A couple months ago I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Asia to work on a couple customer events. Asia, and Japan in particular, have always been at the top of my bucket list. Kollective has offices in the region, and as our technology is able to deliver video and software updates throughout APAC, even to the most remote offices, we are actively going after new business in that market.
One of our customers, who happens to be one of the “Big Four” accounting organizations and the largest professional services network in the world had requested a POC (Proof of Concept) from Kollective. We often do POCs with new customers to prove that our cloud-based, network aware, universal edge delivery platform can distribute critical content to all endpoints, regardless of how the network is configured. While this customer’s North American team had many live events under their belt, their APAC counterparts had no true experience running events. They didn’t know where to start, they had little knowledge of how to pull off a big event, and on top of that, this was a new market they were trying to communicate with.
Enter the Kollective Enterprise Video Strategy Team
The customer wanted to host two separate events, on back to back days, in Tokyo, Japan. The Kollective Enterprise Video Strategy (EVS) Team received notification roughly 60 days before the scheduled events. Our team provides real-time support for livestream events from start to finish. We also offer remote or on-site support during the event, and help you assess everything necessary to produce a successful live event.
Our team was immediately brought into meetings with the customer and the Kollective APAC team, to understand what their objectives were for the event, and what was expected in terms of production quality. Meetings were held several times a week, and then daily as the event got closer.
Setting realistic event expectations
The most difficult thing with this project was getting consensus on what was expected. Having never done an event before, the client could only reference what they had seen done in other markets, or events that they had participated in elsewhere. After seeing several examples of what they liked and didn’t like, we were able to level set with them on cost, and put together a realistic expectation of how we should tackle this project.
The idea was to have something simple, in terms of production; but not so simple that you lose interest by the audience. We were limited in size and scope of the event space, which was a training/conference room located in the customer’s office. We all agreed that the primary objective here was not to create a Game of Thrones set, but more of a simple three-camera shoot with a simple backdrop. The goal was to make sure the technology worked, the executive team looked good, and we stayed within a reasonable budget. Once terms were agreed upon, then the real planning started.
Calling on trusted strategic integration partners
Part of the reason Kollective has an EVS team, is simply our knowledge library. We have been there, we have done that, and we have a good idea of how to organize and pull off large scale enterprise events. Having never been to Tokyo, or seen the space, we knew going in we would need some help from a third party vendor with boots on the ground. We quickly made the call to one of our trusted integration partners World Television (WTV). We shared what our customer’s expectations and budget were. To our luck, WTV had just opened an office nearby, and their team was ready and able to assist. We laid out the production elements that were needed, the timelines and dates, and they had a contract to us within a matter of days. WTV quickly sent a producer to do a site visit and meet with the customer.
Show ready in Japan
After daily meetings between Kollective, the customer, and WTV, everyone was feeling comfortable and ready for the big show.
I landed in Tokyo on a Saturday. I had a day to soak up the culture, food, and drink, courtesy of my 2 Japanese counterparts who showed me around. We loaded in, setup and tested for the events on Monday. Both of the events on Tuesday and Wednesday went off without a hitch, providing proof that the technology did indeed work. The crew was top notch, and was directed by an English producer who lived in Tokyo and understood the language and culture, which deemed to be extremely helpful.
After the event, the CEO of the company came up to the team all huddled at the tech table, asking when they could do their next live streaming event. The feedback from the field was immediate, and impactful.
So, no matter where you are in the world or what your experience is with streaming live or on-demand video events, we’ve got you covered! The Kollective EVS team has executed thousands of events all around the world. Our deep experience provides support in planning, strategy (including bringing in integration partners when needed), execution, and delivery of your successful events.