In the first episode of series 4 we cover the feminist history of computing, albums as research projects, using Google Magenta AI as a compositional tool on YACHT’s album ‘Chain Tripping’, the changes in the platform economy as seen by musicians, making a living as a musician in pandemic times and more. This talk is one of the most far-reaching and resonant that we have had and makes a great start to this series.

Music and video festivals – in-person to streaming, and the future. Claudia and her husband Stefan founded the Digitalanalog experimental music and video festival in Germany 20 years ago. Over time, this has grown and evolved. However, in 2020 because of COVID, they held the festival as a virtual event. Claudia discusses the good and the bad points of doing this and how this will change the festival moving forward.

The future of corporate events, conferences and trade shows. Dena runs operation for a very large global events company who do some of the most high-profile corporate conferences, product launches and trade-show booths. She discusses how the pandemic has affected her industry, how they are adapting and what long-term changes this will bring.

The use of technology to rekindle events. James has supplied cutting-edge technology solutions for events such as the Super Bowl, CES exhibition booths, fashion shows, product launches and more. He discusses various ways that this technology can be used to create more memorable virtual experiences and how these will influence events after the pandemic.

The use of video holograms for next-generation events. Liz has had an incredibly successful and varied career as a moving-light technician, lighting designer and creative director, and more recently video holography expert and manufacturer of Holonet. She discusses how video holography is transforming both events and corporate videoconferencing.

Pivoting your business during COVID and new forms of livestreaming. Julien and Kevin have a very successful film production company but pivoted due to the pandemic as film sets were shut down to form a now highly successful company providing COVID monitoring and testing and PPE for film sets. Having been involved in some of the most innovative livestreamed concerts, they discuss how this will influence live concerts once these are possible again in-person.

The future of festivals and live concerts. Simon has been a live sound engineer for over 40 years covering events from 100-stage festivals and some of the largest classical events, to the closing ceremony of the London Paralympics and much more. He talks about how things are likely to change as live events finally are able to be staged again.

The future of trade shows and the state of the AV industry. Avixa is the AV industry trade organization as well as the organizer of the largest trade shows worldwide for our industry.

Representing the view of the architect in the design of the workspace. Architects have been thought to be the enemy of the AV industry, prioritizing aesthetics over acoustics and seeing building technology as a necessary evil. This is far from the truth and Michael argues for a closer integration of our disciplines as we look to what the workplace will look like and more importantly how it will facilitate wok in the information age and beyond.

Bernd runs a small but immensely innovative AV company in Germany, working for many large corporations. He talks about how his work has evolved from single-room AV design, through large integrated facilities to the current projects that he is involved in which feature rapid deployment of many sites with central monitoring and control.