Michael Chance, 38, is the program visionary manager at 6Connex. He's based in San Jose, Calif.
What I do:
The program visionary manager is a unique role, as it allows me to apply strategic, creative and attendee-centric considerations to our clients’ virtual event programs and our partners’ continued education. [I have] one foot in virtual venues and the other in investigating the vast interconnected industries of live events, interactive technologies and customer success. I daily provide consultations, measure emerging trends and develop best practices through video curriculum, site recommendations and more.
Simply, I see my role as a consultant and a source of inspiration to guide our valued clients and partners at key inflection points in their virtual and hybrid programs.
Why I love my job:
The people at 6Connex are amazing. We refer to each other as the 6C Fam, and our family grows every year. I enjoy remotely working with this amazing team, daily. I also love the challenge—as you can imagine, virtual and hybrid events are an ever-changing Rubik's cube of attendee demands and event host inputs, so to receive new questions to decode is exciting. Our platform can do virtually anything, so I simply identify the ideal solution.
My career journey:
A long time ago in an interactive galaxy far far away, I was a video editor delivering corporate and entertainment projects—so early on, I understood the progression of creative elements to tell an engaging story. Then an opportunity arose. Through a friend, I was introduced to the world of interactive production, and it was there that I saw the 6Connex Virtual Venue platform built from the ground up. I’ve seen every iteration of our solution, and combined with over 12 years of project management experience, I have been in this new visionary role for the past year.
My greatest career accomplishment
I’m very honored to have been selected for this quarter’s "Make your Mother Proud" award from our parent organization, Dura Software. Again, we’re all a big family here, and the fact that my colleagues and the entire organization selected me means a great deal to me.
How I helped my organization during COVID:
When the pandemic began, there was much confusion in the world and I knew that I could be an anchor for our clients professionally and emotionally as their senior project manager. In 2020, I took on the largest number of client programs to deliver as we saw rapid growth and maintained our reputation for excellent client service and quality virtual and hybrid solutions. Our clients' success is our success, and that didn’t change during COVID—it was tested but it never wavered.
In 2021, I took on the role as program visionary manager, and continued to apply the same best practices I developed per client to our entire client and partner list by creating a unique Vision Gallery virtual experience that our clients and partners can continually reference and receive inspiration from. Bringing people together and providing clarity in any challenging time is something I enjoy doing.
The time I averted a complete event disaster:
When I was in the role of senior project manager, I took ownership of my clients’ experience to ensure a successful program launch. Often on hybrid events where a client may be asked to manage both the virtual and on-site requirements, there comes a point when they are no longer investing in sleep due to the demands put on them.
My client was overseeing the prerecording of their keynotes, and their AV team delivered the video the afternoon before the event without doing a proper quality check. My client then realized several issues: the lip sync was off in several parts, and the CEO’s title card had typos. My client couldn’t get their post-production team on the phone and they were at a loss—both in time, patience and in understanding what they could do.
I took a step deeper into the project manager role and offered my video editing experience. The files would take too long to post, so I drove an hour and a half to meet my client on-site, laptop in hand, loaded their footage and fixed the sync and titles free of charge for an aspect of the project I was not responsible for. The event launched with great success. If you have the solution, share it.
My most memorable event experience in the past year:
Sports and community are important to me, so when I had the opportunity to demonstrate to the LA Rams football organization everything that the 6Connex Virtual Venue platform could offer for their community experience, I jumped that chance. Working on the development of that project has been a special milestone for me and our organization.
Best advice I’ve ever received:
Rules are just written by people. Often they are rewritten to achieve better results.
Impressive stats I’m responsible for:
I’m very proud that our clients believe in the community of learning we have formed around our 6Connex virtual and hybrid event initiatives—so much so that over 25 clients agreed to have their events exhibited in our Vision Gallery virtual experience. It’s now a cornerstone of best practices for delivering engaging virtual and hybrid events.
What’s next?
Hybrid events excite me. I started in film production, so continuing to identify the unique, the profound, the surprising digital connective tissue between virtual and on-site audiences is my focus in 2022. Solutions are found in unexpected places.
What I do outside of work:
I enjoy collecting and listening to vinyl records (soundtracks, hip hop, surf rock), spending time with my three nephews and now my niece, and kayaking around Santa Cruz any chance I get. I got my M1 license before the pandemic and have been meaning to get on a motorcycle and travel a bit.
Dream vacation:
For the past decade, my excitement has been growing to visit Jordan and the surrounding area. Seeing the desert monuments of Wadi Rum, Petra, the Dead Sea, then Israel with Tel Aviv and Jerusalem—and if I had the full month, I’d have to go to Egypt and experience the culture in Cairo.
Favorite icebreaker line:
OK, what was your favorite movie growing up? Now, let’s discuss if it still holds up!
Connect with Chance on LinkedIn.
“Connect x BizBash 40 Under 40” is sponsored by VDA, an experiential marketing and event design agency based in Massachusetts that specializes in custom live, virtual and hybrid experiences.
