How we organised Splice Low-Res
If you’re reading this, you’re probably trying to figure out how to do your first online event. We decided to do Splice Low-Res because 1) we needed to learn how to do this as covid-19 leads us deeper online and 2) we wanted to see how the media startup community was holding up.
So here are some tips. We haven’t figured it all out. But this is what we’ve learned so far. Let us know where you think we could have done better.
Know what you need
Start with your use cases. It’s not about the tech — that comes once you’ve decided what’s important for your event (that’s why you’ll only find the stuff about tech at the bottom of this post).
There isn’t a single platform that did what we needed end-to-end — not the way we wanted, at least. So break it down so you’re thinking clearly about what you need, what you want, and what you can do without.
We’re community-focused, so capturing email registrations and making this content available widely are essential for us.
Registrations are a success metric for us. It’s not the sheer number — we wanted to know that we were indeed reaching specific people in the community. If we’re not reaching the kind of people we’re trying to serve, what’s the point? The idea is to be relevant. We also want to be able to do these events regularly, so keeping people in the loop through email is key.
Sure, the tech is nice. But you still need to know what matters to your business.
To bring your community together online, look past the tech. This is how we pulled off Splice Low-Res.
JOBS TO BE DONE
Essential
Front-end site: For brand building, single destination, proof of concept for sponsors. Needs to be templatized for future events.
Registrations: To allow us to register people, collect email addresses for future events, delegate snapshot for sponsors.
Q&A: For interactive questions from delegates during the event. Ideally, these questions and comments need to appear on the video feed so it’s captured in the archive.
Community engagement (post event): Following up with the delegates, eg. sending out presentation decks, connecting people 1-1, signalling the next event.
Multi-source inputs (headshot, 2-way headshots, slides, videos): To allow us to cut between speakers, their presentation slides, show a website, or to run a video.
Video archival: To have the event stored on YouTube or other video hosting platforms.
Nice to have
Simulcast video distribution: To publish across multiple platforms at a go, eg. YouTube Live, Facebook Live.
Metrics: When did people come in? How long did they stay for? Who was the most popular speaker?
Not essential
Program management: To quickly put together a rundown, allowing you to move things around as needed. Only matters if you have a complex show to execute.
Speaker management: To help people discover who’s speaking. This could just go on the website, or pushed on social.
Payments: A seamless way to buy a ticket as part of the registration process. We didn’t charge for this event, so it wasn’t essential for us.