This event was the first of the three virtual events that I produced in the second half of the Year 2021. I was so excited to be a part of this important initiative for Google to recruit and promote female engineers in the AI/ML field.
Joana Carrasqueira, Developer Relations Lead for TensorFlow, and her team led the efforts. The stakeholders were able to secure 20 amazing speakers, including Google VPs and industry experts from different organizations and countries.
The promo video boosted the event registration number. It was the first shoot we did at Google Developer Studio’s brand-new studio on the Sunnyvale campus. I could not believe how much we missed high-quality recording that was hard to achieve with home rerecording.
As the event was approaching, we were anxious about coordinating rehearsals with 20 busy speakers, but we were able to host two sessions of two-hour rehearsals. During individual technical consultations earlier, the speakers learned how to use the equipment. They got to know panelists or practiced their presentations during the rehearsals. They were not quite cue-to-cue rehearsals but eliminated less anxiety for all.
The 3-hour event was 100% live with three streams simultaneously during breakout sessions. While I was directing the main room, two more producers and crew helped man other rooms. Most sessions had fast graphic cues with live questions. The live streaming production partner did a fantastic job of keeping up with the pace. I also tech-supported Joana (MC), who was willing to come to campus for a faster Internet connection. Both of us were looking at Google Meet (video conference call app) on a conference room monitor in two separate rooms while communicating with remote speakers and crew in Google Chat. It must have been challenging for the speakers to look at the webcam while reading their speaker notes or interacting with other panelists AND paying attention to the cues via Google Chat. Kudos to all the speakers who delivered engaging content. I had to watch for VOD creation repeatedly but got never tired of the inspiring content for sure.