We began the new year with a virtual event in just outside Seattle in Redmond, Washington. The company develops laser scanning technology for projection, 3D sensing, and image capture and lidar sensors for automotive vehicles. Their team reached out to us on Friday, going into New Year’s weekend and the event was Tuesday and Wednesday the following week, so it was a really fast turn around event, but we pulled it together and the video has over 9,000 views! This production features:

  • A two camera set up
  • Shallow depth of field
  • Set inside of a traditional office
  • Single person presentations
  • Three person Q&A, with one person off camera reading audience questions
  • Micing & audio mixing for the live stream
  • Set lighting
  • Live feeds from the lidar sensor in real time & presenter PowerPoint slides
  • Start & end graphics and lower thirds
  • 4K monitors for confidence & set display

Here is a recap of the event, if you’d like to watch the entire stream you can find it here.

Since Twitter has now deprecated Periscope and offers in platform live streaming, I thought it would be a good time to revisit Twitter as a streaming platform. It is important to note that professional live streaming is not automatically available on every Twitter account, and is most easily accessed by accounts who spend ad dollars on the platform. You can however go live via the phone app on any Twitter account. If you have professional live streaming capabilities on your account, here are the steps to go live. From the home screen, check your left hand navigation bar and select “More” from the bottom.

When you click “More” another menu will pop up, which will include the Twitter “Media Studio.” Select this option to enter the Media Studio.

The Media Studio has tabs, which include “Library,” “Producer,” “Insights,” “Scheduled Tweets,” and “Analytics.” Live streaming will be found under the “Producer” tab.

When entering the “Producer” tab of the Media Studio you will see two more tabs (I know, tabs for daysss!), one for “Broadcasts” and one for “Sources.” Your “Broadcasts” tab is where you will see current live streams, scheduled live streams and where the archive of your past broadcasts can be found.

If you haven’t set it up before, the first thing you need to do is to go to the “Sources” tab and click the blue “Create Source” button on the right hand side. This is where you will create an RTMP source so that you have a server URL and stream key to enter into your encoder. Make sure not to share your stream key with anyone, this allows anyone access to steam on your account.

Now you can navigate back to your “Broadcasts” tab and create a new broadcast by giving the broadcast a name, category (you must choose one category from a list of categories), then you can select a source (select the RTMP source you just created) and then choose whether you want the audience to be public or private. Choosing the “public” setting under the audience tab does not actually tweet out your broadcast, like you might think though. Setting the privacy to public simply creates a share URL and makes it possible for you to schedule tweets with your broadcasts and promote your tweets with ad dollars.

Next you need to choose whether you want to start your broadcast now or schedule it for a later time. Scheduling for a later time is recommended so that you have time to prepare your tweets and promotion posts, however there are some important things to note here. Twitter makes you choose a start time and an end time for the broadcast and they are very strict about it. If you are even one minute late sending a stream to the platform your broadcast will be deleted (unlike Facebook that gives you 10 minutes). Likewise, because you have to specify an end time, your broadcast will cut off at that end time, even when you don’t want it to. You can always manually stop a broadcast early, so make sure when you list an end time you are generous. At the time of writing this post, there is no auto start and stop on Twitter like there is on other platforms, which send your broadcast live anytime you are sending a feed, this is semi-auto by setting the time to start and stop on a clock if you are sending a feed.

Next set it up to be recurring if you want and upload a thumbnail image to let people know what’s coming. Below that you can expand the recommended encoder settings to be sure you have them set up optimally in your encoder, I have copied the current one from my account here.

Having now done some big events on Twitter using their Media Studio, it was a great experience and our clients saw huge number, especially in their targeted promoted tweets. If your audience is on Twitter and you have a following, or if you have ad dollars to spend to do targeted posts promoting your stream, this is a great platform to stream to. Otherwise, be sure to schedule your posts, and go in and manually tweet your live stream, and share the link in your email blasts, etc.

We’re seeing it all over the events industry, sponsors gave you their money to have a booth, they logo all over printed materials and other in-person returns that they expected for their support and now they want to know what they are getting since your event is moving online. 

When it comes to virtualizing your event using live streaming and other event technologies, every organization that has event sponsors needs to respond quickly to their sponsors and offer them value or risk needing to return funds or lose valuable industry relationships. 

The great news is, there is even more, yes more opportunity for you to give sponsor ROI (return on investment) for your virtual event then there was at your physical event! This is because some events are seeing a 3X increase in attendance online so your sponsors can reach a greater audience. Plus metrics are much more trackable, making it easy to measure ROI. We will cover 9 great ideas to get you started. 

What is ROI and Why Does it Matter?

ROI stands for Return On Investment and means what your sponsor is getting in return for giving you money or as is the case for “in kind” sponsorships, services or products that you need for your event. In kind sponsorships might include providing all of the graphic design and logo creation for your event and are less common, but can be even more valuable to you if you’re on a tight budget to produce your event. 

Some examples of sponsor ROI for an in person event might include:

  • Logos on printed materials like programs, banners and signage
  • A booth space where to sell products or advertise services
  • Names read during announcements
  • Branded swag (pencils, sunglasses, magnets, etc) distributed in event bags
  • Logos on event t shirt

It’s important to think critically about how to give real value to your sponsors and how to measure that value and treat them like your organization’s partners. These valuable relationships make events happen and losing sponsors can cost your organization a lot of money and may make holding your event subsequent years impossible. 

How to Create Virtual ROI For Sponsors 

Pre-Event

Sponsorship returns start as soon as your website is up and can be included on all of your digital materials. The key things to make sure you do here is have careful planning around sponsorship levels and clearing define where logos and mentions will show up for various levels. Some of these perks are things you’re likely already doing like putting sponsor logos on your landing pages and emails. Here are a few others:

  • An opportunity to wow your speakers or a list of targeted attendees your sponsor might really want to impress with a VIP experience. You send those targeted attendees a meal box, a case of wine or a service like a code for a food delivery or a car wash.
  • Speaking of sending your attendees something in the mail, send your swag bags and boxes to your attendees and include all of your sponsors’ branded swag!

During the Event

Sponsorship opportunities during the event are endless. Be thoughtful and don’t be afraid to include your long time sponsors in the planning of these activations. These relationships are so important and your sponsors want to know you’re working creatively to give them value as your partner. 

  • Sponsored posts: some event apps have the ability to give you sponsored posts which appear in your events feed throughout and are more than just pinned posts, they repost offers and content on a timed basis. These can include app downloads, special offer codes and links to products or services. Attendify is one app doing this really well, you can read more about how they handle these posts here.
  • Sponsored entertainment: Just because your event moved virtual doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have fun built into the schedule. In the virtual world some entertainment that wouldn’t be as popular in a live event might be really well received online. Keep in mind, virtual attendees might be working at home with kids. Magic acts, a cartoonist, folk duos or yoga sessions have all had great online responses in virtual environments. 
  • Instead of traditional commercials, have your MC interview sponsor representatives. Work with your MC to pull out the value the attendees want to hear.
  • And on that note, run sponsors ads during breaks or on each end of key sessions. Ask that your sponsors create their ads for your event to tailor the content and keep your audience more engaged. 
  • Have sponsors host networking events in virtual rooms. Some fun ones that people are loving are virtual cocktail hours. We’ve seen some events hire a mixologist that teaches everyone how to make their own cocktails.
  • Have sponsors give away virtual backgrounds to attendees and then host raffles in sessions for a door prize for those who used the background.
  • If your event includes gamification, give attendees points on a leaderboard for visiting sponsors’ virtual “booth” or scheduling product demos or meetings with your sponsors. 
  • Other ways that you should definitely use to provide sponsor ROI (and track it) are sending out push notifications about your sponsors deals and sessions if you’re using an event app. If you are not, utilize email notifications instead. 
  • Use banner ads in your event app or on your event webpage or social media event accounts. 
  • Make sure you give your sponsors a way to have a profile, preferable in your app, but if you aren’t using one, then on your event website. 
  • Display sponsors’ logos on your live stream on opening and closing slates and even as a rolling ticker at the top of popular sessions. 

Post Event Sponsorship ROI

The biggest thing you need to post-event is thank your sponsors and include your sponsors information on wrap up emails to your attendees. These are the people that made your event happen. Have a dedicated person on your team gather screen shots of memorable interactions online, meeting selfies and video clips from live streams. Post these to your social accounts and tag the sponsors in them. Remember to deliver all metrics to your sponsors that you may have collected about the number of links and appointments they scheduled and other data that shows they gained value. 

Remember that COVID-19 has changed the events industry forever and you’re not experiencing this alone. Face your sponsors with humble optimism and a strong sense of value for their support. Look at your attendee demographics and the demographics of your sponsors. Be specific about how many attendees your event will have in person and online and what percentage of your expected attendance you are promising sponsors in order to keep their money (70% of last year’s attendance virtually and on sight if you have one) is a good starting point. With clear information and creative ideas you’ll master getting all the sponsor revenue you need and hosting an event people will be engaged in. 
If you would like more information on having a hybrid or virtual event, get in touch to schedule a time to talk.

During the rapidly evolving crisis with COVID-19 we were contacted by Kim Jones, Executive Director of the Optometric Physicians of Washington

Her organization had been planning their 55th Post Graduate Seminar scheduled to take place 8 days from the time she reached out to us. We were able to collaborate with Kim and her organization to quickly find a new venue, figure out safe and sanitary practices for crew and presenters (including one immunocompromised individual), and get a custom viewing page set up with tabbed videos, embedded chat function, email capture for each session and linked quizzes for participants to earn their continuing education credits.

Thanks to this joint effort between our teams, the conference took place on time and around 600 doctors were able to get their continuing education credit from the safety of their home. 

Participants delighted at having free parking, no crowded hallways and other such light-hearted benefits from their devices. Many shared photos of them practicing social distancing at home while holding their babies, sharing a desk with their school-aged kids who are all home from schools, and enjoying the company of their furry family members.  

Some of the safety measures we took during the production and streaming were frequent hand washing, minimal crew, who did morning temperature checks for fever before coming into the closed-off hotel conference room that had only production crew (3 people) the OPW Executive producer, 1 moderator and 1-3 speakers safely spaced throughout the room. 

Our techs kept a minimum of 6 feet apart at their work stations and microphones, the presentation computer and clicker were all disinfected between each person’s use. In addition, we changed foam covers on lavalier mics after each presenter. 

Finally, we had our audio person, who would switch mics and disinfecting gloved and masked when coming into contact with speakers. 

Right now we serve many areas who are being affected by “shelter in place” orders or similar precautions.

As media professionals, our crews are small and carry press passes. We have also applied to have Varvid listed as an essential business in Washington state. 

Our hope is to continue to help create ways to keep people in corporate, education and community organizations connected through bringing meetings, classes and conferences together safely online. 

We also are offering consultations for individuals, groups and businesses who are sheltering in place and in need of a live streaming solution to meet their individual needs using existing gear they have on hand, and or by assisting them in making buying decisions.

Please reach out to us for your streaming and consulting needs. 

Every time I get an inkling to open up Facebook to see if they have any unannounced, under the radar feature releases for live streaming, I get a little rush. Nerd alert! But in all seriousness, Facebook devs just casually roll out features to accounts in a way that treats every user much like a beta tester, especially because of the way features come and go, work and don’t work on any given day in some cases. Because the Facebook Creator Studio has recently added a bunch of new options for streaming using a paired encoder or stream keys, I wanted to cover some of the ones I’m excited to be seeing on their platform…. options that we have had in places like Youtube for some time, but Facebook is catching up.

I will be showing how to pre-schedule a live stream from a business Facebook page, you can do the same from a personal page and/or by going live now.

Creator Studio on Facebook

First, head to your page and at the toolbar at the top of the page, click “More” to drop down the menu and select “Publishing Tools.”

facebook creator studio

Once in Publishing Tools, you will find under the “Tools” heading, “Creator Studio.” Click here to be taken to the Facebook Creator Studio.

creator studio facebook

On the next screen, if you don’t already see the “Go Live” button with the red broadcast icon near the top right of your screen, click the “Home” button on your top left to access it.

Schedule a Live Video

Here you can Go Live Now or Schedule a Live Video. Since Facebook recommends scheduling your live event so that your followers have a chance to sign up to be notified and reminded about your live stream, that’s the method I will use here. Remember that Facebook, has not yet added the ability to select your time zone, so if you are scheduling a live stream that is going to happen in a time zone other than where you are when you schedule it, make the adjustment now to reflect the time it will be where the broadcast is. 

live stream facebook

Getting Started

Under “Getting Started” you can select how Facebook will receive your stream. Currently the following features are not available if you select “Camera” here and try to stream directly from a webcam. If you plan to use a paired encoder like we do for our client’s Facebook streams, such as Wowza’s Clearcaster you do not want to connect the encoder until 4 hours prior to your event. So for now, select “Use Stream Keys” and then go back later and pair your encider when you’re set up and ready to preview your stream within the 4 hour window.

Live Stream on Facebook

In this middle column are most of the goodies, so here we go! Make sure you drop down the “Stream” section to see of all these options.

End Live Video If Stream Stops

This one has been around for a minute. Ending the live video if the stream stops is another way of saying that by checking this box, you will not be using a persistent stream key, which is the term used elsewhere in streaming, on platforms like Youtube. It is not recommended that you use this option if you do not have reliable internet, because if your internet drops out and stops your stream, you will not be able to go back to the same live stream.

Allow Embedding

This is new, and while we’ve been able to embed a Facebook live stream on another webpage using their embed code, now we have the option to not allow the video to be embedded elsewhere on the internet. Here are some reasons we can think of not to allow embedding, and if we missed one, leave us a note in the comments.

  • Comments! If you are directing your audience via email or other social outlets to watch your Facebook Live on a webpage outside of Facebook, only the player will show up with the native embed code.
  • Followers! People watching your video off Facebook who don’t already like and follow your page are much less likely to do so if they aren’t on your Facebook page viewing your stream
  • If you are selling products through Facebook, collecting responses or utilizing any of the other many business tools on your Facebook page, your audience can’t interact with them off site.
  • Finally, we think that the Facebook gods and their algorithm don’t shine as brightly on you when you’re directing your traffic to watch a video using their platform, off of their site where their ads play. We don’t know what exactly the impact is, but we feel sure there is one.

Unpublish After Live Video Ends

We’ve seen this one before. We’ve seen clients use this feature if:

  • They want to give their audience that shared live experience.
  • They want to maintain their live analytics and then edit, shorten or make a highlight reel style video for on demand viewing after the event.
  • They have a large organization or brand with many decision makers that need to review the content before its more widely available to watch.

Go Live For Longer Than 8 Hours

Since 2016 when Facebook rolled out live streaming for all users, there have been various time limits for live streams. Most recently it was 4 hours on mobile and 8 hours streaming from a computer. Now Facebook has streaming longer than 8 hours, but will not save your video and your viewers will not have the option to rewind. We can’t seem to find an official word on how long you can continuously stream to Facebook using this option, but we speculate up to 24 hours.

Viewing

Now for settings about the viewing experience for the audience.

Allow Viewers To Rewind

We don’t usually recommend that people turn off the ability for folks to rewind their live stream. This is super helpful if you get distracted and want to rewatch something, come into a live stream late or have to step away from your device and come back to have missed something. The reasons you may want to utilize this feature around mostly the same as not having your video available on demand after the event or “unpublishing.”

  • You want to really promote that shared live experience like we had before DVR’s on our TV’s.
  • You want to have revelenat, real time comments and discussions and not have people posting about stuff that happened 15 minutes ago.
  • You want only your loyal viewers to get all the inside info and not have it available for people who join late.

Disable Live Commentary

Now you can live stream and have your audience viewing on Facebook, not allow comments during the stream. At Varvid we always stress to our clients that they need to assign someone from their organization to watch, interact, moderate and respond to comments during live streams, or you might want to consider turning them off. In social streaming, we don’t think it’s best practice to let your viewers comment without having anyone responding, it sends the message to your viewers that you aren’t engaged.

You may also want to disable live commentary if your content is controversial to some. Let’s keep going because below are some more fine tuned setting for comments.

Comments

Slow

Check the “Slow” box to restrict users from commenting faster than every 10 seconds. Keeps trolls from flooding your comment section quit so fast if you think you might have that issue.

Discussion

Using the “Discussion” setting only allows comments that are at least 100 characters. This might discourage people from a leaving a comment, those who don’t like rules, if you will, but using this feature could help facilitate more in depth engagements, just make sure you have someone on your team – maybe even multiple people responding thoughtfully.

Restricted

Using the “Restricted” setting restricts new (2 weeks old or less) Facebook accounts from leaving comments.We usually assume accounts that new are bots or accounts trolls made to make salty comments without revealing their identities. I don’t see any reason not to use this feature, unless you think there may be a chance some of our audience members don’t use Facebook and may create an account specifically to watch your live stream. Seems like a narrow field, but hey, maybe that fits your needs!

Protected

“Protected” only allows Facebook users who have followed your account for at least 15 minutes to leave a comment. So if you’re hoping to have your stream be shared around and new potential followers engage with your stream, don’t use this feature. We would recommend this option for a stream that have people coming to be objectory in the comments, who may even go follower or like your page to allowed to comment, but this feature would block them.

Crossposting

We have covered this in other posts, but remember that you can combine your viewing analytics with your partner’s pages by crossposting to their pages and engaging their followers. We learned the hard way that some features like adding Facebook’s donation buttons do not crosspost, even though Facebook doesn’t expressively state this anywhere. Be sure to test any content to make sure its cross posting correctly before you go live. You should be able to create a Scheduled Live Video for crossposting and then go to each page’s post and customize the description for each page without it affecting the other, however I will caution you that I have had some annoying instances of this not updating in real time on the pages who were not the main page, or it created the appearance of a separate post on the page. I hope these bugs are since worked out, but I always plan for and look for them during testing and set up for any event. At Varvid, this is a part of my project management process when using Facebook during testing and rehearsals. 

Audience Settings

And finally, if your content is not appropriate for all ages from 13 and up, you can restrict users whose accounts have their age set at various intervals form 12 plus through 25+. Not quite sure what you’re restricting for 21-25 year olds……but uh, yeah, be responsible with your content to avoid extra public backlash. Be aware that your content still have to abide by Facebook’s community standards.

And if any of this is feeling like a lot, we’d love to work with you as a consultant or as your streaming partner so we can effectively put these practices in place for your organization or brand.

How to Trim Facebook Live Video

In the live world, we’ve been watching all of the major players in live streaming platforms and helping our clients choose the platform or platforms that best fit their event streaming and audiences.  Commonly, clients want to know how to trim Facebook Live video.

It’s no secret that we love Facebook Live, especially when paired with the Wowsa ClearCaster streaming appliance. One major issue we’ve had with streaming to Facebook is that unlike Youtube and some others, you didn’t have the capability to trim your content after your live stream. Thankfully, that’s finally changed!

Last week, we completed a live stream for our marketing partners at Fannit. Afterward, when I went in to edit our post, choose a thumbnail and check on the analytics, I was delighted to find that I could now TRIM the video! 

As a marketing person, I can now rest easy knowing there is an easy way to edit those moments when you go live and your talent takes a bit to come on stage. Or if you actually decide post-event that you’d rather not include the end of a presentation that talked about where attendees present in person could find the nearest bathroom or get their parking validated. 

To trim your video just follow the following simple steps:

  1. On a computer, find your video, either on your feed or in your video library.
  2. Click the three small grey dots in the top right-hand corner to display the drop-down menu and select “Edit Video.”
  3. And then select “Video Trimming”
  4. Now you can edit the start and end time of the video by inputting the time or by dragging the yellow slider. The area inside the yellow bars is the content you will be keeping and anything outside of that area to the left and right is going to be trimmed and deleted. 
  5. Now click save and you’re done trimming! It may take a little time for Facebook to trim your content, but you will get a notification when it is complete.

Check out the images below to follow step-by-step!

You can also go back into “Edit Video” and add your video to playlists, add captioning, tags and much more. 

Be sure to check out all the options if you haven’t already. 

Live Streaming Essentials: How to Prepare for a Live Broadcast

Introduction to Live Streaming 

Over the last decade, live streaming video on social media platforms has emerged as a popular way for event organizers, brands, and individuals to connect and engage with a remote audience in real time. 

Whereas traditional broadcast television networks required their audiences to tune in to their television channel at a particular time, live video producers now have multiple social networks to incorporate into their live video content strategy to stream live whenever they want and host their videos on demand for later viewing. 

If you’re thinking of getting started with live streaming video, we’ve put together an essentials guide based on our 15 years experience that will make sure your first live streaming experience is as successful as possible.

Best Practices For Live Streaming

Live Streaming Video Production

     There are a ton of traditional video production companies that can shoot interviews and capture B-Roll, but multi-camera live streaming production is a whole different beast and requires a much different skill set. 

The first item in our live streaming tips are 3 things you should look for in a production company that will set them apart from the rest.

  1. IT Experience – Be wary if a company is touting their creative abilities but doesn’t talk about the internet connection at all during your conversations. 
  2. If they are experienced with live streaming they should be asking you to put them in touch with the venue’s IT staff to see if there’s enough bandwidth to stream, whether the right ports are open, and to ensure there won’t be any issues with firewalls.

    A company with technical expertise will also be able to assist you with backup solutions for your internet connection like cellular bonding and satellite internet.
  3. Event Experience – Some streamers work in a studio setting where they have the same gear set up at all times. Building a flypack and loading into a venue is a completely different style of work and if your vendor is not experienced streaming at events this could lead to negative results for your production.
  4. Strong Project Management Processes – The most crucial part of live streaming projects takes place before anyone gets on site to do the work. Ask potential vendors about their pre-production process, what tools they use, what project management styles and strategies they employ, and how they communicate with their team.

    If they’re unable to give a detailed answer, it’s likely they are disorganized and important details will slip through the cracks.

Set and Stage Design 

    When shooting video, what you see is what you get, so investing in stage design is one of the best ways to improve the production value. Here are five things you can do to improve the look of your event on camera.

  1. Logo – Invest in displaying your logo prominently on the stage. This can be with physical signage, or you can work with the Image Magnification team to display your logo on the screens between sessions.
  2. Screens – Make sure any screens are not directly behind your presenters so our cameras can get a clean shot of the people on stage. If you can’t raise your screen high enough to be out of the way, then designate a spot for your speakers that’s to the side of the screen.
  3. Aspect Ratio – Use screens that have a 16:9 aspect ratio and make sure all your content is also in 16:9.
  4. Branding – Showcase your company’s brand and culture through the stage design. You could add props to the stage that are relevant to your event, or use what’s called a cucoloris on your lighting which is the casting of a silhouette shadow in whatever shape you choose.
  5. Backdrop – Do not use black or dark colors for your drape or backdrop. This will make the image look flat and two dimensional. If this is your only option, then break-up the black background with other stage elements or backlights.

    This will create separation between the speaker and the background on your video recordings and make it look much better.

Lighting For Your Live Stream

     Lighting for video production is much different than lighting for a theater audience and it’s arguably the biggest factor in ensuring you have a high quality video production. The better the lighting, the better it looks on camera. Here are 7 things that will ensure the lighting looks great for your live stream.

  1. The Key Light – This is a primary light source that illuminates the speakers typically at a 30-60 degree angle not too far above the speaker’s head. Do not place lighting directly above your speakers as it casts dark shadows on the eyes, below the nose, and under the chin.
  2. Fill Light – This is a light placed on the opposite side of the Key Light and set at a dimmer level. The purpose is to reduce the harsh shadows cast by the Key Light.
  3. Backlight – Placed behind and/or to the side of the speaker, the backlight creates a sharp edge that separates the speaker from the background. Without a backlight, the video image will look flat and two-dimensional.
  4. No Single Spot – Do not use a spotlight. Spotlights are typically much brighter than other lights and do not look as good on camera as they do for the on site audience.
  5. Backdrop and Stage Lighting – Light enough of the stage so the speakers will be lit no matter where they go and put a light on any important set props, signs, or logos.

    We strongly recommend you add colored uplights to your drape or background as helps add more separation from the background and makes the image more dynamic.
  6. Audience Lighting – If you have a camera capturing audience reactions (and you definitely should), plan to have enough light on your audience so viewers will be able to see them.
  7. Keep light off the presentation screen – Make sure your lights don’t spill on to the projector screen as it makes the screen much more difficult to read.

Audio For Your Live Stream

     Audio is the most important aspect of any production. There are many ways to get creative and fix issues with video, but this is not the case for bad audio. Here are four tips for getting the best results from audio at a live event.

  1. The Mix – Send a master mix of your audio to your video crew via an XLR cable. Also, notify your audio team that this audio mix is for the live stream as they will likely want to send a slightly different mix to the online audience than what they are mixing for people on site.
  2. Types of Mics – We strongly recommended using DPA headset mics, as they have all the advantages of a lavalier microphone without the risk of brushing up against clothes or jewelry.

    If you don’t like the look of a headset mic, lavalier microphones will suffice. You typically want to go with omni directional microphones unless you have a singer that’s not using a handheld mic in which case you’ll want to use a directional microphone.
  3. Microphone Positions – It’s obvious you need microphones for everything on stage, but have you considered micing the audience?

    You should definitely consider adding mics around the room so you can incorporate the ambient sounds of the audience at a low level for the live stream. This subtle touch can add a lot of production value.
  4. Backup Multi-Track Recording – If there’s any chance at all you might want to edit these videos later, we strongly recommend you add a multi-track recorder to the workflow.

    This means your post-production team with have a separate audio track for every single microphone and audio source, instead of having a single track that contains all the audio sources one.

Live Streaming on Social Media Distribution

The distribution strategy for your live stream is crucial, there’s no point in going through all the trouble if no one tunes in to watch.

  1. Public or Private – We strongly recommend to make your stream open to the public whenever possible to maximize viewership.

    There are definitely circumstances like internal company meetings that demand a secure private stream, but if you don’t have a reason to keep something private then you should definitely put it out to as wide an audience as possible.
  2. Paywall – Many people who are streaming for the first time are intrigued at the idea of using a paywall to charge online viewers access to the stream as a way to make money.

    Unless you have a star studded lineup to compete with the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go, or proprietary educational content that’s not available anywhere else online for free, the only thing a paywall accomplishes is making sure no one watches your live stream.

    Instead of charging people to watch, you should try to maximize viewership and include a call to action towards other revenue streams for your organization.
  3. Simulcasting – One of the best ways to reach a wider audience is to stream to multiple platforms at the same time. Unless you have a well defined marketing plan that calls for live streaming to a single platform, we recommend streaming to all your public channels that support live streaming. The most popular are Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitter & Periscope, Twitch, and Mixer. Also, take note that LinkedIn is going to start supporting live video soon and will be the perfect platform for professional related content.
  4. Pre-scheduling Events – Unless you have strategic reasons for your stream to be kept secret, we recommend you schedule a live event as soon as you can to notify your online audience. Every platform is different, for example YouTube allow you to create an event as far in advance as you’d like, whereas Facebook requires that you be at least seven days away before you can schedule a live stream event. You should also consider releasing regular posts about your live stream every few days to build excitement.

Get Started

The nature of live production ensures there will always be hiccups, even professionals in the highest level productions make mistakes like the 2017 Academy Awards announcing the wrong winners and the NFL Network accidentally airing a video announcing the New England Patriots as winning the 2019 Super Bowl before the game was even played.

The best way to become proficient at live streaming is to do it often and run a rigorous debrief process with everyone involved to take notes on how to improve next this.

This is how we’ve built up our project management processes over the years and it’s done well for us.

Live streaming has certainly grown in popularity over the last five years due to massive increases in internet connection speed as well as the near-constant connectedness of audiences via their smart devices.


Having been in the live streaming industry prior to all of this, we’ve become quite familiar with how folks talk about live streaming, and it seems like there are a few myths that are very typical of people looking to hold their very first live stream.

We’d love to share our expertise with you here to help you understand the benefits of live streaming just like we do!

1. Live streaming your event will decrease in-person attendance

While it might seem logical that people would prefer to stay home and watch your live stream rather than attend your event in person, studies show this isn’t the case. 

In fact, live streaming has been shown to increase in-person attendance. 

According to Digitell, 30% of people who watch a live stream of an event will attend the same event in person the following year. 

We watch our clients grow their events in subsequent years after live streaming all the time because it gives their audiences a glimpse into why they wouldn’t want to miss the event and helps their brands and events gain the exposure they need to grow. 

Coachella is a great example of this; after they live streamed their 2011 festival, they turned around and sold out their 2012 festival in record time — 3 hours! 

Our founder and pioneering live streaming IT guru Aaron Booker always says…

“We can’t get you more ticket sales by live streaming this year, but if you do it, we can get you more butts in seats next year!”

2. Live streaming is too expensive

Live streaming your event can be done cheaply with your cell phone camera or professionally with a crew that will provide broadcast quality coverage of your event. 

Whichever route you decide to take, the value of the live streaming is unquestionable. 
When you consider that your online audience may be three or 4 or more times the in-person audience when the event is live, AND create even more reach for those who couldn’t tune in live watch the recording on demand, you can start to see the value in investing in your live stream production. 

At the end of your event, not only do you have the live stream online for people to watch on demand, but if your event was professionally streamed, you should also have a high resolution recording of the entire thing as well. This footage can be used to make stylized recap videos, bite sized social media postings and added to your content library to pull bits out of for future videos, commercials and more. 

3. Broadcasting your event on Facebook or Youtube is the same as having it played on TV

This is a common idea I find that gets unearthed when I work with clients who want to Facebook live stream their event. 

Live streaming has a world of potential to connect you, your brand, your ideas, your contributors, your audiences and even your management team and employees! 

Here are some awesome examples of this we’ve seen:

1. Giving away prizes to someone who comments with the correct answer to a question
2. Random drawings for a swag bag to the right commenter
3. Displaying comments and reactions from online viewers on screens for the in person audience to see in the room 
4. Major collaboration between online and in-person audiences to solve a puzzle
5. Listen to ideas from the audience
6. Post up polls for them to vote on what happens next
7. Submit fan art to share
8. Even donating to a cause!

Another thing this myth leaves out is the rich metrics you get from streaming online. Streaming online gives you great metrics for your marketing team to use to set and evaluate goals, find out which parts of your programming were popular, how long your audience will stay engaged in a video, as well as a host of demographic information like the age, time zone, and occupation of your viewers.

 

facebook live stream

One cool way we recently saw Twitch engagement being used by a client was for creating “end of the day” wrap up and recap videos. 

Rather than having a dedicated team sit through hours of footage to pull out clips people might find interesting, we used Twitch clips to pull out content that had been clipped by the client’s audience had told us they connected with and strung them together for quick and easy crowd sourced recap videos. 

4. When your live stream is over, the reach is over

In our experience, you will see at least 10X the views on a video after the live stream is over, over the following week. 

While some platforms like YouTube allow you to trim and make minor edits to your video after the live stream is over, others like Facebook do not yet have that feature. 

So definitely keep in mind when you’re planning your streaming content that you may or may not, depending on the destination, have the ability to trim off time at the beginning of your stream that you started before your programming began, which may be really boring for those watching post-event. 

5. If  we live stream, the programming will need to be perfect

While streaming your event to thousands of viewers may make you think that your programing needs to be perfectly polished and scripted, quite the opposite is true. 

Some of the best audience reactions happen during mishaps, awkward timing and candid moments at an event. People watch live content because its more authentic and fluid, that’s the nature of the live space and it’s something we know and love.

If you’re professionally streaming your event, the director of the stream will know just how to call camera angles, graphics and cuts to keep your stream moving along for your online viewers while making them feel like a part of the event and highlighting perspectives that make your brand stand out.

If you want an expert team to help you plan out your next live event, we are here to help. You can contact us here to tell us about your project!

Orchestral Tools is a brilliant symphonic software company that creates robust toolsets for professional film and video game composers. For their product launch during NAMM this year, they wanted to stream their event in the style of an Apple Keynote and they chose Varvid to handle the video production and streaming.

Keynote style product release live stream at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, California delivered via Youtube and Facebook.

We delivered a three camera live stream with a mini jib for this well-produced show that streamed on their Youtube channel and their Facebook page, which used to also crosspost to one of the presenter’s Facebook page as well. This was the company’s first live stream and the online views and interactions tell us, it’s just what their audience was hungry for.

The Facebook Live stream, the first for this company received over 2,000 engagements!

Frontgate is a leading home luxury multichannel retailer who does recurring live streamed events with us from their storefront locations. Because Facebook is really prioritizing live content, we find that for many of our clients, it is a great fit for getting the most viewers on your streamed event.

Nathan Turner talks food and entertainment at Dallas retail location for Frontgate

Frontgate’s last event was streamed from their Dallas/Plano, Texas location and featured a prominent designer, author and gourmet guru, Nathan Turner, who shared recipes and favorite products for holiday gatherings to a small local audience and reached thousands more via their Facebook Live stream.

Frontgate interacts with their audience in real time on their Facebook Live stream

We love the big brand’s use of live streaming to bring in promoters of their brand that share content that both in the room and remote audiences want and can engage with. Frontgate, stepped it up by holding a prize drawing that featured people in the room and anyone who left a comment of the live stream. We also think that our clients gain the most, by having someone on your team interacting with the live audience on Facebook live stream, via comments. You can view the recorded live stream here.