New Scientist

Unable to host their annual events in-person, Hub devised a virtual solution that enabled New Scientist Live to reinvent itself during the pandemic. To date Hub has produced three large virtual events for New Scientist on the following themes: Food & Agriculture; Future of Health; Sustainable Future.

The main components of the virtual events included: 

• A main stage hosted from the Hub studio was set up for pre-recorded talks and live studio broadcasts, as well as ‘in conversation with’ segments with individual speakers.

• Two additional virtual stages were delivered remotely, featuring talks, exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ access, experiments and demonstrations.

• A range of interactive options and features to share content and engage with visitors through online chat functionality.

• Over 50 sessions were made available for attendees throughout each day.

• Designated partner pages were created featuring brand logos, talks and links to partners websites and socials. Additionally, partners were given the ability to host their own rooms and Q&A sessions.

• Custom-designed sets were built in the Hub studio in line with each event’s theme and New Scientist branding guidelines. Online, we created a virtual staging design for each of the three stages and used the same graphic assets across all the sets for consistency.

• On the day, Hub took care of the production, covering all of the technical logistics such as pre-recording talks, remote videos and live video streaming across the various rooms.

• Post broadcast, Hub created on-demand content available for anybody that missed the events. 

• Analytic reports were produced for New Scientist on attendance, performance and feedback.

Throughout 2021, Hub also produced six online debates. These evening panel discussions were remotely operated with speakers and hosts filmed from the safety of their own homes.

These popular online events were fully interactive with live Q&A sessions and up to five speakers. Hub created an animated scene setter and graphics to create a consistently branded and visually engaging format for the events.

Additionally, over 50 evening guest speaker events have been filmed for New Scientist. These monetised events were filmed on location with a live audience, guest speaker and Q&A sessions. The pre-recorded content was then streamed out later in the week for an online audience.

To date Hub has also produced eight online learning courses for New Scientist Academy. Each course focuses on one specific topic and includes up to four speakers. As well as video content there were articles and resources to download at each online monetised event.

With total attendance at the first virtual event reaching over 25,000 with nearly 3000 unique attendees, New Scientist was delighted with the results. Hub and New Scientist have been working closely ever since.

In 2021, over 60,000 people registered for New Scientist events. New Scientist and Hub are now looking forward to another bumper year of events in 2022.