The annual transit Rail~Volution conference is a place where practitioners, leaders and advocates who design and operate livable communities can network with each other. This conference has been running for more than 25 years to bring together stakeholders all across the nation.

The Challenge:

Traditionally, the conference has been located in different cities each year to highlight the city’s transit efforts. However, because of the pandemic, holding the event in-person was not an option.

The Rail-Volution team had to find a way to still hold their event despite not being able to physically travel and gather. The scope of work included 16 hours of streaming content, including break out sessions, keynotes, and one on one meetings,  for over 300 participants. We needed to ensure every attendee’s experience was awesome. That meant the technology needed to support the event, the attendees, and our client felt secure and ready for the event. 

The Solution:

NineNorth ran the technology of the technical behind-the-scenes tasks for Rail~Volution. This included patching signals into our television studio, and pushing the signals out on the platform, hosting a private stream, and coordinating graphics and audio. 

Along with our technical knowledge, we coach our clients so they are ready for on screen. We hosted multiple pre-production meetings and practice runs with the presenters. This ensures everyone is prepared technically and mentally for their segment. If presenters needed help with their audio or screen sharing, we provided technical assistance.

We also pre-recorded a number of studio sessions with the CEO of Rail~Volution Dan Bartholomay that played throughout the conference. Pre-recording segments is an excellent way to add another layer of professionalism while eliminating technical issues.  

During the show, NineNorth took care of all the technology behind the scenes. Imaging hosting your nonprofit fundraiser and not worrying about technical issues. We prepared and loaded all full-screen videos and lower-third graphics. We utilized the spotlight feature in our switcher to switch between speaker view to gallery view. This creates the feeling of a television show rather than a Zoom meeting.  We also managed the audio levels between presenters and videos. We even added in fun sound effects during their PK SLAM event

For the people who weren’t able to tune in live, we transcoded all the videos for playback with light edits.

The Results:

300 attendees were able to attend and stream all the content without any technical interruptions. The written feedback from the event encouraged our client to host additional virtual events. 

If you are looking for more resources on executing a killer virtual event, check out this video our Executive Director created about it. If you want to make your virtual gala a flawless media production experience, contact us!