2020 was certainly a memorable year. The year started with a trip to LA for an internal conference in February; we met with everyone in Google video teams worldwide, which turned out to be my first and last trip for 2020 and the only time to see them in person for the year.
Fast forward, it is the end of December now. First of all, I feel extremely grateful for having a full-time job. Secondly, I was impressed by how quickly Google Developer Studio pivoted to record from home while providing camera/audio equipment to developer advocates. Our job became writing up best practice documents about home recording, teaching software engineers how to operate production gear, and troubleshooting technical issues. Separately, I was able to oversee the deliverables for virtual events. It was amazing to realize that I worked very closely with 40 speakers for the past nine months. Here is a recap of those events.
March – Google for Games Developer Summit
At the beginning of the lockdown, I remotely directed a studio shoot in Tokyo for two days. I was lucky to be able to book an external studio that had everything (space, crew, equipment, and excellent customer service). While I was exhausted from working double-shifts between California and Tokyo, we finished in a week from shooting to publishing, which is a speed record to date.
June – Android 11 Beta Launch Day
This was the first digital event we shot from home with a full DSLR camera package. It was a lot of burden for presenters to set up and operate the equipment. I have to admit that not all sessions were recorded without a hitch. This event taught us lessons about what we can do and can’t do with time constraints and non-studio situations.
July – web.dev LIVE
This Chrome event had A LOT of speakers all over the globe. Finding the right time to meet was challenging for both speakers and crew in multiple time zones. Because the event’s setting was more casual and organic, we recorded many sessions with a webcam in natural light.
June through August – 11 Weeks of Android
As the event name suggests, it lasted for 11 weeks with specific Android technology for each week. I felt like this project went on perpetually. Nonetheless, it was quite interesting to learn about a wide range of Android products and work with different speakers each week.
October – AMP Fest
This was not a large event, and it was good to work in a small team to learn the product area. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, optimized for mobile web browsing and intended to help web pages load faster. As an amateur webmaster, I am appreciative of this technology.
December – Chrome Dev Summit
This was another big developer event of the year, and I dealt with a lot of speakers. Overall, the speakers were very engaging, and I enjoyed their personalities. This event was the most organized so far in terms of production timelines. We had to ask presenters to take down Halloween decorations because the videos were released during Christmas.
Can’t wait to be back to in-person events at some point in 2021!