Lead Dev Live

The Brief

Lead Dev is a live event designed for software development teams across the globe to come together and share good leadership practices, discuss problems & solutions and learn new skills.

Each year the event takes place in multiple locations, including Austin, Berlin, San Francisco, New York and London.

The event was due to take place in New York in April 2020 but with the outbreak of Coronavirus and a global travel ban in place, it was decided to switch it to an online event with participants able to join, free of charge, from their homes.

We were tasked with using our live event experience to bring an online event to life and create an engaging experience to a large audience across the world. The event was supported by around 40 speakers from around the world who joined in presentations, panel sessions and Q&A discussions with the vast audience.

The challenges we faced

Events are all about engaging and inspiring an audience. We have spent many years perfecting this art and in a live environment, we take full control of all aspects of the production to ensure the audience get the right experience and a memorable event is delivered.

The greatest challenge with moving an event online is the lack of control over the audience, the environment they are in and the technology they are using. Our greatest challenge was how to remotely inspire an audience!

With all the speakers locked down to their home locations, another challenge was managing their individual live feeds without onsite professional support and control over their hardware. The quality of each feed was determined by their internet connection, video camera/web cam, lighting, microphone and general acoustics. Without careful planning, each of these parameters could lead to a poor quality of output that would mean viewers would switch off.

Another very unique challenge we faced while in lockdown due to Covid-19 was that we couldn’t bring our team together to produce and manage the event from a single location. Instead we needed to set up communication channels and remote preview streams so our team could all operate together as one, but from their own locations. Thankfully we have technology available at our finger tips so could construct systems to deal with this challenge.

What we did

Step One

Content is king! We wanted to produce a live event that people wanted to watch. All of the contributors were prepped and rehearsed in advance of the event to ensure they were set up exactly as required, and we had full talk back facilities to prep them in advance of them going live.

Step Two

We tested everything with all contributors. This included setting up and configuring software on their computer, making sure their camera was positioned to get the best shot, testing their microphone, checking the lighting and moving them off a WIFI connection to ethernet where we found connections problems.

Step Three

We pre-recorded some segments. This gave us time between sessions to get presenters dialled in and tested for panel sessions. These pre-recorded talks were again all done with the presenters at their homes, using their laptops, webcams and audio headsets and then edited in our remote studio.

Step Four

We created pre-set looks to the stream that we could switch to with ease. These included:

  • 3 Remote Hosts
  • 1 Remote Host + Google Slides
  • 1 Remote Speaker + Google Slides
  • 4 Remote Panellists

Step Five

We built redundancy into every system where possible and we were ready for a multitude of different technical challenges throughout the event and had content we could switch away to if we lost any feeds.

Step Six

The event went live with just 2 operators required. Dan took the role as Director and was based in an office with super fast internet. Adam was our Producer and was based from home. We used some clever tech that allowed Adam to remote control hardware in the office over the internet.

What our customers say about us

“At On, we’re not afraid of a challenge so when JDPL approached us with this project, we knew it would be an event to remember.

As we were celebrating the Virgin employees, we knew from the get-go that we had to make the event special, which is why we decided on the exploding star theme.

Working to tight deadlines and the eco-credentials set by the client, the team worked tirelessly to ensure the event was a huge success.”

Chris Vernon-Smith

Creative Director

On

“Thank you for all your hard work and support with our events. They were a smash hit with the ExCo, HR team and our audience – flawless execution as per usual!“

Alexandra Pierce

Group Head of Organisational Development and Culture

Award-Winning Financial Services Provider

“A fabulous installation by the team at On, delivered with an incredibly short lead-time. We love working with the team at On as they are always so accommodating and flexible – Thank you!”

Louiza Vicary

Managing Director

Alive!

“We were delighted with the finished product and the organisers of the Lunch! event rated the stand as one of (if not THE) best stand at the show.”

Annmarie Penderis

Senior Brand Director

Cirkle PR Agency

“ISFM was a great success – thank you and your team for always being professional and always being able to navigate the difficulties that arise.”

Jess

Head of B2B

Cirkle PR

“Once again an amazing job. I am certain that no other team of people could have made this project happen. The commitment, enthusiasm, attention to detail and team spirit make you a truly stand-out business…We’re looking forward to the next one”

Louiza Vicary

Head of Events

Global Connections

“This was a challenging project to undertake, simply because of the scale of the installation in such a tight timeframe in order to make this event a success.

However, with our full-service offering, we were able to oversee the whole project in pre-production and manage the teams onsite to ensure that the all elements were executed seamlessly, and hit the excellent creative brief we were given by Muster.

We have the systems in place and use solid processes to provide our agency clients with peace of mind that everything is thoroughly tested prior to their event, to keep any issues on the day to a minimum. Our client commented that they felt in safe hands with a team that clearly work very well together and they couldn’t be happier with the end result.”

Jake Moore

Production Manager

On

“This is the second event that On Event Production Co have delivered for us and it was nothing short of fantastic. Every person we deal with from On is always professional, helpful and nothing is too much trouble, but what we really appreciate is the creative ideas that they bring to the table….This is what makes our event feel unique and special.“

Darren Messias

Managing Director

KH Hair

“Well, what can I say….this week was probably one of the best weeks I’ve had at Aldermore and this was down to having a fantastic team working on Aldermore Day.

You were all amazing, patient, calm, and on it! You are an incredible team to work with, and we wouldn’t have been able to deliver this event without you all – from logistics, creative ideas, production, animations/videos, and presentations – everything was done to such a high standard. The feedback from colleagues has been immense, and they were wowed by how professional and slick the whole day was.

Jake and Chris, you have been brilliant over the past few months to get this off the ground at such pace and dealing with a lot of last-minute changes, I really appreciate everything.

Jane and Octavia, you were so good at keeping me and the team on track with things and keeping me sane while pestering you with lots of questions. You dealt with everything at the NEC amazingly well, and I didn’t have any worries or concerns on the day, which I’m grateful for.

Aldermore Bank

“Well done to everyone involved in delivering the event today. Really engaging, insightful.”

Audience Feedback

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What our clients say about working with us

 

“From initial discussions to final set-up, your creativity, expertise, professionalism, kindness and general helpfulness was inspiring. Words cannot describe how much we loved the event and working with the team at On. If we could do it all again, we would in a heartbeat”

Dan Janes

Employee relations

“Thank you for all your hard work and support with our events. They were a smash hit with the ExCo, HR team and our audience – flawless execution as per usual!“

Alexandra Pierce

Group Head of Organisational Development and Culture

Award-Winning Financial Services Provider

“Outstanding service and delivery. The team here have appreciated your entire teams’ professionalism throughout the project, your commitment to safety and the complete way in which you carried out the project.
Many thanks.”

Chris Barrow

Toyota

“ISFM was a great success – thank you and your team for always being professional and always being able to navigate the difficulties that arise.”

Jess

Head of B2B

Cirkle PR

“Once again an amazing job. I am certain that no other team of people could have made this project happen. The commitment, enthusiasm, attention to detail and team spirit make you a truly stand-out business…We’re looking forward to the next one”

Louiza Vicary

Head of Events

Global Connections

Yet again On did an incredible job with what was a logistically challenging project. The determination and “whatever it takes” attitude makes On our absolute Go-To-Production-Guys…..Stand out professionals

Siobhan Ryan

Senior Producer

“You came up with ideas, listened to what we wanted and brought this all to life to create an event that will never be forgotten.”

Paul Godfrey

Head of Operations

“On’s experience shows through in the service they provide, making it easy for our team to focus on the rest of the event. This exhibition was our main event of the year; On 100% delivered across the board making show that we will never be forgotten.”

Rachel Wyatt

Managing Director

Olaplex

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Aldermore Day 2024

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The Deal on Tour – HR & People Roadshow

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Having received excellent feedback after the last hybrid event, Blue Square Marketing were looking to use the same format for a number of product awareness and training events over a period of 4 days.

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Virtual Awards for NHS Property Services

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University of Derby Open Day

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