Live connections for hybrid events and AGMs

Gahrens+Battermann has been producing hybrid events at TV level for years. Precisely this experience gave rise to a clear conviction: in future, hybrid formats should be much easier to produce, without compromising on the quality customers are used to from the event service provider.

Instead of elaborate travel and complex on-site technology, speakers and guests worldwide were to be connected digitally, controlled as if from a classic TV control room.

This gave rise to the vision of a Virtual Speaker Management: a platform that organises virtual guests as if they were sitting next door in the studio.

As convincing as the idea was, its technical implementation proved just as demanding. Participants at different locations and the highest standards for picture and sound make every hybrid production a major task, plus timings that have to be accurate to the second.

With a format such as “Sportler des Jahres” (Sportsperson of the Year), the situation becomes even more demanding. Here, no delay can be concealed and no connection may fail, otherwise the impression of a live experience at TV level falls apart.

Then there is the cost factor. Classic set-ups require staff and technology to be coordinated worldwide and brought on site, an effort that arises all over again with every new event.

In this tense situation, Werkdigital came on board. Two months before the event, the request was on the table: a convincing idea combined with a very tight time frame.

Within a few weeks, a solution was to be created that not only works technically but performs reliably under live conditions with celebrities and an audience of millions.

The task could not be divided into neat phases. Design and development had to run in parallel, and every interim version was tested immediately, with no room for errors in later live operation.

In just eight weeks, something was created that seemed hardly feasible at the start: a web application that maps the entire management of virtual speakers digitally.

In four agile sprints, the Werkdigital team built a platform that can manage up to 50 guests at the same time. It is set up like a TV control room, except that the studios of those involved can be anywhere in the world.

Operation was deliberately kept lean. Speakers dial in with one click, go through a guided check for picture and sound and then wait in a virtual green room for their turn. From there, the control room switches them to the digital stage.

For guests as well as for the event managers in the background, the interface remains clear and reduced to the essentials.

The “Sportler des Jahres” event became the acid test and, at the same time, proof that the concept works. The event ran smoothly, with guests connected from all over the world and the usual high-quality look of Gahrens+Battermann.

The biggest lever was on the cost side. What used to mean travel and elaborate on-site technology can now be controlled centrally from one platform. The technical staff work remotely, wherever they happen to be, and everything is controlled from the digital control room.

The solution thus changes the rules of the game for large hybrid events. Gahrens+Battermann now produces events more flexibly and scalably, without compromising on quality or professionalism.

In this form, the Virtual Speaker Management is unique worldwide and shows how digital platforms can make even complex live formats manageable without the experience suffering.