Open Forum

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing. 

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

Great question.
I attended a conference in April or May using the platform https://hopin.com/ and found it to be really great for meeting people one-on-one and networking. The platform was in its early stages then so it may have evolved now that they've had a few more months (and more investors with $) to tinker.  The meeting/presentation platform worked best with Chrome, which was limiting, but again, they may have fixed that by now.

Later this month I'm attending a "holiday party" using the platform https://gather.town/ which seems a lot like a video game in graphics but it may seem more like an actual "event" where you can control where you walk, and there are multiple ways to talk to people and be in smaller "rooms."
I can let you know more after I attend.

- Claudia

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Claudia Ocello
President & CEO
Museum Partners Consulting, LLC
Maplewood NJ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12/3/2020 2:58:00 PM
From: Claudia Ocello
Subject: RE: Virtual Event Technology

Great question.
I attended a conference in April or May using the platform https://hopin.com/ and found it to be really great for meeting people one-on-one and networking. The platform was in its early stages then so it may have evolved now that they've had a few more months (and more investors with $) to tinker.  The meeting/presentation platform worked best with Chrome, which was limiting, but again, they may have fixed that by now.

Later this month I'm attending a "holiday party" using the platform https://gather.town/ which seems a lot like a video game in graphics but it may seem more like an actual "event" where you can control where you walk, and there are multiple ways to talk to people and be in smaller "rooms."
I can let you know more after I attend.

- Claudia

------------------------------
Claudia Ocello
President & CEO
Museum Partners Consulting, LLC
Maplewood NJ
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

I was on the other side of Janice's session and it was as chaotic as she described. The tech assisters were so immersed in their platform, they did not do a good job of trouble shooting for people not versed in the platform. I was also disappointed that the two items that seemed promising about Hopin - the ability to network and to communicate individually with other participants - did not work at all for me. This platform has promise, but it looks like it will be awhile before it will meet what it is hoping to provide. 

I have found that ZOOM is easier to use . It has limitations, but, we are used to it now and can hope for improvements as time goes on.

------------------------------
M. Susan Barger, PhD Fellow, AIC
Santa Fe, NM
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2020 05:41 PM
From: Janice Klein
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

I had a horrible experience with Hopin in November.   It required you use Chrome and my firewall - which has poses no problem with either Zoom or Microsoft Teams - kept it from streaming fast enough to give me either video or audio, although the other participants could see and hear me.   More than a bit challenging to give a presentation when I had to connect to the moderator through a phone line and didn't know what slide was being shown!

--

Janice Klein

EightSixSix Consulting

jkhm116@gmail.com 

Original Message:
Sent: 12/3/2020 2:58:00 PM
From: Claudia Ocello
Subject: RE: Virtual Event Technology

Great question.
I attended a conference in April or May using the platform https://hopin.com/ and found it to be really great for meeting people one-on-one and networking. The platform was in its early stages then so it may have evolved now that they've had a few more months (and more investors with $) to tinker.  The meeting/presentation platform worked best with Chrome, which was limiting, but again, they may have fixed that by now.

Later this month I'm attending a "holiday party" using the platform https://gather.town/ which seems a lot like a video game in graphics but it may seem more like an actual "event" where you can control where you walk, and there are multiple ways to talk to people and be in smaller "rooms."
I can let you know more after I attend.

- Claudia

------------------------------
Claudia Ocello
President & CEO
Museum Partners Consulting, LLC
Maplewood NJ

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

Hi Hannah, we've done a bit of research about which virtual event/webinar platforms are being most commonly used by museums, as well as the types of events that are helping generate revenue. Here are a few links:

• Tips for Choosing a Webinar Platform for your Museum
• How Museums Can Generate Revenue Through Digital Content and Virtual Experiences

There are some new platforms that have emerged like Google's Fundo - is anyone using that?

------------------------------
Brendan Ciecko
CEO & Founder
Cuseum
Boston MA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

Hi Hannah - we had a guest speaker at a webinar in October. Her name is Dana Bakich with Positive Equation. She runs a social media Facebook group and is really knowledgeable on virtual events. If you forward to around the 34-minute mark of the webinar, you can see her demonstration of StreamYard. I haven't used that platform, but she highly recommended it. Here is the link:

Tweak Your #GivingTuesday Social Media: Expert Tells All

------------------------------
Kim Peterson
Content Marketing Specialist
San Francisco CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12/4/2020 11:31:00 AM
From: Kim Peterson
Subject: RE: Virtual Event Technology

Hi Hannah - we had a guest speaker at a webinar in October. Her name is Dana Bakich with Positive Equation. She runs a social media Facebook group and is really knowledgeable on virtual events. If you forward to around the 34-minute mark of the webinar, you can see her demonstration of StreamYard. I haven't used that platform, but she highly recommended it. Here is the link:

Tweak Your #GivingTuesday Social Media: Expert Tells All

------------------------------
Kim Peterson
Content Marketing Specialist
San Francisco CA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2020 02:46 PM
From: Hannah Meyer
Subject: Virtual Event Technology

Has anyone used virtual event technologies other than Zoom to put on conferences or events? What did you like? What did you not like? We have found Zoom Webinar to be limiting and are looking for options that offer more features like audience participation, breakout rooms, streaming, dual or multi-language captioning, branding, and better marketing.

Thank you!

------------------------------
Hannah Meyer
Assistant Director of Visitor Experience and Special Events
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
New Haven CT
------------------------------