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I have been in the digital media space since 1999, and I now have the honor of leading 1,300 global professionals at Intrado Digital Media, where we are working with over 13,000 clients around the world helping them deliver mission‐critical communications to their employees, customers, media, and investors. I have always believed that virtual events add to any physical event and that all organizations should be taking most of their events hybrid; to me it's all about reaching your audience wherever they are, and on any device they choose.

So, let's get one thing straight: Virtual events do not cannibalize physical events; the world is what cannibalizes physical events. If you create meaningful and engaging virtual events, they're going to drive your audience to want to be there physically if they can.

I have had the honor to work with some of the most recognizable brands in the world and some of the most talented and creative people. We've helped an incredible number of organizations make the leap into the world of virtual events. Throughout this book we will not only tell you about going virtual, we will give you the tools and know‐how to help make your move into this exciting world that is needed now more than ever before. For those of you already creating virtual events we will give you some insight on what works and doesn't work, as well as plenty of checklists, best practices, and tips; consider this book your virtual events playbook!

Let's start with my journey into this world of streaming, hybrid, and virtual events so I can show you why I'm the guy that can successfully guide you through your virtual event journey.

My first hybrid event was for a major designer's fashion show at Grand Central Terminal in New York, where there was physical audience and a virtual audience.

The ask from this client was: How do you take the intimacy of a fashion show, with models walking down a runway, and make it exciting for the journalists, buyers, and customers who could not make it to NYC for Fashion Week and secure the hard‐to‐get ticket?

We were able to do this by giving the virtual audience the best seat in the house and incredible camera angles, but the key element was giving this audience more, which included a behind‐the‐scenes look at what goes on backstage to put on a fashion show. They were able to actually ask a designer questions before the show, and as a little sneak peek, the virtual attendees saw the new fashions a few moments before the actual live attendees did.

My second hybrid event that we produced was for one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Their ask was: How do we not only make the virtual audience feel like they are at the concert, but allow them to be the director of their version of the show wherever they were watching the concert?

This event was taking place at the then‐named Garden State Art Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, with 10,000‐plus screaming fans at the venue and tens of thousands watching via web who we not only gave the concert experience to but also allowed them to get involved in the show. In short, we got creative and this is how we did it:

1 We had a typical concert five‐camera production setup, with a camera set up for wide shots so you could see the entire band. There was another camera set up so you could see the lead singer, and an overhead camera so you could see the whole band from above. Lastly, we had an additional camera focused on the audience and a final mobile camera so you could get various closeups on stage.

2 To get creative we decided to give the virtual audience control of their camera views and also added three more lipstick cameras (they are called lipstick cameras because they are the size of a lipstick) so we could put one on the lead singer's microphone, put one around the neck of the drummer, and the last on the hat of the lead guitarist. While you were watching virtually you could either watch a mixed program feed that we directed or at any time you could click to the view that you wanted. Giving the controls to the audience gave them the ability to not only watch the concert but see the concert the way they wanted to.

3 We set up a pre‐concert virtual meet‐and‐greet with the band, where a few lucky virtual attendees got to ask the band questions before the concert.

4 We also enabled one lucky virtual attendee to request a song that the band would play at this concert.

End result, the virtual audience had a unique experience that they would not have had at the live concert.

Now let's fast‐forward to today and the reasons that have brought you to pick up this book. Where were you when the world changed forever and got you to this point? The point where virtual and hybrid events became a necessity in not only your event strategy but your overall business strategy.

I was just getting back from our sales kickoff world tour. We started in New York and then went to Chicago; Los Angeles; Toronto; London; France; Malmo, Sweden; and our last location was Sydney, Australia. We flew home on a Thursday. On the following Monday I was asked to join a call with one of the largest online retailers in the world for their Entrepreneurial Fund event, where they were going to give $5 million in investment funding to the winners. They had decided to cancel their physical event in China because of the risk COVID‐19 was posing to the world. In under 11 business days we created their first‐ever virtual event, where they had over 45 presenters from all over the world who could not make the trip to China, or were down‐right prohibited from making it. Little did we know when we were helping them move this incredible event from a physical event to virtual event that this would be the start of a global movement that would take us from interacting in person with business associates and friends at physical events to a world of work from home, videoconferences, and 100% virtual events.

I haven't looked back since, and I expect virtual will remain a highly valuable channel for our future and a driver of revenue and profit growth, but success will depend on delivering truly innovative programs that educate and inspire your audiences and deliver meaningful and measurable ROI to customers and sponsors.

This book, your virtual events playbook, will give you the knowledge you need to navigate this new world of virtual events and to plan and execute a successful virtual event strategy! I tapped into some of the most knowledgeable professionals I know in the world of broadcast television, streaming, event production, design, and marketing and asked them for their secrets on how to make the leap into virtual events. I have incorporated these tips into this book; I cannot thank them enough for the invaluable input. I am excited that you picked this book to help you on your journey into the incredible world of virtual events and remember when reading it that this is your journey and you have to add your own creativity and look at this adventure as a blank canvas to create something memorable. I cannot wait to participate in one of your events!