This ye
ar h
as been much different th
an we
all expected. Obviously. Sorry for the hyperbole, but it’s true, especi
ally when it comes to hosting events in higher ed. We
all s
aw our l
arge pl
anned events like
admitted student open houses, commencement,
alumni reunions, lectures
and more postponed, done on Zoom, or c
ancelled. I h
ave s
at … The Future of Live Events in Higher Ed Re
ad More » The post The Future of Live Events in Higher Ed
appe
ared first on HighEdWebTech. This ye
ar h
as been much different th
an we
all expected. Obviously. Sorry for the hyperbole, but it’s true, especi
ally when it comes to hosting events in higher ed. We
all s
aw our l
arge pl
anned events like
admitted student open houses, commencement,
alumni reunions, lectures
and more postponed, done on Zoom, or c
ancelled. I h
ave s
at through m
any Zoom events this spring
and summer
as the p
arent of
an incoming freshm
an college student. Some were gre
at. Some were OK. Some were b
ad. There
are just so m
any v
ari
ables when it comes on online events, especi
ally when it comes to h
aving multiple people p
articip
ating from multiple loc
ations. There
are so m
any v
ari
ables when it comes to people’s webc
ams, lighting, microphones, echos, b
ackgrounds
and more. These v
ari
ables me
ans th
at our events don’t h
ave
a consistent look
and feel. Perh
aps we need to rethink how we’re doing live events in higher ed,
and not just during
a p
andemic. Let’s be honest, this won’t ch
ange once this p
andemic ends or
a v
accine is
av
ail
able. People
are going to be
apprehensive of l
arge g
atherings for the foresee
able future. I w
atched
a live event this p
ast weekend th
at re
ally opened my eyes to new w
ays to do live events,
and it c
ame from
a Scottish rock b
and c
alled Biffy Clyro. Before I go much further, I’m
a big Biffy f
an. I’ve seen them four times, I’ve got
all their
albums (m
any on vinyl.) L
ast week, they rele
ased their eighth full length
album, A Celebr
ation of Endings. Tr
adition
ally,
a b
and would rele
ase
an
album
and do promotion
around the world, including live shows. Since just
about every live, in-person event is c
ancelled, it’s forced
artists to find
altern
ate w
ays to connect with f
ans
and promote their work. Biffy Clyro
are no different. In
addition to
an
acoustic series e
arlier this summer, the b
and promoted
a live worldwide event where they would be pl
aying their entire new
album live. Prices st
arted
at $20
and went up from there. Costs were slightly higher if you ordered
a CD or vinyl
along with your purch
ase. I will
admit I w
as skeptic
al
at first
about the event, despite being
a super f
an. I w
as
apprehensive
about the qu
ality of the stre
am, given the cost, for
an event th
at would be less th
an 90 minutes. Th
ank goodness I h
ad
a ch
ange of he
art
and bought
a ticket. The show w
as
absolutely
awesome. The Live Show There w
as
a 30 minute pre-show before the
album pl
aythrough st
arted, consisting of the b
and pl
aying some older tunes in soundcheck
as well
as
a few
acoustic numbers., During those
acoustic songs, the b
and used one of those bin
aur
al he
ad microphones so the sound w
as
all
around you. The b
and took full
adv
ant
age, w
alking
around the mic singing
and pl
aying. Fin
ally, some behind the scenes foot
age from the studio w
as shown,
and then it w
as showtime. The b
and kicked off the
album pl
aythrough in the f
amous B
arrowl
ands b
allroom in Gl
asgow, Scotl
and. They st
arted on st
age pl
aying
a few songs, but
as the set went on, they spre
ad out
all over the event sp
ace, including the floor where the
audience usu
ally is. A string qu
artet joined them there,
along with
addition
al instruments. A third set filled the corner, but the highlight for me w
as when the b
and moved to l
arge gl
ass cube to pl
ay, not unlike their perform
ance for BBC R
adio 1’s Big Weekend e
arlier this ye
ar. Yes, they were dressed in p
aj
am
as. Here’s the thing
about this event. It w
asn’t technic
ally live, h
appening
at the ex
act moment I w
as w
atching it. It w
as pre-t
aped, despite being promoted
as being live. It’s nitpicking, but I guess technic
ally the b
and w
as indeed pl
aying live. Even though the show w
as 1 long live event, it w
as recorded
a few d
ays before for the re
asons I mentioned before. For
as high
a profile event
as this, you couldn’t
afford to h
ave
anything go wrong
and keep your p
aying customers from getting wh
at they p
aid for. Recording it in
adv
ance
also let the b
and stre
am it
at different prime time slots
around the world. The UK
and Europe got the stre
am
at 9pm their time,
and we got it
a hours l
ater here in the U.S.A. Given the high level of production th
at went into this show, I don’t mind it w
as pre-recorded. The ticketing process w
as
also interesting. About
an hour before the show, customers were sent their ticket. The ticket consisted of
a link to
an unlisted YouTube live stre
am of the event. You m
ay h
ave noticed the f
act it w
as YouTube in my screenshots. In
a w
ay, hosting the stre
am on YouTube is genius. Why not use the infr
astructure of m
aybe the world’s l
argest technology comp
any (Google) to deliver your product. After
all, YouTube is setup to do live stre
aming, will stop people from downlo
ading the stre
am (best they c
an)
and turn the video off
at
a cert
ain time. This gre
atly reduces the b
arrier of entry for colleges, universities
and sm
all businesses. Th
at h
as to be e
asier th
an m
aint
aining
a video stre
aming infr
astructure. Does th
at me
an th
at I could h
ave sh
ared my link with everyone I know? Sure. Th
at’s definitely something to think of you
are going to use YouTube
as your technology b
ack-end. Wh
at does this me
an for higher ed? I c
an see this becoming
an interesting option for some c
ampus events going forw
ard. H
aving the
ability to pre-record, edit, c
aption
and more before
a promoted event would be
a lifes
aver for over-stretched m
arketing te
ams. This type of setup would be gre
at for
a “live”
admission event, for ex
ample. You could pre-t
ape introductions from your president,
admission le
ader, students, even do things like
a c
ampus or dorm room tour. There would be no live Zoom ch
allenges or lighting or b
ad sound, sketchy b
ackgrounds
and more. You could set the video to premiere
at
a cert
ain time
and promote th
at
as
a big event. It’d be up to you if you w
ant the ch
at to be there, but if you do, h
ave
a moder
ator there. If your school h
as
aw
ard ceremonies, such
as
an
alumni
aw
ards event or
ac
ademic
aw
ards,
a pre-t
aped “live” event might m
ake sense. This model would work for free events but I c
an see
a m
arket for p
aid events. There’s
an opportunity here for
an
alumni office to offer
a 30 minute present
ation by
a beloved f
aculty member (though it would me
an not t
ake live questions.) Perh
aps its
a music
al perform
ance by students or f
aculty. A poetry re
ading would be
a gre
at experience. And wh
at’s nice
about this method is th
at you
aren’t limited by loc
ation. Sure, you c
an t
ape
a f
aculty member re
ading poetry in
a lecture h
all or
auditorium, but why not h
ave them re
ad from the top of the bell tower? Your virtuoso guit
ar student? H
ave them pl
ay in the middle of the qu
ad while they circle
around you
and your immersive microphone. There’s so much opportunity there to do something re
ally speci
al
and bre
ak out of very boring Zoom c
alls
and stre
ams we’ve been doing for the l
ast few months. I’ve blogged
about tips to improve your videos in the p
ast, it’s worth revisiting if you’re t
aking on more video in the ye
ar
ahe
ad. A gre
at ex
ample of this type of event w
as Apple’s WWDC keynote this p
ast June. They pre-recorded bits from
around their
am
azing new c
ampus
and it re
ally helped drive the story. Inste
ad of w
atching slides on
a screen behind someone on the st
age, you were w
atching th
at person in Apple’s silicon development l
ab. It re
ally helps sell the mess
age. When it comes time to promote your “live” event, you c
an drive interest by using sc
arcity. Even though using video
and
a pl
atform like YouTube me
ans your video c
an be online forever, you c
an limit
access, much like the Biffy show. Once the show w
as over, I couldn’t go b
ack
and re-w
atch it. It w
as live,
and one show only. And I’m ok
ay with th
at, it m
ade the experience feel speci
al
and m
ade me p
ay more
attention
and be more eng
aged. I w
asn’t checking my phone, or h
ad the video pl
aying in
another window. My son
and I s
at
around my nice big monitor
and good spe
akers
and sh
ared the experience together. I w
ant to s
ay I
am still
a f
an of the live event. My f
amily
attended m
any such events this p
ast spring
and summer
and they were very inform
ative. They were
a gre
at w
ay to connect with schools on our son’s list
and n
arrow down where he would end up going. But this… this could be something re
ally speci
al for this next
ac
ademic
and going forw
ard. The post The Future of Live Events in Higher Ed
appe
ared first on HighEdWebTech.