It’s not only history
It’s been 133 years since the first-ever video recording (more accurately, the oldest film that still exists) made its appearance. It was a glimpse of a two-second video filmed in Great Britain in 1888. Many years later, video technology, as we came to know it, started as the videotape recorder (VTD) in 1951. It was the first technological invention that could record live images by writing electrical signals onto magnetic videotapes.
Now, 70 years later, for many people video has become the second most direct and common communication tool.
Nowadays
Video these days is inextricable from our day-to-day life. Its usage in the last 20 years has massively increased, from a simple video call with our friends and family to video conferences at corporate and educational levels worldwide. Meetings with international clients arranged and conducted in a day, professors giving lectures, and classes taking place in a global web classroom, all come down to virtual meetings and worldwide conferences.
That was the idea that “saved the day” when the 2019 global pandemic struck. Suddenly the status changed for many organizations. People had to carry on doing their jobs from home while keeping communication intact. Many meetings had to be canceled or postponed until everything was back to normal. But professionals had to keep connecting and exchanging ideas. Industrial, medical, educational, and a long list of fields should not stop sharing their knowledge.
Virtual meetings
This need to maintain communication pushed most towards virtual meeting platforms. It was the only solution that gave organizations the opportunity to the organizations to continue sharing their ideas, talks, and experiences. Virtual meetings had to rise to the occasion and provide features that could give the participants a more in-person feel, and they succeeded.
Virtual meetings gave the opportunity for people from all around the world to attend, share and learn. Online auditorium talks, virtual workshops, and poster sessions all using video presentations either live or pre-recorded.
Live presentations made it possible for people to actually present their work in front of their colleagues instead of reading endless papers and PowerPoint slides of speeches and real-life cases. Attendees could listen to the presenter's explanation and analysis, making it easier for everyone to understand and comprehend the paper.
The average person remembers 95% of a message when it is watched, whereas only 10% when read. Video can hold the viewer’s attention by placing the presenter the center.
The list of the benefits goes on and on, but there are a few cons that should be taken into consideration. Let us jst point out a few significant pros and cons:
Pros:
- There is a direct share of feelings and thoughts among the participants. It’s the “live” part that creates the “on-site” feeling.
- It enables human interaction during live presentations with Q&As or polls that engage the audience.
- The main advantage of virtual meetings is the cost, which also comes down to presentations. Less space, many fewer people to get the work done, very low cost of video production.
Cons:
- The biggest flaw of live presentations is the connectivity or equipment issues that may come up. It is something unpredictable that in many cases can cause an unsuccessful presentation.
- It is stressful for the organization because they have to keep everything on time. Very good and precise scheduling is required.
Getting deeper into the use of video presentations, virtual meetings took the advantage of even implementing the pre-recorded form. People could just take the same concept of “real-time” presentation and actually upload it to a meeting’s platform and make their work “live” for more than the conference days. A significant reason for the use of pre-recorded presentations is the assurance of the conference flow; no bad internet connections or computer issues can stop the flow of the program. Like live presentations, pre-recorded presentations have pros and cons as well. Let’s have a look at them:
Pros:
- From the presenter’s point of view, they have to stay focused only on their presentation, with no interruptions or distractions.
- Gives the opportunity for the best “take” of the presentation, meaning that the presenters can try to make the best presentation and choose to upload that one.
- Eliminates the issues that could halt the presentation, like connection problems on live presentations.
- The presentation can be available for a long period of time, so everyone can go back online and watch it.
Cons:
- The quality of the video is not the same for every presentation, as there is not a common means (record device, software, etc.) for every presenter. They have to create the presentation without assistance, using their own equipment.
- The above leads to this disadvantage; it’s not easy for most to create a video of themselves presenting. Lack of technical knowledge is the main problem hence instructions must be highly organized and support ready to be given.
- There is a lack of live interaction among the participants, the presenter, and the audience.
We can surely say that video presentations played a vital role in virtual meetings. Companies saw that and continue to do even better by applying better practices and support to the organizations in order to eliminate most of the cons and provide a reliable solution to the virtual need.
Where ePostersLive comes in?
ePostersLive was there when this transition came to happen to provide our solution for virtual poster presentations. We immediately implemented new features to give an “in-person” feel to the presenters and poster session attendees. We continued to do our work on collecting your abstracts and posters. We added a larger focus on video and audio presentations to fit alongside poster submissions, transforming a plain poster into an actual presentation, published online and available for viewing easily from every computer.
We took that experience and implemented it in more than 30 events in 2020. We supported not only the digital posters, but virtual, pre-recorded, and live presentations with optional hosting solutions and consultation for planning successful events.