LIVE | Streaming your event online

There are many reasons why a person may choose not to physically attend your event. Streaming events and content live online to make it accessible to an unlimited, worldwide audience. This means attendance to your event and content can surpass any limitations a physical location would have.

Live streams are a great way of boosting interaction between you and your audience. If your content is interesting or just a curious topic to outsiders, you will be given the opportunity to engage with a new audience, who previously may not have thought about contacting you or attending future events.

Your goal should be to create a complete experience for your online audience, after all, they are just as important as those people in the room. The remote audience doesn’t have to have the exact same experience as the in-room audience. Each group can be treated differently, but they are equally important.

Online interaction can take many forms, the most popular being, chatting directly with your online viewers throughout the event. Answering questions from your online audience and sharing information with them digitally will help connect your physical and online audience.

There are a number of services that we have used previously that allowing various ways if interaction:

https://www.sli.do – Interactive presentations with the ability to embed live video, anyone can join with a simple hashtag, allowing a wide range of uses.

https://www.popin.live – Real-time audience engagement platform for company meetings, conferences

A free live stream could allow you to interact with new clients and create new business opportunities, you could also charge for access to your stream, which could bring in extra revenue for your event.

Live streams can be distributed in many forms, you can stream live, for free on nearly all social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube etc. You could, however, choose to make your live stream a subscription service, which would see people paying for access.

Streaming online needs a platform and there is a lot to choose from. From social media to applications and websites to private events there are a wealth of possibilities.

Facebook.com – Facebook will allow you to stream content and post it on your business or personal page. A big benefit of this is all your followers are instantly aware of when you start live streaming as they get a notification. They can watch the content instantly, share it with their friends or followers and also comment and like the video, right from within Facebook. Your video is also automatically saved and stored in your video library for anyone to watch a later date.

Twitter.com – Twitter allows you to stream live video content just like Facebook and also allows interaction through tweets from within their application.

YouTube.com – YouTube has more than 300 hours of video uploaded each hour and as a result, has one of the best networks for streaming live. While YouTube does allow interaction and comments etc, you will find most people sharing the video links themselves on websites and social media platforms to gain an audience. You can use YouTube to embed the live stream directly onto your website as well, allowing your audience to have a more immersive experience.

We can also host your livestream privately on our dedicated streaming platform, this keeps your stream completely private and away from all social media platforms. This option is great for corporate clients or those looking to keep their stream for private use only.

There are a multitude of streaming platforms available, most are free if you don’t mind advertising, others are paid for services that have their own unique aspects. It is important to understand exactly what you want from your online event and choose the one which is right for you.

Streaming live events and content could give your business or event a fantastic point of differentiation. Limitations such as availability, cost, travel etc are something everyone considers when attending events, if you could take this innovative use of Internet video and use it within your organisation or event, then you could really start to set yourself apart from the rest of the competition.

Your event is then, not only available to a wider audience, you are now providing content to suit everyone’s busy lifestyle. Content can be made available within minutes of it finishing allowing all types of audiences to get access faster.

A common misconception is that footage broadcasted during an event stops being useful as soon as the event ends. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Not only is a live stream a fantastic way to engage with people who couldn’t make it to your event, but it’s also a marketing treasure trove. The footage from your conference should be recorded so you can reuse and re-purpose it throughout the year. Content such as on-demand video and podcasts can be made available within minutes of your event finishing, ready for publishing to your website or social media outlets.

There are a lot of ways to get mileage out your event stream after-the-fact, including:

• Archive the entire event for future use

• Upload to social media or YouTube for instant access

• On-demand video and audio files

• Share short clips on social media throughout the year

• Use clips in your marketing for next year’s event

• Use clips to help convince potential advertisers to sponsor next year’s event

• Use the footage as a reference when writing content (like blog posts) about topics discussed during the event

• Marketing teams can take this content and create other content for distribution on websites, social media etc.

• The quality of marketing materials shared for your event can be what ultimately helps someone decide if they’ll attend, giving access to past event footage can increase the likeliness of them attending future events.

Like everything we do, you only get out of something, what you put in. Streaming events can be as simple as 1 camera to more complicated multi-camera setups with presentations, music, graphics etc.

Experienced technicians are a key part of a successful broadcast. Our technicians help ensure everything runs smoothly throughout, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the event.

We are focused on ensuring a successful broadcast and have invested heavily in equipment and training over the past number of years. Our choice of streaming services is also key to successful broadcast, while we can use your own live stream credentials, our choice of suppliers considers their location throughout the world and also their Content Delivery Network or CDN.

Encoders are used to take your camera, presentation etc and produce a digital stream that can be sent to an online service that allows your audience to watch from anywhere. These encoders do the hard work and ensure audio and video are delivered correctly.

Vision mixers, allow you to broadcast anything from 1 camera to 20, while also making use of lower thirds, stings, graphics, instant replay and audio. Not only can you send feeds to a live stream, but also to screens, LED Walls, Projectors etc in the main event space itself.

Audio is a key part to any broadcast, you can lose or gain viewers based on audio no matter how good the video quality is. Broadcast audio is different from the audio you would hear if you actually attend the event. We would look at each project individually and produce an audio solution suited to the event.

Lighting is an element that is almost always overlooked, however, it is just as important as any other aspect of a live broadcast. One of the simplest ways to add production value to your live events is with three-point lighting. Three-point lighting is the foundation of all lighting setups, whether for a pre-recorded program or a live broadcast. With three-point lighting, you can ensure your subject is softly lit from multiple angles, giving your live video a nice, even look.

An Internet Connection is the backbone of a live stream, depending on the resolution of your stream, you can expect to need at least a 10mbps upload connection. It is also recommended that this be a dedicated connection, separate from public wifi hot spots etc. This ensures your connection remains stable throughout the broadcast. 4G mobile networks can also be used, as well as bonded encoders that utilise up to 4 separate 4G networks from multiple suppliers. A site visit or test should always be carried out at your venue before deciding to move forward.