As executives and thought leaders are catapulted into new roles in front of webcams, they are often at a loss. Not for words, of course. Most of the people who lead major companies are accustomed to speaking before large audiences. But when it comes to large-scale hybrid or all-virtual events, they need help.

Josh Kotzen was a twenty-five-year veteran of the traditional television industry. Before responding to a Craigslist ad for “live event producers,” he didn’t know that the livestreaming event production industry even existed. “I walked into a big office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where a whole group of people were told about the business—and about a major upcoming event.”  

Thanks to his television experience, Kotzen was hired to lead a team of nine to produce the event. “They handed me a backpack of equipment, a laptop, and a ticket to Springfield, Massachusetts,” he said, “and my new boss said, ‘You’re in charge.’” What began as a gig job soon became a new career.

The Calming Effect

Kotzen’s past experience producing live broadcasts translated well into virtual events. “My ability to work in a live environment helps me keep everybody calm and sane,” he said. “Not everybody can be themselves and sound normal when there’s a camera pointed at them. These are really intelligent people, but it’s a very stressful situation for them.”  

Because Leading Edge holds virtual training events for the pharma industry, those people include well-respected surgeons and healthcare professionals. “They come in to the ‘room’ in a virtual session, and there’s a lot on the line for both teachers and learners,” he said. “It’s an unfamiliar environment, so they can get anxious, disoriented, and make mistakes. It’s our job as producers and production staff to be the safety net.  

“When technical glitches happen—someone can’t turn on their webcam or loses their internet connection—we simply talk to them. We stay calm, we’re present, and they know we’re immediately working on the problem. They need that reassurance, and that’s what we provide.”

Looks Like a Duck

Kotzen noted that network and platform problems do occur, especially in the large, complex events that Leading Edge specializes in. The difference is that when the glitches are well managed behind the scenes, hardly anyone even notices, and the event proceeds successfully. “I mean we’re like ducks on the water,” he said. “No matter how rough the water is, on the surface we’re floating along just fine. But underneath, our feet are kicking like crazy. Nobody sees that.”

Large hybrid, virtual events can be challenging, especially when multiple platforms are used in tandem. Leading Edge will often use a combination of Zoom or Teams with other, less common platforms that have features others lack. A keynote address may require a low-latency, livestreaming setup while coordinated breakout sessions can use more conventional virtual meeting platforms. Leading Edge also partners with other virtual conference and attendee registration system providers—which of course add additional complexity to the producer’s plate.

“We recently managed a big event,” Kotzen reminisced, “with four or five producers, using a virtual venue and a lot of complex steps. The first thing our brand new client wanted to do was talk to the entire group and then send everyone to three separate breakout rooms concurrently. But on the Zoom back end, breakouts were not available for logged-in attendees in two of the three rooms. So, about thirty seconds from starting the event, one of our producers said he could not open a breakout session. I directed him and another producer to fix the problem and told the client we were working on a Zoom back end issue. I said that he would be able to send everyone to breakout rooms, but could he make the whole group discussion last a little longer. He did, we found a workaround, and everything was fine. After the first break, we adjusted two of the breakout rooms and had everyone log off and re-enter.

“During the post-event debrief call, one of our team apologized for the problem we had with breakouts. The client replied, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Creating Rapport

A good virtual event producer has to be more than a good AV technician, Kotzen noted. They also need to have the people skills. Knowing when to engage in small talk, when to keep it strictly technical, and when to get out of the way, is a tricky balancing act. “We were once in a big event that suffered a complete technical disaster,” he recounted. “The platform we were using crashed, and the client was furious. I explained what had happened, and how we were fixing the situation.”  

Such situations are not unheard of, unfortunately. If there’s a server crash or a cut fiber line in Chicago, it affects a huge portion of attendees in a national event. Even though there was no way to prevent it, a virtual event production team still must work the problem—on the fly—and keep the client on track.

Kotzen continued, “They acknowledged what I was saying, but they were still shooting daggers, so to speak. I knew that this person had twins—as did I. So during a break, as my team was working on the solution, I started a light conversation about something we had in common—kids. In twenty seconds, they went from fury over the crash to having this amazing rapport.”

Kotzen’s account aligns with Leading Edge’s philosophy—the importance of production competence, combined with awareness of the client’s needs. Ultimately, handling the big picture issues in an important event makes the biggest difference. Knowing that a virtual event production team “has their backs”—so they can focus on the event—is the greatest asset of all.

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