How to make the most of livestreaming for meetings and events.
Meeting professionals have been working with hybrid events in overdrive since the pandemic, but once in-person events came roaring back, most have cut back to just livestreaming keynotes and other important highlights of their meetings. But are they making the most of this powerful communication tool?
Prevue recently caught up with Ashray Urs, head of Streamlabs. Streamlabs, which offers tools anyone can use to livestream from anything from a desktop to a laptop to a mobile phone or Xbox to platforms like Twitch, YouTube, Tiktok and Facebook, was acquired by tech giant Logitech in 2019. “As it’s become easier for an individual doing something that’s all encompassing, like playing a game, to go live with really high production quality, we feel there’s a big opportunity for some of these tools to be utilized more broadly in all kinds of events,” he said.
Here are eight top strategies he shared to help meeting and event planners elevate their livestreaming game.
Pre-Streaming Preparation
1. Choose the right technology. It may sound simple, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people to be sure to select streaming software that is appropriate to their device’s capabilities to ensure their computer or mobile device can handle the streaming requirements.
• Decide whether a web-based or desktop option is most appropriate for your content.
2. Invest in the appropriate technical infrastructure. If you plan to livestream, it pays to invest in reliable, high-bandwidth internet, said Urs, adding that it’s important to choose conference or event internet packages that support video streaming. Also, be sure to test your equipment and internet connection before going live.
3. Strategic planning. Take a step back and determine the best time and location for your stream. This may mean finding ways to minimize background noise, especially in busy environments like trade show floors. Urs also stressed the importance of selecting appropriate audio solutions — will your phone’s audio suffice, or, more likely, do you need professional microphones?
Maximizing Audience Engagement
4. Multi-platform streaming. While broadcasting on one channel that you know most of your audience is on can make sense, consider simultaneously broadcasting on multiple platforms (YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok, etc.), Urs said. That way, you can leverage different platforms’ discovery algorithms to draw in new potential attendees you may not know about. There are tools available, including from Streamlabs, that enable you to use both vertical and horizontal feed options to match the ideal for each platform. Using this dual-output concept, you can simultaneously orient how you want everything to look on both horizontal and vertical feed. You can simultaneously orient how you want everything to look on a vertical feed. “Now you can send that vertical feed to places like Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts, which are good for discovering new viewers, as well as to YouTube, Twitch or other horizontally oriented platforms. This really can help with audience building,” he said.
5. Interactive elements. Be sure to use overlays to display branding and important information and implement chat functions to interact with attendees — Pin interesting chat questions to the stream to amp up the engagement. You also can create polls and encourage real-time audience participation.
6. Content enhancement techniques. If you are raising funds for a charity during your event, add visual widgets like donation trackers to keep the fundraising efforts front and center and generate excitement about giving. You also can use QR codes for additional information and even integrate merchandise-selling capabilities.
Post-Streaming Strategies.
7. Content repurposing. Most already are repurposing their in-person event content to provide ongoing education online after the event. Urs urges event organizers to edit that full livestream they did of the keynote into highlight reels, creating vertical clips for platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Companies such as Streamlabs also offer AI-powered editing tools you can use to make it easy to identify some of the most interesting moments without having to wade through the full livestream content.
8. Audience building. In addition to sharing the livestream itself across multiple platforms, be sure to announce the livestream schedule in advance, Urs said. Promote upcoming streams through email and social media and share post-event content to maintain audience interest.
Urs also said that, for those who have not yet experimenting with livestreaming their events, it’s best to start with low-stakes events to build confidence. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with different streaming techniques. Above all, don’t stop learning and adapting — the technologies are continually evolving. The most important thing, he said, is to focus on creating engaging, high-quality content, then use these tips to transform your livestreaming into professional, engaging experiences that are sure to captivate audiences across multiple platforms.
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