THIS YEAR LuxLive went Live Online


BSEE By James Samuel, Porolio Director, LuxLive.


On many levels hosng digitally wasn’t too dierent from the live physical event we are used to. We had already compiled our conference research back in Jan/Feb as to the type of educaon our buyers wanted to have at the show and so we used this research as the basis of our digital event.


We will also look to either stream the LuxLive 2021 on site content sessions live so those that cannot make the event can still join in, or stream it 24 hours after the event so the speakers can then have a live Q&A session with our digital audience. By doing this it allows lighting professionals from all over the World to benefit from the content we are curating and providing the speaker or sponsor additional exposure and therefore a greater return in their investment and time.


What was the most missed aspect of the traditional event?


Clearly it will be of no surprise to your readers that the one thing digital events currently do not provide is that human connection. Whilst we had a number of 121 meetings take place on our digital platform what we could not replicate is the serendipitous moment where a buyer walks round an exhibition aisle corner, bumps into an old colleague or stumbles across a product or company they had never heard of before and becomes inspired. I believe that while the human engagement in digital events will increase it still won’t get to the level that you do in a live face to face environment. You cannot underestimate the effect of bringing two people together creating an instant connection that then leads onto a very fruitful and beneficial business relationship. Form a personal point of view I missed hearing the chinking of glasses as exhibitors start their drinks reception, the vacuum of noise in the air as 1000s of people are having 1000s of different conversations and the sound of someone calling your name out as they spot you walking down an aisle.


Any event has to be relevant and topical to the buyer to be engaged so this aspect was still a critical prerequisite. We pre-recorded all our presentations before the actual day and streamed in the speakers live for the Q&A. This was a big task for us as usually we only receive presentations on the day they are being delivered. We had to be super organised to have the presentations all prepared and presented and filmed 2 weeks before the event. The pattern of people registering to attend the event was also very different to what we are used to. Normally we have a marketing campaign 3 months out form the show to generate registrations. For a digital event we did it in 4 weeks. The last 24 hours saw almost 35% of our total registrations and so the trend is very much last minute for the digital incarnations. As we had already run our successful UV-C Conference in September we were primed for this and although we are always on edge 24 hours before an event we had a calmness about us as we waited for the registrations to build up!. One mammoth part of running the show live in Excel is obviously building the event. We are given the keys to our hall around three days before the event starts and the logistics to get 200+ stands built, theatres created, signage sorted and carpets laid is always a major operation.


The work that goes in to physically creating the show is quite remarkable but clearly this year’s digital event didn’t require this type of work. However, that normal “build up” work was replaced by having to create a digital production that would keep the industry engaged. The team learnt many new skills including designing “background skins” (this was the moving LuxLive branding in the background to each presentation) a studio set up (all done in the back of our office!), holing slides, video slides, adverts and directing the whole production of the event.


Streaming people in live is not as simple as it sounds. We needed a number of different streams set up so speakers coming into the green room to prepare for the live Q&A wouldn’t come in to a live stream that was being viewed by our attendees. So, in summary, a very different feel to host digitally but the rationale remains exactly the same. Is the content of interest and are their learnings that the buyer will take from it.


Are there any aspects of the digital event that will be carried over in the future? We will be looking to hold more of these digital events throughout 2021 in the lead up to LuxLive in November. It is a natural part of our overall offering. Where we have a great strength and therefore opportunity is to build on our already very well established Lux Review community and you will see a number of digital products launched over the next 12 months.


How successful do you believe the digital event was, all things considered? As a team we were very pleased with how the event went We had over 2300 people join the LuxLive Digital festival community and benefit for the fantastic content put on. People were able to come and go as they pleased and we ensured that throughout the two days we had content that was relevant for all personas within the lighting industry. We purposely didn’t try to replicate the physical LuxLive event into a digital version as I don’t believe that would have worked but what we did commit to and succeeded in doing was maintaining our connection with the industry while upholding our commitment to provide valuable and relevant education that will help push the lighting industry forward. We have a fantastic platform to push into 2021 as we await to embrace the new normal which without doubt for us will include digital events.


www.luxreview.com/luxlive-digital-festival


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BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER DECEMBER 2020 7


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