Creating a Multi-Purpose Studio with Modular Sets Product support, compliance, training, human resources, do-it-yourself, executive suite outreach, internal customer communications, talking head/ interview/ moderator themed shows …. How does a studio media manager/creative producer satisfy the set needs of its diverse internal customers while maintaining the production quality that best represents the corporation? Just consider the challenges of producing a Human Resources training video on the same set the CEO uses to deliver the company’s quarterly results.

One way studios are adapting to meet requests for diverse show identities are through easily reconfigurable sets. The Boeing Company recently found themselves in just this situation in their Seattle Studios. “The Boeing Seattle studio was originally designed as an instructor operated classroom. It slowly morphed into a production studio for live events. We needed to update the look and add versatility”, stated Richard Gay, Producer Creative and Information Services at The Boeing Company. “A dedicated set was considered as an option but the decision was made to keep the space customizable. We have many internal customers with varied design needs.” In creating a multipurpose studio space The Boeing Company is producing live and taped training, compliance and corporate communications from their studio reinforcing “in-house” to be the appropriate approach to these projects.

At EMC’s Education Services organization where their 3 video classrooms deliver streaming and recorded training a transformation is taking place. “Over the past year requests have skyrocketed to produce more talking head and interview style recordings” said Steve Howland VILT Production Team Leader at the EMC Corporation. The first step taken has been to incorporate a versatile desk system that can be set into 7 different configurations and is easily transported into any one of their classroom studios. Classrooms can now be used for traditional programming in the morning and set for an executive briefing in the afternoon. “The next step is to add a more versatile back wall system that’s more “executive” looking, transportable and will allow for the expansion of chroma-key” added Howland.

Video is becoming the new power point. As noted by Andrea Keating, Owner/Founder & CEO of Crews Control, Inc. in her CMMA Vision Blog posted in June, “Corporate Departments are using more video, more often for more reasons”. But at the same time demand for internal video production rapidly increases most of the infrastructure to support these efforts is being reduced. Never before have studios needed to be more versatile and nimble with their lighting, cameras, editing suites, set elements, program/show identities and staff within an ever more competitive environment to secure funding.

Whether you are in a position to install an entire multipurpose studio today or are looking at incorporating some level of versatility in your existing studio(s) there are 10 questions to consider:

Creating a Multi-Purpose Studio with Modular Sets Product support, compliance, training, human resources, do-it-yourself, executive suite outreach, internal customer communications, talking head/ interview/ moderator themed shows …. How does a studio media manager/creative producer satisfy the set needs of its diverse internal customers while maintaining the production quality that best represents the corporation? Just consider the challenges of producing a Human Resources training video on the same set the CEO uses to deliver the company’s quarterly results.

One way studios are adapting to meet requests for diverse show identities are through easily reconfigurable sets. The Boeing Company recently found themselves in just this situation in their Seattle Studios. “The Boeing Seattle studio was originally designed as an instructor operated classroom. It slowly morphed into a production studio for live events. We needed to update the look and add versatility”, stated Richard Gay, Producer Creative and Information Services at The Boeing Company. “A dedicated set was considered as an option but the decision was made to keep the space customizable. We have many internal customers with varied design needs.” In creating a multipurpose studio space The Boeing Company is producing live and taped training, compliance and corporate communications from their studio reinforcing “in-house” to be the appropriate approach to these projects.

At EMC’s Education Services organization where their 3 video classrooms deliver streaming and recorded training a transformation is taking place. “Over the past year requests have skyrocketed to produce more talking head and interview style recordings” said Steve Howland VILT Production Team Leader at the EMC Corporation. The first step taken has been to incorporate a versatile desk system that can be set into 7 different configurations and is easily transported into any one of their classroom studios. Classrooms can now be used for traditional programming in the morning and set for an executive briefing in the afternoon. “The next step is to add a more versatile back wall system that’s more “executive” looking, transportable and will allow for the expansion of chroma-key” added Howland.

Video is becoming the new power point. As noted by Andrea Keating, Owner/Founder & CEO of Crews Control, Inc. in her CMMA Vision Blog posted in June, “Corporate Departments are using more video, more often for more reasons”. But at the same time demand for internal video production rapidly increases most of the infrastructure to support these efforts is being reduced. Never before have studios needed to be more versatile and nimble with their lighting, cameras, editing suites, set elements, program/show identities and staff within an ever more competitive environment to secure funding.

Whether you are in a position to install an entire multipurpose studio today or are looking at incorporating some level of versatility in your existing studio(s) there are 10 questions to consider:

1. Does the set I’m considering require any on-site assembly or construction?
2. How easy is it to set and strike the set elements?
3. Can they be reconfigured without having to be disassembled
4. How quickly can set changes be made: minutes, hours, days
5. How are set elements stored and moved?
6. Can the set be relocated easily to another location?
7. Will set elements and storage carts fit through standard doors and hallways
8. How will the set allow me to integrate chroma key and virtual set elements?
9. How can the modular set be customized to incorporate unique branding or visual requirements?
10. Can the modular set approach be rolled out into other studio and videoconferencing locations throughout the enterprise?
11. Is the set design able to be configured by the customer freeing up studio production staff?
12. Can the set be expanded at a later date (phased-in)?
13. What’s the cost and what’s the payback?

Contributed by Brian McKinnon, UNISET and CMMA Partner

Contributed by Brian McKinnon, UNISET and CMMA Partner

With a surge in new mobile telepresence technology in the market, companies have more options than ever to integrate remote presentations into live, staged events. One start-up company making headway in this space is Double Robotics. They’ve invented the “Double” – a robot-like mobile teleconferencing system that is controlled remotely. Put simply, the device is an iPad on wheels. The iPad becomes the “face” of the remote person who controls the robot from another iPad or a web browser.

Our creative team was recently tasked with integrating this new technology into a high-level live event showcasing Accenture’s Chairman & CEO Pierre Nanterme, addressing from Paris, France, a large audience at Q Center, our conference facility in St. Charles, IL. The road to success involved several detailed planning stages and coordination among several teams including Accenture’s Technology Labs that provided the robot and used it as part of a larger research and development effort around digital workforces. Here is a breakdown of what we did to make it all work:

1. Figure out Why. Our first task was to understand why the client wanted to integrate the technology. Knowing “why” informed nearly every other aspect of the planning. Our client was interested in the “cool factor” of the robot, but it was also about creating an “intimate” environment that would allow Mr. Nanterme to be up close and personal with the participants.
2. Communicate and Delegate. Once we had a clear end in mind, we started laying down a stable path forward by establishing who needed to be involved in the planning and how decisions would be made along the way. We established a clear production schedule that outlined deliverables and responsibilities, including specific touch points with the client and extended production team. How would the robot get on stage? Who would help Mr. Nanterme control the robot from Paris? What was our backup plan if the Double failed?
3. Test the technology. Then, test it again. And again. Testing was a key factor to our success. We setup two formal testing times before the event where we could have the remote operator in Paris control the robot in a similar environment to the live show. These testing sessions proved critical for success because they allowed issues to surface well before the show date.
4. Make it Interactive. Remember, our client wanted to feature interaction between Mr. Nanterme and the audience. In the end, we decided to change our game plan for Q&A and invite participants onstage to ask their questions to Mr. Nanterme “face to face.” This aspect of the event made the Double even more fun for them, and allowed us to maintain visibility of the action with our cameras. Each Q&A participant was rewarded for their bravery with the opportunity to take a “selfie” with Mr. Nanterme’s double.
5. Debrief and Celebrate! Whenever you have a new production element to a show, it’s always a good idea to reflect on what worked and what didn’t – especially with a popular piece of technology that is likely to be used again in the future. We put our heads together for a debrief conference call within two weeks of the show to make sure we documented best practices for next time. We were also thrilled to hear that the use of the Double garnered recognition in Paris’ local press and was a popular feature internally for Accenture.

The Double robotic technology was a huge hit for Accenture as the company continues to experiment with emerging telepresence technology, and it was a unique way for the participants to get in touch with their Chairman & CEO at an important event. As our team looks to integrate other high tech gadgets into our production repertoire, we’ll be sure to follow a similar path in managing the technical and functional considerations to deliver a memorable show.
Article contributed by Thomas M. Densmore, AMM, CMMA Board Member

Communicators that practice marketing know that video is becoming pervasive in today’s modern organization. We use it to market and sell our products, to build communities on social media, to train our employees, and to message across our geographically dispersed organizations. No matter how your company currently is using video, it probably measures video performance across three industry-standard metrics: impressions, views, and engagement.

This data alone can be helpful in determining general audience tastes and preferences and for measuring soft targets such as affinity. Where this data proves insufficient is in providing the evidence a marketer needs to measure hard targets such as sales or loyalty. To date, the link between videos watched and products sold has been hazy at best. Perhaps the viewer shared a video link or tweeted their enthusiasm for what they watched. But did they eventually purchase a product or service, and what role did the video play in accelerating that purchase? That data is harder to tease out.

As communicators, we regularly piece together 360° portraits of our customers. However, we are less accustomed to putting together 360° views of our videos. Historically, we haven’t demanded more from our videos than the traditional views and impressions KPIs. Transformations in the technical landscape are changing that. Video management tools are rapidly evolving, and as a result, video analytics are becoming more sophisticated. With the advent of enterprise video platforms (EVPs), a content owner’s ability to stay tethered to each and every video throughout its lifecycle, including the purchase process, is becoming possible. Gone are the days of publishing your video out to the online ether and wondering how many of those “Likes” and “Shares” will actually translate to sales. Now you can not only track where your videos live and who is watching them, but also what your audience buys as a result of having viewed the video.

Here are just a couple of examples of the new ways in which those that lead marketing are requiring more from their video beyond ‘views and engagement.’

Track the revenue generated by video by integrating video with your sales or CRM software

Your organization is probably already running a sales or CRM platform such as Salesforce. While the native analytics in these systems are strong, most are not video-enabled, thus missing an opportunity to associate content viewing with buying behavior. To have the best of both worlds, leading edge organizations have begun integrating the video management power of their EVPs directly into their existing sales and CRM platforms. This creates a “1+1=3” scenario where the best of each system is married up into a sum that is greater than the individual parts. By capturing the video analytics available in your EVP and tying them to the customer data available in your sales or CRM system, you can complete the missing piece of the 360° view of your videos, i.e. their impact on sales.

Create Measurable Commerce Experiences that Travel Anywhere Your Video Does

Communicators that use video are accustomed to thinking of online video as a tool to capture audience attention, build interest and then drive the audience to a specific destination – a website that you own, or a point of sale — where you can convert interest to action. This presupposes that the actual buying has to take place on a website or app designed for e-commerce.

Technical advances have turned this process on its head. Purchasing capabilities can now be embedded directly into a video player, traveling with it wherever it goes because video players are becoming transactional environments that can live anywhere. Rather than focus on creating videos that get a certain number of ‘views’ or ‘shares,’ it will soon be incumbent on the marketer to also package up entire brand or commerce experiences that can travel on a single embed code, easily “popping up” for the viewer, wherever they come across your content.

Again, the video KPIs in this new world order will begin to task videos with generating measurable revenue. What’s more, by aggregating your video analytics in a single place via an EVP, you can also measure which destinations drive higher purchases relative to the number of video views.

Advances in video distribution and publishing are revolutionizing video analytics and our ability to link content viewing to purchase behavior for a clearer 360° view of our videos. To stay on the leading edge, marketing organizations must explore these and other opportunities to push video KPIs beyond the current ‘views and impressions’ paradigm to truly capture more bang for their video buck.

Article contributed by Lisa Stuardi is SVP of Marketing and Business Development for uStudio and CMMA Partner

As communication professionals, work is often less about where we go than the things we do. Often our work is done at home, while seated in 23A, on location, or somewhere in the cloud. Yet how fortunate we are to work in a profession that provides an outlet for creativity and imagination. If that’s not how you see your work it’s time for a mindset reset.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” This quote from George Bernard Shaw offers the philosophical view. Business entrepreneur and investor, Sir Richard Branson, puts it into actionable terms, “Create the kind of workplace and company culture that will attract great talent. If you hire brilliant people, they will make work feel more like play.”

Not part of a company? Doesn’t matter. Branson’s analogy still holds. Communication work is normally done as a team. Some projects can be done solo, but more often than not our work is done in teams. What about turning work into play? It doesn’t mean you don’t work hard or never face boring tasks. But would you rather be doing something else?

I asked a number of friends and professional peers about their experiences in the business and how they find joy in the work they do. Here is a quick mindset reset about the Joy of the Job.

Freedom to Create: There are many ways to structure a communication that meets client objectives. Once you understand what the client needs to communicate, look for ways to construct the project that will interest you and keep you excited. “Too often, we operate under the premise that Corporate Video needs to be dull and uninteresting,” suggests Bill Marriott, Sr. Marketing Director – Video Communications & New Media at SAS and CMMA Southeast Region Director. “Dull and uninteresting are not great differentiators for a business. As a producer it’s important to find something about a project that pushes you to deliver work that excites.”

Make it a Team Effort: Last year the Boston Red Sox won baseball’s World Series title. Some argue they didn’t have the best individual players among teams that made the playoffs. What they had was an intangible, they played as a team and looked like they were having more fun than every team they played. While other teams stressed under pressure, the team of “Beards” became more than the sum of its parts. Gary Shifflet, a former MCA-I President, recently started a new position at Creative Solutions Group as Sr. Project Mgr./Technical Director helping create large-scale trade show exhibits. “I joined the team with the specific goal of helping enhance the interactive experience of visiting an exhibit space.” Gary hit the ground running because of his experience and skill working with production teams towards a shared goal. “Every division is responsible for their own tasks, but also empowered to help each other to reach their goals. It’s an awesome feeling working in a collaborative environment!” Working with a team of empowered professionals is one of the great joys of working as a MediaPro.

A World to Explore: How many professions offer the opportunity to learn something about almost everything? We participate in developing programs on subjects as diverse as our client base. “As a voice talent, one of the aspects of my job I love the best is the variety of industries I get to voice for,” says Liz de Nesnera, Owner, Reservoir Road Productions and MCA-I Secretary. “In fact, it was through a narration job that I discovered the wonders of hydraulic cement! Thanks to what I learned in voicing that job, I was able to fix quite a few leaks in my old basement floor! Who knew? Voice a job, fix your basement. Bonus!” Whether working as an independent or as an in-house MediaPro, the range of topics we’re exposed to can be fascinating if you really pour yourself into a project.

Tools of the Trade: We have great, fun tools to work with. That’s why so many groups across an enterprise want to create their own video productions. As exciting as it must be to fuse a framersham, it’s much more fun to make a video about it. Chris Barry, AMM, Sr. Director, Yellow Tag Productions at Best Buy and CMMA President reminds us it’s not cameras, edit systems, and encoders that make great programs – its people. “Technology has revolutionized our business. The tools we use today to light, shoot and edit are more accessible and less expensive than ever before. But, the skill, experience and ability to use these tools to tell great stories can’t be commoditized.”

Opportunity to Show Off: The projects we deliver are often viewed publically. To clients, the release of every project is like a Hollywood premiere. While most corporate projects don’t have credits… we know. If a program is posted to YouTube, tell me you haven’t sent a link to someone and told them of your role in the project. “I love making other people look good! That’s half the battle,” admits Gerry Harriss, Media Services Manager at Asurion, LLC and CMMA Eastern Region Director. “To be able to craft a message from your work environment and elicit an emotional response is what pushes me toward the next best production. There is no better feeling than people throughout your company saying, I laughed, I cried, I thought, or I felt proud because of the video you produced. You made us look great.”

Ours is a fun profession, or it should be. Golf writer and CBS Sports Analyst Peter Kostis likes to use the phrase, “work like a major leaguer but play like a little leaguer.” If you’ve played any sport you know that practice is hard, but that’s usually not a problem because practice itself can be fun. The same should hold true when managing the work of communication project. It’s work. Yet if in the process you surround yourself with teammates who make the work fun, amazing things can happen.

Article contributed by Tom Morse with SAS and CMMA Member

It’s funny how ideas that seem unrelated, have a way of connecting themselves and lead you to something new and different. This happened to me in 2011 when I heard a presentation by Don Tapscott (Author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, and Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World and others). Don pointed out how much he was learning about the digital landscape from what he referred to as his “young mentors”.

Coincidentally, I was involved in mentoring a young college student at the time. Of course, I viewed that mentoring relationship as one where I would share my sage wisdom and stunning insights based on my vast experience in business and the communications world with my mentee, Nick. But, Don’s presentation made me approach my own mentoring experience in a new way.

As members of CMMA, chances are you are leading a team of people much younger than you. And the communications you and your team are producing are likely being consumed by many people your children’s age or younger. Are you prepared to know what they’re thinking? Do you know the best ways to get them to pay attention? To motivate them? To inspire them? If not, you likely need a 20 year old mentor yourself.

How It Works

Step one of course is to find a mentor. It could be someone on your staff, or another younger employee in your company. Or, take a look at all of those resumes of young people looking for jobs and internships you undoubtedly have sitting somewhere. There’s no shortage of young people today eager to tap into your knowledge and your network of connections.

Once you meet with your potential mentor, lay out the groundwork. The idea is a mutual mentoring experience where you’ll trade your knowledge for his or hers. But, the idea is you are mentoring each other.

The Benefits

What I have learned from Nick – Nick provided me with a clearer understanding of the channels he and his peers rely on for information. It’s clear that he uses email to communicate with old people like me, but, communication with peers is always via digital domains (Text, Twitter, Facebook, Google Hangouts, etc.). Nick doesn’t have an iPhone – he’s all Google and Android. So are his peers. Nick does not have cable television – he and his peers only watch television online. Nick is hungry for learning the tools of the trade for producing video. But, his preference is to use them to produce video in a more youthful, free-form style. Nick’s work ethic is extremely strong. He is willing to put forth huge efforts and time commitments for a task, especially when he can see the value of the task. This runs contrary to the common myth that young people are unmotivated, lazy, disenfranchised and plugged into video games 24X7.

Most importantly, I learned that the youthful enthusiasm and excitement for what we do is essential to being successful. Meeting with Nick put me back in touch with what attracted me to video and communications to begin with. It reminded me how important it is to treat the technology we work with and the communications we deliver as evolutionary rather than a static art where we keep re-using the same channels, methods and processes that served us well in the past. Creating by definition is something that builds toward the future. When you only tap into what worked in the past – you are re-creating. Nick and his peers are all about creating new things and we should follow their example.

What Nick learned – By way of disclosure, Nick sent me his list of what he has gained from our mentoring collaboration. I’ll paraphrase it here.

Nick says he learned a few lessons about leadership and about trends in the industry. Working with our team, I think Nick saw firsthand, that leadership is an essential element since everything we do is collaborative and heavily reliant on teamwork. I think he realized that everyone on the team has leadership responsibility at some point during every project. So leadership is every bit as important as other skills: like writing, producing, editing, etc. In Nick’s words: “Having been an intern in the department, I’ve had the privilege to learn the importance of a forward-thinking leadership style.”

Nick says he also learned to adopt a forward-thinking mindset, to evaluate how a production style or technical element might be used in the future. He learned that it’s important to not only keep up-to-date on technology changes in the industry, but also to keep current on processes to make sure they have longevity. “In essence, I learned to put more work on the front-end to ensure higher-quality productions that meet timeline requirements.

I think Nick also picked up on my personal bias toward avoiding the temptation to adopt new technology too quickly. Again, in Nick’s words: “Through our discussions, I learned to think about the relationship of technology adaptation and client value – keeping away from being on the ‘bleeding edge’, and understanding what that element can realistically bring to a production.”

Nick also realized the important role he played in mentoring me. “Bill is always interested in television content and technology that I keep up with, and I let him know of any trends that I notice. These observations can be as simple as the move to ‘cleaner’ graphics in productions, or as complex as technology interests that may have video applications, but aren’t currently being used as such.”

Lastly, since Nick just recently started his first job at a Community College in the Washington DC area, I think he realized the benefit of having a solid reference that could enthusiastically endorse him when he applied for jobs. We all know what it’s like to be asked to provide a reference for someone we are only vaguely familiar with. But, as a result of the collaborative mentoring experience with Nick, I was chomping at the bit to recommend him when potential employers inquired. In fact, my only hesitancy was the feeling of wishing we could hire Nick to work here if we only had a position open. Again Nick: “I understand the intrinsic value of having a mentor for a career, and deeply appreciate the collaboration that brings it to a much higher level for me.”

Conclusion

So what are you waiting for? I hope this testimonial will motivate you to start working with a 20 year old mentor today. In spite of encouraging signs in the employment market today, there are still a lot of really talented and innovative young people out there looking for a path to the future. By offering a collaborative mentoring opportunity, you can not only help them, but, you just might wind up finding like it did, that you gain the ultimate benefits. You’ll gain new insights into the staff you manage and the people who consume the communications your team produces. You will also re-discover the zest of enthusiasm for what we all do. And you might just hear about the next “House of Cards” or Arcade Fire long before they become mainstream, household names.

Article contributed by Bill Marriott with SAS and CMMA Member