Take a fly-through this custom-designed 360 virtual environment, produced by Alt Ethos and used to host an immersive 360 virtual reality event. This global 500 company hosted this unique awards event for over 150 people. The end results were branded VR cardboard headsets sent to all attendees, unboxing event (tech support) 3 days prior to the live event, live event – real hologram speakers on stage, avatars in the audience, pre-recorded keynote and branding on all screens.
Alt Ethos is excited to report a strong and consistent attendance rate for the duration of the program. Peak 184 out of the anticipated 160 attendees with a 94% retention rate. Compared to national averages for virtual events that report just a 50% conversion rate from those who registered to those who actually attended, the SkinCeuticals NSTM Awards Ceremony had a peak viewership of more than 100% the anticipated number of attendees (the anticipated number of attendees was 160 based on the number of headsets shipped).
Ready to take your virtual event to the next level?
“I don’t know about you, but I have caught the travel bug. COVID-19 has taken a toll on everyone’s mental health it seems, and more often I find myself longing to get away. The urge to travel is partially a longing to connect, not just with other people but with the natural world.”–anonymous
COVID-19 has affected the lives of every American in ways we are still grasping to understand. From financial stress to unprecedented changes in school and business, there is nothing our nation has faced quite like this. Now more than ever, people are longing for something to pull them out of the chaos. And now more than ever we need to make wise choices in how we travel. We are longing for opportunities to experience the beauty and to connect with what’s around us.
One of the ways people in the Northwest have increasingly chosen to connect during COVID-19 is through the National Park system. Wyoming, for example, has had some of the lowest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths in the nation. Their national parks, including Grand Teton and Yellowstone, were able to remain open for the majority of the COVID-19 pandemic with very little outbreaks. Enjoying the great outdoors has become one of the easiest and healthiest ways to be physically distant and remain in-tune with the outside world. The outdoors will remain throughout the winter months.
However, experiences in the outside world don’t have to be limited to the national parks. In a world with an ever-increasing demand for individual, and oftentimes virtual experiences, digital designs are playing a vital role in a physically distanced pandemic America.
Digital designs are one of the most affordable and diverse ways to transform public spaces in ways that would be too cost-prohibitive for traditional capital improvements to take place. For example, holiday tree lightings, modern drive-in theatres, and socially-distanced architectural projection mapping offer the opportunity to set up live experiences with minimal changes to the structural environment. Drive-thru and drive-in live experiences offer the chance to mimic the traditional performance environment without costly overhead or unsafe practices during COVID-19 shutdowns.
Experiential design has been at the forefront of our culture preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. They offer the benefits of a communal social function while allowing individuals to participate from the safety and comfort of their cars, outdoors, or from the comfort of your home. These options offer the blend of privacy and community that many are craving right now. And, there are many other options for virtual live experiences that are just scratching the surface of what we’re able to accomplish within the digital pace.
Join us this holiday season in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Where Cheyenne is bringing the lights to the holidays this year. Alt Ethos will feature two light experiences in Cheyenne this holiday season. On Saturday, November 21st, and Friday, November 27th we light up the Downtown Lighting Celebration through architectural mapping of the train depot located at 121 W 15th Street. That’s not all! From November 21 through January 1st, 2021, come by the Prime Time Holiday Drive-Thru at Blue FCU located at 2401 E. Pershing Blvd, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001.
The post-pandemic world is undetermined. What do we want to use to shape it, and how will we as individuals and communities contribute? That is the question that digital art and technology can provide if we are confident enough to venture out.
Free Consultation
Note: Always follow the recent guidelines from local health and state agencies as well as the recommendations of the CDC to stay safe. If you or someone you spend time with have compromising health concerns, please avoid crowds.
Themed Future-Proofing Museums & New Realities, the New Mexico Association of Museums (NMAM) will offer their annual conference in an innovative, live-streaming format. Alt Ethos experiential design studios hosts NMAM’s 2020 virtual event. Alt Ethos’ CEO, Ethan Bach will present at the conference, as will his 14-year-old daughter who will hold a demonstration in Minecraft. Over 40 talented speakers in the Museum industry will present at this year’s annual conference. The conference is held November 4-6, 2020. Registration for the conference starts at $38 . You can register here.
The conference theme, Future-Proofing Museums & New Realities, will explore the process of anticipating, coping, and preparing for future impacts beyond our immediate control. Changes in our world, including climate change, technological advances, shifting demographics, and a global pandemic are transforming all aspects of museum and cultural work, from marketing and fundraising, policies and procedures, and collections management, to visitor experience. NMAM, a professional interest group for the museum field, isleading by example as they continue to provide their network with professional development and support. Museums are faced with site closures, staff reductions, budget cuts, and even the specter of permanent closure. According to NMAM President Adrienne Trunk Boggs: “We cannot allow this to happen in New Mexico. Museums are key to our social recovery from Coronavirus. The nature of how we serve our communities must evolve to ensure that museums remain relevant for the next seven generations.”
Alt Ethos’s CEO, Ethan Bach will speak on technology, museums, and the future. He has a long history with NMAM and it’s partners. Bach served at the Institute of American Indian Arts for over ten years with his most recent role as the Digital Dome Director where he led 360 research and education at the Digital Dome @ IAIA. Bach also provided media consulting and services for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs during his time living in Santa Fe.
The featured keynote address will be delivered by noted Chicana writer and cultural activist Denise Chavez and the full program includes half-day workshops, interactive networking opportunities, a variety of streaming multimedia productions, a virtual expo and tech showcase for vendors and sponsors, and live sessions on a variety of themes, including online learning, planning for continued disruption, human rights, and cultural equity. The program will culminate with live virtual exhibit tours. “It’s an honor to collaborate with NMAM to ease them into their first virtual conference.
The New Mexico Association of Museums (NMAM) Annual Conference is held November 4-6, 2020. Basic Registration for the conference is just $38. You can get your registration here.
COVID-19 has cost our nation so much in 2020. It has cost many individuals and small business owners their financial security, while others are struggling to cope with major changes in their duties as parents, employees, and leaders. Even for those who have not been directly impacted by loss of income or life, physical distancing limitations have put daily routines on hold and replaced them with something foreign and uncertain.
However, for some of us, these limitations have sparked creativity. Humans crave connection and we need it now more than ever; but our ideas of connection are changing to meet the demands of COVID-19. One of the ways in which this is happening is through the annual Thornton Dia de los Muertos celebration in the City of Thornton.
Traditionally, the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Thornton with a festival of food, drink, traditional art, and other activities to celebrate Mexican culture. However, due to COVID-19, the celebration was almost canceled this year. In an effort to replace the live event, the City of Thornton reached out to Alt Ethos to see if we could create something new.
Our team decided that instead of looking to replace the event with a substitutional virtual experience, we’d create something entirely new. We created a hybrid design that allowed for flexibility in a time of changing circumstances. Due to the increasing COVID cases in Adams County, our hybrid event that included the drive by in the park projections paired with an interactive online engagement easily into an engaging multilayer online experience on short notice. The event information was changed and with ease we have maintained the community engagement through this important event.
We are happy to announce that this year, from November 1-3, you’ll be able to enjoy Dia de los Muertos in a virtual interactive art experience from your home and engage in real-time with friends and relatives.
We’ve created an easy browser accessible app that allows participants to create collaborative works of art from any connected device. We present a live drawing tool that lets guests create fluid visual art virtually, in real-time, and in collaboration with other users. All artworks will be themed in traditional Dia de los Muertos styles, but feature modern concepts from at-home artists in Colorado. By using trusted technologies in modern ways, we are able to keep these traditions alive. All this while enjoying dancing and mariachi music.
Community engagement doesn’t have to be put on hold because of COVID-19. In fact, Alt Ethos is able to create 4x the participant engagement via virtual events as compared to traditional live events. Our original design included a drive by/park experience, but due to changes in country COVID regulations, we quickly and smoothly modified the project to fit the needs of modern times. Because Thornton residents don’t have to be physically present in order to enjoy the activities, more are able to tune in and make lasting memories and even connect with family and friends that are far away.
On Tuesday, September 1, from 9pm-midnight, theaters and event venues across North America will be asked to light ghost lights on their stages, light their buildings in red, and use hashtag #WeMakeEvents to symbolize the struggle of the industry, which has been shuttered since March 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Alt Ethos is supporting our colleagues, clients, and friends in the event industry by lighting up the mansion at 2345 7th St, Denver. Thanks to Reactiv.io for collaborating on this lighting installation one of their many event rental spaces. Check out the mansion as you drive down I-25 near the Denver Aquarium, or stop by to snap some photos – and tag #WeMakeEvents to raise awareness.
By the Numbers
The live entertainment industry is a cornerstone of the U.S. economy. It employs over 12 million people and provides upwards of $1 trillion in economic impact – more than the transportation, agriculture, and tourism industries. However, due to the global pandemic, the live events industry is in grave danger. A devastating number of arts professionals are currently out of work and will be for some time, with the pandemic having shut down nearly all entertainment functions in all sectors.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has been completely shattered reporting that:
• 95% of entertainment events have been canceled.
• 62% of entertainment workers are fully unemployed.
• 94% of entertainment workers have lost income.
• The average arts worker reports $23,500 in losses thus far.
• 66% of entertainment workers are unable to access spaces, staff, resources, or supplies needed to do their jobs.
Local Colorado non-profit Conscious Alliance has joined #WeMakeEvents to distribute meals to out-of-work industry workers in the area on 9/1 – DONATE HERE to provide a meal and support the cause.
Now that we are starting to have small attendance-capped in-person events, Hybrid Events are a great opportunity to enhance real-world events while integrating online interactions. There have been numerous successful virtual trade shows, events, and conferences which have increased worldwide attendance over their previous physical events.
Keep the increased worldwide engagement going, while offering diverse ways for your guests to join your in-person and virtual Hybrid Events. By gathering a smaller group in person and a larger group virtually, we are able to achieve some of the face-to-face interaction while also keep attendees safe.
There are several ways to throw Hybrid Events that are engaging, productive, and fun. The Alt Ethos team began creating hybrid experiences over 13 years ago and would love to help you find the best solutions for your audience and goals.
In the BizBash article, What Will Hybrid Events Look Like?, Cara Kleinhaut, founder and CEO of AGENC Experiential & Digital Marketing, notes:
“We must deliver a simultaneous digital experience that mirrors the live experience in quality and interaction—and not leave digital participants on the sidelines with a Zoom chat or a passive viewing experience, which is still the majority of what we see out there.”
What was a memorable experience you had in a virtual streaming conference? Could you tell us about the most unique Zoom meeting you had last week? Can’t think of anything? Us either!
We are being inundated with video streaming in chats, conferences, and events. Repetitive experiences, day in and day out, are creating a lapse of memory and connections. Where once we attended in-person events – networking during a mixer, listening to a speaker, and lining up for free drinks – now we find our virtual events have a lack of engagement.
Your event and audience engagement is important to us.
Alt Ethos wants to help you succeed in creating dynamic connections that create lasting impressions. We want to partner with your organization to achieve your goals in the virtual and partially-virtual event spaces. We provide unique and engaging platforms and environments that highlight your sponsors, integrate live entertainment, and provide a variety of virtual world experiences.
Public spaces are undergoing transformations as we navigate new rules and guidelines for social interaction. Lighting design reinvigorates places and brings them to life. Murals or large building surfaces can be transformed into glowing dreamlike creations when they would otherwise be obscured in shadow. Architectural lighting revitalizes our neighborhoods to support vibrant urban life, creates a sense of security and safety, and attracts new economic activity.
Groups like the Project for Public Spaces have valuable information on the best ways to move forward with engaging community spaces in this time of transition. In our recent Experiential Design Playbook: Solutions for Engagement During COVID-19 & Beyond, Alt Ethos outlines a number of inspirational designs for public spaces that bring joy and engagement to our communities in creative and safe ways. Via projection mapping, LED wash lighting, and no-touch interactive displays – an entire public square can be activated. Whether we are gathering six feet apart in a public square, or passing through our usual main street now filled with outdoor public seating options — an experience can be illuminated with creative lighting design in simple and impactful ways.
When people are venturing out with their families this summer, they will be on the hunt for engaging experiences, community events, and comfortable interactions that will give a much-needed lift to their spirits. Seeing their favorite public places brought to life with light would be a great way to do just that. Through public installations and interactive experiences, such as the Illuminous interactive projection-mapped mural in Fort Collins, CO, our communities can be welcomed back to shopping and spending time in public spaces with fresh, inspired eyes.
We encourage downtown development authorities and businesses to convert public spaces into interactive art using projectors, lighting effects, and sensors. These placemaking initiatives not only offer free public access to an immersive, child- and pet-friendly experience, but are proven to stimulate greater economic activity.
Alt Ethos, in partnership with Reactiv.io, recently illuminated Denver’s iconic brick mansion by the Downtown Aquarium and I-25. Together, Alt Ethos and Reactiv are creating experiential designs in Denver to inspire connection. Future immersive collaboration includes the Tennyson Street / Berkeley area – one of Denver’s most historic neighborhoods with private immersive themed bungalow experiences.
Architectural lighting in conjunction with an urban revitalization plan acts as a vehicle that reconnects people with a sense of place to emphasize the true strengths of a community. In 1989, the city of Lyon, France, introduced one of the earliest holistic lighting master plans to revitalize the dense historic core of the city. The origins of the festival date to 1643 when Lyon was struck by the plague. Today, Lyon is known as the “capital of light,” hosting the largest festival dedicated solely to illumination, the Fête des lumières, in part commemorating the day Lyon was consecrated to the Virgin Mary. The 2019 festival attracted 1.8 million visitors over 4 days.
Urban design has taken on a new level of importance to keep the residents of urban areas feeling safe. Alt Ethos works in collaboration with city planners and corporations to commit to the health and vitality of its community. Contact us to set up a complimentary consultation on how your downtown shopping area, municipal buildings, or public park can be activated with light.
To all of you, we at Alt Ethos have been working hard to innovate solutions for this changing time. Communities and organizations around the world are at a high level of confusion, overwhelm, and disconnection. Like you, we had our times of frustration as we navigated the rough waters of the unknown. We also saw it as an opportunity.
Our communities are starting to come out of stay at home orders around the globe. How shall we experience community spaces and not end up on national news like the Memorial Day waterpark parties? Watching these gatherings can make you feel unhinged and afraid to engage. In this desire to re-open and reconnect with our constituents, we intend on providing flexible solutions that retain ROI if and when another wave of shutdown orders occurs.
That is why Alt Ethos has been doing research and design since the closing of the first major international event in the United States, SXSW.
During this crisis, that feeling of isolation can make everyone feel disconnected. If municipalities and corporations can’t find a way to safely connect with their constituents, they miss the chance to provide support and a sense of well-being.
Now is the time to step up and activate your communities and create the future of placemaking, entertainment, and advertising. A culture that is resilient, fun, and provides an opportunity for connection. It is our destiny as humans to create new solutions, visions, and activations to reinvigorate the next steps in social healing. It is the responsibility of our cities, our libraries, our public art, and our local businesses to reconnect with our communities.
Your contribution to the recovery of this crisis is going to be massive. You are creating the future of community building and entertainment. We know we are a small percentage of the population that imagines the future even in the time of a world crisis. We are looking for you to create, to connect, and to activate new solutions.
Get started by downloading our new Experiential Design Playbook. First, to get an idea of what is possible and mutable in uncertain times. Second, to increase the support your constituents feel connecting a greater bond to your city or your brand. Create activations that make your message easier to hear, simultaneously inspiring engagement and making a contribution to your community.
Learn all about our COVID re-entry experiential design solutions:
Due to the global health pandemic, the landscape of the events industry is changing.
Countless in-person events – SXSW, the 74th Annual Tony Awards, and the Cannes International Film Festival, to name just a few – have been canceled or postponed in the past few months.
Meanwhile, other events like the REV’d Up Media Summit, Burning Man festival, F8 (Facebook’s live annual event), and Microsoft’s Build annual event will carry on. How?
They’re going virtual.
ALT ETHOS AND VIRTUAL EVENTS
Today’s technology makes it possible to host full-scale events 100% online, keeping companies and organizations connected to their employees, clients, and customers even in times of crisis. Alt Ethos is leading the way for our clients by offering a wide range of engaging virtual event solutions for online conferences, events, and more that can be customized to fit any business’ needs.
Alt Ethos offers the best online streaming tools available, but we don’t stop there. We want our clients to be able to continue fully serving their employees and customers in creative and interactive ways that are memorable and meaningful. No matter what the event needs, Alt Ethos has a solution.
Check out four ways we help companies and organizations stay connected with their employees and clients.
Alt Ethos has an all-in-one solution for your events that bring conference and convention content straight to people’s homes. With the capacity to live stream keynote presentations with simultaneous break out sessions, our client’s event attendees can experience the full range of conference offerings.
We bring the face-to-face impact of conferences into a single company experience through video conference calling for small groups, virtual parties and shows with live VJs and performers, and virtual tours.
VIRTUAL CONFERENCE SOLUTIONS
Alt Ethos takes care of everything. Our real-time professional streaming service accommodates everything from small private breakout group streaming and keynote events with thousands of viewers.” Plus we either send our cinematographer to our clients with 4k streaming or work with their cinematographer and remotely manage the event. We also offer custom takeaways and conference experiences mailed to the guest’s door.
VIRTUAL WORLD TOURS AND EVENTS
Need something a little more creative? Our virtual world tours and events are fun, unique experiences people remember long after they’re done. We offer the following virtual experiences:
Second Life Tours
Second Life is one of the longest-running virtual world environments of all. From museum tours to themed destination tours, attendees can experience space exploration, natural disasters, dance clubs, Irish folklore, skill gaming, and more. The possibilities are endless!
Custom Virtual Experiences
We also offer customizable Virtual World experiences, where our designers create custom virtual environments for private events of up to 100 guests. This allows our clients to recreate their office, venue, or creative destination in 3D and throw events virtually.
We also create private virtual environments for highest-quality customizable experiences that include a streaming video input, voice and text chat among participants, and customizable avatars. These experiences are great for co-working and team projects.
Alt Ethos custom experiential virtual design is a great addition to any virtual party. Create a truly unique virtual experience that your group will keep talking about afterward.
VIRTUAL MEETINGS
Host meetings while sticking to social distancing guidelines with our Virtual Meeting experience. We create branded meeting environments, complete with logos and banners and the ability to cast video, images, or presentations on-screen. These experiences provide that in-person feel and can be attended with or without virtual reality headsets.
EXPERTS IN STREAMING AND VR
Alt Ethos is an experiential design studio creating meaningful moments for communities. The environments, installations, and objects we are designing for a rapidly growing clientele use light, sound, and technology to transform the everyday experience and promote creativity and well-being.
Alt Ethos brings years of steaming expertise to the table, and our virtual environments and experiential design for shared experiences create connection and engagement. Have us customize a virtual environment specific for your business or event, or join us in Alt Ethos’ virtual studio and event space.
Learn More About Alt Ethos
Want to create your own unique and memorable virtual conference or workshop experience but not sure where to start? We can help! Visit our website to learn more, or schedule a call to talk with our experts about your virtual event needs.
Alt Ethos’s CEO, Ethan Bach will speak on technology, museums, and the future. He has a long history with NMAM and it’s partners. Bach served at the Institute of American Indian Arts for over ten years with his most recent role as the Digital Dome Director where he led 360 research and education at the Digital Dome @ IAIA. Bach also provided media consulting and services for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs during his time living in Santa Fe. 
Groups like the Project for Public Spaces have valuable information on the best ways to move forward with engaging community spaces in this time of transition. In our recent
When people are venturing out with their families this summer, they will be on the hunt for engaging experiences, community events, and comfortable interactions that will give a much-needed lift to their spirits. Seeing their favorite public places brought to life with light would be a great way to do just that. Through public installations and interactive experiences, such as the 
