This week, on Friday 6 November, every project on Line 21 will get its own subdomain, with your organisation and event name in the URL.
Custom caption URLs have been a staple of our industry for quite some time, and we're a little late in offering them! But spending time on our all-in-one delivery infrastructure has made it clear why they matter, and who they matter to.
How far will this go?
A browser link is easy to overlook as a delivery method. It works, and that's that. Now it's available as a QR code too. It works, right?
Behind the scenes, that link travels far and wide. It goes from the source agency to the production team, on to their client, and through the many hands in between. Onwards via email, accessibility pages, and signage as a QR code. In the lead-up to going live, everyone passes the links around, including last-minute changes, and that's before multiple stages and languages come into play.
By the time an event starts, that link might have been seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The URL should tell the viewer (the reason we're doing all this) that they're in the right place, in the hands of the right people. Including your organisation and event name is the clearest way to do that.
Client trust and practicality
Trust is a practical and ongoing exercise. Links should be familiar, and give the IT team a break from their increasing vigilance. Easy to recognise is easy to approve, and the workflow runs more smoothly.
Organisations put real effort (and budget) into how their events look, sound and feel. An accessibility link that reflects the organiser and their team shows forethought, rather than looking like an out-of-place add-on from the last minute.
For multi-stage events, a customised URL takes the guesswork out of jumping from space to space. AV teams, we heard you.
And last but not least, we must acknowledge the beauty of a whim. Sometimes it's just what the client wants. If you want to call your event Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and use the acronym for the URL, go for it. We respect the right to choose.
Agencies and reflective relationships
Of course, there's a commercial side to this change. Our partners in the industry should visibly be part of the Line 21 family, and every link that moves forward represents the relationship between vendors and providers.
The feedback from our agency users is always wholesome. They love introducing us in rehearsals, and our hands-on support means everyone knows who we are. But that isn't practical at scale, and no one wants launch day to rely on a rogue intern (sorry, interns) knowing that Line 21 is part of Your Event Team's offering.
Our infrastructure supports our partners, and now our links reflect that arrangement.
The elephant in the room
Our focus has been on caption quality, latency, encoding and our engines for some time, and we're proud of the outcomes we've been part of as a result. Our AI dubbing went live last week, and it's available via QR code for attendees roaming with their devices (accompanied by captions, of course).
So the honest answer is that we were looking from the inside. Now, with our website renewal this Friday, the changes at Line 21 begin to roll out. Our pricing plans are clearer, and we have an About Us page so you can finally confirm we are human. The subdomain change is just the beginning of our journey with our CART providers.
What comes next?
We're working on a new entry point for human captioners, based on current and ongoing feedback. That includes shortforms, dictionary functions and a change in how project management is monitored.
In the lead-up to the festive season, we'll be reworking our client dashboard. If you're a Line 21 user, you'll hear from us. If you're not a Line 21 user, we're happy to hear from you as well.
Subdomains are a small change, but a great starting point for the importance of detail in implementation.
Friday: Project Check Day
Our changes go live this Friday. Your projects in Line 21 will update automatically (and you can customise them too), and you will need to re-share any links with your attendees.
Got a question? Talk to us.