Eric Miller on How to Pitch & Prepare for a Winning Hybrid Event: An AV Perspective

Hybrid events are picking up speed in the events industry, however, virtual events are still very much relevant. Eric Miller, Project Manager at Mainline AV International, sees an almost even number of virtual and hybrid events. Mainline AV International is an audiovisual company for live events and Miller facilitates projects from the point of sale to the execution of the event; he sees the entire construction and deconstruction of a hybrid event and can corroborate the new level of dependence meeting planners and attendees have on technology.

Miller has been leveraging Ventla since before the pandemic and has been relieved by the app’s assimilation into the virtual and hybrid format of events. Other than having a hard time finding hotels with ample staffing, Miller shed light on how the pandemic created new obstacles from an AV perspective. According to Miller, one of the biggest challenges is engaging a virtual audience and seamlessly connecting the in-person and virtual audiences.

Miller’s solution for these hurdles is to be creative with engagement, which includes leveraging Ventla. Miller commended the app’s “Chat” and “Networking” features when it came to bridging the gap between the virtual and in-person attendees. Miller also expressed his love for Ventla’s gamification options as scavenger hunts are very frequently used to encourage networking between the virtual and in-person attendees. “Ventla can help bridge that digital divide,” Miller noted.

Additionally, Ventla’s framework allows Miller and his team to create a broadcast-style package that streams high-quality images into the app. The streaming quality of Ventla is more robust than other streaming platforms and it gives admins more room for creativity. With Ventla, Miller and other AV professionals have the ability to produce livestream productions where the sky is the limit.

On top of the way Ventla lends itself to gamification and high-quality livestreams, Miller pointed out how the app’s user interface is clean, simple, and easy-to-navigate—something that is really important when you have many attendees with varying levels of technological literacy.

“We’re happy, but more importantly, our clients are happy,” Miller commented.