Making of virtual town hall by Brainstorm.

Brainstorm, leading manufacturer of real-time 3D graphics, augmented reality and virtual studio solutions, and Broadcast Management Group, a Premium Brainstorm US reseller, have made possible for TD Ameritrade Network to migrate their Market Drive physical events into the online realm by placing them on a live virtual Town Hall.

TD Ameritrade provides its customers with educational events around the country called ‘Market Drives’. Each of these events draws several hundred to a thousand people. Due to the current pandemic crisis, TD Ameritrade cancelled four of its upcoming Market Drive events. To fill this void, Broadcast Management Group (BMG) proposed replacing upcoming Market Drive events with virtual Town Halls. TD Ameritrade Network (TDAN) agreed, and asked BMG to produce the first event in six days! On Saturday, April 4th, BMG produced an incredibly successful, four-hour-long, live Town Hall for TDAN at their Chicago Studio. BMG created all of the show graphics, a complete virtual set, and also configured six remote locations. After the success of this first event, on May 30th BMG produced the second virtual live event and two more are coming up in the next months.

The virtual event speaks to the human necessity to feel connected during this time of quarantine and isolation. TD Ameritrade Network’s differentiator is that they interpret the news to give investors actionable insights to apply to their portfolio. TDAN provides these insights daily, however, the special events elaborate on key drivers moving the markets, and what they mean. These key drivers are very important to anyone who has retirement accounts, education accounts, and general investment accounts. TD Ameritrade leaders and Education Coaches, as well as many guests joined virtually Oliver Renick, the host for TDAN’s Town Hall. Investors are encouraged to submit questions to be answered on-air during the event.

Brainstorm has been TD Ameritrade’s trusted virtual set solution over the past three years. So naturally, the Brainstorm Suite was chosen to design, build, and broadcast the virtual environment. BMG used one Infinity Set renderer together with a traditional control room to cut the show. Studio camera feeds were PTZ cameras, and the remote feeds were brought in utilizing LiveU.

“No one saw COVID-19 coming, or the effect it would have on life as we know it, but at BMG’s core is live production, and the show must always go on, no matter the challenge, it is in our DNA. Our challenge was to find a way to do it while keeping our employees and clients safe. BMG created a new studio for TDAN, which was moved from the first floor to the 8th floor. While setting up all of these remote studios, remote producers, remote post team we were also building out a new facility on the 8th floor. This includes, control room, studio one and two, technical center, transmissions room, control room two, and an edit room. We made a temporary control room while everything was being switch around. The new studio just got completed and is ready for when everyone gets back to work. Thanks to our amazing staff of engineers, technical and creative staff, together with our technology, we have been able to meet our clients’ needs without missing a step while in a safe environment” said Todd Mason, Chief Executive Officer of BMG.

The shows aired on the TD Ameritrade Network, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Fire, and YouTube with a combined total of two million views.

Links to illustrative videos:

Town Hall – showreel: https://vimeo.com/428156827

Town Hall event 4th April: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vLu32uwHQE

Town Hall event 30th May: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWliOJJpWHE