Virtual Symposium

In 2020, SpecialGuest helped TSMC, our longest-running client, design and operate the semiconductor company’s Virtual Symposium. We’ve been helping TSMC with their live events since 2013, but in 2020, the company came to us with a very specific problem to solve: Their yearly symposium is critical for connecting with their clients and partners, and they needed our help to re-create the experience virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was so successful that TSMC enlisted us to help with the symposiums in 2021 and 2022.

For the 2020 Virtual Symposium, we created the future of virtual events through a worldwide remote shoot.

The online event was designed as a virtual world centered around TSMC’s CEO Dr. C.C. Wei. SpecialGuest created a visual language to explain intricate tech concepts like nanometer technology, 3D integrated circuitry, and the future of computing. Dr. C.C. Wei presented as the visuals surrounded him to illustrate his points.

This virtual world brought viewers onto the stage, giving them a more intimate connection with the leader of the company as he explained its future.

With creative leadership and direction from media production company 1stAveMachine’s Beau Burrows and creative development from SpecialGuest’s Nolan Hicks, TSMC’s first virtual event was a success and a vision for more online events like it. SpecialGuest accomplished the virtual event with a remote team across three continents, eight time zones, and three languages. It also worked with TSMC’s executive script writers to develop the online virtual video event featuring their CEO.

In 2021, SpecialGuest again worked on the Virtual Symposium, designing the visuals of the keynote, pre-recording Dr. C.C. Wei, and completing the post-production. SpecialGuest also created an intro film for the event called “The Nanoscopic Universe,” which positioned TSMC’s semiconductors as the “building blocks of the future.” “What begins in the nanoscopic universe reverberates around the world,” the video declared.

In 2022, we again worked on the visuals for the keynote—the first in-person keynote post-pandemic—and collaborated with 1st Ave Machine director Marc Reisbig on an intro film for the symposium. We created a storytelling format that perfectly illustrated TSMC’s identity through a book the size of a semiconductor: about 1 centimeter. Each tiny page told the story of big dreams achieved by TSMC’s customers. The 2022 intro film saw about 45,000 impressions in one day.