So much has changed over the past 6 months that it’s easy to forget where we were back then, but as the calendar rolls round to autumn we continue to navigate uncharted waters with our new remote-first mindsets. And autumn brings us conference and event season — which in the UC world as elsewhere, continues undaunted in the virtual space.
As Crestron discovered last week with Crestron Next, this brought new challenges and new opportunities, leading to a highly successful virtual event. As Andrew Gross, Senior Director of UC Enterprise, explained:
“We had to start with exploring what a virtual event could look like, how to replicate the hands-on experience — when you can’t take a product and turn it over to see what ports it has. So we implemented some cool new technology, and uploaded a whole bunch of 3D models of all our products in high resolution so that people could actually spin the device round and look”.
New tools for the return to the office
Devices attracting big attention at Crestron Next included the R-series cart, which allows technology for Teams and Zoom meetings to be physically rolled into rooms as required, and the Flex series for working anywhere.
Also drawing interest was functionality designed to help make the office space itself safe and accessible. “For example, voice control — integrating engagement with Amazon Alexa, and potential future advancements in Cortana”, Gross explained.
The interest in scheduling panels and space management tools, as well as facilitating remote access on on-prem technical support, confirmed to Crestron that the office is far from dead — people just want to get back there and work safely and smartly together. And another win for virtual events is that it’s very easy to objectively measure how content is resonating with audiences by their direct engagement in real time.
A flexible future
Indeed Crestron learned that running an event online offers some distinct advantages in areas that the face-to-face environment can struggle with, such as convening a great panel discussion. “We were able to get different people from all over the world that maybe weren’t typically able to travel to a trade show to participate, and attendance was through the roof — we held a panel at Next with 1200 people viewing”, Gross continued. “So of course while we lost the persona touch of going out to dinner and shaking hands, we know how much we gained, overall the event was a big success.
Going forward, Gross predicts that events will always have a virtual element to them, such was the added value at Crestron Next. “Something like Enterprise Connect might have 5000 attend in person again one day, but they’ll probably have another 30000 attend virtually”.
And this is mirroring what we are seeing with the gradual return to the office day to day:
“This office I am sitting in right now is around 20% capacity, and maybe we’ll never get back to 100%, But we’ll be able to hire people now whether they live in Austin, Texas, or Bangalore, India.
“So yes, we lose some personal touch, But the overall gain of this hybrid theme for everything, for the office and trade shows, is a net win for everyone”
