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The Shindig Virtual Events Platform enables people to navigate conversations, scan the room, find people of interest easily, and seize the moment to make a connection.
SAN ANTONIO, TX. – Based on its recent analysis of the global virtual events market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Shindig with the 2021 Global Virtual Events New Product Innovation Award. The company’s virtual events platform allows hosts and attendees to conduct ad-hoc, flexible discussions that users can create themselves with whom they want at will. Shindig’s “work the room” networking functionality enables event participants to launch natural conversations with the specific individuals they want to network with and seamlessly add others to these conversations. The Virtual Backstage feature enables admins to prepare speakers and check their audio and video before bringing them onto the stage, averting all the “can you hear me?” moments that mar other virtual event productions. It also enables hosts to open the floor like a town hall and accept questions or contributions from any audience participants of up to several thousand on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The Shindig Events platform supports real networking, enabling participants to navigate conversations, scan the room, find people of interest easily, and seize the moment to make a connection through messaging, video chat, and more. The platform allows creative event hosts to deliver exceptional virtual experiences for their attendees. The platform supports various applications and use cases, including:
- Multi-day, multi-session virtual conferences
- Virtual watercooler/meeting places for remote teams
- Better client success trainings
- All-hands meetings
- Virtual town halls
- Galas, awards, high stakes presentations
- Marketing activations, product launches, press events
The Shindig platform innovates and executes events reliably, attracting event hosts from all sectors, ranging from government to education to entertainment. With its ease of use, customization, flexibility, and rich interaction capabilities, the Shindig platform represents the quintessential solution for organizations to connect and build relationships with and for their core audiences.
According to Robert Arnold, a collaboration industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, “The company recently enabled the First Lady of the United States to address a hybrid conference and facilitated all ensuing discussions among virtual participants. In summer, 2021, it enabled Rihanna to invite 4,000 fans to a SavageX Pride Celebration with multiple performances and other special guests.”
The Shindig platform delivers efficient, inclusive, high quality event experiences as demand for multi-session and hybrid events increases. The customizable Virtual Lobby supports multi-session and hybrid events, providing a venue between sessions that allow audience participants to gather and network while simultaneously browsing an interactive program guide to determine the session to attend next. Critically important, it enables organizers of hybrid events to avoid losing their online audiences to “dead air” in the live streams between in-person presentations and empowers in-person audiences on their mobile phones to network with virtual attendees on their home or office computers.
Other benefits of the virtual events platform include:
- Access to guest list and customization options, including consents, RSVPs, backgrounds, reminders, splash pages, and metadata.
- Easy integration with an organization’s event technology stack, enabling customers to enrich their event content and data capture.
- Delivers highly engaging and memorable experiences for participants and more business value for event organizers.
- Dynamic and custom calls to action (CTA) encourage audience participation and input, and enables hosts to learn more about their audience for experience continuity.
- Allow participants to interact without disrupting their listening or viewing experience.
- Participants can join from anywhere, even on mobile devices.
“Shindig transforms the virtual events space with memorable online experiences based on its sophisticated, long-term deep understanding of what customers want from in-person events,” noted Arnold. “The Shindig platform enables flexible, ad-hoc events, and focuses on making each event uniquely-engaging, which sets it apart from the competition.”
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features/benefits of the product and the increased return on investment (ROI) it gives customers, which, in turn, raises customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, use of the technology, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
About Frost & Sullivan
For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion. Contact us: Start the discussion.
Contact:
Lindsey Whitaker
P: 1.210.477.8457
About Shindig
Shindig has reinvented video conferencing to meet today’s demand for flexible dynamic experiences that enable all the rich complexity of in person events. Shindig’s patented “work the room” video chat and sophisticated production tools enable creation of memorable and productive virtual events that unleash all the efficiencies and advantages of online meetings with none of the typical drawbacks, and compromised engagement. Early adopters include Sheryl Sandberg, Accenture, Harvard, Hearst, Global Citizen, Macmillan, NOAA, SAP, SalesForce, WoltersKluwer and others.
Contact:
Brad Bryen
646-896-1747
“Our gala this year went digital but we were still able to set a new fundraising record for net revenue. Through Shindig, our attendees were able to enjoy all of the mingling and socializing of an in-person event while also getting to hear from
our special guests Representatives
Adam Schiff and Sharice Davids.”
PRESS RELEASE: New York, June 28, 2021 - - Addressing the clamoring need for better virtual and hybrid event networking, Shindig today introduces a patented virtual lobby functionality; a virtual experience where event attendees can mingle, network and conduct private business on the platform.
The innovation is designed for both virtual events and hybrid events.
- - For virtual events it allows a meeting place where all those attending individual sessions, panels, tracks or exhibit booths in a Shindig-enabled event, to navigate to a single shared experience and meet up, just as they might if the event were in person. One of the key additional differentiators of this feature is that all the private conversations can go on while the participants are also able to peruse and interact with the conference program directory, discussing with friends and colleagues what session, panel, track, or booth they might attend together next while jointly exploring the full conference guide..
- - For hybrid events the function adds two critical new elements. First, it provides a venue for in-person guests to engage with online participants freely on their mobile phones, critically uniting both audiences together for purposes of private conversation. Second, it helps event hosts avoid “dead air” in their livestreams and provides opportunities for the online audience to engage during breaks required between the in-person sessions, which otherwise would cause the online audience to be lost and otherwise leave the event.
In the 2021 Event Tech Innovation Report, the EventMB publication cited ‘the biggest challenge for planners in virtual events is how to keep attendees engaged’.
In response to this need, Steve Gottlieb, CEO & Founder of Shindig, Inc. said, “while many platforms claim that one-on-one appointments, speed dating or text interactions are the same as networking, those just don’t compare to real life behavior people want. Working the room, running into an old friend, being casually introduced to a mutual contact, or opportunistically pulling someone aside who has a free moment, are the types of in-person networking encounters that Shindig now recreates online. With Shindig's Virtual Lobby we have brought all the spontaneity and serendipity of in-person networking to the virtual experience”.
Virtual events also promise to play a significant role in hybrid events, as they can allow in-person attendees to take advantage of the opportunity to engage with the potentially larger audience attending online, and vice versa.
Shindig’s Virtual Lobby is completely unique in allowing free-form interactions just like those at any in-person event. Every participant in the Virtual Lobby can see who is talking to whom and who is free for conversation. Conversations can merge and individuals can easily move from conversation to conversation to work the room. And just like an in-person event lobby, the Shindig lobby is perfect for sponsor messaging, video displays, dynamic CTA’s and other activities that can be facilitated in a conference reception space.
“We recently used the Shindig platform and it was truly amazing, especially being able to see how the team interacted with each other and how it brought our community to life.
I believe that this could be revolutionary for education. Its ability to create a real classroom experience online really paves the way for increased engagement among participants and even welcomes creative expression.”
Shindig's Founder and CEO Steve Gottlieb joined the BizBash podcast alongside former advisor to President Obama and Meridian House's Natalie Jones (VP of External Affairs and Diplomatic Engagement) discuss ways to translate in-person events into active, multidimensional virtual gatherings.
The group discusses the challenges of—and best practices for—emulating high-touch events like the G-8 world leader summit virtually, and how other tools of diplomacy can work in the digital world. They also talk about the importance of making technology almost invisible during online events, as well as the future of hybrid, whether on-demand conversation hubs like Clubhouse will have an impact on traditional events, the future of collaboration and much more.
Sponsored by Shindig. Running time 41:43.
"More of this, less of everything else. F*ck typing! Can you imagine the first two of these we did typing...like cavepeople...nah, now we talk to each other like we’re the f*ckin’ Jetsons. This is tremendous."
Such an honor to have John Legend on Shindig as part of the Global Citizen Prize. Thank you for giving your time and giving Global Citizen members a chance to speak with you face to face through Shindig video chat!
“Shindig helped us deliver the largest ever online anthropology conference, EASA2020, giving 1900 delegates multiple ways to present, and engage with one another with a real sense of virtual shared space. The final night party – a right shindig! – surpassed our expectations as delegates showed off their dancing skills to colleagues listening to the same DJ set.”
So excited to have hosted the UN Foundation’s Elements of Change event on Shindig. What a fantastic opportunity to convene virtually and test wits in a game of diplomacy, conflict and climate change.
"We had 72 hours to confirm 60+ sessions, train presenters, learn the software, revamp sponsorship packages, develop and implement massive communications plans, design the system, build an online program, and so, so much more. The decision was made on Wednesday. The transformation happened Thursday through Saturday. And the virtual conference launched on Sunday.
Thank you Shindig for providing the unique software that actually made me feel like I was with these conference attendees for 4 days, engaging with them in ways that truly mimicked an in-person experience."
Proud to have enabled the Pennsylvania State Education Association to hold their annual House of Delegates on Shindig. Giving educators an opportunity to engage virtually with the same dynamics of an in person meeting is incredibly important as they move on from the clunky experience of ZoomU.
Ken Jennings hosted Jeopardy-style trivia at the TracFone Annual Employee Celebration on Shindig and that's just the beginning. The event also featured a live set from DJ Africa, only made better by dozens of TracFone employees joining the stage to show off their dance moves. Bravo to TracFone for throwing an amazing party and using Shindig tech to the max!
A big thank you to Adam Parry of Event Industry News for hosting Shindig's founder & CEO Steve Gottlieb on his podcast. This hour long conversation on the state of the events industry and how Shindig fits into its future is a must listen.
What’s better than having your Mom accompany you to an awards ceremony where Senators and Congressmen all sing your praises? Jon Meacham, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Speaker Pelosi and many more were among the hundreds of invited guests attending to voice their appreciation and congratulations for Dr. Carla Hayden, this year’s recipient of the US Capitol Historical Society Freedom Award.
So pleased to have enabled this holiday gathering for YPO Gold. Seeing a world class mixologist lead this celebration with an engaging hands on class was a thrill!
The New York Times recognizes Shindig enabled theater company prevailing over Covid. So proud to have helped This is Not A Theatre Company pioneer new online theater experiences that are more than simple livestreams. Congrats to Erin Mee and her creative team in turning crisis into artistic opportunity.
Thank you to the Washington Post and Roxanne Roberts for recognizing Shindig’s unique ability to facilitate memorable virtual events. So pleased to have enabled this sensational virtual convening of dignitaries, ambassadors and business leaders. Congrats to Meridian on your flawless execution and the stellar 850k raise. Diplomacy and international cooperation could certainly not be more important at this time.
Find out what Shindig can do for your organization today: click here to schedule a demo.
So thrilled to have hosted Amazon Music and Podcast Movement at the excellent closing party for PM Virtual 2020. Huge thanks to DJ Scooter and MC Ted Woods for providing top quality entertainment for this wonderful community of podcasters. It’s amazing what’s possible on Shindig when creative thinkers come together to utilize the technology to its fullest capabilities.
So pleased to have enabled WSHU to produce this brilliant discussion about media and communications in the context of the 2020 election. Hearing from experts like Eric Deggans, Laura Lindenfeld, Gary Rose and Dr. Meena Bose through the medium of Shindig’s live video chat experience was even better than typical radio or talking head TV, adding more interactivity, spontaneity and engagement. Thrilled to have assisted WSHU to create a wonderful event to help raise funds for the station.
It was a thrill to host the wonderful podcasting community at Podcast Movement Virtual’s welcome reception. Seeing the community engage with each other through video chat conversations and compete in a no holds barred game of podcasting trivia on Shindig was a pleasure. There are so many fantastic ways to use Shindig technology to create the ultimate virtual experience -- kudos to the Podcast Movement team for thinking outside the box and providing an engaging gamified Shindig experience to their community.
It was our pleasure to host this wonderful discussion on the history of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK for Oxford University’s Wolfson College. By utilizing Shindig’s open podium feature, inquisitive students were able to interact face to face with experienced historians and it was fantastic to see such excellent discourse around such a prescient topic. Kudos to the folks at Oxford for choosing Shindig to optimize this discussion through unparalleled technology.
It was such a pleasure to host the many diplomats, ambassadors and dignitaries at the Meridian Summit on The Rise of Global Health Diplomacy on Shindig. In a time when diplomacy is so important we’re thrilled to have played a small part in providing the technology that enabled such a wonderful convening of the world’s leaders.
Congrats to all the winners at the Online Journalism Awards and kudos to Hanna, Jess and the ONA team for producing such a superb gala. It was an honor to help enable the conference with you from the Welcome Reception, to networking session and panel discussions to the OJAs. So proud to have enabled this community of pioneering journalists to share, collaborate and progress the best practices of their profession through this tumultuous time.
So excited to be assisting Podcast Movement with their annual convening of the podcasting community and to add all the socialization, networking and opportunities to deepen relationships amongst fellow community members that have made all prior in person Podcast Movement conferences so critically valuable. As more conferences go virtual in these tough times, it’s so important to incorporate socialization among attendees to recreate the dynamics of an in person event.
Bryan Alexander and the ever growing Future Trends Forum community got a chance to talk with Jeff Selingo about his profoundly important new work, Who Gets In. And the community did not disappoint, bringing out from Jeff fresh insights that we had not heard on many of his other speaking engagements.
Seeing Jeff not just address face to face questions from other educators, but get into real discussions with other knowledgeable professionals was so much more refreshing than the tired old webinar format where a moderator reads questions aloud. Hats off to Bryan for cultivating an amazing community and congratulations to Jeff on what all say is such an exceptional, not to miss, book. Know what we are reading next.
Delighted to have helped 200 members of the Harvard’s Class of 75 to share their thoughts, memories and respects to those departed in an absolutely beautiful ceremony this past Saturday. Bill Hughes and the Class of 75 chairs’ shared vision in creating this extraordinary online experience is inspiring in its own right. They demonstrated a model of how a community under COVID might best virtually memorialize the deceased, while also underscoring their own commitment to enriching their class members' connections to one another. Bravo.
So excited to have Shindig enable the recent VIP promo event for Netflix and Amazon with over 700 Amazon Goodreads members celebrating the release of the new Netflix film ‘Enola Holmes’. It was inspiring to hear from Jenny Han, Roshani Chokski, Angie Thomas and, the author of the Enola Holmes series herself, Nancy Springer as they regaled the audience with stories of how their careers came to be and dispensed invaluable advice to the up and coming writers in the audience.
Fascinating article in Fast Company from September regarding Zoom’s failings for virtual learning asks the question: why does [Zoom] still feel like a corporate meeting app that has been MacGyvered into an education platform?
Because it is. Zoom was never designed to enable the dynamics of a classroom experience.
Shindig, on the other hand, was designed from the ground up for flexible interactivity. With Shindig, teachers can address the whole class, cold call or take student’s video chat questions. They can also circulate through the class to provide individualized private attention to students who need it, all without having to worry about Zoom-bombing (Shindig was designed to prevent that too).
And beyond better classrooms, Shindig enables the full 360 of online education. In K-12 this includes parents meetings, where parents in different locations can attend together to discuss in real time; professional development, where active participation is critical; departmental and district meetings where the floor might be opened and or video chat contributions solicited from any of 1000 attendees; and more.
Don't wait for Zoom to try and add incremental improvements. Start with something designed to address educators' needs from the get go. Shindig.
So pleased to announce that we’ve added Accenture to the Shindig client family. We’re incredibly excited to provide our technology to the Accenture team and look forward to supporting many successful events moving forward.
It has been an honor to watch Fandom becoming a pioneering force using Shindig’s revolutionary technology. In their groundbreaking Fandom 5: Trivia series, Fandom’s producers have utilized Shindig’s technology to create an entirely new form of digital content and entertainment by designing a broadcast quality trivia game show where contestants and viewers can tune in from all over the world to be a part of the show as it’s happening. We look forward to seeing more excellent content from Fandom and applaud their creative and forward thinking approach to content creation in the time of COVID
So pleased to have enabled the great folks at Morehouse College to host their 2020 fall semester Parents and Freshman Sendoff, Welcome to the House, on Shindig. Fantastic to hear from recent graduates as well as the parents of incoming students about their thoughts on the occasion as well as what makes Morehouse a special institution. Hoping that Shindig’s technology can continue to allow Morehouse to engage their students in the warm and collegial manner that informed this event.
Rah Rah ... so pleased to help West Point’s glorious alums to come together in support of the Army Football Team on opening day. It was an awesome sight to see alums leading the Army fight song and partaking in the traditional post-touchdown pushups. We love to see the strong school spirit manifest on Shindig and we look forward to many more Army Football tailgate parties this season.
It was our pleasure to enable Georgetown University to host their CAB Club Fair online using Shindig. The student organizers faced quite a challenge in hosting sessions for over 270 clubs simultaneously, but by working with Shindig, they were able to successfully convene almost the entire incoming freshman class with upperclassmen student leaders. Cheers to Georgetown for providing their student body with the opportunity to socialize and engage virtually; we hope our technology will be used to create an entire virtual campus environment for students this fall.
It was our great pleasure to enable the Johnson County Dems to host their annual Gala on Shindig. A thrill to enable Reps Adam Schiff, Rep Sharice Davids and others to engage in video chat Q&A with this special audience and for the preceding VIP reception.
“Our gala this year went digital but we were still able to set a new fundraising record. Through Shindig, our attendees were able to enjoy all of the mingling and socializing of an in-person event while also getting to hear from our special guests Representatives Adam Schiff and Sharice Davids.” - Cole Robinson, Gala Director, Johnson County Democrats
Happy Birthday Kevin, and thanks for the lesson in gratitude. So pleased that Kevin Smith liked the Shindig experience of engaging with fans so much that he returned on occasion of his 50th with an extra special fan treat, 50 years, 50 questions. As always Kevin gave back to the fans far more than they ever bargained for sustaining himself for a 5 hour session of Q&A with almost 1,000 birthday well wishers. No wonder he maintains one of the most devoted fans audiences around the world.
1,900 Anthropologists attended the digital conference with virtual keynotes from top experts in the field.
Shindig is glad to have hosted day 3 of the EASA2020 conference with virtual keynotes from some of the foremost anthropologists in the world. The conference included all the components that their planned in-person Lisbon event including virtual keynote addresses, plenary sessions, meet & greets and structured presentations with virtual Q&A.
Learn more about Shindig's virtual keynote and Q&A features HERE!
Shindig is proud to be hosting several large virtual events on our platform this week.
Events by Fandom, VidCon and Innovation for Equity are all happening right now.
We love to see the diversity of communities that have been utilizing Shindig to convene virtually and we are constantly working to bring Shindig to everyone looking to hold top notch virtual events in this trying time.
So proud to have enabled Senator Murphy’s fundraiser for Cal Cunningham’s Senate campaign in North Carolina. Thank you to Brendan, Toby and all involved. We’re so delighted to see our tech used to foster this type of conversation and provide a platform for the candidate to share his vision for the future in candid video chat dialog with donors before a large online audience as only Shindig could enable.
Director Kevin Smith stopped by to engage with members of That Kevin Smith Club last Saturday morning. The private meet and greets were previously done via text chat, so we were thrilled to provide the opportunity for everyone to chat face to face. We’re looking forward to hosting more events with Kevin, but we’ll let him speak for himself:
On Wednesday, Microsoft introduced a “revolutionary” new enhancement to Teams that they claim will solve the problem of Zoom fatigue.
Zoom fatigue is real, but it’s not caused entirely by the grid or solved by a prettier background.
It comes from the loss of autonomy and being forced to submit to an online experience that doesn't give participants the freedom to interact naturally; to sidebar, socialize, network, collaborate, and have ad hoc conversations with fellow attendees. Every time one has to suppress one's desire to speak privately to a fellow attendee or one wonders why they only get to ask questions in text and can't address the speaker themselves one gets a little more frustrated. Only Shindig addresses this by allowing all the freedom to meaningfully participate on their own terms.
Let’s put HQ’s Sunday night audience in perspective for a moment.
2.18 million is more than the audience that typically tunes into Trump’s beloved morning program Fox and Friends (or CNN for that matter). It’s also more than the average viewership of Jimmy K’s other gig, Jimmy Kimmel Live.
From another perspective, 2.18 million live is over a hundred Madison Square Garden sellouts at once.
Indeed, the audience HQ got is more than the entire digital paid subscription of each of the nation’s major print outlets (WSJ, Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today) with the exception of the New York Times (now reportedly up to 2.6 million paid subscribers).
So, in light of HQ’s momentous success in aggregating live audience, is it finally time to retire the myth that audiences don’t respond to live online events?
For the last decade, media companies have persuaded themselves that their online audiences are simply not interested in engaging live. The perceived failure of media’s experiments with Google Hangouts circa 2013 and 2014, the flash in the pan of Meerkat and then Periscope, and the more recent disappointments around Facebook Live have all been blamed on the audience’s purported lack of interest in live events.
The success of HQ suggests that judgment may be premature. Perhaps it is the nature of the media’s live offerings and specifically their lack of audience engagement that have doomed past attempts at live online events.
HQ’s success demonstrates, more than anything, that audience participation can trump more static TV studio type production for the internet. That spontaneous off the cuff interactions with a live audience is an irresistible force, sometimes more powerful in its appeal than the $$$ sometimes thrown at “production value”
While playing HQ, one is very much aware that it is decidedly not a TV show. Passive viewers in former TVLand have now been replaced by active participants out there in iPhone/Androidland and it is the interactions of these participants who are now the focus, such as their collective successes or failures on full view as well as the conversations among friends as they play on phones side by side with one another.)
Sure, the possibility of winning the $20 or so dollars a small elite group gets deposited nightly in their online wallet is enticing; but it is no accident that majority of the show is Scott's banter, his mangling the names of participants as he attempts to call out an impossible number of them; his commenting on random texts, sharing birthday wishes, and poking fun of groups of participants to the delight of others. It is our involvement with Scott, our desire to be personally acknowledged and/or perchance celebrated on the closing review of winners that keeps us there until the end and coming back for more.
We certainly could not have predicted HQ’s success. Who knows whether two years ago the founders themselves imagined their ability to drag 2 million away from Hollywood’s greatest night to play trivia. But they have clearly created a new paradigm that demands recognition.
It should be abundantly clear to all in media that live online events can compete at scale with pre-recorded content of all varieties and that a secret ingredient to making this possible is audience participation.
In celebrating HQ’s hard-earned achievement, we are excited to enable other creatives to similarly pioneer new live online experiences. The Shindig large scale video chat platform offers media entrepreneurs the opportunity to engage audiences in wholly new ways, empowering the transformation of static audience/spectators into active personalities who can directly engage with hosts as well as their fellow audience members.
If you’re ready to join the live phenomenon, jump into the post-text era, and take advantage of the immense participation that large-scale online events can generate, check out Shindig’s large scale video chat technology.
1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DRIVES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - “Leading companies are embracing AI to perform repeatable, redundant tasks and to process large amounts of data not to avoid human interaction, but to enrich it.”
Yes! In today’s age of “engagement automation” we will need to build trust and authenticity more than ever and AI will help us understand where and when to provide that. The trick is providing live face-to-face communication “at-scale” to match the automated text and voice communication that comes from Artificial Intelligence. More on the importance of live interaction below...
(P.S. I will be speaking on a panel, “Real AI for Real Sales” in San Francisco at the Sales 3.0 Conference on March 12-13. Additional featured speakers are Keith Krach, Nancy Nardin, Gerhard Gschwandtner, Alice Heiman, Elay Cohen and more.)
2. COMMUNITIES EMBRACE LIVE INTERACTIONS OVER SOCIAL MEDIA - “ ...top companies realize that building great communities engenders long-term brand loyalty. Nothing drives strong communities better than in-person and live interactions."
Bravo! Communities need the freedom to organically connect live, learn socially, and bond over shared experiences, just like they would at in-person events. It should be in every brand’s customer engagement strategy to provide an online forum that represents those in-person dynamics at internet scale. Social media is not going away anytime soon, and communities will continue to learn “on-demand”. The video that comes from those authentic interactions can be both a powerful social media and social learning content asset. More on social learning below....
3. SOCIAL LEARNING OUTPERFORMS REMOTE LEARNING - "Social-learning promotes autonomy and self-direction, increasing overall learner engagement. It can also be a welcome departure from online courses which can be lonely, isolated experiences that lack engagement. Learners do not feel the presence of other learners in the experience."
As a professional who has built a career out of selling webinars, this one really hits home. Social Learning may be one of humankind’s oldest forms of learning but somehow hasn’t translated completely to webinars, which are predominately used for employee and customer engagement. Let’s face it, webinar technologies like Webex or GoToMeeting can actually make your audience feel more isolated and lonely. If we barely tolerate “death by powerpoint” why are we still stuck in an online version of it? Your online community is gravitating towards more engaging ways to learn. As they start to experience social learning online, it’s the face-to-face interactions with experts and peers they will seek more than your ppt slide deck.
I hate to say it, but it is finally time to say “Death to Webinars”?
4. LIVE STREAMING VIDEO CONTENT GAINS MOMENTUM - "Customers demand real connections, with real people. Live video has the ability to give many businesses a face AND a soul.”
Amen! Live video is a critical component to connect to today’s online audience because that is the way they want to engage. Even as we aim to personalize content to the right audience at the right time, your customers and employees are still seeking “real connections, with real people” in their “critical moments of truth” with your brand.
5. SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY NOT JUST BUYERS - Analyst Jon Reed writes marketers also “should be thinking in terms of “buyer’s community” or “buyer’s network.” Reed notes that “buyers aren’t always buying but they are always learning” and “we shouldn’t only be targeting buyers.”
There you have it. As we begin to depend on a troop of “bots” or “intelligent agents” to personalize and distribute content aimed at advancing a buyer through a buying journey, our human effort will shift towards producing the brand trust and loyalty that will strengthen our entire online community, so that when they are ready, they will look to us as a trusted resource to solve their problem.
The businesses that will thrive in 2018 and beyond will be those that can balance personalized engagement from artificial intelligence with online platforms that deliver the community pillars of human-to-human, in-person event and social learning dynamics at internet scale.
I'm excited to be speaking at the Sales 3.0 Conference this March and look forward to seeing you there. For more info and tickets click here or contact me directly at scott@shindigevents.com.
Surviving may depend on right-sizing expense associated with video production while also engaging an audience in a new exciting way.
TALK RADIO came of age when radio found itself with timeslots with impossibly low CPMs.
REALITY TV was born when cable found itself unable to sustain the production cost of quality of scripted programing.
Both formats were soon recognized as also being compelling new modes of entertainment, equally popular with audiences as the more expensive productions that were previous gold standards. These new formats uncovered audiences unending and previously untapped desire to be part of the show.
Shindig video chat events; (interactive newsmaker interviews, weeks in review, Q&As, town halls, and forums) derive their appeal from the same dynamics. Audience’s desire for meaningful engagement; Advertisers desire for demonstrable evidence of such.
In an age where people (advertisers and audiences both) prize authenticity above all else, nothing can feel more authentic than the unscripted dialogues between personalities and their public that Shindig uniquely enables.
And no format has the potential for timeliness, relevance, or cost-effectiveness than live online events: able to be convened with a tweet; produced almost instantly in the cloud; and with hosts, guests, and participants all on devices from wherever they happen to be.
If your organization is ready to explore the future online video chat events holds we hope you will reach out.
Get in touch with the Shindig Team.
According to Facebook there are three ways to ensure your content makes the cut with this new algorithm:
1) Be authentic
2) Create meaningful interactions, like long, thoughtful comments
3) Engage the friends and family network.
Here's how Shindig’s unique technology delivers on all three and more.
Your brand creates a stimulating conversation around a topic that is relevant to you and your audience and invites 1,000 fans to join the conversation LIVE on your custom URL (you can involve sponsors, if you like). During your real-time video chat, you welcome audience members up on your virtual stage to ask your journalists and/or newsmakers their own questions. Lastly, you gain maximum exposure by simulcasting your event on Facebook’s choice feature, Facebook Live receiving six times the interactions of non-Live videos.
What’s more authentic than a lively forum of engagement that liberates your audience with face-to face-interactions at internet scale? Image the number of long comments generated by such real-time conversations! Think of the potential reach when influencers and audience members share the event on their personal Facebook pages with an exuberant “watch me in this clip!”.
Creating a world where your audience expects the most exciting, most interactive content directly from you is now more accessible than ever. Shindig requires no download, no install, is totally mobile, and is remarkably easy to use, brand, and promote. It comes equipped with monetizing capabilities and customizable backgrounds and widgets perfect for sponsorship, branding, and in context e-commerce.
Check out some recent events hosted by big names on Shindig: MIT Technology Review, Turner Classic Movies & BSU, and the NYC Deputy Mayor’s Office.
Ready to host your own Shindig? Get in touch with the Shindig Team.
Attendees will be able to interact with each other over video chat during the interviews, as well as partake in video chat Q&As with the interviewees and ask questions throughout.
The interviews will be moderated by Inside Higher Ed Editor & Co-Founder Doug Lederman, and will occur over two days: Wednesday, November 15th, from 11:30am - 1:30pm ET and Thursday, November 16th, from 12:00pm - 2:00pm ET.
The growing list of confirmed interviewees includes Curtis Bonk, Professor at Indiana University and Owner of CourseShare; Phil Hill, Co-Publisher of the e-Literate blog, Co-Producer of e-Literate TV, and Partner at MindWires Consulting; Rolin Moe, Assistant Professor and the Director of the Institute for Academic Innovation at Seattle Pacific University; and Jill Buban, Senior Director of Research & Innovation at the Online Learning Consortium; with more being added.
“We are excited to be partnering with Inside Higher Ed and Shindig to extend the reach of the thought leadership that will be on hand next week at OLC Accelerate to those who are unable to be there in person,” said OLC’s Buban. “We thank our community of digital learning experts who will be sharing their insights through these interviews, and we look forward to some tremendously interactive discussions.”
“OLC’s conference is a key gathering place for the most thoughtful and creative people in digital learning, and Inside Higher Ed (and our “Inside Digital Learning” newsletter) are excited about taking advantage of the Shindig platform to bring the innovative ideas of these smart people to those who can’t be in Orlando with us,” Lederman said.
“The Shindig team is thrilled for this partnership and the chance to power more thought-provoking conversations in the education space, as well as foster new connections between interested people who couldn’t make it in person,” said Christopher Downs, Shindig’s Vice President of Business Development for Higher Education.
RSVP for the first in this series at https://gateway.shindig.com/event/accelerate.
The series features monthly events until January, each featuring a new set of experts and opening the floor to questions from attendees. Participants are encouraged to join the conversation, ask questions, share their stories, build their networks, and further their understanding of topics including:
- Innovations that can expand female or underrepresented minority student participation and success in STEM undergraduate education
- Effective evidence-based STEM teaching practices commonly adopted at research universities
- Unique institutional and cultural challenges to achieving STEM diversity
- What difference at scale looks like
The first event in the series took place last week, with great engagement and feedback from the attendees. There are three more scheduled as follows:
- Perspectives on Institutional Change, November 08, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
- Learning Spaces, January 10, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
- Introductory Undergraduate Courses in STEM, February 14, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
Don't miss out on this groundbreaking series and sign up today!
As Marci Powell, former president of the Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA), put it:
“Now is the time to lean into distance learning for overcoming this disaster. Through state-of-the-art virtual learning environments such as Shindig, we can start the semester and keep classes going."
To that end, Shindig is offering its technology for FREE to educational institutions for virtual classrooms and large-scale parental or faculty outreach.
With Shindig, dislocated teachers and dislocated students will be able to meet for classes with all the same interactivity that they would enjoy in their physical classrooms if such were available.
The tech enables an online teacher to move seamlessly between addressing the whole class to circulating around the class to coach students individually. It also allows students to form teams and discuss the class material privately with one another in smaller groups just like the would in their physical facilities.
Similarly, Shindig enables large-scale town halls or all hands meetings in which up to 1,000 audience members can participate, both addressing the entire gathering or discussing issues in small groups.
The technology is also being made available to relief organizations for planning meetings and community outreach.
Any institutions interested in using Shindig’s technology are encouraged to attend any of the upcoming scheduled info sessions available for sign up by emailing info@shindig.com.
FantasyPros started using Shindig as a forum to host exclusive, gated Q&As for a handpicked group of premium subscribers with their resident experts, Mike Tagliere and Bobby Sylvester. In the forums, subscribers ask Mike and Bobby a series of rapid-fire questions about their fantasy football dilemmas. Not only have the Shindig Q&A events added value for existing premium subscribers, but they also incentivize would-be subscribers to opt for a premium subscription because it gives them access to immediate actionable feedback for their lineups.
The IRA’s Executive Director, Dr. Susie Ellis, and Deputy Director, CeCe Sieffert, were in tow to answer questions on behalf of the foundation. Attendees received an in-the-trenches account of the preservation efforts and even got to view video footage of a baby rhino named Delilah's first birthday celebration. Interested in promoting awareness to and social interaction with your cause? Let us know, we can help.
This is a big win for Shindig as Gartner is a world-renowned tech research firm, respected for their thought leadership and technology insights, and receiving this award further reinforces our transformational vision: to improve how people virtually collaborate, communicate, and connect.
Gartner uses an assessment framework they coined ACME to evaluate collaboration effectiveness of a technology. More specifically, this framework measures the Activity, Content, Motivation and Enabling technology to evaluate how context and motivation are addressed in the user’s experience of a platform. As result, Shindig is identified as “creating a cohesive user experience for people to participate in large-scale video events” and increasing “people’s comfort level to participate and contribute”. We tend to agree!
Interested in increasing your organization’s collaboration effectiveness? Reach out to us, we can help!
Click here to purchase the 2017 Gartner Cool Vendors in Social Software and Collaboration full report.
NEW YORK, NY (April 26, 2017) — EdSurge and Shindig today announced plans for interactive Thought Leader Interviews at the 2017 ASU GSV Summit on May 8-10 in Salt Lake City. The interactive interviews are intended to connect educators and talent developers in schools and companies across the nation with the Summit presenters and participants. Shindig’s video chat teaching and events technology will power the three-day series. The interactive Shindig platform will allow EdSurge moderators CEO and Founder Betsy Corcoran, senior editor Jeffrey R. Young, and managing editor Tony Wan and more than a dozen interview participants — education and talent leaders, corporate executives, college officials, and education researchers — to engage directly with the online audience.
The annual ASU GSV Summit brings together educators, human resource leaders entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, philanthropists, and university and school district leaders to create partnerships, explore solutions, and shape the future of learning and talent innovation. This year’s program features more than 400 tech companies discussing how learning and talent innovation are inextricably linked to meet the future needs of our society.
"Stories—genuine stories—really matter. We're excited to be helping tell the authentic stories of the people who are building the technology that supports innovations in teaching and talent," says Betsy Corcoran, CEO and Founder of EdSurge.
The growing list of confirmed interview participants includes: Sean Gallagher, director of the Center for the Future of Higher Education & Talent Strategy at Northeastern University, Candace Thille, assistant professor of education at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, Rufus Glasper, CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College, Rachel Romer Carlson, CEO of Guild Education, Todd Rose director of the Mind, Brain, & Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Matthew Pittinsky, CEO of Parchment, and many more!
To register for access to the interviews and receive daily reminders and updates regarding scheduled guests, please go to: https://shindig.com/site-upcoming/
“We are delighted to be working with EdSurge and Shindig. These interviews are an important component of our efforts to elevate innovation leaders in learning and talent development to extend the reach of their ideas," said GSV Managing Partner Deborah Quazzo.
Shindig’s unique technology will also enable online participants to discuss, network, and socialize privately with one another as if they were attendees at the ASU GSV Summit. EdSurge will host the interactive interviews on EdSurge.com. The interactive Forum conversations from the ASU GSV Summit will also be archived at EdSurge.com for access after the Summit.
The live, interactive interviews will take place from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm MT (3:00 – 5:00 ET) for three days, from Monday, May 8th through Wednesday, May 10th.
The interviews will be available for free on any web connected device, computer, tablet, or phone. To participate in the online interviews via mobile device please download the Shindig mobile app, titled Shindig2 Pro, in Apple or Android app stores.
For More Information contact: christopher@shindigevents.com
It was an intimate gathering at a hotel suite, unstaged and authentic, as the rockers buzzed excitement for their upcoming festival showing, waxed nostalgic of their late rocker alums, and casually chit chatted about life in the music lane. Fans and audience members from across the nation tuned in to interact with the musicians and participate in the Q&A. One fan asked what these rockstars did to seek inspiration -- let's just say, the response was very honest.
On Sunday, December 18, Shindig hosted the second international gathering for University of the People, a tuition-free online university. With more than 400 students, educators, and administrators from 90 different countries coming together on the Shindig platform, President Shai Reshef spoke about the University’s journey and future goals and plans for 2017.
Over the course of an hour, the UoPeople community had a unique opportunity to directly interact with leadership, meet peers across the world and experience a collegiate community unlike any other. Students, volunteers and faculty alike took the stage to talk with President Reshef, while others became acquainted with online classmates and colleagues in private chats during the event. There were over 75 audience-generated questions submitted to discuss the University’s vision and agenda. These interactive sessions are essential to strengthening online learning communities, supplementing the social component that is often lacking in distance education.
Joi achieved a full scholarship to the University of Southern California and published the book "You Got Into Where? How I Received Admission & Scholarships to the Nation's Top Universities." During the event, Joi utilized Shindig's content sharing features to give tips and tricks on getting full scholarships, writing college essays, and more. Over 60 of Joi's YouTube followers attended the virtual event. Joi answered more than 50 questions about topics ranging from senioritis to international admissions to college visits.
One lucky virtual attendee also had the opportunity to win a signed copy of her book!
University admissions officers are leveraging the networking power of virtual conference software to connect with students.
Virtual events can offer perspectives and advice from distinguished alumni and current students, and applicants and their families can engage with peers, guests, and admissions representatives in real-time, thereby providing a personalized experience that can make the difference in a student's decision to apply. Gone is the hassle and expense of having to travel physically to an information session; for many international or remote students, this simply isn't an option. Admissions offices will be able to tailor events to specific student demographics and needs, reaching a global audience in an interactive, highly personal way.
Testimonials
“Our gala this year went digital but we were still able to set a new fundraising record for net revenue. Through Shindig, our attendees were able to enjoy all of the mingling and socializing of an in-person event while also getting to hear from
our special guests Representatives
Adam Schiff and Sharice Davids.”
“We recently used the Shindig platform and it was truly amazing, especially being able to see how the team interacted with each other and how it brought our community to life.
I believe that this could be revolutionary for education. Its ability to create a real classroom experience online really paves the way for increased engagement among participants and even welcomes creative expression.”
"More of this, less of everything else. F*ck typing! Can you imagine the first two of these we did typing...like cavepeople...nah, now we talk to each other like we’re the f*ckin’ Jetsons. This is tremendous."
“Shindig helped us deliver the largest ever online anthropology conference, EASA2020, giving 1900 delegates multiple ways to present, and engage with one another with a real sense of virtual shared space. The final night party – a right shindig! – surpassed our expectations as delegates showed off their dancing skills to colleagues listening to the same DJ set.”
"We had 72 hours to confirm 60+ sessions, train presenters, learn the software, revamp sponsorship packages, develop and implement massive communications plans, design the system, build an online program, and so, so much more. The decision was made on Wednesday. The transformation happened Thursday through Saturday. And the virtual conference launched on Sunday.
Thank you Shindig for providing the unique software that actually made me feel like I was with these conference attendees for 4 days, engaging with them in ways that truly mimicked an in-person experience."
