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The Signal

The thinking behind the show. Insight from the team that plans, builds, and runs complex events, not just the gear that gets used.

Pro Tips, Gig Log, COVID-19 Tim Kerbavaz Pro Tips, Gig Log, COVID-19 Tim Kerbavaz

Improving Virtual Meeting Attendee Engagement with an Interactive Coffee Break

Let’s take this online

In mid May, the staff at Veloz, a nonprofit organization focused on electrifying transportation in California, came to me with a challenge. Their July member meeting, scheduled to be an in-person round table in Downtown Los Angeles, was going to be impacted by COVID-19 travel restrictions. Like most event planners, they wondered how to take the meeting online. The conference involved 50 members around a table discussing state policy, industry marketing, and increasing member investment. How would we move it to an online format while maintaining the networking, conversation and attendee engagement of the in-person meeting? How could we make members feel valued and invested in the organization without being with them in person?

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Gig Log, COVID-19, Tips For Techs Tim Kerbavaz Gig Log, COVID-19, Tips For Techs Tim Kerbavaz

A Music Festival, in this Pandemic?! How Mutek.SF shook up the virtual event scene

Mutek is an internationally renowned electronic music and digital arts organization that hosts annual festivals in cities globally. The relatively new Mutek San Francisco chapter was faced with a challenge for their 3rd annual festival in May 2020: In the face of Covid-19 should they cancel, or find a way to translate an engaging, creative community festival to a virtual event.

Mutek San Francisco hosted Nexus, their 2020 online music festival, using a bespoke virtual community event platform custom built by Currents.fm for the event. Nexus combined live video streams, video-on-demand, a gallery of online Open GL artwork, live workshops on a variety of creative topics, and community-submitted art, music, and live video streams from the SF Bay Area and all over the world.

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COVID-19, How-To, Gig Log Tim Kerbavaz COVID-19, How-To, Gig Log Tim Kerbavaz

Presenting the Class of 2020 (Virtually)

I got a phone call in March from a long-time-client - can you make our graduation virtual?

When Da Vinci approached me to reimagine their graduation as an online event, I knew their event needed more than a pre-recorded video or a teleconference link. Working with school administrators and district officials, we got permission to build a studio in a classroom and broadcast their event live from the high school campus. Over June 10th and 11th, we transformed the media classroom into a studio with pipe and drape, lighting, a few lecterns, two vans full of video equipment, and 4 technicians: Technical Director, Graphics Operator, Robo Camera Operator, and Producer/Show Caller, all all positioned to preserve safe social distancing.

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