
Resuming Live Events?
Interested in hearing from folks who have been able to resume with live events in some capacity - thoughts, feedback, learnings, experiences... The large conferences we produce aren't expected to return live until August (fingers crossed).
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Out in Berlin, hopes are not high for a return to live events this year for our show. Of course, we're moving forward with planning them in the event that things take at turn for the better, but always with virtual-only shows as contingency.
I guess a benefit on our end of having a virtual sport to broadcast is that virtual shows and viewing experiences are familiar to our core audience!
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We had the opportunity to do Hybrid Galas for awhile when gatherings of 50 people were allowed in our jurisdiction. It actually went well for smaller events where we had 6-8 hubs 'live' and then had a central studio that the hubs and the at home guests could watch. Sadly, we are now back in a position where we can have no gatherings at all.
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I've just come back home from 15 days in Dubai working on a PubG Esports production that tried to run with 64 players flying into the arena to compete in the world finals. Safe to say, COVID got the better of the event and it was played under hotel quarantine conditions, the event stadium saw 1 day of use in total (with no players inside it!).
I would urge anyone who's planning a physical broadcast with a high headcount / international travel to think twice, even with the best planning and COVID protocols in place, you're foolish to think you can control it to the level required to guarantee everyone's safety. Esports is lucky that we can port shows to an online/remote presentation relatively easily at the moment. That option should remain Plan A for at least another year in my opinion, from seeing a fair chunk of events fall apart over the last few months.