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.

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.

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq-Lbq6xS-w

Oscar Night was a big night for Frances McDormand, Jordan Peele, and Guillermo del Toro, but perhaps one of the most noteworthy and least recognized winners of the night was HQ Trivia. At approximately 9:06 pm ET, just after Dunkirk won the golden trophy for Best Sound Editing, some 2.18 million people were drawn from whatever they were doing, or possibly watching, by the siren call of Scott Rogowsky aka Quiz Daddy, aka Edward Quizzerhands, aka Quizzie McGuire, hosting HQ Trivia, the mobile Trivia show.

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.

I recently came across a Forbes Article from contributor Ian Altman who is a strategic advisor, author and internationally sought keynote speaker on integrity-based sales and business development. Ian outlines the top business trends that will drive success in 2018 for your company. Below are the five I’m most excited about:

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.

 

Friday NYT’s Welcome to the Post-Text Future article describes the new media reality.

Surviving may depend on right-sizing expense associated with video production while also engaging an audience in a new exciting way.

Live interactive online events around news content maybe THE answer to Facebook’s plan to de-prioritize branded content in favor of friends and family and Shindig is the only platform where you can create large-scale online events that are just as interactive and memorable as real life.

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.

Inside Higher Ed, the online media company for higher education and go-to source of online news, thought leadership, and opinion, is hosting a two-day series of fully interactive interviews with experts and thought leaders in higher education technology at the Online Learning Consortium’s annual international conference, OLC Accelerate. These interviews will be powered by Shindig, the premier video chat event provider.

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.

Shindig is proud to partner with the UB Women in STEM Cooperative on "The Next 10 Years: Helping STEM Students Thrive," a series of video chat events on inclusion and improving the status of women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Cooperative itself is a collaboration between the University at Buffalo and Cornell University and features the perspectives of national thought leaders and institutional representatives about expanding the participation of women in undergraduate STEM education at different scales.

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!

Shindig is proud to offer free video chat classrooms and meeting spaces to all educational institutions affected by flooding from Hurricane Harvey. With the academic year beginning, many school systems, both K-12 and higher ed, will face a shortage of physical classrooms and disruption due to the dislocation of staff, teachers and students.

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 at https://relief.shindig.com or by emailing info@shindig.com.

FantasyPros is one of the premier online resources and communities for all things fantasy sports. It's branched out from being a forum for fantasy sports fans to bringing on its own in-house experts, write articles and produce content aimed at informing FantasyPros readership/subscribers how to win their fantasy leagues.

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.

On the week of May 8th, 2017, anyone and everyone with a vested interest in learning and talent innovation packed their bags and headed to Salt Lake City to attend this year’s ASU + GSV Summit. Shindig was certainly in attendance, and not just to mingle with the learning community, but to also power an interactive interview series, produced on-site by leading edtech media outlet, EdSurge. The series featured some of the most influential thought leaders, top executives, and authority figures within the business of providing or enabling education. Some big names included: Chip Paucek (Co-Founder and CEO of 2U, Inc.), Scott Pulsipher (President of Western Governors University), and Jessie Woolley-Wilson (President and CEO of DreamBox Learning), to name just a few. Thanks to all those that tuned in and participated! And for those of you that missed out on the live event, no worries! Follow this blog, or any of our social media pages (FB + Twitter), to stay tuned for when we upload the event recordings.

On May 12th, The International Rhino Foundation hosted a live Q&A on Shindig, in tandem with their Facebook Live event, to share the latest successes and the challenges of preserving the Sumatran rhino. For 25 years, the International Rhino Foundation has championed the survival of the world’s rhinos through conservation and research. They do what it takes to ensure that rhinos survive for future generations and part of the work is promoting awareness through informational sessions, like this Shindig event.

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.

Every year, Gartner acknowledges the most innovative in category for social collaboration via their “Cool Vendors” award. We could not be more delighted to share with you that for 2017 Shindig is among the recipients of this special recognition. The Gartner report noted that Shindig’s unique video chat solution transformed “ the feeling of people attending a virtual online event that they are ‘all along together.’” and further that the platform delivered” a more compelling peer-to-peer experience where people can ‘mingle’ as they do in physical spaces.”

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: http://events.shindig.com/event/asugsv17

“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

Hosted by VuHaus’ Mark Abuzzahab live from SXSW, this past Thursday’s Shindig event featured old school rock legends Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (REM), Ken Stringfellow (Big Star/REM), and Chris Stamey (dB’s).

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 December 20, YouTube influencer Joi Wade hosted her first Q&A session on Shindig for aspiring college students interested in gaining admissions into top US schools. With over 18,000 followers, Joi's channel focuses on covering college life and admissions. She is currently a freshman on a full scholarship to the University of Southern California and recently published the book "You Got Into Where? How I Received Admission & Scholarships to the Nation's Top Universities." During Tuesday's event, Joi utilized Shindig's content sharing features to divulge tips and tricks on getting full scholarships, writing college essays, and more. Over 60 of Joi's YouTube followers attended, asking more than 50 questions about topics ranging from senioritis to international admissions to visiting college campuses. One lucky attendee also had the opportunity to win a signed copy of her book!

University admissions can leverage the power of synchronous video chat and connect with prospective students around the world. 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.

On November 9, Shindig hosted an event with Davidson College's political science professors Dr. Susan Roberts and Dr. Andrew O'Geen. The hot topic of discussion was US voting access and fraud - a trending conversation especially after the historic presidential election. This was part of DavidsonX, a micro-MOOC series provided through the edX platform, on incorporating current events and world affairs into compelling discussions amongst students. With over 50 in attendance from 9 countries including the USA, Germany, Iceland, Taiwan, Russia, and more than 30 thought-provoking questions, this event certainly engaged those seeking to better understand American politics as well as provided them an opportunity to share concerns, ask questions and engage with one another.

On November 7th at 3pm, Rock the Vote held a first of its kind interactive Online Voting Rights Rally. Hundreds joined the interactive discussion live on the Shindig video chat event platform and were able to ask NAACP CEO & President Cornell Williams Brooks and Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law questions about their rights and the voting process as they prepare to cast their first ballot on November 8. The event was moderated by Rock the Vote President & Executive Director Carolyn DeWitt, and had a special appearance from author and contributing writer to The Nation, Ari Berman. It reached voters from 44 states.



The online rally was simultaneously streamed to tens of thousands more via an ad hoc network of 10 Facebook Pages, including the Facebook pages of Eminem, Indigo Girls, and the League of Women voters. Almost 30,000 total participated in the live stream of the rally over Shindig and Facebook Live together. Since going live yesterday afternoon, the Rock the Vote Online Voter Rights Rally has garnered 1 millions views, all in the key hours before election day.



You can watch highlights from this event here.

On Tuesday, November 1st, Shindig hosted the first-ever gathering for the University of the People, a tuition-free online university. Over 200 students, educators, and administrators from 37 different countries came together as President Shai Reshef spoke about the University’s journey and its future goals.

Online events such as these give the UoPeople community a unique opportunity to directly interact with leadership, meet peers across the world, and connect to the larger community. Students, volunteers and faculty alike were able to take the stage and talk with President Reshef about the University, while others became acquainted with peers in private chats during the event. In total, over 30 audience-generated questions fueled the discussion on the University’s vision and agenda. These interactive sessions can effectively enhance the crucial social components of education that are paramount to learning but are often lacking in online environments.

On Friday night, PBS and WNET partnered with Shindig to host a live interactive Q&A with Norman Lear about the upcoming American Masters documentary, “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.” Hosted by WNET President and CEO Neal Shapiro, the event invited participants to submit questions live to Lear both on Shindig and through Facebook Live.

This event gave fans a unique opportunity to speak directly to a living television pioneer. The event has received nearly 25k views in less than three days, and was shared across four different Facebook pages simultaneously -- a first for Shindig’s Facebook Live integration. In the span of an hour, more than 150 questions were submitted by individuals participating in the ‘virtual happy hour.’

“This technology astounds me!” said Norman Lear. “You and me both,” replied Neal Shapiro.

You can watch highlights from this event here to see how Shindig and Facebook Live can work together.

A Sneaker Life hosted its first exclusive live stream last night, attracting over 1,000 viewers and receiving 250 submitted questions for host, Mike Mitchell. Upcoming weekly live streams will feature unboxing and reviews of new and hot sneaker designs from brands like Nike, Jordan and Kanye West, chances to win free shoes and apparel courtesy of Nike, and sneaker giveaways.

Be sure to join us next Thursday, October 6, 7:00 - 8:00pm (EDT). You can RSVP now to receive an email reminder on the day of the event. To watch on mobile, download the Shindig app from iTunes or Google Play.

You can also shop A Sneaker Life on their website, or follow them on Youtube and Instagram.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music hosted a series of virtual open houses for attendees unable to make it to New York. The BAM education staff shared information about exciting workshops, residencies and field trips for the upcoming 2016-17 season.

Online attendees were also able to submit questions to the staff, as well as meet and mingle with fellow prospective students using the private video chat feature on Shindig. 

The Dr. DigiPol Show features a weekly roundup of how social and digital media is impacting the politics of the day. A weekly panel of expert guests will take a deep dive into new ways that digital media is changing the way we engage in politics.

The show is hosted by Dr. Alan Rosenblatt, a pioneer in digital politics with over 25 years of experience in the business.
The Dr. DigiPol Show with Alan Rosenblatt is streamed live via Shindig on Thursdays at 4:00 pm EST.

Woodrow Wilson and Shindig partnered for a 3-part speaker series on “Supporting Diverse Learner in High-Need Schools”. The featured speakers included Sarah C. K. Moore, Paul Gorski and Dr. Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade.

The series was designed for WW Teaching Fellows, teacher candidates, new teachers and early career teachers who will work in high-need schools. Attendees were given guidance as to how to fully engage and support socio-economic, racial and language diversity within classrooms and enabled them to connect with students and create classrooms in which diverse students thrive.

For additional information, please contact:

Christopher Downs  • 646.747.8960

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2016

Shindig Announces Integration with Canvas LMS

NEW YORK, NY (June 20, 2016) —  Shindig, Pioneer in Large-Scale interactive Video Chat classrooms announced today its integration with Canvas by Instructure. As more and more colleges and universities transition to Canvas, a modern learning management system (LMS) that makes teaching and learning easier for educators and students, Shindig reaffirms its commitment to partner with best of breed education technology providers to create the possibility of seamless interoperability.

Shindig is a paradigm shifting video chat teaching technology, which addresses what many believe is the key shortcoming of online education modalities, what MIT recently termed the “interactivity vacuum”. Shindig enables both the robust teacher-to-student engagement ideal for pedagogy and the informal student-to-student engagement requisite for peer-to-peer learning, student body formation and student retention.

"We are very excited about the enhanced interactivity a partnership with Shindig brings to teachers and students using Canvas,” said Troy Anderson Director of Partnerships for Instructure. " Shindig's peer-to-peer approach to synchronous video chat for teaching and learning is a valuable addition to the online Canvas experience. The platform’s robust teacher-to-student and student-to-student engagement can enhance student body formation and student retention."

Teachers at institutions using Canvas are now able to instantly schedule, customize and launch Shindig sessions directly from their Canvas LMS. These Shindig sessions can be used for class delivery, office hours, guest speakers, workshops, and are automatically added to student’s schedules who are enrolled in the course.  Students are alerted when new Shindig sessions are scheduled and can RSVP and receive start time reminders. Additionally, students can now enjoy single sign-on (SSO) to Shindig sessions directly from the Canvas LMS. Teachers have access to session analytics reports including: attendance, duration of stay, time of entry, time of departure, engagement through question or sidebar chat and more.

The Shindig Canvas plugin is stored in a public GitHub Repo, where IT administrators of the university’s LMS can install the free plugin.  Once installed, the IT Admin can contact Shindig to gain an API key for the ability to create on-demand Shindig sessions in their Canvas instance and set up a demo time with a Shindig representative. To get started, each Canvas client institution is awarded 10 free Shindig sessions of up to 1,000 attendees. 

“We are excited to become a part of the Canvas partner program, more and more we find institutions demand LMS integration and we find most of all they demand Canvas integration.  Many of our clients have been awaiting this integration to further their institutional use of the Shindig platform,.” said Steve Gottlieb, Shindig Founder.

Those interested in learning more about Shindig can contact education@shindigevents.com. Watch the Canvas for Shindig tutorial video. To experience the platform in action interested parties may visit any of the growing number of online educational series hosted on the platform including; Edchat Interactive, Bryan Alexander’s Future Trends Forum and more.

Upcoming events: https://shindig.com/site-upcoming/

For additional information, please contact:

Max Zaniewski  • 646.896.1747

maxz@shindigevents.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 7, 2016

Shindig Adds Full Multi-Camera Production and Enhanced Interactivity to Facebook Live

(NEW YORK)  June 7, 2016 -- Shindig, the video chat event platform, announced integration with Facebook Live today. The integration puts at the disposal of Facebook Live hosts a full multi-camera production suite such that they can bring multiple remote subjects on “stage” before the Facebook Live audience to interact with one another as well as introduce pre-recorded video, slides and other multimedia. The integration expands the capabilities of Facebook Live, allowing for seamless switching from one camera view to another in full screen of one personality with the other inset; or having multiple cameras videos both presented with equal priority.

Shindig (Shindig Overview Video) also enables a virtual TV studio audience to interact with the special guests before the Facebook Live audience. Whereas Facebook Live itself only allows for text interaction between audience members and Facebook Live hosts, Shindig integration adds capability for a webcam enabled online studio audience to interact with the guests in video chat. Additionally, a host can have an assistant pre-screen such guests prior to bringing them to the stage. When the participants are brought to the stage they interact with the guest in video chat before both the audience viewing on Shindig and through Facebook Live.

"Facebook's power to aggregate audiences paired with Shindig's unique video chat interactivity creates an unbeatable opportunity for personalities and brands," said Steve Gottlieb, founder and CEO of Shindig.

The integration is achieved by embedding the livestream of the Shindig event into a Facebook Live broadcast.  The event can draw simultaneously a pre-promoted audience given the Shindig URL where they can join the event without registration, signup or download as well as the Facebook Live audience that receives the notifications from Facebook.  Viewers on Facebook can watch, comment, and react live on Facebook to the ongoing Shindig event. Hosts can alternate between interacting with text questions from Facebook Live audience members and video chat questions from those who have opted to join the Shindig audience. Participants on the Shindig platform can also enjoy other standard Shindig capabilities, including Shindig’s unique audience member to audience member video chat mingling.

The integration  allows for the interaction of Shindig to reach a wider audience via Facebook Live, without compromising the functionalities of either platform.  Having a separate Shindig URL for the events in advance also addresses Facebook Live hosts’ concerns that they were previously unable to promote their live events to audiences beyond those who have  already “Liked” them on Facebook or pre promote them to potential audiences outside of Facebook.

 

Following up on their successful holiday special in which V-Squared raised over $1,000 for a LGBT charity, Luke & Vinny Vaillancourt hosted a more informal Shindig for fans looking to catch up on their lives.

For 90 minutes, V-Squared invited fans to escape the heat of Memorial Day Weekend and join them onstage for an interactive Q&A during which they took over 30 questions via text and video chat. By the end, fans were clamoring for their favorite YouTube stars to make these online events a weekly occurrence.

From April 18-20, moderator Casey Green hosted 30+ interviews with various thought leaders from a sound booth on the floor of the 2016 ASU GSV Innovation Summit in San Diego. eSchool Media, Inc, and Campus Computing partnered to bring educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, philanthropists, and university and school district leaders together to create partnerships, explore solutions and to shape the future of learning.

Those unable to attend were enabled to view and interact with each guest thanks to the Shindig video chat platform. During the 10+ hours of interviews, over 300 attendees logged in with more than 100 questions submitted via video chat and text.

Notable guests included Michael King (IBM VP & General Manager of Global Education Industry), Deborah Quazzo (Founder and Managing Partner at GSV), Dr. Michael Crow (President, Arizona State University), Dan Greenstein (Director Postsecondary Success, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Ron Reed (Executive Producer, SXSWEDU).

Those unable to make it down to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Awards & Conference were invited to join Shindig online for an interactive live stream of the AAPC Republican Caucus Boot Camp.

Thanks to Shindig's hybrid event technology, online participants were enabled to ask questions to the panelists via video chat as well as discuss the issues with fellow online audience members.

Guest speakers included Ryan Price (Founding Partner of The Trailblazer Group), David Rexrode (Political Director for RGA) and Sean Spicer (Communications, RNC).

NEW YORK, NY (April 12, 2016) — eSchool Media, Inc, and Campus Computing today announced plans for interactive Thought Leader Interviews at the 2016 ASU GSV Innovation Summit on April 18, 19, and 20 in San Diego. The interactive interviews are intended to connect educators in schools and on college campuses with the Summit presenters and participants. Shindig, a turnkey solution for video chat teaching and event, will power the three day event. The interactive Shindig platform will allow moderator Casey Green, founding director of Campus Computing, and more than 25 interview participants -- education leaders, corporate executives, public officials, and foundation officers -- to engage directly with the online audience.

The annual ASU GSV Innovation Summit brings together educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, philanthropists, and university and school district leaders to create partnerships, explore solutions, and to shape the future of learning.

“Our goal with these live, interactive interviews is to accelerate the discussion and the dissemination of educational innovation beyond the 3,500 Summit participants who will gather in San Diego,” said Wendy La Duke, the Group Publisher of eSchool Media. “We recognize that there is a large audience of educators who would like to know more about the critical conversations at the Summit. Our interviews from the Summit will serve an eager audience of educational professionals in schools and on college campuses.”

The growing list of confirmed interview participants includes: Michael Crow, president, Arizona State University; Ted Mitchell, Under Secretary of Education, US Dept. of Education; Deborah Quazzo, founder and managing partner, GSV; Richard Miller, president of the Olin College of Engineering; Dan Greenstein, director of postsecondary success, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Susan Fuhrman, president of Teachers College, Columbia University; Michael King, VP and managing partner, IBM Global Education; and Bill Goodwyn, president, Discovery Education; John Katzman, CEO, Noodle; and Ron Reed, executive producer of SXSWedu, among many others.

“We are delighted to be working with eSchool News and Casey Green to extend the reach and audience of the Summit,” said GSV Managing Partner Deborah Quazzo. "These interviews are an important component of our efforts to elevate innovation leaders in learning and to extend the reach of their ideas."

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. eSchool Media will host the interactive interviews on both eSchoolNews.com and eCampusNews.com. TheIinteractive Forum conversations from the ASU GSV Summit will also archived at eSchoolNews.com and eCampusNews.com for access after the Summit.

The live, interactive interviews will be take place from noon – 4:00 PT (3:00 – 7:00 ET) for three days, from Monday, April 18th through Wednesday, April 20th. The interviews will be available on any web connected device, computer, tablet, or phone.

For additional information about the Interactive Forum and to register for access to the interviews, please go to: https://shindig.com/event/asugsvsummit.

$50,000 Shindig Challenge aims to document the impact video chat interactivity has on student engagement, success and retention in online education

Shindig, the large-scale video chat teaching platform, launched today the 50K Shindig Challenge, a research initiative meant to improve the understanding of the efficacy of interactive video chat to create a more connected online student course experience.

Many prominent education leaders believe that increased use of new, more sophisticated video modalities will be one of the most significant ed-tech trends of 2016.  As Jonathan Blake Huer of Ball State University wrote in Campus Technology: 'Video in the classroom is still largely a one-way medium. This is not where students are. When they go into the classroom, whether in-person or online, it seems primitive. It's like asking faculty to go back to typewriters and Wite-Out.”

To help educators better understand the evolving potential of interactive video chat, Shindig will partner with 25-50 faculty members and/or course designers at higher education institutions to incorporate complimentary use of the Shindig platform into their online courses in the Spring, Summer or Fall semester of 2016. Participating educators will receive grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 and be asked to collect and report data concerning attitudes and perceived effectiveness of Shindig’s platform.

Educators applying for participation and looking for more information should visit Shindig.com/challenge.

For those interested in experiencing the Shindig platform, please join our weekly Future Trends Forum hosted by Bryan Alexander. RSVP for this series is available at https://shindig.com/event/ftf.

For More Information Contact:

The goal of the Future Trends Forum, hosted by Bryan Alexander, is to advance the discussion around the pressing issues at the crossroads of education and technology. Future Trends Forum will feature weekly online video chat conversations where practitioners in the field shared their most recent experiences in technology and education.

Bryan's weekly special guests include: Audrey Watters, Richard DeMillo, Casey Green, Will Richardson, Anya Kamenetz and Phil Long.

The final 20 minutes of each session will conclude with attendees being given the opportunity to pose their own questions, either by submitting a text question or taking the stage via video chat.

The Pub podcast host Adam Ragusea and special guest Michael May, senior producer with NPR’s Story Lab, hosted an interactive, virtual celebration of The Pub's one-year anniversary. Participants were given the opportunity to pitch Michael their craziest idea for a new program and get his feedback.

Over 50 fans of The Pub attended this special anniversary celebration. After a 30-minute chat with Michael May, Adam took text questions from the audience via the Ask Question feature. For the final 15 minutes, Adam allowed fans to take the stage and pitch directly to Michael via video chat.

Popular YouTube gamer NoughtPointFourLive wanted a more engaging way to interact with his 500,000 subscribers aside from social media. In response, Nought (real name Fred) hosted a 5-part series on Shindig in which he performed activities such as livestreaming himself playing GTA V and hosting a game show-style quiz.

Fred shared the URL for his impromptu Shindigs on YouTube just an hour before each event began. During these “can’t miss” events, Nought gave away codes for GTA V unlockable items and even awarded cash prizes for winners of his Quiz Night.

The community built around Nought’s YouTube channel was able to interact face-to-face with each other as well as their video game idol. With very limited promotional tactics, over 500 fans attended.

Alex Blumberg, CEO of Gimlet Media and host of the Startup Podcast wanted to actively engage his membership base with a video Q&A.

Alex was able to actively engage with his members in the live Q&A. The event was password-protected and the URL was only distributed to Gimlet Media’s email subscribers. Alex provided a high level of value to his existing paid subscriber base and participants were able to interact with the hosts by using both the Ask Question and Raise Hand features on Shindig.

The YouTube channel V-Squared wanted to raise money for an LGBT charity using Shindig and their 90,000 subscribers. Vinny and Luke Vaillancourt promoted the event with a series of tweets and videos spreading messages of goodwill for the holiday season.

Using Shindig's ticket system, V-Squared sold over 200 $5 tickets by the time of the event, raising more than $1,000. Audience members were given the unique opportunity to interact with the V-Squared stars live as they shared their favorite holiday memories.

Fans joined YouTube singer Margarita Elizabeth on Shindig for an hour long live concert where she performed favorite covers along with a few original songs. To promote the event, Margarita posted a video announcement, multiple tweets and an Instagram post to sell tickets for the event priced at $9.99.

Between songs, Margarita brought fans onstage to ask questions and even sing along with her. Margarita wrapped up the hourlong session by debuting a never-before-heard song for those lucky enough to be in attendance.

The members of the NJ Tech Council, Edison Partners, Silicon Valley Bank and Szaferman, Lakind, Blumstein & Blader, PC held an open online discussion on raising capital in the IT sector in order to draw more attention to alternative strategies in fundraising.

The talk lasted for one hour and attracted nearly 50 viewers, who were also able to engage in networking during the session thanks to Shindig's sidebar functionality. The NJ Tech Council was able to, with minimal outreach, successfully acquire attendees to their discussion on alternative funding in the IT sector.

On Monday night, Peter Rosenberg hosted his second Post-Raw Interactive Chat with guest Noelle Foley. Throughout the event, Peter and Noelle took video and text questions from fans about the 10/12 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw.

In a totally unexpected moment, Noelle’s father and WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley (better known as Mankind) popped up behind his daughter live from their living room in Long Island to answer fan questions and give his thoughts on the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. Fans in attendance were thrilled with the surprise opportunity to interact with a certified wrestling legend.

According to a recent blog post by Wainhouse Research, there are parallels between Ridley Scott's famous 1984 Apple commercial and the Shindig technology. Namely, Shindig's willingness to challenge the status quo and change the way we meet and collaborate online.

Wainhouse ties Shindig's ability to adapt to consumer needs to that of Apple's. The blog post delves into how users have wrestled with tech constraints and how Shindig offers features that are not only readily available but also very needed.

Shindig creates an environment where an immense amount of people can gather together online to communicate, collaborate and network. The features underscored are unique to the online video chat world, as Wainhouse highlights Shindig's unique tools to manage an event without stripping away the user's autonomy.

Shindig Founder Steve Gottlieb thoughts on entrepreneurship are featured in INSIGHTS: Reflections From 101 of Yale's Most Successful Entrepreneurs.

Steve's personal story 'It gives me a headache' is among one of the many stories included alongside other notables like General Assembly Founders Matthew Brimer and Jake Schwartz, The Lean Startup's Eric Ries, Rent the Runway Founder Jennifer Fleiss, Gilt Groups' Kevin Ryan, Angel investor David Rose, among many more.

To learn more, click here to check out Forbes' article on the new book.

On September 15, Wainhouse Research, published Connecting People Better: A New Architecture for More Natural and Productive Online Experiences. Wainhouse Research conducted a feature review of the Shindig platform, comparing and contrasting its capabilities with the other major categories of collaboration.

Wainhouse Research conducted two informal “sandbox” events in June, 2015 during which they tested the Shindig platform with a number of WR clients and end user stakeholders. After the event, Wainhouse Research surveyed attendees regarding their positive and negative impressions of the experience. The result is a candid assessment of pros and cons found in the Shindig service as well as a discussion of its differentiating capabilities.

Wainhouse Research is an independent analyst firm that focuses on critical issues in Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC&C) and collaborative educational technologies. The company conducts multi-client and custom research studies,consults with end users on key implementation issues, publishes white papers and market statistics, and delivers public and private seminars as well as speaker presentations at industry group meetings.

To read the full report, click here.

Hot 97 DJ and co-host of the “Cheap Heat” podcast Peter Rosenberg hosted an interactive Q&A with fans after last night’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW. Special guests included Rosenberg’s “Cheap Heat” co-host, David Shoemaker aka the Masked Man, as well as Stat Guy Greg.

Unlike a podcast with passive listeners, fans who logged onto Shindig were given the unique opportunity to join Rosenberg onstage to discuss his predictions, thoughts and opinions on the upcoming Summerslam PPV. Rosenberg took both video and text questions from the audience for the better part of an hour before wrapping up the show at 12:15am (ET).