White Light's SmartStage Enables New Virtual Identity for Vistage International's Executive Summit

Having cancelled their live London Executive Summit due to COVID-19, world-leading executive coaching organization Vistage sought an innovative and fully digital solution enabling them to re-conceptualize and deliver this flagship event. To help bring the new digital format to life, technical solutions specialist White Light (WL) utilized its award-winning SmartStage studio in Wimbledon.

Formed over 60 years ago and comprising of 24,000 members from SMEs around the globe, Vistage annually connects more than 200 CEOs, MDs, and senior business leaders for their live summit. Following cancellation of the London event, Vistage required an advanced technological solution to deliver a series of expert-led coaching workshops to their audience, conducted safely online via a professional platform. Hiring WL's SmartStage facility enabled the live presenters to access a safely isolated location and work together from a social distance, while connecting with other remote presenters participating from the US.

James Thurlow, WL's Venue technical manager explains: "We embedded the stream within a purpose-built microsite, which not only assisted in branding the event but also enabled other functionality such as peer-to-peer chat and the submission of audience questions. We relayed these questions back to presenters in real-time, giving the feeling of 'live interaction.' The website also gave us the ability to display event insights such as information on the agenda, keynote speakers, and sponsors, as well as linking through to the client's social media channels. We added further variety to the transmission by employing a multi-cam set up in the studio and changed the city backdrops throughout the event."

The Executive Summit drew a peak audience of up to 486 delegates from 14 different countries, including South Africa, Australia, and the United States, all viewing the stream concurrently. The technology greatly enhanced the experience for all participants, allowing for natural visibility and engagement between the co-hosts, keynote speakers, and peer network, within a connected space. Sally Wells, Vistage chair for London comments: "This was my first experience of using SmartStage and I found the WL team hugely supportive throughout the whole process. The studio set-up provided a safe location where I could host our four live presenters from the required social distance and connect with other members of our expert panel remotely. Our studio time and costs were minimized, as the event went live without any need for pre-rehearsals and the solution enabled swift changes in our virtual backdrops and other content. Being able to naturally engage with the people I was addressing and interpret their body language and reactions, made it feel as close to a real-world event as possible."