2018 was a busy year here at V2, and we want to share a big highlight, which was our production of the Wedventure Magazine Live Stream in beautiful Bend, Oregon! This wedding show was broadcasted live via webcast at Spoken Moto, an old restored mechanic’s shop in the Old Mill/Box Factory of Bend that houses vintage motorcycles, a hand roasted coffee bar, as well as craft beer!
Wedventure Magazine is publication that is tailored to saying “I Do” in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest US. Their stories feature couples who are adventurous and love the outdoors, and want that reflected in a very special wedding. Their “thoughtfully curated magazine inspires them to go beyond the burlap and craft a wedding celebration that is uniquely them – unconventional and unforgettable, a bit wild, even,” according to the Wedventure website. Their beautiful and unique magazine features stories from couples and vendors in the central Oregon community and they offer workshops on Photography, Planning and Styling, Floral Artistry, Cake, and Videography, just to name a few.
The webcast featured some expert vendors, such as Bliss Northwest Bridal, whose focus was to bring a modern wedding experience to Bend. At Bliss, they focus on the individual bride, and feel every bride should find a dress that makes them excited, no matter what their body type. Bliss Northwest Bridal provided amazing wedding dresses for a fashion show during the webcast featuring beautiful dresses by designers Martina Liana, Grace Mariee (who is a designer from Portland, and is exclusive to Bliss Bridal), Wilderly by Allure Bridal, Allure Men’s suits, and Mikaella Bridal. Every dress in Bliss is unique and hand selected by their owner, Jen. At the end of the fashion show, the audience got to vote for their favorite wedding dress via a poll in the webcast. The winning dress was showcased in a mock wedding ceremony at the end! We highly suggest you check out the webcast archive here to see the fashion shows in action and find out which dresses were voted the favorites! In addition to the fashion shows, you’ll also get to meet two of the top wedding coordinators in the region whose experience can allow you to relax knowing everything has been handled to perfection on your special day. Sprinkled into this exciting event are some excellent regional vendors who can give you great ideas on what to incorporate in your wedding, from event spaces and catering to a truly gifted photographer, and so much more!
Some of our favorite featured vendors for this webcast was Worthy Brewing Company, who offered a great giveaway of a free keg with a booking of their venue space! If you haven’t tried their beers, it is a must! They are crafting some award winning beers here in the Northwest and offer an amazing campus for weddings and other events. Another featured vendor at the event was the Bend Beerstream – a converted airstream trailer that is now an incredible mobile bar! They customize their beer, wine and craft cocktails to go with each couples’ preferred libations. Their mobile bar can go almost anywhere, and is a great idea if you are planning your wedding in a more remote outdoor location.
From a technical standpoint, V2 worked closely with Wedventure Magazine and Bend based Production Company StoryLab Media to produce the webcast. V2 designed and hosted a custom registration page complete with payment gateway, which provided access to a custom designed webcast microsite. Viewers of the webcast were able to watch the live stream while simultaneously viewing pictures and examples from featured vendors. Interested viewers could even click on a dynamically updating resource list to visit the websites of featured vendors. Social media and group chat played a large part in the event, with an integrated twitter feed and an open chat forum within the webcast environment. We were absolutely thrilled to be part of this event, and to bring it live to people who were unable to attend in person. The webcast archive is an amazing resource for any newlyweds looking for a unique way to get hitched in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Watch the Webventure Live Event Now and discover amazing tips and vendors that can transform your upcoming nuptials.
Need a webcast production crew for your next event or even your wedding? Contact V2 at: V2crew@virtualvenues.com.
During the month of May, V2 was lucky enough to stream a live webcast from San Diego hosted by PNC Bank, featuring the one and only Mari Smith the “Queen of Facebook” herself! Mari is a true social media guru, and shared some great insights with her audience on the best way to utilize social media to grow your business. She shared her tried and true three part strategy that works with most social media vehicles out there, and emphasized Facebook as the core of her social media arsenal, because as she put it, there is no better platform than Facebook to reach targeted audiences. With over 1.65 billion people on Facebook, and users checking their pages at an average of 14 times per day, it really is an optimized platform for your business.
The main facets of the three part strategy are:
Step #1: Craft Compelling Content (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) –
The biggest tip here is to use VIDEO. Why is it so important? Video allows you to tell a story. This could be a story about you, a customer, a testimonial. Put simply, next to seeing someone in person, video is the next best thing. For someone checking their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram feeds, the movement of the video is the best way to capture their attention. When creating video, use lower thirds and captions to add a written element to the video to help your message stick. A big trick of the trade is to add a call to action when you post the video on Facebook or Twitter. Several newer Facebook features such as video editing tools allow you to choose the thumbnail for your video, and Twitter now has a feature that allows you to select a short section of a longer video that you wish to play. In addition to video, using interesting images, especially ones you have taken yourself will add extra flair to your social media posts. A big question that Mari says people ask her is how often should you post? Here are her general recommendations based on experience. For Facebook, posting at a minimum of 5x/week, Twitter 1 to 6x/day, Instagram 1x/day. Using tools to manage incoming/outgoing posts like HootSuite or AgoraPulse allow you to easily organize and schedule your posts and content.
Check out the latest Guest blog from V2’s very own Director of Business, Aaron Cole for our valued Partner INXPO!
To learn more about how V2 can help you on your next webcast, Contact Us Here.
In late May V2 was in New York to stream a live webcast featuring Barbara Corcoran , star of the hit ABC show “Shark Tank”. The presentation, titled “How to Grow Your Business and Have Fun Doing It” was the second of a yearly webcast series, sponsored by PNC Bank and part of PNC’s Small Business Month. In May of 2014, V2 traveled to Toronto to stream Robert Herjavec as part of the 2014 PNC Small Business Month activities.
Barbara Corcoran’s story is perhaps the classic story of true entrepreneurship, having parlayed a $1,000 loan into a real estate empire with assets of over one billion dollars. Barbara’s humor, candor and business acumen made for an enthralling 90 minute conversation for the nearly 3,000 individuals who logged on to view the webcast. V2 was honored and proud to have again been selected as the streaming partner by PNC Bank for this project, and counts itself fortunate to having worked with someone as remarkable as Barbara.
V2 would also like to congratulate this year’s Small Business Month Sweepstakes winners: Stacy Rosello, Robert Page, and Susan Jeck who as winners will meet with Barbara in New York City.
Regardless of design or scope, V2 can partner with you to stream your message to the world. Do you have questions about the elements to successfully produce an top level webcast , and how it’s done? Don’t hesitate to give us a call, or shoot us an email. We’d love to talk, and learn more about what you are planning.
Aaron Cole
V2 | Director of Business Development
V2 was recently selected to live stream the Opening Ceremonies of the Federation of State Medical Boards national conference this April, from Fort Worth Texas. The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization that represents the 70 state medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its’ territories. The FSMB was founded in 1912, and it’s mission statement calls for “Continual improvement of the quality, safety and integrity of health care thru the development and promotion of high standards for physician licensure and practice”. The annual conference is a three day meeting that brings together national experts to discuss and highlight a wide range of subjects and topics that are relevant in today’s medical regulatory community.
Starting on April 23, representatives and members from across the nation convened in Fort Worth for the three day event. V2 was honored to be selected as the webcast vendor for the Opening Ceremonies, and to play a role in the production of this important conference. V2 looks forward to partnering with the FSMB on future webcast and webinar projects, and is proud to support the FSMB and it’s important efforts in regulating and shaping the future of health care in the United States.
Are you looking to increase audience participation and engagement on your next conference? Have you tried a hybrid meeting? What is a hybrid meeting, you ask? Well it is adding an online or webcasting component to an in-person meeting or conference.
Hybrid meetings integrate in-person discussion and virtual meeting elements, which allows attendees to connect and share information, and even ask questions of the conference speakers. Participants who are unable to travel due to time or budget constraints have a way to easily participate in the event, either live or on-demand.
While some companies believe that a virtual component can discourage participation, it actually typically helps increase engagement. By offering an alternative to onsite attendance, those who are unable to attend live can still enjoy the conference experience. Businesses that provide live and on-demand viewing options after the conference allows even more attendees to view the meetings at a later time at their own convenience. Onsite attendees may even decide to tune into the virtual experience – you never know when conflicting presentation times may cause conference attendees to miss a presentation they would like to see.
Also, speakers and other thought leaders that may be unable to travel to the conference can lend their expertise by presenting virtually. As a result, you won’t be missing out on incredible presentations and can connect and collaborate with individuals across the globe.
Archiving the presentations with a webcast also allow for more opportunities to share the experience after the fact through different marketing vehicles and social media. Edit and re-purpose parts of the webcast for promotional tools or as an educational piece to share with other organization members or employees.
Finally, include online polls or exit surveys to find out how it went and why participants joined virtually. These metrics will allow you to continue to hone the hybrid event experience for future conferences.
Want to incorporate a webcast component to your next conference, but don’t know where to start? We work seamlessly in the background to coordinate the virtual platform with the onsite AV crew to ensure the virtual participants’ experience is as smooth as possible. Need help editing and converting the archive afterwards? No problem! Contact Us Now!
Jessica Bradford
Virtual Event Manager
It is an exciting time to realize that the broadcasting of a live video feed can be converted affordably to be consumed by viewers through computers, laptops, and now even mobile devices. You no longer need a TV channel or broadcast station to be “live on-air” to reach the masses. Your message can reach those live in your office, while webcasting through an online platform to other employees and offices around the world in HD video quality for a fraction of what it used to cost just a few years ago.
V2 was honored to be a part of the recent PNC Small Business Month webcast in Toronto, Ontario on May 21st. PNC Bank is a valued client of ours. This webinar was a great opportunity for them to showcase their Cash Flow Insight(SM) software. CFI is a small business owner’s solution that provides them the opportunity to understand and accelerate their invoice and receivables while also organizing their payables in a way that makes cash flow more efficient. The software also conveniently syncs to the business’s current accounting software.
The guest speaker was Robert Herjavec, Founder & CEO of the The Herjavec Group. Robert is also a professional race car driver but is probably best known for being the Leading Shark on ABC’s hit television series, Shark Tank. Armed with a digital encoder, V2 streamed a live video feed of Robert through the multi-functional INXPO XPOCAST Prime web console. It allowed viewers to see him speak while also viewing his entertaining and insightful PowerPoint presentation with tips on what it takes to start a small business, how to make a name for yourself, and also how to stay competitive, the latter point being no small task since as Robert pointed out – technology reinvents itself every three years. He stated that anyone in the business arena better love the challenges you are faced with or the competition will pass you by. According to Robert, the world will be won by the adaptable. The path to success is not a straight line but if you are able to adapt, you will succeed.