The way of the future — Hosting in the COVID-19 Era

During circuit breaker here in Singapore, I’ve had to ask myself what the future of events look like. Many clients aren’t sure what their event budgets should be for a virtual event.

Soon, I would be on set to work on a pre-recorded “live event”, the paradox of it all.

When the team at The Finder approached me to be their Awards Presenter for their inaugural E Awards 2020 in June, we had that first chemistry chat on what their expectations were. The Finder’s ethos is to help “expatpreneurs” and global-locals here in Singapore, live well.

This inaugural E-Awards 2020 aim to highlight outstanding brands by “expatpreneurs” who had pivoted well with online marketing and services during this time of #COVID19.

In light of #COVID19, Director and Head of Community at Moovaz, Ms Sara Lyle Bow felt it was imperative for safety to be observed, but also saw a need to stay connected with their community of “expatpreneurs”, especially during this challenging business climate of the pandemic.

Filming commenced 2 weeks before the live broadcast. Whilst the audience polling were ongoing, the team worked on the script and program flow, translating their vision of how the physical event might look and sound, as a virtually hosted one!

This was the first, nobody knew better but to go back to age old question of: what do I want the audience to feel?

At some point, the awkward and funny questions we asked each other were: should I clap and cheer as I would at the live event? Or would it be less contrived if we insert canned applause and cheers? How best to film the “big reveal” in an exciting and authentic manner, when the results not out yet?

In all, the shoot was a culmination of laughter, creativity on the go from our film crew and the joint effort of judging panel, nominees and post editing team’s vision.

For me, it felt like a beautiful marriage of my experience with onscreen presentation and live events hosting. Congratulations to The Finder for pulling off a successful inaugural E-Awards 2020!

Find out more about The Finder and Moovaz