What are Options for Cancelled Events: Is Streaming an Answer?

With the Covid-19 on the loose, companies and organizations are cancelling events right and left. And let’s face it, there’s really no replacement for person-to-person interactions and the kind of emotional moments you can create at a live event. But if you must cancel, what are your options?

Streaming a smaller, more targeted set of panels and presentations can work. But you need to know some of the technical and storytelling parameters.

1.      Where’s Your Audience? One of the things you need to decide first is how your audience will receive your content. Do you want them to see it on Youtube Live? On Facebook Live? Or on a private channel that you control? If a number of your audience members are not tech-saavy, how will you help them navigate to the right places to consume your content? Some of this will determine your next steps in terms of the workflow to create your livestreamed event. For example, for an individual presentation, you could use a webcam without the need for an encoder, and go direct to your audience through YouTube or Facebook Live. But if you need multiple camera angles, want to incorporate other video content, and want to reach thousands, then you will need to bring in an encoder to deliver to your CDN (Content Delivery Network) and a team who knows how to use it. We’ll talk about that more in a moment.

if you need multiple camera angles, want to incorporate other video content, and want to reach thousands, then you will need to bring in an encoder to deliver to your CDN (Content Delivery Network) and a team who knows how to use it.

2.      What’s Your Story? Reframing what was once a fundraising gala or multi-day conference into bite-sized pieces to be consumed by livestream will take a slightly different type of planning than your original live event. You’ll need a video producer who understands your brand storytelling needs and who can coordinate with your streaming tech team.  Long plenary sessions may instead need to become a short keynote followed by a 30-minute panel. Video roll-in content may need to become follow-up content pushed to your audience through email blasts. BTS (behind the scenes) footage of your streaming set up can turn into social media shares post-event, with links to additional content. And all of this requires a plan before the day of the livestream.

3.      Encoders Matter. Reliability, ease of deployment, and a livestreamed team who knows how to use it are keys to turning your live presentations into digital content that can be accessed online. Basically, an encoder is a device that is part of the on-location set-up at any livestreamed event. It converts your real world content into digital pixels and audio files that can then be sent out to your viewers. The quality and speed of the encoding system can be what makes or breaks getting your content watched, without high drop-off rates when audio or visual quality is poor.

4.      Testing. One of the key components of any livestream is testing. Audio is one of the most important aspects. For talking heads, people will forgive a not-perfect video signal, but if they can’t hear the person speaking, they’ll quickly turn the channel. Be sure if you are producing a virtual event that you allow your tech team plenty of pre-show time to test and retest signals so they can get it right.

Be sure if you are producing a virtual event that you allow your tech team plenty of pre-show time to test and retest signals so they can get it right.

5.      Costs. Some pieces of this process have actually become quite cost-efficient in recent years. For example, the final delivery of the content. These days, you could deliver (not produce) an hour of content to 1,000 people for about $500. It’s the pre-production and production that take time, people with the right storytelling and technical capabilities and tools. For the  production side, cost would depend on how many cameras you need at your origin source(s), if there is complex ancillary content like slides or video roll-in’s, how many panelists requiring audio hook-ups, etc. To plan, set up, test, light, mic, record an hour of content that is designed for streaming, you can spend about $10,000. Pre-production planning and production, including branding graphics for your event, the best order for the show, speaker logistics for getting on and off your “stage”, pre-screening and setting up questions (usually better than taking them live), and a host of other preparations can cost $5,000-10,000, depending on the type and complexity of the content.

The good news is that streaming can be cheaper than throwing a live event. It just takes thinking through your content, your audience needs, and your ROI to find the right game plan. And with this virus not going away any time soon, it's time to get started.

Amy DeLouise is a video producer who specializes in live events and branded content, consults with marketing teams, and speaks regularly at industry events. Her courses on video production are available on LinkedIn Learning.