Dartmouth College's Presidential Leadership Council Virtual Event
On April 1, 2020, Dartmouth College hosted its first-ever virtual gathering of the President’s Leadership Council, Board of Trustees and core community. The purpose of the event was to share how Dartmouth’s leadership, faculty, staff and students are navigating the impacts of COVID-19, and to showcase how Dartmouth is holistically addressing this complex global challenge.
Working together, Empire and Dartmouth swiftly reimagined this previously scheduled in-person meeting as a highly-engaging, informative virtual event that would deliver high-caliber production value to over 100 participants in locations around the world, despite the requirement that all participants would be separate in their homes and offices.
Using a Zoom Webinar technology platform, the virtual event was managed by the Empire team from a secure control room designed with redundant network connections, master and backup computers for graphics and videos, and a production team that could direct the program similar to a live news broadcast. A broadcast switcher outputted the Zoom event and recording devices captured the content and speakers. Empire set-up a separate communication line between the control room, production team and presenters to create a direct line of communication for timing and cueing for all remote participants. In conjunction with Dartmouth, Empire provided Zoom credentials to delegates (presenters) and participants (guests) to enable secure log-in and to control access to the event.
Event highlights included a State of the College Report by Dartmouth College President Philip Hanlon, an update on remote learning and innovations by Scott Pauls, Director of the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning & Douglas Van Citters, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Thayer School of Engineering. Elizabeth Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences delivered remarks on undergraduate research in this new era and Lee Coffin, Vice Provost for Enrollment & Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid provided updates on Dartmouth admissions.
A live, moderated question & answer session offered event participants the opportunity to submit questions through the Zoom platform which allowed each of the presenters to respond to them in real-time. Laurel Richie, Chair of Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees provided closing comments and urged Dartmouth Alumnae to remain engaged with the Dartmouth Community during these critical times. The event concluded with an uplifting video performance of the Dartmouth Alma Mater and Dartmouth Faculty offering well wishes.
Empire worked closely with several Dartmouth departments and teams, as well as with its Senior Leadership to execute the virtual event including managing concept, run of show development, scripting, presenter advance, screen content production, technical production, budgeting and the guest’s virtual experience.
Empire is a leading producer of virtual and digital events and we strive to deliver the same high production value, immersive and interactive qualities we are known for in live events to virtual audiences.
Please contact us for more information on Virtual Events and to request a copy of the Empire Virtual Events Guide.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
