With the COVID-19 pandemic impact on in-person gatherings, tech conferences have had to be re-invented, postponed or cancelled for 2020. The list of conferences changing to an on-line format include: Apple WWDC, Augmented World Expo (AWE), GamesBeat Summit, Game Developer Conference, Google I/O, IBM Think, IFA, Microsoft Build, Nvidia GTC, Open Compute Platform, and the Linley Spring Processor Conference. The next big tech industry event that is still scheduled to take place in person is Computex in Taiwan, which has been pushed out to September from June, but even that may change. Some companies are already committing to virtual conferences for the next year, including Microsoft and Facebook. And just recently Saleforce’s huge fall Dreamforce conference announced it is going virtual.
I’ve experienced a number of these virtual events firsthand. Some were just presentation slides with voiceover, but some included 2-way video, streaming video with chat, and even in a VR theater. I wanted to share some of my experiences and recommendations on what is working.
Oculus Venue
Best Practices (So Far)
The overall best experience I had was with the Linley Spring Processor Conference, which had over 1,100 registered attendees. It used Zoom as well as anyone I’ve seen. The conference is a relatively small conference for people in the microprocessor business. The Linley Group took what normally would be a two-day conference with multiple tracks and split it into four mornings. As a result, attendees could attend every single track for the first time, which was good if you wanted to catch all the talks.
The nice thing about Zoom was that it included the presenters’ video, along with the slides. There is also a dedicated question and answer tab allowing attendees to enter questions into a queue visible only to the moderator and the presenter. I think many people are more comfortable typing in their questions than traditionally stepping up to a microphone because there is no concern about stage fright being in front of a crowd. In addition, there is a separate chat function for attendee communications.
After the day’s sessions ended, the conference transitioned into breakout sessions. The breakout sessions allowed each sponsor or speaker to hold a separate Zoom meeting allowing attendees to join that session and talk directly to the vendors to ask additional questions. Some of the vendors used demonstrations and presented additional material, just as you would find at an expo at one of these conferences. Each distinct Zoom breakout session had the vendor moderate.
As an expo alternative it worked well, but it lacked the hands-on aspect of being there in person. You could interact with vendors through video and audio or just typed Q&A. That seemed to go very smoothly. Because the Linley Group conferences are sponsor driven and funded, it is important that they feel they got the exposure they were looking for.
Presenters did different things for their video backgrounds. Some people completely blurred the background, some put up a corporate background, and most people were clearly someplace in their house doing it. There are many posts and articles on how to properly configure and manage Zoom and I won’t try to duplicate those. Zoom is both simple and flexible depending on your needs.
Nvidia Went the Conservative Route
The company used a difference service for the GPU Tech Conference (GTC) called ON24, which many companies use for financial calls. The ON24 service allows you to present slides and it has an audio overlay and text Q&A. But, Nvidia’s conference lacked streaming video. Not having the presenters’ video lost a significant audience connection. I think video adds intimacy and interactivity. It feels more like you are participating in the conference with the streaming video, as opposed to just watching a webinar. The advantage of ON24 is that it’s familiar to companies and very secure.
I also attended a Microsoft gaming-related conference where the video was streamed on its Mixer streaming service, but used a separate app, Discord, for Q&A. The result was acceptable but using different apps for content and Q&A was less than ideal.
VR is Not Ready
I attended three sessions of GamesBeat Summit through Facebook Venues using the Oculus Quest VR headset. Venues is more like being in an auditorium setting, and you have your own avatar. It gives you the choice of a private seat or communal seating. In communal seating you can have limited voice conversations with nearby avatars. I found it more distracting to have these conversations around me. The presentations were on large virtual screens on a stage. There was no virtual podium or text chat room to ask questions. It’s definitely a work on progress.
And yet, Something is Still Missing
You miss the human element of going to a physical conference. The spontaneous conversations you would generate from audience attendees from various companies. You see old friends and make new ones while enjoy the environment. Video conferences are more structured, and it’s harder to be interactive with individual members of the audience. I don’t think that part is going to be replaced until we get more realistic VR avatars to go to true VR conferences.
You also miss the ability to make deals in person. Exchanges of information with other attendees can also be important, whether its technical assistance or just scuttlebutt. You can’t beat an actual, physical, destination conference for product demonstrations and pick up swag. And, as Brian Santo, EE Times Editor in Chief said recently in a podcast we did together, who doesn’t love conference swag?
We are just in the beginning of this on-line conference movement and there are more options to explore. I’ll follow up later in the summer with more conference experiences. If this new normal proves to work well and saves on cost and travel, what will that mean for the conference business and cities that rely on conference revenues?
