Hijack 2.0 – Preparing for hybrid open days

Over the past 12 months, the virtual event landscape has changed drastically because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our online events platform, Hijack, had a spike in popularity because so many places were closed for public safety. Hijack has been used by institutions such as the University of Kent and Birkbeck University to power all sorts of events; Virtual Open Days, Festivals, Applicant Visit Days, even Graduation Ceremonies!

We’ve added new features along the way to improve it, but behind the scenes we’ve been working on Hijack 2.0. Feedback from our customers has been paramount in developing the new and improved Hijack. We’ve been asking what universities need and what prospects want from university events in the future. We’re convinced that digital augmentation of physical events is here to stay. So we’ve been making sure that Hijack is great for serving up on demand content as well as it can live content. We think it’s the perfect companion to your university website, moving into the 2022 cycle.

The most visible change in Hijack 2.0 is the overall infrastructure of the display. Videos are now contained in their own area are no longer hidden behind content. And, we’ve gone from a chat-box-style sidebar to a full height sidebar, allowing for extra ‘retail space’ to use Hijack. With the additional height, we have been able to add more navigation tools so the user can move from chapter to chapter with less friction.

The timeline now has a dedicated area and more room for you to add captions/titles at hotspots across your videos. And we finally added support for video captions too.

Another huge update comes in the form of the live Q&A interface for administrators. We’ve completely overhauled it and made it faster and more beautiful to use.

These changes make a big improvement to the way administrators use Hijack and they improve the experience for users too. If you’re a current Hijack customer, you can request your free upgrade. If you’re interested in subscribing to Hijack, it’s never been easier to get started. You can build your subscription online now.