Panasonic SVP John Baisley: 5 Things You Need to Know to Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event
Rehearsal. Rehearsal. Rehearsal. While it is important to rehearse your content and presentations, it is equally important to rehearse the technology and platforms you are using for the virtual event. Companies should fully test all of the technology being used in the performance — lighting, sound, cameras, projectors, displays, etc. — to diagnose and prevent mistakes from occurring during the actual event and to make sure everything is working accordingly and is properly cued. Companies should find technology vendors that will partner with them to make sure deployment is successful and technology is ready for the event.
As a part of our series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event”, I had the pleasure of interviewing John Baisley.
John Baisley is senior vice president and has led Panasonic’s professional imaging and visual business for over 20 years. Prior to this role, he was general manager of planning for Panasonic System Sales Co. (PSSC), where he was responsible for all sales of the company’s broadcast, professional video and presentation products and systems. He also served as is the former vice president of planning and sales administration and business development for Panasonic Broadcast. Prior to Panasonic, he was general counsel for the Panafax Corporation, which merged with Matsushita Electric Corporation of America in 1989. He received a B.A. in economics from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and an M.B.A. in business administration from Baruch College of City University of New York.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I grew up in Huntington, Long Island with my parents, brother and two sisters. I had a very happy childhood that was a mix of “Leave it to Beaver” and “Huckleberry Finn.” I grew up in a time when you left the house to play with friends in the morning after breakfast and returned in time for dinner. A lot of my time was spent playing and watching sports.
Can you tell us the story of what led you to this particular career path?
Following my post-college ‘ski bum’ year, I had to come back to reality and decide what to do with my future. I always had a general interest in business, as well as law. I decided to pursue a joint JD/MBA program at Baruch College and Brooklyn Law School. Following a short stint doing research and writing draft opinions for a few New York State judges, I landed a position at Panafax Corporation (at the time a subsidiary of Panasonic’s North American business) as General Counsel. In my role, I was very fortunate to be deeply involved in the business. After five years, Panafax merged with Panasonic Corporation of North America and I decided to pursue a business path full time within Panasonic, specifically with the projector, display and professional video businesses. The knowledge and experience I gained with my legal background was a valuable asset I carried with me as I moved into the business side. When I pursued a legal degree I realized this background, not only knowing the law, but more importantly to learn a method to analyze facts and situations would serve me well in whatever path my career took. I have now been with Panasonic for more than 37 years.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I was first starting out with Panasonic, I once had a Japanese executive make a hand gesture to me that I thought was a signal to ‘go away.’ As I turned to walk out of the room, I learned from others that the gesture actually meant ‘come here.’ I quickly learned the importance of understanding different cultures and perspectives, as well as learning that things aren’t always as they appear.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I have always enjoyed books and movies where the underdog triumphs, which is great since there are so many with this theme. It teaches you that no matter how bad the situation may appear, you can always persevere through hard work and creative thinking in order to be successful. Maybe due to my love of sports, the original Rocky movie is one of my favorites. In this case, Rocky didn’t actually win the fight but he won something more — respect. Rocky, a small time local boxer, through hard work, creative training techniques and a tremendous amount of perseverance, grit and determination battled a world champion for 15 rounds and came within a few points of winning.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
There are two quotes that have always resonated with me. One is the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.” The other is something like “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I like to think I have lived my personal and professional life in harmony with these quotes. I have always tried to have empathy for others and to treat people with respect. I also like to think that I have aimed to step up to ‘right the wrongs’ that I have come across.
For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a bit about your experience working with and organizing events in general?
Once an organization decides on hosting a live event, the first step is identifying and securing a strong producer who in turn assembles a strong team around them. There are many moving parts in event pre-production, like writing, directing, and contracting and it’s extremely important there’s someone at the wheel corralling all those moving parts. For example, many live events contract a performance act like a singer, band or motivational speaker. This act may come with a Performance Rider with very specific requirements on AV technical needs all the way down to the food and beverage wanted in the green room. Every detail has to be worked out well in advance to ensure a successful event. We always come from the perspective that the technology workflow needs to be complimentary of the event to enhance, rather than detract, from the experience. To ensure this happens the technology’s engineering team should be engaged early to help determine the right camera, switching, projection, display and audio technology is not only chosen but engineered for ease of set up/operation/performance specific to any event.
Can you tell us a bit about your experience organizing live virtual events? Can you share any interesting stories about them?
As a company, Panasonic enables customers to create immersive experiences for audiences in live virtual settings. My team also attends and hosts many live events throughout the year and once COVID-19 emerged in 2020, we were challenged to transform all events virtually. A great example of this is when the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, one of the biggest events for professional video, was cancelled. Knowing many other companies would be looking at virtual alternatives, we knew we wanted to leverage technology to provide our audience with a unique experience. We partnered with DisruptAR, a company specializing in AR and VR for virtual productions, to build a virtual set. Leveraging our own state-of-the-art professional video technology, we created an event where customers, partners, media and more could still interact with us despite the show being cancelled.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job creating live virtual events? What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
The entire live experiences industry including museums, sports broadcasting and houses of worship has done an amazing job shifting to provide virtual experiences for guests and are continuing to provide those experiences even now that many have reopened.
Panasonic has had the pleasure of working with many companies that have done a terrific job at creating live virtual events. We recently worked with NOW Art Foundation for its live experience called LUMINEX, a one-night only outdoor walkable digital art exhibition in Downtown Los Angeles using Panasonic projectors. Six digital art installations used cutting-edge projection mapping technology to project against the backdrop of entire buildings in a five-block radius offering viewers a truly immersive experience. Though the exhibits were in-person and open to the public, they also livestreamed all of the content and art to viewers around the world. Creating innovative and immersive art exhibition in this type of setting allowed the foundation to bring the entire environment to life while reuniting a community through a new medium. AV technology is a powerful tool that enables companies to create immersive experiences like LUMINEX and connect audiences in new ways.
BARTKRESA Studio also executed a behind-the-scenes virtual journey as they traveled from Los Angeles to AREA 15 in Las Vegas to build the Shogyo Mujo sculpture, a 12-foot skull brought to life by 360-degree projection mapping. Kresa needed to find a way to safely transport materials and build the sculpture with his team given the current pandemic social distancing requirements and safety precautions. BARTKRESA Studio chose to livestream Shogyo Mujo’s journey to demonstrate how immersive visual art installations are still possible as long as the appropriate safety precautions are followed.
What are the common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to run a live virtual event? What can be done to avoid those errors?
Rehearsal. Rehearsal. Rehearsal. While it is important to rehearse your content and presentations, it is equally important to rehearse the technology and platforms you are using for the virtual event. Companies should fully test all of the technology being used in the performance — lighting, sound, cameras, projectors, displays, etc. — to diagnose and prevent mistakes from occurring during the actual event and to make sure everything is working accordingly and is properly cued. Companies should find technology vendors that will partner with them to make sure deployment is successful and technology is ready for the event.
Which virtual platform have you found to be most effective to be able to bring everyone together virtually?
Picking an effective virtual platform depends greatly on the purpose and intent of the gathering. Virtual meeting platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams took off during the pandemic because of the need for everyday video conferencing tools to allow colleagues and companies to collaborate virtually. For larger virtual gatherings, like a webinar or full blown virtual event, it’s important to elevate the experience and provide attendees with both a user friendly tool and a unique experience.
Panasonic utilizes On24, a webinar software and virtual event platform, to create interactive webinars and personalized content experiences to connect and interact with our partners, customers and other stakeholders in the AV industry. We also work with DisruptAR to successfully incorporate realistic VR studio sets into a live production no matter if the spokespeople are in different states or countries.
Are there any essential tools or software that you think an event organizer needs to know about?
Hosting a virtual event requires the same care and attention as an in-person event. With both formats, you need to effectively promote the event, engage your attendees and create memorable moments in order to achieve event success. Having the proper AV tools in place can make each participant feel like they are attending and meeting in-person.
Virtual events rely on technology and benefit from the use of an entire event technology platform. Depending on the nature of your event, you’ll need an online virtual platform that can support a variety of functions including live streaming capabilities, live text or chat option, ability to create breakout sessions and AR/VR options to name a few. These features will allow you to create an interactive online environment for you to engage with your attendees.
Video production quality and connectivity also play an important role. AV technology with built in streaming capabilities and software such as PTZ cameras, AR/VR plug-ins and auto tracking software can also be a valuable tool to maintain a positive virtual experience. Similarly, the integration of projectors with 3D projection mapping capabilities can provide an additional visual element to events that aren’t otherwise possible.
An in-person event can have a certain electric energy. How do you create an engaging and memorable event when everyone is separated and in their own homes? What are the “Five Things You Need to Know to Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Differentiate your event by prioritizing the immersive experience you set out to create. It can be beneficial to utilize interactive video content that provides attendees a closer look at the brand and the product so they can gain visual familiarity with the technology. To add an immersive touch, companies can utilize compelling and dynamic content to showcase how their solutions can be used to address industry challenges and current trends.
Make attendees feel involved. Engaging the audience is key because it increases participation and improves learning takeaways from the event. Using technology that offers dynamic video effects helps to keep the audience’s interest focused on the content being shared. Also, integrating a chat option to allow attendees to not only interact with the host but with the other attendees as well can create the “networking” side of events that can be missed when events are virtual.
Integrate crisp and clear audio. You want to make sure your audience can hear everything clearly, so no details are missed.
Utilize higher-quality live streaming equipment. With high-quality, professional PTZs, recording and producing the video content for livestreaming becomes much easier with support for engaging and efficient content creation.
Test and rehearse. You do not want to find that your technology is not working in the middle of a panel or that the interactive chat functions are not usable during the event. Conduct a full run through prior to the event to work out any necessary kinks prior.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a live virtual event that they would like to develop. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
Create your plan and identify what content you toned to create to deliver your main takeaways to your audience. Remember to really hone in on who your audience is, so you can focus on the type of content that will resonate best with them. From there, you will have a better understanding of the type of tools and technology you will need to build out the event. Finding the right AV partner, integrator and equipment can make or break your event.
If the attendees aren’t able to hear you properly because of improper audio solutions, it will be harder for them to be engaged and follow the content throughout the event. Companies should invest in professional audio solutions that amplifies speech clarity through reliable tone capture, suppress surrounding noise and simultaneously support multiple microphones without interference for group presentations and more. Having the right pro video equipment to livestream is also a crucial factor to consider and will help to keep attendees engaged with the production of crisp, high-quality content for the virtual events.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I don’t have the answer, but the most critical need is to bring people back together in our current polarized environment with a renewed sense of understanding and civility.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
The Queen of England. I have a deep interest in history and who better to learn from than a spry 95-year-old royal.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
