It was a fast and furious four-month journey to be deeply involved in Google I/O. Our department, Google Developer Studio (GDS), has traditionally provided ENG style video crew on site as well as video editing of technical sessions. But this year was nothing like the past in-person events. GDS’s primary assignments were to pre-record 100+ technical sessions at the presenters’ homes and to live stream 50+ coding or Q&A sessions from home. I led cross-functional teams plus collaborating closely with developer marketing.
Android Product Keynote (pre-recorded)
We often brainstormed how to execute these deliverables in terms of production timeline, staffing, home recording equipment, live streaming show flow, and VOD publishing schedule. I might have communicated with more than 500 different people during the project. My primary responsibility is to provide execution strategies and timelines. I did briefings weekly to various groups and created playbooks, trackers, and FAQ’s so that I did not have to run a call center 24/7.
The most challenging part was to produce high-quality videos with 300 speakers across 16 product areas. Even for experienced speakers, talking directly to the camera at home requires a completely different skill set than being engaged with a live audience. After all, we were essentially asking software developers to be camera crew. While video producers and technicians were on the call assisting speakers, there were always technical difficulties, ranging from slow internet speed to audio completely out of sync.
I/O 2021 reached out to a much wider global audience than the past in-person events with subtitles in seven languages and EMEA/APAC time zone friendly release schedule.
I am very honored to be a part of this inclusive event. I can’t wait to take a long vacation now.
Here are some of my favorite sessions.
Web Technical Session (pre-recorded)
Firebase Ask Me Anything (live streaming)
Flutter Workshop (live coding)