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Centrifuge Media
Welcome to Open Mic with Centrifuge Media. Listen in monthly as we talk leading industry topics within the healthcare space on virtual, hybrid, and in-person event planning and best practices.
After two years of stops, starts, and disruptions, the live event industry finds itself at an exciting crossroads. Nothing about live events can be said to be the same as before the spring of 2020. The emergence of virtual technology in the event world wasn’t a mere pandemic band-aid; it’s a trend that will continue and prove they can play a critical role in any live-event strategy moving forward. Centrifuge Media’s Suzanne Tudman, a 3D Event Designer, and Steve Welch, Director of Creative Services, joined Open Mic’s Daniel J. Litwin for all the insights and latest information on the future of virtual and 3D environments for events.
“You know, we came from a place before the pandemic where we were creating projects that were for virtual reality, augmented reality, and a lot of training-type programs where participants would wear an Oculus headset and be immersed in a virtual world,” Welch said.
The pandemic moved people from the workplace to remote environments and, for a time, live events stopped, and companies like Centrifuge moved entirely into virtual events. And something that before the pandemic might look similar to a webinar or zoom meeting overnight became a broadcast identical to someone watching the nightly news. Bottom line: Welch said Centrifuge Media created many great interactive and engaging ways to bring people back together, virtually, when they couldn’t meet up in person.
Tudman spoke about the evolution of virtual events throughout the pandemic from a design aspect. “Going in to end of 2020, into 2021, we really needed to step it up and make it more interesting and more interactive. So, we created awards sets, we did a newsroom-style set, and even a homey kitchen where we sent clients taco kits, and they were able to watch a cooking demonstration in the virtual kitchen. We also created virtual tours for attendees where they could walk through a gamified space while clicking on hot spots to display content and video.
Many of Centrifuge’s partners had to furlough staff members who are not necessarily returning, leaving partners understaffed. These individuals opted for careers in stable industries such as construction, where their skill sets applied. This left inexperienced individuals in management positions. “It’s just another hurdle to get over when you’re already trying to go back to live events after a year and a half hiatus,” Highland said.
Because many clients relied on concert and party revenue, shifting to virtual events has not an option. “For a lot of people like us who are more production-focused, it was the ability to pivot and generate revenue through virtual events,” McDonald explained. The fixed overhead for managing a warehouse and storing large projectors requires massive footprint and cost, and the equipment is not easy to resell. This resulted in downsizing or leaving the industry for some. “They just didn’t have the in clientele that had the need for a virtual dynamic and they just postponed until they were able to go back to the in-person events again,” said Highland.
While the struggles are multifold, Highland says the industry will slowly correct itself. “As demand comes back, I think that we will see expansion back into their old territories, but I think it’s going to be slow and be very cautious expansion just to make sure they’re not overstretching themselves.”
For more updates on event productions, subscribe or visit www.centrifugemedia.com and follow Centrifuge Media on LinkedIn.
After almost two years of businesses having to pivot to exclusively virtual or hybrid events and productions, it seems like the norm. But how has this impacted the event and productions industry? Tanner Highland, Project Manager at Centrifuge Media and Jack McDonald, Director of Corporate Strategy at Centrifuge, joined Host Tyler Kern to discuss.
Many of Centrifuge’s partners had to furlough staff members who are not necessarily returning, leaving partners understaffed. These individuals opted for careers in stable industries such as construction, where their skill sets applied. This left inexperienced individuals in management positions. “It’s just another hurdle to get over when you’re already trying to go back to live events after a year and a half hiatus,” Highland said.
Because many clients relied on concert and party revenue, shifting to virtual events has not an option. “For a lot of people like us who are more production-focused, it was the ability to pivot and generate revenue through virtual events,” McDonald explained. The fixed overhead for managing a warehouse and storing large projectors requires massive footprint and cost, and the equipment is not easy to resell. This resulted in downsizing or leaving the industry for some. “They just didn’t have the in clientele that had the need for a virtual dynamic and they just postponed until they were able to go back to the in-person events again,” said Highland.
While the struggles are multifold, Highland says the industry will slowly correct itself. “As demand comes back, I think that we will see expansion back into their old territories, but I think it’s going to be slow and be very cautious expansion just to make sure they’re not overstretching themselves.”
For more updates on event productions, subscribe or visit www.centrifugemedia.com and follow Centrifuge Media on LinkedIn.
As leaders in the verticalized live events space, we couldn't have developed our portfolio of successful industry-specific projects and happy clients in the Life Sciences, Pharma, and Biotech industries without a dedication to understanding the nuances of today's live events, start to finish. We've created a company with touchpoints across the entire life cycle of an event, consulting on staging and event branding and developing set design.
The company launched in 2005, and there have been a lot of crucial moments that have defined our success. Rivers launched the company when he found a niche in the market that was lacking. They faced their first hurdle in 2008 when the economy tanked, but they learned a valuable lesson.
"The silver lining for us that at a very early stage in our development learning how to adapt and pivot," Rivers said. "For us, 2008 and the banking crisis and a recession certainly taught us a lot about how to make sure we're more readily prepared."
Listen to hear more about the podcast, the company, and where we're headed in the future.