Workday broadcast the Predict and Prepare 2014 event last week from the PBS Tampa station, WEDU. The replay video is embedded below.
The feedback was excellent, and as we debriefed after the event, I had to marvel at the huge amount of detail that went into the production.
Tami Mandeville, Geoff McDonald and Felicia Egan of Workday worked out all the registration (over 1,300), travel, studio and broadcast logistics impeccably. They provided us detailed guidance like “avoid pinstripe and herringbone pattern clothing. Causes a moire distortion”. They pre-toured the studio to make sure the air-conditioning adequately offset the lighting heat.
They hired Conn Jackson, a celebrity in his own right to direct the production. Amazingly positive personality. WEDU had Sony HDC-950 Studio cameras, teleprompters, other technology and a slew of audio, lighting, makeup and other professionals that make the production look so good. It felt nice to walk in the footsteps of Jim Lehrer and other PBS broadcasters who have used the studio. On24 had a pleasant web experience for viewers (see still below), and we heard of a couple of viewers who watched the show on their mobile app. That’s clearly progress!
Bill Kutik is an absolute pro when it comes to moderating panels like this. Indeed, we were honored this was his 100th panel (and talking about small details – Workday honored him with a cake after dinner and took pains to order a carrot kind, after researching he is not a chocolate fan). He sweats the minutiae -and ran us through several iterations of our predictions for weeks before the event. (Just the high level predictions and the time guidelines – the details of what we covered were totally unscripted, something us panelists appreciated of the moderator)
I was delighted my fellow panelists, Naomi Bloom and Brian Sommer picked wide ranging predictions, not glib short term ones for the next few months. All of us had pages of typed and hand scribbled notes in prep.
Finally, I was pleased two of my hometown’s restaurants, Bern’s Steakhouse with its mind-blowing wine cellar (which impressed even the visitors from California) and Oystercatchers with its stunning bayfront and stone crabs shone a very nice light on Tampa for our visitors. I will take credit for the small detail of recommending these places:)
