The Audio Engineering Society offers “A World of Audio” through a variety of events, resources and networking that bring together a global community of attendees, presenters and other participants throughout the year. The 2020 AES Spring Convention – AES Virtual Vienna – was presented in real time to a global audience, June 2 – 5, 2020, as the Audio Engineering Society hosted its first-ever completely online convention. Despite being moved from its original, physical venue in Vienna, Austria, due to recent worldwide travel restrictions, the AES Virtual Vienna Convention thrived, with attendees from 59 countries logging in to view and take part in over 200 presentations in live-stream and on-demand formats, many of which offered real-time Q&A discussion with the presenters and other attendees. Best of all, the entire AES Virtual Vienna Convention will remain online through June 30, 2020, for those currently registered, and registration (for as low as $50) will remain open through that time for anyone wishing enjoy the AES Virtual Vienna Convention on their own time, online at AESEurope.com.
In addition to more than a hundred on-demand Papers Sessions, Engineering Briefs, Posters, Technical Tours, Workshops, Tutorials and more, AES Virtual Vienna featured the most popular events of all AES conventions, including Keynote speeches, a Heyser Presentation, the Opening Ceremony and Awards presentations. Core Student and Career Convention events also took place, including meetings of the AES Student Delegate Assembly, Recording Critiques, Recording and Design Competitions and even an interactive Education and Career Fair. AES Virtual Vienna Partners and Sponsors, including Platinum Partner Genelec, Silver Partners Proactive Audio, Sound Solutions International and USound, and Partners Austrian Audio and Focusrite Pro, also took advantage of the unique online opportunity to present products and technologies to attendees and take part in Virtual Vienna presentations.
AES Virtual Vienna garnered overwhelmingly positive response from the online audio industry through social media, event reviews and other avenues. Attendees shared their experiences and insights, with comments such as “Learning and getting inspired at AES Virtual Vienna,” “Virtual Vienna is packed full of great presentations, papers and panels,” “Just got done attending awesome Virtual Vienna presentations from Alex Case on Lead Vocal mix strategies. There’s something for everyone at AES international convention,” and “Thank you AES for making the Virtual Vienna videos available for view after the live stream…Getting a nice catch up now” summarizing some common sentiments among attendees. Perhaps expressing the industry-wide desire for the connection and camaraderie that is the heartbeat of AES conventions and events the best, one Virtual Vienna presenter, who, like many, is also an eager attendee, Tweeted “I know you can’t see me, but I’m cheering for you behind my screen #VirtualVienna!” Further, one Virtual Vienna partner company, taking advantage of the AES community and the caliber of AES event attendees, took the time to post “by the way, we are hiring!”
The complete AES Virtual Vienna Convention, including the full Technical Program of Workshops, Research Papers, Posters, Engineering Briefs, Technical Tours and more, are available online through 10:00pm CEST / 4:00pm EDT, at AESEurope.com, with registration still open through 6:00pm CEST / 12:00 noon EDT, June 30, for those who wish to experience AES Virtual Vienna on their own schedule through the on-demand archive. Visit AES.org to find out about upcoming Audio Engineering Society events and section activities around the world.
