Hip To Be Square
2021 Project Voice Series lineup of physical and virtual events announced; innovative "squares" system to debut at Project Voice 2021
Next Monday’s newsletter will be the last of 2020, and will contain announcements related to the format we’ll use in 2021, along with music acts joining us for Euphonious, our new tech-minded music festival, in June (see full Project Voice Series lineup below).
Project Voice 2021, the industry’s first in-person event, announces “squares” system
The music industry has held a surprising number of socially-distanced concerts throughout the second half of 2020, without incident.
How’d they do it?
Each attendee receives a square, often 8’x8’ or 10’x10’, which becomes their personal space for that day, or the duration of the event.
Let’s face it, conferences and events didn’t hesitate, pre-COVID, to crush as many people as possible into venues. People were packed into halls, and personal space was tough to come by.
Getting sick at big conferences was often seen as a cost of doing business. I’ve certainly come back sick from my share of talks I’ve given or events I’ve attended, long before anyone knew what COVID-19 was.
The system we are adopting now gets rid of that, and embraces a more comfortable, spacious approach…and is likely to stick around for a while.
Beginning with Project Voice 2021, each conference attendee will receive an 8’x8’ square which will be theirs for the entire day.
No one breathing on you, no one coughing on you, and no one bothering you while trying to listen as they talk to the person next to them.
In Chattanooga for Project Voice - the #1 event for voice technology and conversational AI in America - this will also be combined with the Chattanooga Convention Center’s ability to pipe fresh air throughout the facility in real-time, a feature created long ago to accommodate livestock events.
Unsurprisingly, the venue just held a conference for 800 people and in the two weeks after, no COVID cases were reported among attendees.
Project Voice 2021 will be limited to 1,000 attendees and you can read all about it here.
The full Project Voice Series lineup for 2021 has been announced.
These events, both physical and virtual, are listed below (and includes the 35-city Project Voice: Coast to Coast dates):
San Jose, CA - January 11 - Barebottle Brewing Company
San Francisco, CA - January 12 - Fable
Los Angeles, CA - January 13 - Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill
Phoenix, AZ - January 14 - CiBO Pizzeria
Miami, FL - January 18 - Glass and Vine
Tampa, FL - January 19 - Cafe Dufrain
Orlando, FL - January 20 - The Stubborn Mule
Jacksonville, FL - January 21 - Hoptinger Bier and Sausage House
Portland, OR - January 25 - OK Omens
Seattle, WA - January 26 - Lady Jaye
Spokane, WA - January 27 - Prohibition
Boise, ID - January 28 - Cloud 9 Brewery
Salt Lake City, UT - February 8 - East Liberty Tap House
Denver, CO - February 9 - Acova
Cheyenne, WY - February 10 - Accomplice Beer Company
Omaha, NE - February 11 - Jackson Street Tavern
Thursday, February 18: The Voice of Mobile Apps (virtual)
Boston, MA - February 22
New York City, NY - February 23
Newark, NJ - February 24
Philadelphia, PA - February 25
Washington, DC - February 26
Wednesday, March 3: The Voice of Marketing (virtual)
Minneapolis, MN - March 8
Milwaukee, WI - March 9
Chicago, IL - March 10
St. Louis, MO - March 11
Nashville, TN - March 12
Memphis, TN - March 15
Jackson, MS - March 16
New Orleans, LA - March 17
Dallas, TX - March 18
Houston, TX - March 19
Thursday, March 25: The Voice of Customer Service REMIX (virtual)
Detroit, MI - March 29
Columbus, OH - March 30
Cleveland, OH - March 31
Cincinnati, OH - April 1
Project Voice 2021: April 12-14, Chattanooga TN
Project Voice Worldwide: April 15-16 (virtual)
Thursday, May 13: The Voice of the Car Summit East (Detroit, Michigan)
Thursday, May 20: The Voice of the Car Summit West (San Jose, California)
Euphonious: June 18-20, Birmingham AL
July 12-14: Digital Book World West (Seattle, WA)
August 4-5: The Voice of Healthcare Summit (Harvard Medical School, Boston MA)
August 25: The Voice of Gaming (Austin, TX)
September 13-15: Digital Book World 2021 (Nashville, TN)
September 16-17: DBW Global (virtual)
October 6-7: The Voice of Money (New York City)
November 3-4: The Voice of Customer Service (Dallas, TX)
Happy holidays to you, and see you next Monday for the last This Week In Voice VIP of the year.
[The full Spotify playlist for This Week In Voice VIP is available here.]