How I set up the #CodeVsCOVID19 livestream, or how you can do anything that you have never done before

On Thursday my friend called to ask me whether I'd like to support HackZurich's online hackathon #CodeVsCOVID19 with a livestream. The hackathon was scheduled to start on Friday 5pm, so 29h later. I don't have any experiences with livestreams. I've never organised, setup or even participated in one. It looked like mission impossible.

The clock was ticking and the organizing team of the non-profit hackathon tiny. This meant, anything that could be done to engage the 2000+ participants hacking virtually in 22 different time zones to fight the COVID-19 crisis would be appreciated. 

Anything could make a difference, no matter how small.

So I said YES.

And started by calling my friend who's been a radio moderator for help. Then, I've made a simple schedule: 9 AM meditation for 10min, 12PM yoga for 20min and 5PM expert interviews with mentors and partners for 30min.

Then, I posted in Whatsapp groups asking for volunteers wanting to teach yoga I called my friend who's a moderator to ask her to do the expert interviews. 

Then, my boyfriend showed me the livestream tool Streamyard. At that time, I hoped that somebody else would take care of the technical setup, because I had no idea and was afraid it wouldn't work. But the clock was ticking and it looked like my best option was to teach myself how to use this tool and just make it work by myself.

So I did and on Saturday 9 AM, 45h after I got the call, we went live with a meditation practice and it worked. And so it did for the rest of the weekend.

What I take away is three lessons:

1. When I need to: I'll figure it out. Never underestimate yourself. You are capable of so much more. Just try something new. And celebrate every step on the way. Or as Marie Forleo puts it:

"Everything is figureoutable."

1. What's the minimum I can do? I didn't ask myself: What is the perfect livestream setup and schedule if I had unlimited time and budget? I lowered my own expectations and just did what I could in the time I had. And that's already good enough. 
2. The power of solidarity and a strong network during this crisis are incredible: everybody tried to help me in this endeavour with whatever they could: dedicating their time, skills, spreading the word or just offering a kind word.

Special thanks goes to: Jacqueline Keller, Tanya K?nig, Tatjana and Eylem's kickass Whatsapp groups, Senem Wicki and Nicole from mind-in.studio, Catherine from metimeyoga.ch, Yoga with Kira, Rodrigo, Timo, Setareh, Jonathan Isenring for your trust and letting me try, and all the experts who took their time, on a weekend, besides their important work to support this cause. And thank you Silvan Leibacher for making the call and asking me for help, giving me a chance to contribute. 

You find all the meditations, yoga and expert interviews here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZMppK6hKNVoMpddx96kkGybj_-RBaZua%C3%A5

You can find more impressions, also from social media on Tanya K?nig's article here.