The world’s leading water conference, the World Water Week, normally attracts thousands of visitors to Stockholm in August each year, but this year, Covid-19 put a stop to that. Instead, the event was transformed into an online event, with 13,000 participants in 188 different countries. Here’s what Twenty Studios has to say about the keys behind the success:
– It was a phenomenal success!
Those words were uttered by Katarina Liljegren Swahn, Senior Manager Format & Logistics of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). The SIWI has organized the World Water Week ever since 1991 and has the experience to organize big and complex physical events. Creating a captivating online event, however, was a brand-new experience for them.
– We really needed to find an accomplished partner to collaborate with. After the open tender procedure, coupled with follow-up interviews, we went with Twenty Studios, and we are happy with that choice, she says.
At Twenty Studios, everyone is thrilled to have been entrusted with producing the event for SIWI, and this was the biggest contract in the history of the company, and it definitely posed a challenge. So, what was their solution?
Hundreds of digital sessions over a week
In one week, a total of 418 sessions were broadcasted in six parallel channels.
– Twenty Studios most importantly produced our center-stage events, like panel discussions, award ceremonies, and similar big events, says Katarina Liljegren of SIWI.
– Here at Twenty Studios, we have green screen studios, and they allow us to work with digital set design. We created six different stages for the different segments and adapted the graphics so that they all got an individual look. It’s the same concept used by any TV network, where each show gets their own studio and a graphic design that’s uniquely theirs, says Jesper Söderström, executive producer at Twenty Studios, adding:
– Our team here at Twenty Studios and the SIWI team worked closely together toward the common goal of creating an interesting and great-looking event.
The benefits of a digital event
– We are so happy with this year’s World Water Week, says SIWI’s Deputy Director Gabriela Suhoschi. For us, it is important to be a global meeting place for water and development issues, and I think it’s amazing that we managed to attract 13,000 participants from 188 different countries. And it keeps on spreading, since the recorded material still reaches a lot of viewers through Youtube and other social channels. We have truly discovered the benefits of online events.
According to Håkan Stigh, co-founder of Twenty Studios, the fact that they have expanded and added more studios this past year means they now have the capacity to accept projects of this size, and more importantly, they have succeeded in creating a team with highly skilled and experienced professionals.
– Everyone involved did an amazing job in creating this truly unique event. All the positive feedback that we’ve received, not just from SIWI, but also from participants of the event, really makes you proud, and it warms your soul. Naturally, we hope to be entrusted with this event next year, too, and I think that we will get to see a hybrid of digital and physical activities, says Håkan Stigh.
Seven elements of success behind the World Water Week 2021, according to Twenty Studios
1. Proper planning – of everything, ranging from the content to the production practicalities
with around 20 physical participants in the studio and some 50-plus digital participants.
2. A tight-knit collaboration between the client and Twenty Studios.
3. The use of and access to green screen studios – for a more sophisticated and flexible
set design.
4. Having a center stage for the main activities that
tie the event together.
5. Having an excellent event platform – one that offers you a good overview of the all the activities,
and also has good solutions for one-on-one meetings.
6. Dare to think big! Don’t let a high number of sessions, participants,
etc. faze you.
7. Having a brilliant team made up of skilled, experienced professionals.
