Conference VOD is good, quickly-available conference VOD is better
LISBON
With hundreds of panels spread across 15 stages, keeping up with the programming at Web Summit here has once again been impossible–but even catching the entirety of panels in this conference’s densely-packed schedule while also making it to my own meetings and finding time to write has been a challenge.
Which is why I have to commend the conference app that has been the subject of earlier gripes here for doing one thing quite well: video on demand of sessions on side stages. And Web Summit’s app has been serving this up not days or weeks later as at other conferences I’ve covered lately, but often minutes after a session wraps.
For center-stage programming, I’ve had the same option any of you do at home: Web Summit’s YouTube live video. This has also offered me the option of viewing on my laptop, although on any size of screen the YouTube feed comes with ad breaks.
Both of these options have bailed me out multiple times when I’ve taken too long to get from one place to another or just lost track of time.
(Note: The schedule included three panels I moderated, in return for which the organizers once again covered my lodging and are reimbursing my airfare.)
Having this resource at hand has also helped me do my job in a less obvious way: I can easily verify that my notes have somebody’s remarks and other panel details correct by skipping to that point in the recording.
This is a good and useful thing for a conference to do for its attendees. And while it might be a bit much to hope that other gatherings match Web Summit’s events in such aspects as, say, speaker-lounge catering, quickly-available VOD shouldn’t be as scarce as it is today.
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