Lights, Camera, Satisfaction

In late 2023, a global life sciences company approached Stagedge for help hosting a key virtual event for its leadership team, with 475 executives based around the world. The event would feature pre-recorded video segments, online breakout sessions, and live hosting by members of the company’s senior leadership team — and the company wanted to take the virtual corporate event to the next level. Working at record speed, our team focused on four customizations that pushed the limits of what a virtual event can be.

The challenge

The company wanted a more impressive, more streamlined experience than the previous year’s event, which a different production company had overseen. They needed a versatile technology platform that could handle pre-recorded video, online breakouts, and live hosting — all aligned with the client’s existing security, compliance, and IT requirements.

The Stagedge solution

First, we built a TV studio on-site. “We basically took a large conference facility and transformed it into a studio space, which meant popping out ceiling tiles and finding areas where lights could hang,” explains Mark Gionet, Stagedge account executive. “We built a top-notch TV studio in a space that wasn’t designed for it.” The studio included a constructed stage, additional lighting and power, and movable stage design elements and backdrops for maximum flexibility — built to get the most out of the motion camera used in live-hosting segments.

Second, the platform. “Our team came in — not only from a platform side of things, but also from the streaming side — and worked to check all the boxes required by the client’s security, compliance, and IT teams,” says Mike Basteri, senior director of client experience and solutions. The company required more than a dozen breakout sessions plus on-demand learning modules. After registering by email, attendees gained access to a customized event journey — moving between the livestream, pre-recorded content, and breakout rooms hosted in Microsoft Teams, the company’s familiar collaboration platform — along with live Q&A and a post-event survey.

The outcome

The on-site studio delivered a professional-caliber production environment the company’s executives were thrilled with. “We had a pretty intricate lighting setup, which allowed for different segments to have different feels,” says Jason Kershner, Stagedge director of video production. Beyond the single event, the studio’s value extended into the future: before it was disassembled, it was used to record segments for other corporate events, furthering the company’s marketing and communications strategies.