How to run corporate live events
Live streaming is a cost effective way to broadcast your company across the globe and amplify the reach of everything from intimate seminars to huge corporate events online. Even the largest auditoriums are limited but the internet offers your events limitless capacity and adaptability. With the possibility of audience sizes that far outstrip your in person attendance and the need for seamless interactivity and rapid lag-free delivery there are a number of considerations to take into account to ensure your event runs smoothly and achieves the results you want.
- Plan
Treat a live stream like you would any business venture and plan. Work out why you’re hosting the event, define your objectives, what kind of event it will be, your budget and the intended return on investment. If your goal is to stand out and draw in big investors, you might want to invest more for a higher return. Meanwhile, a Zoom call might be more than sufficient for a cheap, intimate and authentic stream.
- Location
Wherever you’re streaming from, whether that’s at home, in the office, at a conference center or whatever location you believe is going to serve your objectives best, get to know your set. Make sure you’ve got the right equipment for the job and are set up in the right place with the best sound, lighting and connection available. Perform a practice stream to make sure everything is ready for the real deal.
- Platform
The simplest and most professional way to share video is from your own site. This gives you total control and brings people to your site from which you can promote your services and products. System 73 allows you to incorporate a branded video player with a personalized overlay and your company’s favicon. The SHARE button will create a direct link and an embed code that can be integrated wherever you prefer.
You can then set up a live stream directly from the System 73 website, adding your own title, thumbnail, categories, tags and a description that will help SEO.
Enable System 73 features such as Edge Delivery and Edge Intelligence for optimum delivery of your content. You can also see when the broadcast is ON AIR and you can specify the number of seconds viewers can scroll back during the event (DVR). It’s then up to you what bitrate you want your content to be viewed at.
Many social media and video hosting sites offer more basic live streaming features such as YouTube and Facebook Live or social streamers such as Twitch and Uscreen.
You have to ask yourself what your target audience will find easiest to use and what is going to provide you with the optimum quality for your event and its needs. User experience is crucial to building and maintaining audiences and it’s your job to minimize the number of obstacles between your product and your customer. This can be done by using a platform they are already familiar with or ensuring that access to your event is as simple as possible.
- Equipment
Whatever your budget, it’s always worth thinking about what kit you will be using. If your event has a bigger budget, invest in the tools that will ensure you have a high quality stream. Even a Zoom event can be improved significantly by a decent and relatively inexpensive microphone and camera. Live streams will also need an encoder to stream the video data in real time.
If you’re unsure of what to go for, speak to the experts. There are numerous live video agency’s who will know exactly what you need to achieve your objectives. These companies can also offer individuals to help with the live production to make sure everything comes together perfectly.
- Layout
Switching between cameras, settings, screen layouts and other aesthetic settings will help keep an audience engaged and divide your stream up into the relevant sections. Establish how you want your stream to look at each point and how to achieve that look beforehand. The more complex your arrangement, the more practice and expertise you’ll need.
- Titles
Even if you don’t change shots or layouts, take advantage of this opportunity to share your branding with your audience with graphics and titles. Not only will they link the event to your brand but it will also make things clearer for viewers and keep them engaged with your message. There are a wide range of styles to choose from with varying degrees of complexity and animation: establish what you can afford and what will work best for your event.
- Pre-roll
Set up a branded graphic before the event so that viewers will be met with your graphic as soon as they arrive on the stream page. This way, they are engaged and know they’re in the right place. They are also reassured if there are any delays and are reminded that this event is connected to your brand.
- Test drive
Set up a private stream to share with your colleagues to check your audio levels, image quality and internet connection. This will also allow you to get familiar with the set up before going live and make sure people can access the stream easily. If anything does go wrong during the live event, this is a live stream after all, the System 73 platform has a STOP button that will terminate the live broadcast immediately.
- Promote
Promote your live stream in good time before the event and choose a time that will best suit your audience to make sure you achieve the best viewing numbers possible. Keep it simple and easy for them to access the stream by providing them with the link on social media, newsletters and wherever else you think is likely to draw in your desired audience. You can also record the event and share the whole thing or snippets of promotional content to get the most out of the stream and show anyone who missed it what they missed out on.
- Evaluate
How did the stream go? What worked and what didn’t? How can you improve in the delivery of your message and the use of the resources that live streaming can offer you? As always, the more you do, the better they’ll get, especially if you’re alive to the opportunities to improve.