2020 Chizuk Amuno High Holidays

During the fall of 2020, the TalkingTree team produced virtual High Holidays services for the Chizuk Amuno Synagogue in Baltimore. Because they could not meet in person, we used virtual event technology to create a sense of community for the 1200-person congregation and make them feel as if they were all together in the sanctuary. The services were accessible to all – even the community of seniors in local nursing homes could participate. Our Production team designed a virtual synagogue where congregants to go to see announcements, socialize with other members, view a schedule of live services, and attend virtual synagogue. We provided live tech help for any attendees who might be less tech-savvy. This job required up to 6 simultaneous live streams over 5 days of services.For the live services, we sent a small team to the synagogue and live-streamed a multi-camera broadcast to the virtual platform. One way to give the services an in-person effect was to feature live Torah readings from members of the congregation. We used Zoom for the readings and other member participation. We also invite participants to join Zoom meeting rooms where they could appear with other congregants in the live stream during group prayer or songs. We pre-recorded several performances that would be cut into the live services. This included small, socially distanced choral performances mixed by our audio engineer, along with solos and shofar blowings to emulate a regular, in-person service.