In September, Uber Freight—a division of the ridesharing company that connects truck drivers with shippers, similar to the way it pairs drivers with riders—was forced to rethink its multiday “Deliver” customer conference, because of COVID-19, and turn it into a virtual experience.

The annual event enables shippers of all sizes to learn from their peers and see the newest supply chain and logistics innovations. The conference features programming, including previews of new products and services, plus networking sessions for supply chain leaders and experts to connect. For the two-day virtual event, Santa Monica-based event production agency MoonLab Productions collaborated with the Uber Freight team to develop an experience that included the usual conference programming, along with livestreaming, a custom platform build, and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) moments.

The conference presenter appeared to be at the footsteps of The Old Post Office building.Photo: Courtesy of MoonLab Productions“Our goal was to make the virtual experience just as engaging to the viewer as the physical event has been in years past,” explained Cassandra Costello, CEO and founder of MoonLab. To do this, the agency literally recreated the venue space—The Old Post Office building in Chicago—where the conference was originally slated to be held. (It’s also the home of Uber Freight’s new headquarters.)

“We were motivated to maintain this unique attendee experience, so we thought, ‘Why not shoot footage of the city and create VR levels of the actual office itself for the virtual experience?’” Costello said. “This way, the presenters and viewers could experience the same look and feel as they normally would have during the physical event.”

In collaboration with Creative Technology, MoonLab used 3D scan technology to capture images of the venue, which were used as the basis of the virtual model. Plus, a drone captured overhead footage throughout downtown Chicago, which then became the intro and outro sequences for the event.

The drone footage in particular, which was shot over the course of several days, presented some unique headaches. Because of the ever-changing sky conditions in Chicago, the “editing team had to color correct the footage and adjust the lighting in both the drone footage and in the 3D scan to make the intro and outro as seamless as possible,” Costello explained.

Plus, she added that “doing a drone shoot in the middle of a metropolitan area is never easy as there are several rules and regulations to keep in mind. Height restrictions and privacy concerns while flying over city streets was a big problem, as pedestrians and license plates could not be visible in the used footage.”

Overall, Costello said that the biggest challenge in producing the virtual event was time. “We produced this conference from start to finish in about three months, starting in June with the event going live in early September.” She added that the teams only had about a month to build out the model of The Old Post Office from the ground up. “The scan was extremely complex, including millions of unique points for remodeling the building, while trying to keep the authenticity of the architecture. Building a model to this scale would typically take several months.”

A “bodega”-style grocery store backdrop highlighted Uber Freight’s partnership with Cornershop (Uber’s grocery shopping app).Photo: Courtesy of MoonLab ProductionsIn addition to digitally reconstructing the venue, MoonLab and Creative Technology also created a series of stage designs for the event including a custom bar backdrop for a virtual happy hour, a “bodega”-style grocery store backdrop that highlighted Uber Freight’s partnership with Cornershop (Uber’s grocery shopping app) and an industrial warehouse VR location. The anchor stage was built at Ciel Studios in Berkeley, Calif., which is where a majority of the sessions and the virtual conference were filmed and produced.

Over the course of the two-day conference, about 700 attendees tuned in. A dedicated Vimeo stream of the conference allowed employees to catch certain sessions; about 520 unique viewers viewed the stream each day.

Also, along with all the high-tech wizardry, MoonLab designed at-home kits for attendees that included a SOMA cold brew bottle, Groundworks coffee, Vital Proteins collagen creamer and a branded Moleskine notebook and pen, plus a Cocktail Courier kit for the virtual happy hour, which was led by the head mixologist from the Chase Center in San Francisco. Select VIPs and speakers also received a branded Ember smart mug.

The annual conference typically features programming, including previews of new products and services, plus networking sessions for supply chain leaders and experts to connect.Photo: Courtesy of MoonLab Productions

A custom bar backdrop served as the virtual setting for happy hour.Photo: Courtesy of MoonLab Productions

The conference kits included a SOMA cold brew bottle, Groundworks coffee, Vital Proteins collagen creamer and a branded Moleskine notebook and pen, plus a Cocktail Courier kit for happy hour.Photo: Courtesy of MoonLab Productions