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Together, apart, virtually

The Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing global (and national) lockdown has, no doubt, disrupted normal society. It's no longer a case of business as usual as there's a worldwide race towards the virtualisation and digitalisation of the work force and various industries.

At Mann Made, we have been working on the future of communication and eventing technologies for a while. Here are three ways that we can help you future-proof your business, no matter which sector or industry you’re in. We’re happy to give you a demo of either of these platforms to walk you through how they are best suited to and may be customised for your company – no matter how big or small.

Engage

The Engage app is an interactive mobile communication tool (that’s Android and iOS compatible), which allows thousands of company employees to stay connected in imaginative ways, or can be used when hosting any event, even if it’s remote. A company can white label the app with their logo and signature look and feel, to transform it into their very own customised platform. We used Engage when hosting previous SingularityU South Africa Summits and it has been used in over 12 countries.

This platform can be used for internal company comms and between its various departments. It’s a fresh way to help staff stay informed about relevant company information in an engaging and entertaining manner and can be used to host simultaneous staff meetings between various departments. It allows for photos, videos, documents and presentations to be uploaded by EXCO members or department team leaders.

Completely customisable, the Engage app boasts various features, such as:

  • Curated industry news
  • Project-related surveys that are accompanied with results and visible trends
  • Social media feeds
  • Private and group chat rooms
  • Gamification with live updated leaderboards
  • The business match feature allows employees to network with fellow employees they might not normally encounter in the workplace

The Engage app can also be used to create customised experiences for conference delegates, even when they’re at home practicing social distancing. We’ll handle everything from the registration and event agenda to the speaker presentations (be they live or pre-recorded videos) as well as live Q&A sessions, gamification features and networking sessions. Pre-, live- and post-event communications and audience analytics come standard. To discover how the Engage app transforms events, book a demo.

Virtualise your event with V-Hive

V-Hive is a proudly South African virtual reality platform that’s built on open source technology and transports your conferences and events into the future. It can be accessed from a VR headset or straight from your desktop or smartphone. Because attendees don’t require a headset this cuts costs and makes it more widely accessible. Unlike the flat, one-dimensional experiences of video calls which are already oversubscribed, it allows you to create an immersive virtual environment. And our Mann Made teams can create customised virtual assets for clients from start to finish – no matter their requirements or how wild their imagination.

Together, apart, virtually

These virtual environments can take shape in the form of a plenary room with staging capabilities that include presentations and live or pre-recorded videos, multiple virtual boardrooms for intimate face-to-face meetings, as well as training rooms and virtual whiteboards that allow for collaboration. V-Hive also has capabilities to design virtually manned expo booths, 3D virtual shops with live modelled salespeople who connect via headsets, and even car showrooms.

V-Hive’s life-like avatars, which are created with the aid of numerous 360-degree photographs, have mouths that move when you talk. And with the help of spatial audio someone will sound fainter when they are on the other side of the virtual room as opposed to when they come up to speak to you personally. This gives you a sense that you are there having a face-to-face conversation with them. Being in this kind of 3D environment is much more immersive, as much like in real life, an avatar can’t walk through inanimate objects, but rather has to walk around them, which creates a sense of space. This is something that flat 2D live-streaming platforms don't offer.

Together, apart, virtually

V-Hive is scalable depending on the client's needs because it's backed up by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This makes the opportunities endless, no matter your industry. Don’t underestimate the time needed to put your virtual reality event together. Depending on the size of your event, we’ll need around four-six weeks to create all your required virtual assets as well as the supported event content. Email us on az.oc.edamnnam@selas for a demo.

Live streaming platforms10

In an age of social distancing and global lockdowns, finding a suitable livestreaming platform is only a small part of the full experience of hosting an online event or conference.

Just because you have a venue doesn't mean that you can immediately host an event without any further prep. You need to decorate that venue, work out the customer or guest flow experience, organise entertainment, figure out the business communication points, and plan networking activities (which might be incentivised). There’s a lot of pre-production that still needs to be rolled out. At Mann Made, we’re experts at bringing your event to life through our creative, strategic and logistical expertise in a way that mirrors your brand identity and intention.

Together, apart, virtually

Whether you want to host your event via Zoom, Vimeo, Crowdcast, Twitch, Facebook Live or YouTube, as event specialists we can create a suitable creative strategy and set up the required tech stack to facilitate your virtual event, based on your company’s needs.

This includes all the touchpoints from designed event invites and the registration process, to networking activities, team-building experiences, customised backdrops, presentations, and videos. We can even produce a white paper based on your event and its findings. All of this takes a team of people, like what we offer at Mann Made.

23 Apr 2020 12:29

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About the author

Mic Mann, Co-CEO of SingularityU South Africa, Director Mann Made.