Hello! Jenel Shaw the Executive Director for Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba, joining from outside Lac du Bonnet!

Training Programs Manager at Creative Manitoba. Joining from Winnipeg.

Good morning, Marianne Woods, Performing Arts-School Tours and Membership Liaison Coordinator, OSAC

Don here from APA and I’m in Punamu’kwati’jk

Mary Beth Waldram - Wonderbolt Circus, NL Folk Fest and Lawnya Vawnya in St. John’s NL

Hi, I’m Tye Dandridge-Evancio, the intern curator at Wasagaming Community Arts, in Wasagaming, Manitoba.

I’m in Saskatoon in Treaty 6 Territory. I’m part of several organizations. I’m organizing our local The Word On The Street festival for September. We’re going hybrid this year.

I'm with Home Routes (and run a company called Wavelength Media), calling in from Ottawa. I'm a web developer with video background turned video producer who also does web work. Great to be here today!

Good Morning everyone - if anyone would like to enable the captioning function, you can go into Live Transcript at the bottom of your screen and enable the function you can go into Live Transcript at the bottom of your screen and enable the function

Hello. I am joining today from the unceded ancestral lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, colonially called Vancouver.As a guest, I also acknowledge my responsibility to learn about Coast Salish history, culture and relationship to the land.

Hi all! I’m zooming in from the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (aka Vancouver). I’m currently a freelance contractor working with Canada Dance Festival, The Cultch and Museum of Vancouver. Great to be here (with camera off because #wff blending/balancing office and home from a tiny apartment!)

Hello - Catherine Tomczak from Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils !

Hello! I'm in the Ottawa the unceded territory of the Algonquin and Anishnaabek peoples with Folk Music Ontario. Looking forward to this!

Katherine Carleton, Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada, Peterborough ON/Nogojiwanong, land covered by the Williams Treaties.

Hello from Newfoundland and the St. John’s International CircusFest

Good morning! I am on the territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwach’an Council. :) Joining on behalf of LDAY Centre for Learning and Jazz Yukon.

Frédéric Julien, CAPACOA, joining from the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe Omàmiwininiwak (Algonkin) and St. Lawrence Onkwehone:we/Haudenosaunee.

Hi everyone. Vanessa here from the BC Museums Association, tuning in from the territory of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, today known as Victoria, BC. Very excited for this workshop.

Hi everyone! Lauren Drew, Director of Member Services & Learning for Orchestras Canada. Zooming in from Nogojiwanong/Peterborough, ON on the treaty and traditional territory of the Miichi Saagig Anishnaabeg

Good day! I’m joining from House of PainT in so-called Ottawa on unceded Anishinaabeg land

Hi folks! I am Tanya, a summer student at the BC Museums Association. Joining from the unceded ancestral lands of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations (colonially known as Vancouver). Happy to be here!

Zoom keep updating, so everyone is all over the place even if they’re on a computer app or whatever

Hello, I’m a freelance contractor: producer and dramaturg, joining you this morning from the unceded Coast Salish territory of the Lekwungen-speaking Nations, now known as the Songhees & Esquimalt Nations (Victoria, BC).

Sarah Gardiner, Programs and Services Manager with Choral Canada. I’m in southern Ontario, near Guelph, on the traditional lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit (Treaty 19).

Hi everyone, Sheryl McGraw, Communications Coordinator for the BC Touring Council. Zooming in from Burnaby, which is the ancestral and unceded homelands of the hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples.

Dawn from Music•Musique NB, on the Territory of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi’kmaq Peoples.

Hello! I'm the executive director of a music festival in Epekwitk, the traditional and unceded lands of the M'ikmaq and L'nu.

Gillian Reid here on the South Shore of NS, Mi’kma’ki, ancestral and unneeded territory of the Mi’kmaq People,

Darcy Campbell from the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown PEI (Epekwitk) as a multidisciplinary programmer.

*UNCEDED!!!!!! not unneeded! what a nasty autocorrect! My apologies for not catching before pressing enter.

Hi all! This is Valerie with the Atlantic Presenters Association.

Hi Kym!

Thank you for that Kym.

beautiful Kym

Thank you Kym <3

Thank you.

Thank you Kym

Thank you, Kym.

Thank you Kym!

thank you so much, Kim.

Thank you Kym. Hi Everybody, Kennedy Jenson and Braydon Dowler-Coltman here from the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta situated on traditional lands of Indigenous Peoples from Treaty 6 territory of Amiskwacîwâskahikan, Edmonton, Alberta

Thank you, that was a much needed reminder. My jaw really was clenched. lol

Thank you Kym!

Stephen Colella (he/him), Associate AD at YPT/President of ASSITEJ Canada, located on the ancestral lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, who are part of the Anishinaabe Nation, the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of Six Nations, known as Tkaronto/Toronto.

Wela'lin Kym!

Thank you Kim. A beautiful way to begin!

Apologies for the autocorrect Kym!

Thank you Kym. Beautiful.

Thank you Kym, that was beautiful! And hello everyone! Natalie Dewan here, Program Associate at Ontario Presents. Zooming in from Mississauga, next to the beautiful Credit River. I am grateful to be situated on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Snachailya everyone <3 It is my honour to be here in this space with you.

This set up is akin to the hyflex classroom which I am learning about (Centennial College).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1R5FxpLpUFg1X6P_MgC74RS6CiclOM7Io?usp=sharing

The Google Drive link is to view the documents, not edit

Rehearsal/ preparation seems to be the overarching theme

Having a host assigned to introduce and interact with the speaker throughout

Make sure the digital component is not an after thought — one great example was having “Sensory boxes” sent out in advance so participants can experience something together, hands-on

Stephen, I'd like to know more about that because we had two examples of Zoom providing good interactivity!

Barriers re: cost of conference software too. I see you are using Otter.ai which I believe is a free transcriber.

We were talking about platforms like Remo, Gather town and a third where the name wasn't remembered, but where there was more autonomy for networking and interaction with participants. In the gaming world, it would be more of an "open sandbox" world than the presentational models we often get in Zoom.

Accessibility (multi-language, multi-sensory) is also a consideration for platform choice. I understand that Zoom is relatively accessible; some other more complex platforms are less so.

Thank you, Stephen!

very true katherine

With Zoom, I've tried to do more than just the presentation side of things, and am very interested in learning more about any other platforms that might be out there (and useful). I've found that since Zoom is so widely used, it's been the familiar platform that is easiest for many of our users.

I was at a MMF masterclass recently that used Remo for a mixer event afterwards. It was awkward at first to get used to the interface, but participants ended up using that awkwardness as an icebreaker. In a way it was a nice leveller — made it easier to approach a table of strangers and drop into their conversation because everyone was experiencing the strangeness of this.

I find grounding workshops/events through artistic performance adds a lot as well.

similar to Graham, we have found Zoom to be the easiest and most accessible as well - participants and audiences are able to tune in on laptops, tablets, mobiles and by telephone - we haven't found any other platform that is quite as accessible, affordable and easy to use for us

I miss Adobe Connect. It made it possible to pre-set large chat areas with one question to solicit responses and frame the discussion in that particular chat area. There was also a feature notifying other participants that someone was typing. This naturally created more space and time to welcome feedback.

yes, frederic. online collaboration tools have quite different functions

Our group's examples of awesome experiences included three that were about *connecting people*, and creating (or replicating/reproducing). That's the overarching benefit to what we experienced (and what some of us were doing).

Purpose is so important when we're contemplating the balance of live and digital moving forward! We can't do everything, but what's most important to our communities that we can do well? What helps us deliver on our mission vs. distracts?

But we work in the arts…budget drives design A LOT.

@Graham YES — I feel that ultimately connecting people is at the heart of most events.

Yeah, the reality tends to be the other way around for my line of work.

"it depends"

Shrink the goals :)

Realistic outcomes are very important than budget can match design.

*then

Yes, to business model. Ticket prices for digital is an interesting convo…

Certainly, our live in person conference is already an economically perilous affair. I believe in digital, but it's likely not to improve the math.

Re: Virtual event reg fees: there is a perception that virtual is cheap to produce, but that is not the case, for a really well produced virtual event…..

The online format expands significantly the potential audiences for a conference. The questions that occupy my mind are: "To what extent does my broadened hybrid audience(s) overlap with other similar conferences whose audiences also broadened?"; "If our value propositions are similar, are we now competing for the same audiences?"; and "If we are now competing for the same audiences and we have increased costs from the hybrid format, shouldn't we stop doing our own conference and start collaborating?"

Thanks! Break appreciated!

Good point @Gillian Reid

doog q

Frédéric, you raise very interesting questions!

questions all, Federic. let's talk about that after the break

excuse my typing - lol

@Frederic, is it possible to characterize the plethora of conferences across the sector in various ways, depending on their main purpose - and develop collaborations organically from that? Some use their conferences principally to ratify collective agreements, some to showcase artists, some to share knowledge, some to build community...

@Gillian agreed too! additional resources not just in cost but personnel and tech training too. it all adds up...

@Frederic, it can't just be because we get along with some people and think we can work with them. Or maybe it is!

Regarding Design and Budget, is it fair to say both need to be considered together?

agreed that if we could get a quick explanation of the different platform available with functions and price point available for hybrid event, that would be great.

broaden, deepen, diversify!

@Katherine: Getting along with a partner is a pre-requesite for a successful collaboration, but that isn't enough to guarantee a successful joint event. Alignment on the conference purposes and intended audiences is critical.

thank you!

Thank you everyone, this was very interesting. I'm in a zoom traffic jam and have to leave to another meeting very shortly. I hope to join tomorrow, however

One thing that helps is by giving, in advance, expectations / options / invitations for how to participate. (E.g. Is there an expectation or invitation for video to be on? Will chat be monitored / responded to?)

Yes, great point of breaks being in proportion to content.

Figuring out the dual audience is tricky for sure.

Have to consider different needs for the meal and bio breaks for in-person vs virtual audiences…length and frequency.....

Absolutely, Gillian

https://digitalartsnation.ca/digital-playbook/how-to-design-events-for-blended-audiences/stage-two-design/

Here are examples of in person - digital modes

Thanks for this great masterclass! Sorry I have to leave early for another meeting

I love this table contrasting the in-person vs digital ways of doing things like sharing a meal or swag

The breakout rooms 2 truths and a lie at APAP last year - super fun and funny!

Contact East, not APAP!

i love those! been using it in various sessions w great effect

As a performer, I’ve now played 3 concerts for conference “social hours”, which began with a bartender mixing 2-3 custom cocktails designed for the conference (ingredients list sent out in advance), then enjoying the drinks with an hour of music :) Very fun for everyone and amazing how people actually stick around to the end

I wonder if there’s a way to discuss managing things like swag/ meals with audience attendance and not being able to predict the number of participants for a live virtual event?

The virtual International Indigenous Music Summit had delegates add the meal option to their registration and meals were delivered to the delegates for the Feast.

Food really does bring people together in a unique way.

Google and Facebook just get to give the illusion of free.

Hi everyone, so sorry I have to jet to work. Have a great rest of the session. Thank you so much!

I think part of the reason everything went to free during Covid was because, at least in the beginning, we were inviting people who lost their income or businesses and organizations who lost their revenue streams. Now we are trying to claw our way out of that and figure out a new way moving forward.

@Frédéric - very good point. Must align.

Sorry, I disagree with that, Inga. We find we need MORE time to teach

Precisely because those non-verbal cues are missing. And the tech takes time

(Like people not feeling like they can unmute and speak up on Zoom — there’s a lag as people build up the courage to speak and make sure they’re not speaking over someone else.)

Definitely true that our digital experience has made us re-think how we do things in person!

👍🏻

@Fawn - you may want to look at webinar format for teaching pieces - it goes back to desired outcomes and choosing the right tools and platforms :)

@Inga - exactly! Webinar distances people, instead of bringing people together.

I guess because our values are on smaller, more participatory events, so we don’t want the webinar — we draw from the wisdom in the room, as Inga’s just talking about now :)

Yes, please draw the curtain back!

Speaking of how fast things move with on-line... One challenge I have with all on-line events is that the break out sessions always seem too short! We are always just starting to open up and get talking when we're pulled back to the main session. Is there some value that I'm missing in that approach?

Perfect!

Working in brain-based education, yes — 10-15 minute segments, different modes, breaking up event into 2 shorter days — all essential strategies! 👍🏻

Bring your questions! Jason is a fountain of knowledge and experience!

So excited!

Very much looking forward to tomorrow’s masterclass!

That was great, Inga et al!

Looking forward to the possibilities!

Thanks everyone. Great session today! Have to go to another meeting. Look forward to tomorrow

Hopeful

thank you!

Thank you so much! I'm beyond excited to start planning BCMA's next conference!

Can’t wait to get all those ideas shared by everyone to try our next events

Thanks everyone!

feeling excited, thanks so much!!

Thank you Inga and Lynn. It was very informative. I feel like we can accomplish a blended conference in a positive way now.

Definitely find that the tech piece is the big challenge for me when it comes to having 2 different audiences. Excited for tomorrow.

Anxious yet determined

A little bit more knowledge about blended conferences.

Great conversations today — thank you. Loved the breakout!

Excited.Thanks everyone!

Thank you!

Thanks for today. I took down quite a few notes.

This is very clarifying - not sure it fills me with confidence that we'll proceed, but it's good to take it into consideration!

Lots of new ideas for blended events! I love finding new ways of using existing technology to do new things.

thank you@

Intrigued. Thanks Inga and Lynn. Lots of great info to digest.

Thank you

Highlighted the need for having two streams of programing for a hybrid event - not just putting a camera in the room of a live event and steaming it.

Miigwetch for today’s lessons :)

Thanks so much to the whole team there who supported today’s session

Thank you to everyone!

Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone!

https://digitalartsnation.ca/event/masterclass-on-blended-conferences-how-to-design-and-produce-awesome-online-hybrid-conferences/

For anyone wanting more detailed info - we put the link to the two guides we published, in your registration. There are also a number of articles and case studies as well!

thank you so much everyone! this has been really informative :)

Thank you!