When running a busy CPA firm with offices scattered across the country, how can you bring all your key players together to celebrate the firm’s accomplishments and prepare them for the upcoming year?
Even before COVID, the simplest answer was a virtual presentation. But when your firm has grown by leaps and bounds through your team’s hard work, you know they deserve more than a dull recital of figures. They deserve to be wowed. And as online meetings have become the norm in the era of COVID, the sound of a virtual presentation has begun to sound like the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon. You will want a dynamic virtual presentation to send your associates off into the new year with enthusiasm and energy.
Aprio, a top 50 CPA firm with clients in all fifty states wanted its annual update for the leadership team to happen live on Youtube, and they wanted the fun vibe of an upbeat talk show. The creative team envisioned an opening monologue from the CEO, pre-taped segments, in-studio guests on the couch chatting with the host, and a finale with all the new partners gathered on stage. And to give the presentation real energy, they wanted it to happen live, just like a daily talk show.
However a talk show has a professional television production staff, and most CPA firms do not.
A Team the Ellen Show Would Be Jealous Of
Aprio needed a lot of resources to make the show happen. Needs included a studio, audio technicians, cameramen, lighting, cameras, equipment, teleprompters, and expertise. In the end, they called on their long-time partner, Atlanta Pro AV.
Atlanta Pro AV provided the full suite of professionals to make it all work. This included renting the studio to advising on the blocking and staging, . Combined with Aprio’s creative team, they had all the ingredients for a full-blown television production. But even with all that firepower, it takes a lot of effort to make a television production look effortless. It takes rehearsal.
Practice Makes Perfect
The day before the live broadcast, the whole team came together in the studio to run through the presentation. The rehearsal gives the presenters the chance to review and adjust the scripts. It is also a chance to practice movements throughout the live one-hour presentation.
The team had chosen to add a complete set change in the middle of the broadcast. For the viewer, that meant that the presenters are seen sitting on a couch chatting, then after a clip, they’re seen standing in a completely different setting, with a new background.
Moving the crew and the equipment isn’t practical, so the stage would have to be transformed and shooting angles shifted in a short window of time. For this production, that meant four cameras, two for each setting. Changes like that require a lot of preparation. The rehearsal is the opportunity to choreograph the crew and presenters’ movement on stage and off. Adjusting lighting, moving equipment, dressing sets, and timing the script on the teleprompter all also need to be tested with everyone in the room for the live presentation to run seamlessly.
When the big day came, the show ran flawlessly. The new partners were introduced to the organization nationwide and the vision for a successful 2022 was mapped out in a lively chat led by Aprio CEO Richard Kopelman. Reach out to the team at Atlanta Pro AV to get your company moving forward. We can offer guidance on how to make your virtual presentation rise above the noise.
