Partner Pivot: Suite Spot’s holistic approach to digital event content in 2020

In November, we celebrated some outstanding partners that Grae’s teams have worked with over the years. As we all know, 2020 asked the events industry to reinvent itself. This January we are taking it a step further and sharing how our partners have evolved in response to these challenges - in their own words.

Suite Spot formed in 2004 to drive innovation and production value for clients creating branded entertainment and IP driven content. As 2020 forced teams and companies to connect digitally, Suite Spot stepped up to the plate to make sure clients were producing the best content possible with the best tools available. Where some saw a challenge, Suite Spot saw an opportunity to more holistically support clients with live streaming capabilities and created the Remote Control Room. From state-of-the-art post-production to live streaming events from their studios, Suite Spot works as a one-stop-shop for all of their clients' creative production needs and digital events.

Q: Let's go way back to 2019 and early 2020.. in your words, what was Suite Spot up to then?

A: The model of helping our clients figure out the best way to accomplish their goals using premium content goes back to our inception in a single NYC office back in February 2004. With commercial projects and post production making up 50% of our projects, live streaming was the other half of the business which involved our Tech Team's extensive research and development on emerging technologies, including R&D on virtual production. In 2019 and up to March 2020, Suite Spot produced projects from our offices and locations in NYC, LA, and SF which took us around North America and across the world several times. In January 2020, we produced a live event for the Bad Boys for Life premiere and connected six theaters in various markets live with Will Smith on Hollywood Boulevard. In February we were booking up projects for later in the year. In early March 2020, Suite Spot did a number of virtual events using LED backdrops and onsite teams as the world slowly restricted in-person gatherings.

Q: How did that evolve in 2020?

A: Suite Spot was always been a tech-leaning company and we were thankfully ready for the pivot 2020 brought the world. Things started to evolve in early March as we all began working remotely from home, from select offices, and newly-opened locations that were not in a metropolis. In late March 2020, we went live on a show with our first Remote Control Room from our LA facility and from there we began professionally producing digital events for our clients and never looked back. We are currently running seven rooms and have plans to expand in 2021.

Q: What was Suite Spot's thorn and rose of 2020?

A: The rose of 2020 was that Suite Spot was able to help our clients to pivot and Suite Spot had its busiest and most successful year in 16+ years. The thorn of 2020 was having to watch the production world, locations, process, and personnel hit hard times while struggling to stay relevant. We have a bittersweet success story with 2020, however, the sweet portion does include the number of people we were able to hire and support along with clients we teamed up with to get their messages to their audiences.

Q: What do you hope the future holds?

A: Is this a trick question? I hope that the future helps people to appreciate the now and plan better for the future. I hope that people can adapt existing skill sets to relevant and new skill sets. For me, I see that the adoption of technology was accelerated by 5+ years and we are using similar tools that have been at our disposal pre-2020. Zoom will have a challenger, which is inevitable with the demand-and-supply nature of technology. People will begin to invest heavily in prosumer equipment for their at-home A/V setups but will still need training and practice on how to get the best quality and performance. I do believe the future will lead us to better technology at a much faster rate and a younger workforce that is as familiar with our business tools as working professionals.

Q: What are you most looking forward to in 2021?

A: In 2021 I'm selfishly looking forward to better production value across the board for viewers and content producers. I'm looking forward to having a look and feel of a gaming engine or entertainment environment for shows and socializing.  I am hopeful we can begin to travel again for projects but I am not really sure that is realistic. I truly am hopeful and looking forward to seeing how vaccines will allow this country and the world to open borders while keeping safety as the priority.

Looking to take your virtual event content to the next level? Drop us a line.