While watching an episode of Conan I saw an ad for the Conan second screen experience called the “Team Coco” app. For those of you who have not heard of it, it encourages you to watch the TV show and follow along with your tablet for other viewer’s commentary and extended content. So this made me think about our coverage of events
What do we do today?
Most schools prove ones of these experiences
- Cover an event and after the event provide a news post which might include video, photos, etc (Verdict: Not real time, does not engage users during the event)
- Cover event with Storify (Verdict: Captures the pulse of user when they were engaged in the event, provides lasting archive)
- Cover the event with Twitter or CoveritLive (Verdict: Real time and captivates the experience of the event)
- Provide an interactive event portal (Verdict: Combines real time streaming, user engagement and lasting presence see UALR Live Commencement)
What could we be doing?
Based on the experience I had with the second screen I think there is room for growth. Here are some suggestions, a site similar to a live interactive event page that includes streaming, photos, twitter and or Facebook comments. There opportunity for growth is around providing extended content. In order to do this we need to plan our content prior to the event. We need to know the program and have prepared extended content.
Examples include
- Highlighted student profiles videos
- Retrospective of student life
- Historical footage of the university
- Extended versions of sections of the event
- Polling to get the pulse of the audience
- Gathering of student experiences, graduation is a day where many might reflect on their journey so try to capture that reflection
Again, I encourage you to take a look at the Team Coco app during an episode. Think about how it could augment your event coverage with some content planning prior to your events and create a more engaging experience.
