyone can build their own internal TV format.
- Do not misspell metavers on 2D PC (…). Please don’t. And take advantage of the opportunities offered by virtual reality.
- And last-but-not-least, take ideas from gamers. Because they are already a long way ahead and you can use them as a guide.
Conclusion
Yes, so much for online events. If you would like to have an internal TV format, a channel or a virtual trade fair for your employees, sales partners or customers, please contact me! We’ve now done over 200 productions and have a lot of experience, including with everything that can go wrong. Including a 40-minute power cut at the Hofer headquarters in Austria. And, of course, we streamed throughout. Livestreaming is always like flying, laying out everything at least twice. We always say stability before creativity.
I’m definitely looking forward to having them back next week. When chapter 8 is about managing the flood of information.
See you then.
Yours, Torsten Jekel.
Also available in: Deutsch