Live streaming

Why live stream?

Digital media is trending more and more to a live format. This presents several benefits over produced content:

• While rougher around the edges, it adds a degree of authenticity to your content

• Takes FAR less time to create and promote

• Reduces production lag. Can reference and meditate on current events and technologies, without any delays in production

• Allows you to engage directly with your audience better than other formats

If you are looking for new ways to engage with your audience, livestreams allow you to put out more new content quickly and easily.

Mobile phone vs computer setup

• Mobile setup

  • Pros

    • Lightweight and travels well

    • Often simpler to set up

    • Some social media apps are more optimized for livestreaming than web clients

  • Cons

    • Often (not always) reduced audio and video quality

    • More difficult to monitor the livestream and engage with viewers through live chat

    • Finding an external microphone that works with your mobile device can be tricky

• Computer setup

  • Pros

    • Higher quality video and audio (depending on your camera and microphone)

    • Can monitor livestream feed and engage with audience during livestream if you so choose

    • USB microphones are designed to play nice with computers and work without much fuss

  • Cons

    • More equipment and, therefore, harder to travel with

    • Longer setup and breakdown time

    • Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter are not optimized for live streaming through the desktop client

Equipment

• Mobile phone setup

  • Smartphone with network/WiFi access

  • Smartphone compatible tripod

  • (Optional) External Microphone

  • (Optional) Phone charger

• Computer setup

  • Camcorder/DSLR/Webcam

    • Connecting cables

  • External microphone (needs to be compatible with camera)

    • Connection cables

  • Laptop computer (w/ charger)

  • Second laptop or phone for monitoring live feed and chat

  • Tripod

  • Microphone stand

  • Headphones

How to set up your livestream

1. Choose your social media platform If you are planning to use the mobile phone setup above, you will want to use a platform optimized for mobile, such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. For the computer setup above, you will want to use YouTube, Twitch, or another platform optimized for a computer internet browser (these allow you to set your video and audio inputs).

2. Choose your venue Ideally, this would be at a podium, across a table in a conference room, or really anywhere that has a simple background. You should avoid having your subjects backlit and make sure that the lighting will not change drastically during your livestream (including background of slides if those will be projected behind your subject).

3. Promoting ahead of time During the 1-2 weeks before your livestream, post about it on all of your social media platforms. Additionally, if you are livestreaming on YouTube, you can create the streaming event ahead of time and embed it in a blog post or web page. Once it goes live, people will be able to watch the stream through that post, as well as on your YouTube channel.

4. Setting up

   • You will want to test your audio and video inputs before you go live. Get to your venue at least an hour ahead of time to allow for these tests.

   • Ensure that you video framing includes everything that you want to include in your livestream. Unless you are doing a more informal, mobile livestream, you will ideally leave the camera on the tripod for the duration of the event.

   • If you are using a separate microphone, place it on the podium or table facing the subject(s). During your testing, make sure that audio levels are not peaking (or “going red”), as this will translate to distorted audio for your audience.

5. During your livestream

   During the livestream, have a separate computer or laptop viewing the livestream broadcast. You should be monitoring this feed every few minutes to ensure that the audio and video quality is maintained and there aren’t any technical issues. Also, if your livestream platform has it enabled, monitor live chat during the broadcast and engage with viewers as they have comments and questions. You could even have questions asked by viewers featured at the end of your livestream event.

6. After your livestream

   Your social media platform should offer the option to save your livestream as a video file. This file can be uploaded to other social media platforms or edited for more future content. If you have a YouTube channel or blog page that hosts videos, you can embed your livestream there to allow people who missed the broadcast to view it. Don’t forget to promote these playlists and pages.