It wasn’t all that long ago that the terms livestreaming and hybrid events were something for tech geeks in the know. Today, in the summer of 2022, most of us can sing a song about virtual meetings with ZOOM, MS Teams or WebEx. The verses deal with webcams and microphones, bandwidths and network connections, green screens and virtual backgrounds. Although two years of the pandemic have given digitalization a powerful boost, the song is now hanging out of our ears. Will livestreams and hybrid events be remembered as one-hit wonders, or is a previously unknown genre currently in a temporary slump and soon to soar to new heights?
Perhaps it will help if we take another look at the characteristics of digital events and take a closer look at the notes, so to speak. We discovered the microphones and webcams on our laptops because face-to-face meetings were simply not possible. The justified concern about infection and the further spread of the pandemic is too great. In a way, it is a tool to contain the pandemic, but also to stay in contact and exchange ideas despite the restrictions. First on a small scale, within private communities, and then quite quickly on a large scale, within companies, locally, regionally and internationally.
Service providers of video platforms recognized their opportunities, successively expanded their offerings and designed increasingly user-friendly software. On the user side, confidence in dealing with a wide range of software products grew with each additional virtual meeting. What was once only of interest to a few has become general digital knowledge. Virtual life, on numerous channels, at all times.
Until March 2020, I myself only used the video function on my laptop occasionally, and I hardly ever used my cameras, and when I did, it was only very rarely. Both the time required for creation and post-processing and the necessary investment in computer power were too high for me. This view changed abruptly at the start of the pandemic.
I was gripped by the newly discovered possibilities. On the one hand out of entrepreneurial interest, because my field of work of photographic event documentation came to a complete standstill within a very short time and a new source of income had to be found. On the other hand, because of the instruments that are becoming increasingly recognizable to me, their individual sounds and the associated opportunities for design. Today I no longer see a single instrument. I see an entire orchestra and thus the option of diverse and varied audiovisual streams.
But what are the reasons for always playing the same notes in the same sequence?
We want security. A desire that is firmly anchored in human nature. The playful approach from the initial phase has given way to rigid sequences and structures. Streaming scenarios that have been tested for the first time and then rehearsed in realization are consolidated and always implemented in the same way. This makes sense, because not every event or meeting needs shots from multiple perspectives, varied lighting or a creative combination of the numerous possibilities for interaction between participants on location and in front of the end devices. And yes, the more the numerous options have to be combined and coordinated with each other, the more they may not work according to plan. It therefore makes sense to weigh up the effort involved and the associated potential risks.
However, if this takes us in a direction that results in every digital event being produced in the same way, boredom and oversaturation are inevitable. If opportunities and possibilities remain unused and the digital keyboard is not played with ease, there will be no new audiovisual sounds. What helps is a “back to square one”, but with the diverse experiences from the livestreams and hybrid events produced so far.
