We are all getting pretty good at Zoom and video conferencing in general. At least, everyone thinks they are until they can’t figure out why the entire conference call can’t hear them or why the heck they are locked out of the event they set up? 

There’s always something that sneaks up on you just when you think you’ve mastered the art of the video conference. At Executive Speakers Bureau, we went through a trial and error period when the pandemic started just like everyone else. We were not immune to the internet missteps that led to awkward encounters or worse a missed connection altogether. But that was before we integrated LeaderPass into our process and teamed up to create flawless virtual events for our clients. LeaderPass is a live event, virtual platform created to equip and support event producers in making a virtual event feel as real and engaging as in-person conferences.

Here are some of the worst issues we encountered before we made the leap with LeaderPass. If you can relate, it may be time to let us take over and have LeaderPass set you up for success.

The Case of the Missing Link

A true nightmare came to us one night when we realized our event held overseas the following morning at 6 am had no link for our speaker to use to gain access. We had sent multiple reminders and requests to our client prior, but to no avail. We stayed up all night hoping to catch our clients on their time schedule before the speaker was supposed to take center stage...or video. 

Fortunately, we managed to reach them RIGHT before the big event and quickly shoot the link over to our speaker. But the sleepless night left us running on zero. We don’t wish that on our worst enemy. 

Lost in the Twilight Zone

The scariest thing we’ve experienced is receiving an onslaught of emails, texts, and phone calls from a client telling us the speaker is late to the event. Unfortunately, it took a calamity to figure out calendar invites do not always convert time zones. Our client in Singapore was expecting our speaker to host a video conference in the middle of the night! We made sure LeaderPass easily converts everything properly so we will never have to wake up to a crisis.  

Ursula Strikes Again

You know the story of the Little Mermaid, where Ariel trades her leg with the evil sea witch Ursula in exchange for her voice? Well, we had a similar story, but instead of losing your legs, our client lost $6,000. Scary, we know. 

We had an event where our client, based in Asia, set up a link for the speaker to present at their virtual conference. Apparently, during the setup, they checked the wrong box and that little mistake prevented the entire audience from hearing the speaker. Our speaker had no idea this was going on when he started presenting, and actually finished his entire keynote without knowing. His voice was stolen by a video conferencing app, but to get it back, the client had to pay $6,000 to reschedule and redo the session with the speaker...with the right box checked this time. 

A Pirate Attack

This one would have been funny if it wasn’t so mortifying. During a large virtual event, right in the middle of the keynote speaker’s presentation, someone from outside the organization hacked into the event. This was no friendly breech. The hacker began leaving inappropriate comments and dropping profanity bombs like they were trying to sink our ship. 

Luckily, our client had an adept IT team that was able to block the hacker, but their intrusion completely derailed the event and caused quite the stir. 

Let our virtual horror stories serve as cautionary tales for you. Next time you are bringing a speaker to your virtual event, let us keep things moving smoothly with our collaboration with LeaderPass. And hopefully, these scary tales can be nothing more than folklore. 

Download our LeaderPass brochure