TV to Cover the Action at March Meeting

The British television production company WebsEdge will add a new dimension to this year’s March Meeting. A camera and editing crew will be on site to do studio interviews and location filming. Daily one-hour segments will be aired on screens at the meeting, on hotel TV circuits, and online. The segments will also be archived for future viewing.  

WebsEdge specializes in producing television spots from meetings for meeting attendees. Among others, they have produced shows in conjunction with conferences of the American Psychological Association, the Materials Research Society and the American Historical Association.

“We’re pioneers in conference TV,” said Veronica Vaquer, a senior producer at WebsEdge. “We target specific issues for specific audiences.”

Terri Gaier, Director of Meetings for APS, said that bringing in WebsEdge is as much for APS members who aren’t at the meetings, as the ones who are.

“I think it’ll make them feel like part of the meeting,” Gaier said. “If they’re not there, they get to see what they missed and maybe come the next year.”

After they’re filmed and edited, the videos will be uploaded to the WebsEdge website and YouTube.

“We’re working to get the meeting to be a ‘must attend’ event and show the people who aren’t there what they’re missing,” Gaier said.

“[It’s] to create a buzz about the meeting.”

WebsEdge will be setting up a studio in the Baltimore Convention Center, and will be walking throughout the meeting for on-the-spot interviews.

“We’ll be interviewing people in the exhibit hall and by the registration desk,” Vaquer said. She added that the aim of the spots is to go into more depth with the researchers than a single sound bite. “It is more thoughtful and they have more time.”

Similar to network TV, WebsEdge finances its operations by recruiting sponsoring institutions who are featured in pre-produced videos that are included in the daily segments. There is no cost to APS, nor any increased charges to meeting attendees.