A Guide to Live Reporting: 5 Tips to Know Before Your Next Big Event

Live reporting an event can be a daunting task. Whether it's juggling between your brand's social media platform of choice or the rapid-fire pace of information flowing through, it can be an overwhelming and nerve-wrecking experience.

After successfully live-reporting three different live Kids' Choice Awards within the span of a month and a half across three different countries, as well as their television broadcast counterparts, and most recently, a tech-heavy Google event about The Cloud, the following tips have helped me get through and sharpen my live-reporting skills. The first step is to remain calm. Not everything will go according to plan and, as such, take each and every opportunity as a learning experience towards the next one. Remember, this is a conversation between your brand and its users, and your job is to keep them engaged and informed. 

Here are five tips to keep in mind and help you prepare for your next big event:

5) Know Your Tools

The first step is to clearly define the medium in which the live-reporting will take place. Is it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or all three? Make sure you download each individual app into your device.

Additionally, companion apps can ensure everything flows seamlessly across all of your platforms. Use IFTTT, which connects your apps, to create customised "recipes" which are automated workflows (i.e post an image to Twitter every time I post it on Instagram). The value of each recipe will depend on the user, but if you are handily reporting across the main networks it is an incredible tool that will help you achieve great results fast. 

Other Useful apps:

• Evernote - The note-taking up will help keep your to-do lists in check.
• Hootsuite - Manage multiple social media accounts in one place. 
• Photogrid - Create fast photo collages and publish them right away to your network choice.

4) Be Charged

This is an understatement. Make sure all of your devices are charged and ready to go. I have once survived by having my smartphone plugged into a small-capacity mobile battery charger at a constant 2% left and it saved my life. Having multiple devices (all with the necessary apps), as well as additional batteries, if your device supports it, will be key. 

3) Have Clear Objectives And Strategy 

A lot of times we go into live-reporting without much preparation or objectives. The event itself will, most likely, dictate the popularity of what you are pumping out on your social feeds. However, it is imperative to set minimum standards and achievable goals to gauge success and create benchmarks for future events. This could be amount of followers reached within the duration of the event, number of mentions or comments, whether it will trend on key markets or even globally. Not to mention, it will help show off your results to all stakeholders involved.

If this is the first of its kind then do your research and look back at the regular growth seen across your channels on a weekly and monthly basis. Work out a number that seems reasonable based on your audience growth per channel and map it out in clear terms (i.e Audience Development: Increase follower count by XX% over the course of one hour; Maximise reach by XX% during the day of the event). 

Additionally, if part of the strategy is to drive users to a site or landing page, make sure you include the appropriate call-to-actions throughout. Keep in mind that this will derive from the conversation and prompt users to leave entirely, potentially damaging your engagement rate. Plan these out accordingly (will there be a break for users to steer away from your content? Is it relevant they stay through the whole thing?) and ensure they fit within the entirety and context of the event. 

2) Do Your Research

Have a clear understanding of not only the event itself (which is crucial), but to the audience that will be following along on the other side. This will be key in determining the frequency of the posts as well as the overall tone to put to test. Knowing how the event will break down over its course will be a huge advantage as, given the fast-paced nature of how information flows, speed will be required to successfully carry out a play-by-play of the most relevant facts being revealed. 

Research the guests that are attending to ensure you can capture their names without a hitch, as well as their official handles to properly tag them and increase the reach of your post. Understand how the event is broken down in terms of "acts" in order to react accordingly. For instance, if winners are being revealed, know before hand and have a piece of paper ready with this information (Yes, old-school style). The reality of live events is that there are almost no real breaks or pauses, which are masked and set in their broadcast counterparts (if any).

1) Stick To The Point 

Don't go overboard or feel you have to have information bursting at the seams of every single post or tweet. Be agile, intelligent and resourceful. If things are happening fast stick to shorter messaging, specially in a platform such as Twitter. Keep in mind that a picture is worth a thousand words and use this tool throughout as opposed of writing out every single situation happening before your eyes.

It is advised to keep a list of pre-made posts so that you have an understanding of how the conversation will flow. This will give you the ability to control the structure and be able to drive it forward, even if things on-location are occurring faster than you can capture. This does not have to be a big task, keep 10-15 pre-made tweets on hand and saved in your drafts, it will help you mentally rehearse and prepare, giving you a chance to go with a clearer head and overall be presented with a calmer situation. 

BONUS

Tracking: One Hashtag For All

I cannot stress how important it is to keep things consistent across all your platforms and posts. The use of a hashtag is key to drive awareness to the brand, situation and event. Make sure you use only one hashtag. Multiple hashtags will confuse your audience and dilute the heart of the conversation. Using a single hashtag will give you less of a headache when measuring results, as tracking one hashtag will make monitoring the performance a whole lot simpler. 

Make sure you include this hashtag in every single piece of content you are pushing. If this does not fit within the 140-character limitation of Twitter, break it into two or three parts. As live-reporting is a conversation, this will be contextualised and as such, not seen as disruptive. Additionally, use tools such as Tagboard, Union Metrics and Trends24 to keep track of its reach. 

You are now a step closer to a successful live reporting. Remember to keep calm and be organised. Every experience is a learning opportunity and the next one will be improved as a result. Most of all, have fun!