I had the opportunity to work on my first external-facing project with the REWS Event Production Team since joining last December. Typically, our team focuses on supporting internal executive-sponsored events, which involve confidential content. However, this particular event stood out in many ways.
To begin with, the event had to be rescheduled multiple times due to concerns surrounding the Omicron variant. Given that the event revolved around health, the client placed great emphasis on ensuring the safety of the presenters and crew members. As a result, we planned the event without a live audience at Google’s MP7 Event Center in Sunnyvale, which has a capacity of 650 attendees. Instead, we transformed the event space into a large sound stage, allowing the presenters to address the cameras directly and engage with a virtual audience. This required significantly more planning than our usual MP7 events.
The Google client event team, along with their external agency, aimed to create a warm and inviting home-like environment for the event. As you can see in the event footage above, the venue’s auditorium appearance was completely transformed. The stage was removed, and a set was built on the floor, protecting the carpet with rolls of ram board. All the props and furniture were ordered online, and production assistants from the agency spent an entire day unpacking boxes, considering most regular stores were closed at the time.
Another notable aspect of the event was the inclusion of American Sign Language. We set up a separate studio upstairs for the interpreters, with two walls and two sets of camera equipment. This allowed the interpreters to seamlessly alternate their roles without missing a beat. You can watch the ASL version at this link.
While the Sunnyvale event center has the necessary equipment for switching between sources and broadcasting a program feed for YouTube live streaming, the agency directed the show from their New York studio. Our responsibility, therefore, was to send all ISO signals to their studio. This required extensive preparation from the agency and our engineers. Although we cannot disclose the specific technology employed, we conducted numerous tests leading up to the event. This aspect made us particularly nervous.
Despite the challenges, the one-hour event was executed flawlessly, thanks to the exceptional speakers and the well-prepared client team. Although our crew encountered a few nerve-wracking moments, they went unnoticed by the YouTube audience. We take pride in the high production quality achieved despite the COVID restrictions.