Companies and organisations that manage events are learning to take advantage of the opportunities for live digital coverage of their events and conferences.
From BizCommunity’s twitterwall that made the news on the opening day of the Design Indaba (and all the other coverage channels that the event enlists), to the service organisations that are packaging hot, new 360º solutions to meet the growing demand for such services, DEC is a hot topic.
Scope
Live DEC services utilise the tools of the information age such as streaming video, multimedia content, mobile applications, podcasts and live blogging, to provide real-time event coverage, with blow-by-blow accounts of happenings and experiences, captured in text, audio, video and still images. Not only does DEC create new event content, it develops the event personality by combining media coverage, with UCG, vox pops and more.
Benefits
It’s LIVE. This is the magical ingredient.
For participants, live coverage can provide a heightened experience. DEC facilitates the creation and collation of user-generated content, enabling participants at the event to share their experience via images, messages and interviews.
Remote participation in the event becomes a reality and DEC provides a space for interaction that can spark connections between attendees during and after the event.
For event platforms and sponsors, DEC opens up an event to new, untapped audiences. By distributing this content via dedicated websites, social network channels or mobile hubs, interested users, followers and potential delegates are driven to online spaces that enable them to interact with the content, with each other and the event or sponsors’ brands. The most recent international iSummit provided a ‘glocal’ example of the potential reach and value in such services. Project managed by a local team from The African Commons Project, the numbers speak for themselves, with a 300% increase in the number of unique users of the iSummit website during the event thanks to the live event coverage.
Members of the media can access detailed information or participate live in the event from their newsrooms too. All this leads to broader exposure for sponsors of the event.
The cutting-edge nature of these services can also help to position the event. As with the Design Indaba conference, innovation in event media supports the event’s brand positioning.
It won’t be long however before these services are must-have components of local event production.
Filed under: Events Tagged: | digital event coverage, live
