virtual events
A very good article on LinkedIn by @jaranderson about virtual versus face-to-face events – and some good comments too.
Will We Ever Meet In Person Again (A Review of Virtual Events)
Our friends at muchosmedia have just put a new demo online of EventChat, the app Kinura uses for turning ordinary webcasts into interactive online events.
The app now has social media built in so you can log in from twitter, yahoo, LinkedIn and facebook. Check out the features and admin tools here and see the demo. It’s probably more fun if you get someone to log in and chat with you so you aren’t just talking to yourself!
We have some plans to integrate further with twitter so watch this space. You can now follow @kinura on twitter if you want to keep updated.
There’s an interesting discussion happening on LinkedIn at the moment in the Virtual Events Forum Group.
Someone asked “What are the benefits of live streaming vs. pre-recorded video”
- and quite a few people have answered, covering pros and cons, interactive options, audience engagement, moderating feedback and so on.
Check it out if you’re wondering about such things!
I was so happy to be given a non-plastic-coated badge when I arrived at SES 2010. Usually I find one of the annoying little plastic variety in my bag after a conference and wonder how best to dispose of the goddam thing, whilst bemoaning the waste of food, carpets, plastic bottles and all manner of human stuff that even a one-day conference can generate. I really wanted to attend SES this year, mainly to check out the session on virtual events and videoconferencing, but also to get a picture of the broader issues facing events organisers and venues in terms of sustainability and CSR. (If you want the key points on the Virtual Events bit, skip to the bullet points below).
The event was chaired by hat-wearing Ed Gillespie from Futerra who kept the crowd amused throughout. He introduced Jonathon Porrit after a quick preamble reminding us all that we should try get ourselves, our clients and colleagues excited about low-carbon heaven rather than being scared about climate change doom, which makes sense – it pays to be positive, and as Mr Porrit re-affirmed, there is only one direction for the sustainability issue, and that is that it has to be more present and more compelling.
There were lots of sessions on waste, energy and social enterprise (as Porrit reminded us in the keynote, sustainability is also about workers’ rights and fair wages, it’s not just about environmental impact) – but I want to get straight to the part about doing meetings and events online. The session couldn’t have come at a better time really, as we were under the cloud of Eyjafjallajokull, so the answer to the question of the title of this session “Stay grounded or stay face to face?” had been answered for us to an extent. Sometimes there is no other option than to do it online. We all know that online communications makes sense. It’s just how we learn to use the technology we have alongside our real-life interactions.
The panel for the Stay grounded or stay face to face? session was James Alexander from Do The Green Thing, Paul Dickinson from Carbon Disclosure Project, Iziana Dowie from Eventia and Leanne Bell who writes for C&IT magazine.
This video from Do the Green Thing set the scene for the debate…
…and here’s a round up of the key points on both sides:
*It’s a bit crazy to say video meetings won’t work before we have really started using them (alot of people are basing their experience on out-dated clunky tech and poor connectivity)
*For most orgs and venues it takes a hell of a lot of set up and pre-event testing to make sure a reliable and high quality video feed is possible
*There are still a lot of issues with poor connectivity and complicated platforms
*It’s about normalisation of behaviour – people just aren’t so used to doing it online yet
*There may be competitive advantage in doing meetings online
*Cisco Telepresence is amazing but very expensive
*Cisco Telepresence has inbuilt clever stuff like picking up eye-colour for more real eye contact – so the experience is heightened and the tech becomes invisible
*Eventia’s White Paper says 84% of executives prefer face-to-face meetings
*Education is needed from tech companies and events associations about how to best use the technology (that was my own comment btw)!
*If the ‘real’ event is complex with multiple tracks over several days and loads of networking opportunities, then the online version will have difficulty to provide the same experience
*People should just have a go and experiment to find out what works and what doesn’t
*Extending the idea of beaming someone into a conference: i.e. after someone has done a live video link into an event they could become available for a workshop type discussion afterwards by simply having another room set up with a screen and two way audio link or chat room
*Rather than being swamped by available tech, event organisers should choose what to use according to audience demographic
Obviously this issue will continue to be debated. I know where I stand: I love meeting people, but given that 200,000 tonnes per a day of CO2 emissions have been prevented as a result of cancelled flights I might just do more meetings online when I can!
If you want more food for thought on Virtual Events, read Leanne Bell’s article on the C&IT site.
BectaX is a project bringing together thinkers and influencers from the worlds of education, digital media & policy. It aims to explore and shape future learning.
On 31st March 2010 at the Wellcome Collection in London, the first full day BectaX event will take place with an accompanying online event made up of a live webcast with some seriously interactive twitter and chatroom activity.
Schools from across the UK have been invited to join in, with their comments appearing on an interactive map as they tweet and chat whilst watching the live stream. The chat room has been provided by our genius friends at muchosmedia - with all the live vision mixing, archiving and global streaming delivered (of course) by Kinura.
BectaX is part of Becta’s “Fit for the Future” programme: the project is being produced by Just-b.
We’re webcasting the Future TV Advertising Forum on 11th December 2009.
“This one day conference, on 11th December in Portland Place, London will bring together broadcast and advertising to analyse and debate the evolution of TV advertising.”
EMI, Unilever, Channel4, itv and Discovery will be in residence (to name just a few). So if you have a vested interested in exploring PayTV, product placement, branded content, interactive ads, etc., then get yourself a ticket, put the webcast in your diary – oh and you can keep informed via the event producers, PointZero, on twitter at http://twitter.com/pointzeromedia
Yes! It’s that time of year again. We’re webcasting the wonderful Power to the Pixel Cross-Media Forum on 14th October from bfi Southbank in London .
If you want to get the lowdown on collaborative digital film-making and multi-platform storytelling, or hear about the latest models in film financing and distribution, then you can’t miss this groundbreaking event.
The conference will be streamed live and then archived for your laid-back viewing pleasure. We’re also working with ScreenWM to stream the webcast into a venue in Birmingham if you’re based in the midlands. Sign up to Power to the Pixel’s feeds to find out more and stay updated.
http://twitter.com/powertothepixel
http://powertothepixel.com/feed
Facebook
Watching the Burberry webcast today was a great experience. I’m not sure who was behind the prouduction, but it was a pleasure to watch such high quality stuff. They had the bright idea of asking people to sign in for comments and add their location so everyone quickly had a sense of how many people around the world were watching. As one commenter said “this is the future of fashion”. :)
At C&IT’s conference in London yesterday Rob Davidson of Westminster University gave an engaging talk on the changing face of events. He talked about research being published into trends towards virtual meeting environments, rss feeds, mashups and moblogs. Although he confessed he didn’t actually know what some of those things mean :)
Here’s a quick summary:
- Participation and interactivity is increasingly what delegates want.
- There’s a trend towards trying to incorporate some kind of ’social legacy’
- ‘Generation Y’ want shorter presentations and they want ‘infotainment’
If you want to know more about this he said you can download a free report from http://www.eibtm.com/
Haymarket’s Event and C&IT magazines have launched a new site, Virtual Venue Visit, showing the first in a series of specially commissioned event venue showreels. Following research which asked corporate conference organisers what they really wanted to see online from venues, they produced a number of short films and interviews which are tailored to meet the key needs of event planners and buyers rather than being just a one-way marketing tool for suppliers.
Paul Twite, publishing director of Event and C&IT said: “The filming is designed to bring out the character of each venue while answering the main questions raised by event buyers and planners in our research. The Virtual Venue Visit has huge potential for future rollouts.”
Kinura filmed and produced the video, developed the flash video site and players, and provides global streaming with detailed user statistics. You can also read a case study about online presentations we have worked on for Haymarket here.
PRWeek are running an online event Facing the Challenge of Social Media, which will be streamed live around the world from 9:00 GMT on 10th February. The videos were recorded at PRWeek’s social networking and blogging summit in London, and will be streamed alongside live synchronised PowerPoint slides, giving people the chance to view conference presentations from social media experts at MySpace, Bebo, The Guardian and FT.com to name just a few.
We worked with Muchosmedia to develop the live slide sharing application so now presenters can keep their online audiences synchronised in real time.
You can book a place to the event at PRSummitOnline.com
If you’re thinking about running a webcast or webinar then you should find this guide helpful in thinking through the process from start to finish. It covers pre-event planning, promotion, archiving for on-demand viewing, and a little bit of technical info (but not too much). Basically this document sums up the kinds of issues I would discuss with my clients. Hope you find it useful. If so – let me know – you can post a comment below.
You can download a PDF version of this article here:
9-things-you-need-to-know-about-webcasting-webinars
Licensed for free non commercial distribution
9 Things You Need to Know About Webinars & Webcasting
1. Webcast or ‘webinar’ might mean different things to different people
If you’re thinking about broadcasting an event on the web, be clear about why you are doing it, who you want to watch it, how you will promote it and what needs to be delivered around your web event to make it successful and worthwhile.
A webcast is usually understood to be a live online video broadcast, but it could be audio and slides only. It could be a video message from a remote speaker streamed into a conference you are holding, or even a pre-recorded video delivered ‘as-live’, with a live chat room, slides and downloadable assets.
Beyond the audio or video stream you can now add any number of collaborative or interactive elements so it makes sense to be clear about your goals. If you’re thinking about communicating via a web broadcast, take a step back and think about how you can get the most of it
2. Know your connectivity
For a quality video stream, the place you are streaming from ideally needs a dedicated broadband line with a minimum of 1MB upstream. If this means nothing to you then don’t worry too much as your webcasting supplier should deal with IT issues and handle all the connectivity testing, etc. But at the same time, when scoping out the perfect venue for your event, it’s worthwhile getting written confirmation that they can supply the level of connectivity you need.
A lot of business broadband lines are ‘contended’ which means they are shared by many of the ISP’s customers. They may be advertised as 8MEG but on testing the upstream connectivity, you may find the reality is more like 300kbps, which isn’t great for webcasting. You can (roughly) test the speed of a line using a site like www.speedtest.net
Golden rule: More bandwidth does not necessarily mean a better quality stream! (For the techies out there – in our opinion SDSL 1 meg is far better than ADSL 8 meg or even some advertised 20 meg broadband lines! You have to test it..
One other consideration here is your audience’s bandwidth. Most individual users will be fine receiving a stream at 300k upwards these days, but if many people from one organisation want to view at the same time it’s better to set up a screen or a few computers dedicated to watching the webcast, otherwise the corporate network might creak at the seams!
3. Make an impact – consider your video and graphics sources well in advance.
Attention spans are short. The more lively you can make the message you’re delivering the better. At live events it’s very straightforward to mix in PowerPoint slides, video clips or anything your speakers are showing on screen as part of their presentations. Filming the screen is not the best option, as the quality will suffer, so taking a feed from the speaker’s laptop into a vision mixer is the best bet. You should also think about your branding for within the video window. Pre-roll graphics can be displayed with your logo (or sponsors logos), and you should also think about messages to be displayed during any breaks in the live stream, and a message to be displayed after the event has finished.
4. Get it Watched: Advertise and Promote Your Event
Many people think of webcasting as an add-on to an existing event rather than as an opportunity in its own right for online PR or direct marketing to their end users. Advertising the event in advance via your own mailing lists, intranet and web pages is obvious, but have you thought about asking media partners and bloggers if they want to embed the webcast player on their site? You could also use social networking sites to create a presence for your online event. By doing this, people can create their own profiles, get reminders and continue the conversation. Ning is a good one. And of course there’s Facebook, LinkedIn and a host of other web 2.0 and networking platforms to exploit.
The earlier you can promote your event the better. If your event has a very specific audience, you could consider an advert in a relevant magazine or on a trade website. It’s also worthwhile thinking about any partners with real venues where they could set up a screen for people to watch the event. For example, if you are webcasting a conference about graduate careers, why not ask universities and key HR departments if they want to show it in their offices around the world? Some companies have linked up with big screens in cities or invited arts and community centres to set up screens and participate remotely. Think about the possibilities. It’s pretty exciting!
5. Make it Interactive
As well as thinking about offering options to download further information, email the speaker or send messages via live chat, you should make sure your speakers address the online audience as well as those attending the real event. It’s simple to set up a printer or screen to show questions that are being sent in so that people online have just as much opportunity to contribute as people sitting in the audience. You could even email people to ask if they want to send a question in advance, and then they’re more likely to tune in and see if their question was selected.
Live chat rooms can be moderated if you have any worries about rogue elements posting offensive or irrelevant comments. So go for it –talk to your online audience and get them talking to each other.
6. Track it. Find out who’s watching
Just as with any website, you should get statistics showing how many people tune in to your event. With video streamed from a ‘proper’ streaming server network, you should also get streaming stats for any videos made available to end-users.
If you want to get some marketing data it is straightforward to add an email sign in option before people can view the stream. There’s an argument this could put some people off, but if you have something worthwhile to communicate and are talking to the right audience, it’s likely they won’t mind being kept informed. You can also use RSS to send event reminders or updates.
7. Get Your Web, Video Production And Webcasting Team Talking
If you have a web agency or in-house web team, an external video crew and a webcasting company all involved, it’s essential they all know what the other party needs. Then there is also potentially IT, AV and front-of-house staff at a venue to consider. It’s sensible to get your teams talking to each other as soon as you decide to produce a webcast. Some things can be set up in advance, like pages to hold the archives once the event is over. Think through the process and communicate how you see it all working to everyone involved.
8. Do Your Research. Look at what others are doing (and not doing) well.
You can now choose to search Google for video results only, so it’s worth spending a bit of time exploring what others in your sector are doing. If no one else is webcasting you could have an angle for a press release, and if they are, then you can see what you could do better. There are a few ‘streaming industry’ news and information resources out there, like streamingmedia.com and Chinwag’s webTV list, but just a general Google search will probably turn up some interesting links. And of course, there’s more articles on webcasting on the Kinura blog. We hope you find it useful.
If you are using an external webcasting company, ask them what their other clients have done and if they have any suggestions.
9. Think how you can use the video after the event.
If you have the infrastructure sorted to host your video files after the event then don’t delay in getting your archives online. Even if you choose one session from a whole day of conference programming, it’s wise to make something available for those who tune in late or missed the event but want to see it as soon as possible. If you have a keynote speaker, it makes sense to prioritise big names or what you thought was the most well received presentation.
It also might be worthwhile thinking whether you need any additional edits or formats for webTV platforms. For example, YouTube has a limit of 10 minutes and a file size of 1 GB. If you want to upload clips to YouTube you should ask the video crew to re-encode the video to the optimum resolution and add any extra graphics you want. If your webcasting live using Adobe Flash and capturing Flash files straight off, then Blip.tv is great because you can upload Flash video (flv) files directly, YouTube does accept flv files as uploads but may re-encode them so some quality is lost.
***
Thanks for reading!
There’s a checklist below and a list of links that might be useful, which link to more useful links!
CHECKLIST
- Have I defined my webcast goals and communicated them to my team?
- Have I checked my venue has suitable connectivity?
- Does my client have enough bandwidth to watch multiple streams?
- Have I planned my pre-roll graphics, notices for breaks and post event messaging?
- Have we thought about how we can promote the event and planned time for emailing reminders, etc?
- What other elements should be on the web pages around the webcast?
- Do we want to capture email addresses or make this event by password invite only?
- Does everyone working on the webcast, both at the venue and online, know the process for before, during and after the event?
- Have I checked what my peers or competitors are doing?
Don’t take it for granted that webcasting is a day-to-day occurrence. You might find that some of your speakers haven’t been live online before, or that no one else in your sector is communicating with live web events. Webcasting is still quite new and it can be pretty exciting. These days it’s very reliable and shouldn’t even cost you an arm and a leg. So enjoy it, make the most of it. Happy webcasting.
You can download a PDF version of this article here:
9-things-you-need-to-know-about-webcasting-webinars1
Licensed for free non commercial distribution
This document was written by Sarah Platt, UK Director of Kinura Web Video.
www.kinura.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahplatt
Kinura Web Video are always happy to answer questions.
You can contact us via our website or email sarah.platt’at’kinura.com
