WorkCast Enhanced Virtual Events Platform

随着Covid-19大流行在世界各地实施行动限制，越来越多的人、社会团体和大型组织转向基于网络的通信，以促进远程工作和互动。尽管有大量的个人和团体通信平台提供商，但能够容纳数百名代表的环境提供商很少。WorkCast是英国市场领先的虚拟活动软件提供商。我们的虚拟活动平台被世界各地的大型组织用来举办网络研讨会、会议和教育活动。我们现在正经历着需求的激增，这要求我们创新和调整我们的产品以满足客户的要求。该项目将专注于在我们的平台上实现事件设置过程的自动化，减少WorkCast员工所需的干预和支持数量，并显著提高我们同时举办多个事件的能力。除此之外，我们还将开发新的功能，使我们的虚拟活动平台成为大型会议的独特在线替代品。这些新功能包括：*基于网络摄像头的分组讨论室，小团体可以从主要程序转移到较小的互动讨论*增强的人工智能介绍，将根据代表的个人资料和行为以及与活动内容的互动，为您可能感兴趣的代表提供明智的建议，使您更容易在大量与会者的活动中找到对您重要的人。*无障碍功能，以改善听觉、视觉或学习困难用户的体验。该项目将成为WorkCast提供新产品的基础，在这段不确定的时期促进大规模的交流和教育，并为大型国际活动和会议提供一个平台，尽管有旅行限制。对该项目的影响变更请求的扩展使用额外的资金扩展了工作，以包括完整软件发布的完整质量测试以及与选定客户的后续测试。这还包括为全面推出做准备，并与潜在客户接触，以便在2021年全年注册活动的功能。这个扩展确保了这个项目可以快速开发，并导致在原始应用程序中描述的经济，社会和环境效益。

With the restrictions on movement in place around the world as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more people, social groups and large organisations are turning to web-based communication to facilitate remote working and interaction. Despite the large number of providers of communications platforms for individual and groups, there are very few providers of environments that can host hundreds of delegates.WorkCast are UK-based providers of market leading virtual event software. Our Virtual Events platform is used by large organisations around the world to host webinars, conferences and educational events. We are now experience a surge in demand that requires us to innovate and adapt our product offering to meet customer requirements.This project will focus on automating the set-up process of events in on our platform, reducing the amount of intervention and support required by WorkCast staff and significantly increasing our capacity to host multiple concurrent events. Alongside this, we will be developing new features that will make our Virtual Events platform a unique online replacement for large conferences. These new features include development of:* Webcam-based breakout rooms where small groups can move away from the main proceedings for smaller interactive discussions* Enhanced AI Introductions that will make smart suggestions of delegates you may be interested in connecting with based on delegate profiles and behaviours and interactions with event content, making it easier to find people that matter to you in events with large numbers of attendees.* Accessibility functionality to improve the experience for users with hearing, sight or learning difficulties.The project will form the basis of a new product offering for WorkCast, facilitating large scale communication and education during this time of uncertainty and provide a platform for large international events and conference to go ahead despite travel restrictions.An Extension for Impact change request to this project extends the work with additional funding to include full quality testing of a complete software release and subsequent testing with select customers. This also includes work to prepare for full rollout and engagement with potential customers to sign up the functionality for events throughout 2021. This extension ensures that this project can be rapidly exploited and lead to the financial, social and environmental benefits described in the original application.