Comments on: 4 Easy Steps to Stream your Event Live for Free

By: Midori Connolly

Midori Connolly — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:08:01 +0000

And don’t forget to ask your AV team for the appropriate feeds so you’re not doubling your work (and expense!).
Just a thought from your friendly AVGirl
Midori Connolly
http://www.twitter.com/GreenA_V

By: Jolyn @ Nuance Occasions

Jolyn @ Nuance Occasions — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 02:40:21 +0000

Thank you, I can see this being a very valuable applications in many regards. Thanks for sharing!

Jolyn {Edmonton Wedding Planner}

By: Mike McAllen

Mike McAllen — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:29:40 +0000

Thanks so much Swan: Great ideas

By: Swan

Swan — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:36:48 +0000

Mike,

Two other suggestions.

1) Try http://procaster.com to merge slides into the stream with the video (free).

2) Use http://twebevent.com to combine your video stream with a Twitter Chat

By: Norman Gilmore

Norman Gilmore — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:47:03 +0000

I may have spoken too soon – not actually sure if there is a turnkey router that takes multiple 3G cards.

Flash Media Encoder is a free download.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/

The biggest variable is your upload network connection. You must run a speedtest (like http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/) and then you have to adjust compression to not exceed maybe 80% of your upload speed.

If you are at any kind of tech conference, the geeks will be overloading the wifi and local 3G towers. Promising a live stream and depending on public shared wireless is only for the bold and exceedingly optimistic.

Also, I recommend that you start streaming at least 30 minutes in advance. More time for troubleshooting and it gives the routers between you and the viewers time to decide that they should really be moving your traffic along smoothly.

Just point the camera at a title card or a countdown timer.

By: Mike McAllen

Mike McAllen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:47:42 +0000

Thanks Norman for the comment- Great ideas. I like the tethering idea of several 3g cards. IS Flash Media Encoder part of the Flash product? Last year I tried to hook up my DV cam to a sprint card and Ustream a Spin conference on Treasure Island in San Francisco last year and failed horribly. Thankfully I was just experimenting on my own.

By: Mike McAllen

Mike McAllen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:54:31 +0000

Thanks Bill for the comment!
This space is really making a go of it lately around my office. Though most of our events are internal which they don’t want streamed. We are working on EventCamp in NYC coming up and need to find a solution because of the internet connectivity…. where are you located?

Mike

By: Norman Gilmore

Norman Gilmore — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:52:14 +0000

I can see some producers of small events trying this technique once or twice.

The low-fi shaky video and echo-y audio emphasizing the coughs of the nearest audience members will certainly encourage viewers to pay for tickets to the next event! I predict the average arm will collapse after 30 minutes of holding the iPhone up awkwardly.

Streaming events live has definitely become viable, and a $250 DV camera, a tripod, a shotgun mic, and a laptop to run Flash Media Encoder is all it takes to shoot your live stream with quality up a few orders of magnitude from a phone cam. You can still use free distribution like ustream, or upgrade to an account that has some service level agreement.

If you want to squeeze it over 3G because of lack of event facility network access, you can get a MiFi or a 3G router that aggregates several 3G cards.

In Los Angeles, there are companies like TechZulu that will show up and handle streaming for you, either affordably or for content barter, I’m not sure what their model is.

Norman

By: Bill Hopps

Bill Hopps — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:42:01 +0000

Thanks for posting this Mike. Its great the cost of broadcasting meetings continues to come down. There are many meetings where the economics of a production team just do not make sense. As Jaki points out, audio is very important, so making sure your close to the speakers will be very important. We do this work for a living and either bring our own audio microphones/mixers or plug into the house audio. Bandwidth connectivity is always an issue since it impacts quality. I have yet to be able to get a reliable and sustainable wireless connection with our AT&T data modem – maybe I’m simply in the wrong cities! When this happens and you don’t have a dedicated line, its nice to be able to capture a quality camera recording for publishing later to the web. Still, when the content is important and the budget tight, this is a great solution.

By: Mike McAllen

Mike McAllen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:42:30 +0000

Thanks Clyde for the comment! You caught me! I have seem Qik used with a Nokia a long time ago, but since the iPhone is so popular I had to do a post about it.

By: Mike McAllen

Mike McAllen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:40:52 +0000

I totally agree Jaki. One thing I am running into is venues not set up to handle the stream. I think you should have a dedicated line for this to make sure your video is quality. Things are changing!

By: Jaki Levy

Jaki Levy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:44:26 +0000

I’ve streamed many events, including performances. Many artists I’ve worked with were surprised at the response. They initially thought, “If my event is on the web for free, nobody will
come and pay for it”

We all know this isn’t true. Take the example of live sports. Televised sports did more for building audiences than many imagined.

If you’re not livestreaming your conference, event, or performance, you are simply missing out.

That said, when you decide to do a webcast, great video is key second only to perfect audio. Work with a pro videographer.

By: clyde

clyde — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:38:35 +0000

Wow.
Before the Iphone, this was being done on a Nokia for a few years now! Not that I want to start an iphone bashing now.
…just saying!

Regards.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:49:42 +0000

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