Hey everyone! We are back today with Clarity Experiences and we are going to talk with Rob and Brian! We have talked a lot about virtual events in the past, specifically the ins and outs, and the details of all the stuff that goes into putting on a virtual event. Today we are going to talk to you about how to sauce up your event and give you the bells and whistles that you can use to kick it up a notch. In the last couple of videos we have heard about the Clarity sauce, but what is it? Keep on reading to learn what the Clarity sauce is, what it means to Clarity, and what it means to their customers!
Brian took on question number one! He said that over the last few years the Clarity sauce accidentally came upon them and they have been using it in different ways. Brian explained that in relation to live events, Clarity sauce is that intangible thing that makes a difference on your event. It's how the project manager, engineer, or account executive builds a personal relationship with you, your presenter, or audience and begins to engage and makes it feel fun or a place where they love to be.
Brian said that at Clarity everyone owns the sauce. It’s not something where they say, “do this item” or “do this thing.” Brian said, “it's really that intangible piece that shows that we care. We care so much about the event that we are going to make sure your day is a great day or your event has something special to it. It might be something like adding something you didn't expect or something as simple as hugging you after you had a hard day. It's a variety of different things, but it is more of a mindset of how much we care about events and how we bring the sauce every day to make it something special.”
Rob contributed to this question by adding that the sauce is a combination of attitude, willingness, and other intangible qualities, which is what they bring to show sites. Rob said, “when you run into us at a live meeting, you’ll get a hug in the morning and you’ll get that good feeling. But beyond that, we want to make presenters feel comfortable and want to make the attendees feel engaged, which moves beyond bodies and equipment. That's the feeling we want to give you and we want your event to be a special place for everyone.”
Brian said that after the Clarity sauce started to become the words they used to describe the special things they do as a company, someone had the idea to create a sauce and brand it. Brian said, “it’s pretty hot, I've tried it myself and it’s something we love to share with you.”
Brian explained that at your event, if you’re not getting this type of treatment and you're not walking away thinking this was a remarkable experience with my production partner, then you're not getting what they consider what you should be getting for your event. We would love to give you some clarity sauce and make it something special for you. Brian said, “We love the Clarity sauce and we are even trying to create more flavors and colors since it’s special to us.”
For this question, Brian talked about how when you look at virtual events a really common question is how to make it feel something different. Brian said that “so many events right now are very simple. People are on a computer screen, so how do you make that event feel more special and different?” Brian explained that Clarity has a lot of ways using technology and their approach to make these virtual events unique and something different.
One of the things Clarity does is bringing the team members to you to support your event. If you're doing an event and you're managing all the different connections and people and who's on mute that's challenging. However, at Clarity, if their engineers are working with you and managing your event, that's what’s going to make it more enjoyable for you as a presenter to enjoy the conference. Brian said, “the way we bring the sauce in a virtual event is by having our team members do all that back end behind the scenes stuff for you just like we do in a live event.”
Rob said that ultimately, they want to make your life easier at the end of the day. Rob said, “whether that's making your presenters feel more comfortable or helping to engage the attendees, we bring the same people, the same crew, the same team that we would to a live event. So the elements we are bringing, the intangibles and that feeling, it's the same thing we are bringing to a virtual event.”
Brian went on to talk about how they sauce it up on the technical side. He talked about how you can do a full video roll in a virtual event, just like you would in a live event. Brian said, “our teams can run full-motion live HD quality video. We can stream that so as you are presenting you can go to your video cues, you can have your slides up, and you can even have motion graphics associated with your image. We can make that event feel like a production.”
Brian took on this question by saying that from his perspective, it’s about having that right-hand person supporting you on your events. When you look at managing your virtual event, a lot of people are faced with doing it all on their own. They are missing that partner that can take a lot of that burden off of their plate.
Clarity’s producers will work with you on your environment, they will test the different presenters ahead of time, they will manage and control the software as you're talking and presenting or engaging with your meeting. Brian said, “our goal is to support you and your event to make it something spectacular and remarkable.”
Rob went on to talk about how the producer is important in virtual events because you need someone that you have confidence in that will make the event run perfectly from start to finish and you don't have to think about it. He explained that you could be a meeting planner, or you could be a person on the board of directors who has been tasked with setting up and running one of these meetings.
Rob said, “from experience, I know it's not really possible to run the meeting from a technical standpoint and also be in the meeting presenting and making sure your message is coming across.” Having confidence in someone that's behind the scenes is really crucial. You have to manage a lot of different elements like polling, breakouts, people having connection difficulties, etc. Rob explained that the producer is a vital and crucial role in both live and virtual roles, but in virtual especially because you don't get to see that person face to face. It’s really important you trust them and they know what they're talking about.
Brian said one thing they do to make events better is building an event landing page that allows customers and all the attendees to go to one place that promotes the event. On the landing page, they are seeing the different video streams of the different sessions. Yes, you're still at your house, but from your computer, you can go to the landing page and be part of an event.
The landing page has branding, imagery, your sponsors, and all the different elements of the event so they know they are in the right place. It gives people peace of mind and makes everyone feel like they are somewhere they are supposed to be. Brian said that this is just one element the producer owns. The producer is key in building the pages and making sure the right content is there.
Rob piggy-backed on Brian’s thought by adding this is true especially now since everyone is stuck in their homes. Rob said, “if you have a chance to attend something or go to an event it's exciting. What we want the producers to do is to make it so those attendees that are sitting in their living room do not feel like they are sitting in their living room for those few hours. We want them to feel like they are having an experience at the event.”
Brian finished this question out by saying that you could also send them over to breakout. Brian said, “One thing our producers do is during a virtual event, they segment off elements of the group to have that discussion. What we've learned is after they get through the initial intro’s, they jump right in and participate like they are in a live meeting. You can accomplish that in a virtual environment, you just have to have some of those elements and have a support team with you to make sure you're managing and running that element of the event.”
So there you have it! I’m sure we have all experienced some not so great virtual meetings and we’ve all had those awkward silences, especially lately. After talking with Brian and Rob, it seems like having a producer and someone to spice things up behind the scenes helps. If you haven't already, I encourage you to reach out to Clarity to talk about how they can help spice up your virtual event. Thank you guys for being here today and thanks for watching!