I am thrilled to be back to Google I/O. Agency G approached me last year because I was the production team lead for the same event in 2021 and I was available as a freelancer.
While Google has not returned to a 100% live event this year, the main keynote sessions and 50% of breakout sessions were live at Shoreline Amphitheatre and its adjacent venue in Mountain View. This is a significant change from 2023 when all breakout sessions were pre-recorded. I was impressed to see a solid workflow Agency G created. They were able to bring back many producers, production crew, and video editors. This helped ramp up the project quickly without much training.
The Android Dev Summit (ADS) 2022 brought developers together for an eagerly awaited hybrid event. ADS had three product tracks: Modern Android Development, Form Factors, and Platform. The Platform Track, being the final event, allowed the client to address previous pain points and collaborate closely with our team.
This was my third event to produce for the second half of 2021. I helped the last two Chrome Dev Summits with many session recordings, but the stakeholders decided to switch up the event format this year and focused on two deliverables: one keynote and one live Q&A. Yet, my project engagement lasted for three months.
This project marked the very first event for testing a new switcher at the Sunnyvale Studio. Before the pandemic, we typically recorded speakers only at the studio and inserted graphic elements in post-production. This workflow was time-consuming because each slide needed to be synced to the script. With the new switcher, we could record three ISO’s (speaker, slide, picture-in-picture) as well as the program feed simultaneously. We basically had a rough cut by the time a speaker walked out. While it was not easy for a speaker to have everything ready at the time of a recording, this workflow cut down editorial time tremendously. The speakers (especially VP-level) who had to record at home previously also appreciated studio recording so that they do not have to worry about the technical side.
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.
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.
My role for this AI conference was vastly different from my regular producer work at the agency side. I was hired as a corporate event manager for Company N, which has a large number of employees and contractors at their event team and does not hire an anchor agency. I mainly communicated with hotels and restaurants to plan for receptions and dinner events. One of the items I managed was called “Dinner with Strangers,” in which a conference attendee can choose from a pool of restaurants and be seated with random people from the conference.
What a rewarding experience to work on this developers conference for Client A through Agency D! I was fortunate to be on this project for seven years in a row. What made a big difference this year was my crew. I was able to hire seasoned professionals who quickly learned the workflow and precisely edited/QC’ed 120 session videos in five days.
This is my 6th year to work on this prestigious event for Client A through Agency D. I like San Jose Convention Center. It is much more comfortable and convenient than the previous venue, Moscone West. Maybe, the warmer temperature made people happier. At least, I was not frozen with four layers of clothes.
As usual, our client helped us tremendously to improve production process and solve technical issues. This is very different from my typical role which I am responsible (i.e. blamed) for everything. Despite almost brand new video crew this year, my team published 120+ session videos in five days successfully.
I was kept rather busy at Duarte this year and did not have a chance to post any blogs for a while. Here are my top three memorable projects that I worked on.
#3
Project: Videos On Demand for Developer Conference
Reason: It is simply a pleasure to work with this passionate client for five years in a row. I was also lucky to hire many veteran members to my post production team. Here is a photo of my crew. I managed to stand on one foot despite the lack of sleep.
Nothing is more fun than working on a project when the client is passionate about their project. This event falls into that category. This is my 4th consecutive year to work on this prestigious event for Client A through Agency D. Because this is a developer conference, I am fortunate to work with the finest programmers and engineers. They set up and troubleshoot software and hardware that they created. It is a dream environment as a vendor.
My role was to hire, train and supervise a team of video post production crew. It was certainly aggressive schedule to edit and publish over 100 breakout session videos on demand (or 76 hours of video) in five days, but we did it again … successfully. A lack of sleep daunted me, but I was able to keep my energy up with the help of Odwalla juices (thanks to Steve Jobs’ legacy).
