Audio: Douglas appears on the Bigg Success Podcast: Creating Video Content: Overcoming Objections

I sat down with George and Mary-Lynn over at Bigg Success recently and we talked about Overcoming business owners objections to creating video content.

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Video Content Douglas E Welch

Video content has become an important tool for reaching a wider audience, yet most professionals and small business people don’t use this form of media. Today, we’ll take on some of the biggest objections for not doing it with new media guru, Douglas Welch.

A complete transcript is available on the Bigg Success web site and you can listen to the podcast using the audio player below.

Listen to Bigg Success: Creating Video Content: Overcoming Objections

There is a lot of great content over on Bigg Success, so be sure to check out their site.

Tip: Add YouTube Subscribe badge to your site and blog posts

Every YouTube Producer knows how important it is to gain subscribers to their YouTube Channel. Subscribers drive the views, minutes watched and likes that help to raise their channel above the other noise on YouTube. One great way to increase your subscriber is to include an easy-to-use subscribe button alongside your video blog posts and on our blogs and web sites. It’s even easy to do.

You can create your own YouTube Subscribe button by visiting this Google Developers Page

Youtube subscribe

You’ll find a few configuration options there…

Youtube subscribe config

…and even a tool to help you create the HTML code for the button. Simply enter your channel ID (in my case, dewelch), set your size and color options and the HTML is created for you to cut and paste wherever you wish.

Youtube configure

Here are the results for my own channel.

 

Video: “Writing the One-Hour Drama Pilot” with Richard Manning from “Inside the Room”

The 7th in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 11 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Ricky manning

Richard Manning, writer-producer; UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor; and author of Chapter 3 in Inside the Room: Writing Television with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program; talks about the difference between premise and prototype pilots, generating ideas for an original series, and how much character detail is necessary in a TV script.

Buy the books!

 

Video: “Demystifying the Business of Feature Film Writing” with Laurence Rosenthal from “Cut to the Chase”

The sixth in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 12 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Uclawp rosenthal

Laurence Rosenthal, Producer; Development Executive; UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor; and author of Chapter 14 in Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, talks about how to get an agent, how managers differ from agents, and why branding in important in a writer’s career.

Buy the books!

 

Video: “Pictures in Motion: Scenes and the Movement They Create” with Chrysanthy Balis From “Cut to the Chase”

The fifth in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 13 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Uclawp baylis

Chrysanthy Balis, screenwriter, UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor, and author of Chapter 9 in Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, talks about “principle of movement,” where to start and end a scene, and how to deal with cutting a scene you really like.

 

Buy the books!

 

Video: “Writing the On-Air One-Hour Drama Spec: The Script” with Charlie Craig

The first in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 17 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

 

Video: Recent WelchWrite testimonial productions for client

I recently produced a series of video testimonials for a client and they are now available online. We shot 3 videos over the course of the day, dodging the jet noise coming out of Burbank airpot and the home improvement projects of the next door neighbors. Video production “out in the wild” is always a bit of an adventure, but I think these video turned out quite well. I am working with the client to get some bette thumbnails chosen for the video — always a bit of a pain with YouTube videos. We will need to create custom thumbnails for each video to make it look its best.

New Media Vocabulary: Promo

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New Media Vocabulary: Promo

“A promo, shorthand for promotion, are a form of commercial advertising used in broadcast media, either television or radio; promos are generally used to promote a program airing on a television station, radio station, television network or radio network. The usage is to try to bring a showing to a specific set of people.

Promos typically run a standard length of about 30 seconds, though occasionally some can at times last as short as five seconds or as long as 90 seconds. Most promos commonly consist of select clips of segments from an upcoming program (television or radio series, film, event, etc.), however some television promos (particularly for an upcoming television series) utilize a monologue format in which a star or host of the program breaks the fourth wall. Most radio promos utilize this format as well, with a host of the program discussing the show itself, though some feature audio clips from past editions of the radio broadcast. Television station newscasts promote (a) select news segments to be featured in an upcoming newscast, such as an investigative report or special-interest feature piece.[1] — Wikipedia.org

Promos are a large part of promoting any New Media, be it a blog, podcast or YouTube Channel. In the case of YouTube, their new Unsubscribed Trailer is basically a built-in promo for your channel that auto plays to those visitors who are not currently subscribed to your channel.

Audio podcasters are big users of promos, as it gives people a taste of their show along with basic information on how to listen and subscribe. Promos are often shared among podcasters in order to expose one show’s listeners to another show that might interest them.

You can find one sample promos over on the Podcast Pickle site. They can give you some ideas of how you might format your own promo and the type of information you should included there.

For more information on Promo:

Previously on New Media Vocabulary:

Flipboard Mobile Magazine App now allows users to create their own magazines

I saw an announcement today from Flipboard, that their latest version for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) now allowed users to curate their own magazines and make them available for other Flipboard users. This is accomplished through the a new content curation and search system in the app or via a web bookmarklet.

A complete description of this new feature can be found in this blog post on the Flipboard site: 

To test out the new features, I created magazines for each of my blogs and loaded the last several posts into them. Here are some screenshots from the iPhone version of the Flipboard app.

2013 03 26 19 46 35 2013 03 26 19 46 27

To use the Flipboard +FlipIt (Add to Magazine) bookmarklet, you first drag the bookmarklet to your Bookmark Bar. Then load up the blog post or web page you wish to add to the magazine and click the bookmarklet. The screen below then allows you to create a new magazine, select an existing magazine and also share it to various social media sites.

Flipboard bookmarklet

One complaint on the publisher side is that Flipboard users cannot easily discover and add these new magazines to their Flipboard. They must do a search on the name or author of the magazine and then add it from there. I think a one-touch solution would be better for both the publisher and the end user.

[New Media Tip 005] Add social media links to YouTube Channel Page

[New Media Tip 005] Add social media links to YouTube Channel Page – Click About link then Edit icon on links section – Example Screenshot below

Youtube scocial media

New Media Vocabulary: Raw Log Files

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New Media Vocabulary: Raw Log Files

 When speaking with podcasters (and other who need to track their web statistics) you may often hear the term “Raw log files.” While many of us use web statistic packages such as Google Analytics, Analog or custom statistics delivered by our blog hosting company (WordPress.com), Raw Log Files are the end-all-be-all of web site statistics.

Raw log files are text files created by your web server software. Depending on where and how you host your web site this might be done using the Apache program or Microsoft’s IIS (Internet Information Services). Whenever anything is accessed on your web site — HTML page, graphic, picture, audio file or video file  — this access is recorded in the raw log file as a one line entry. Typically this line contains the IP address of the computer that accessed the file, the date and time, the name and pathname of the file, the browser they were using and, perhaps, which web site the user arrived from.

These raw log files are the input for statistics programs that can summarize and analyze all these individual entires into a human-readable report of activity and trends over time.

Sample Raw Log File Entry:

IP.IP.IP.IP – – [01/Oct/2012:14:18:08 -0700] “GET /career/video/2012/careercompass-2012.mp4 HTTP/1.1” 200 21467820 “-” “iTunes/10.7 (Windows; Microsoft Windows 7 x64 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)) AppleWebKit/536.26.9”

For New Media producers, though, raw log files provide one important piece of information — the number of downloads of particular podcasts, audio and video files. Statistic services such as Google Analytics cannot easily track these New Media downloads, so producers have to look to their raw log files for this information. These files are the only definitive way to track audience numbers for a podcaster such as myself. 

It is important to note that if you a re using a hosted blog such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com, you do not have access to raw log files, but only the summary statistics that each of these services provides.

For more information on Raw Log Files…

Do you have questions, comments or clarifications to this New Media Vocabulary term? Add them to the comments!

Previously on New Media Vocabulary:

New Media Vocabulary: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

This is the beginning of a new series for Careers in New Media, “New Media Vocabulary.” Here I will try to make sense of some of the New Media terms that get tossed about, but which might be confusing to those new to the New Media world. — Douglas

New media vocab logo

New Media Vocabulary: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO (Search Engine Optimization are tactics, procedures and practices designed to increase the profile of your web site properties in the various Interest search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo Search and more. These practices can range from “white hat” style SEO such as producing good content, informative and attractive headlines for posts and judicious keyword usage to “black hat” tactics where software is used to attempt to manipulate the search engine algorithms to artificially inflate a web site’s profile.

The main goal of SEO is to place your web site in the top page of search results for a particular set of search terms. Such placement can result in large amounts of web traffic and that, in turn, can result in large revenue from that web site.

For more information on SEO…

Do you have questions, comments or clarifications to this New Media Vocabulary term? Add them to the comments!

Previously on New Media Vocabulary:

Elsewhere: How to Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

A great intro to the whys and hows of creating custom YouTube thumbnails to dress up your channel and make your videos more attractive.

Socmed examiner

How to Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

Are you frustrated by the default random YouTube thumbnail option for your videos?

Do you wish you could create something custom to improve your views?

Since December 2011, YouTube has been making some radical changes to their site.

Everything from the home page layout, website colors and even the look and feel of the video players have changed dramatically.

But none of these aesthetic changes have had any real impact on the way we need to be marketing videos on YouTube.

However, this latest change may just be the biggest game-changer that savvy video marketers can take advantage of! Introducing the Custom YouTube Video Thumbnail.

[…]

Read the entire article

New Media Prescription: Every podcaster needs a YouTube Channel

Youtube logo 05

I have been spending a lot of time working on my YouTube channel lately, mainly due to my observation of how various gaming channels have created some amazing programming there. With gaming the #2 category on YouTube, many of the channels I am subscribed to are supporting their creators as a full time job. It isn’t easy, of course. Extremely popular channels have to constantly be populated with new, entertaining content, and their creators will be the first to tell you how challenging it can be. I have been watching these producers very carefully and noting the methods they use improve my own YouTube channel.

Still, as a long time podcaster, more and more I am seeing the need for every podcaster — whether predominantly audio or video — to create and maintain their own YouTube channel.

For me, podcasting and YouTube are complimentary and can work quite well together. Combine this with live streaming options that tie into YouTube (TwitchTV and Google Hangouts are 2 examples) and you could have a potent source of new audience members and even income to help you grow your show.


Every podcaster needs a YouTube Channel

  • Ease of monetization
    • Monetizing podcasts can be difficult. There is no podcast equivalent of Google Adsense, so producers are forced to become their own advertising salesforce. Finding advertisers and/or show sponsors can be extremely time consuming and frustrating. It is also a never-ending burden as you are constantly having to find new advertisers and sponsors for your show. Also, since podcasts are downloaded directly to the computer of your audience, there is no easy way to include dynamic advertising or create web links to products and sponsor web sites.
    • YouTube, on the other hand, can provide a solution to nearly all these issues.
      • Using the Google Adsense model, Google sales reps find the advertisers, assist in creating the advertising and manage the system that dynamically inserts that advertising into your YouTube videos based not only on the content of your shows, but also on the interests of the viewer.
      • As has been seen with Adsense revenue on web sites, Adsense earnings are nearly directly proportional to the number of readers/viewers that your content. In most cases, creating content that attracts viewers drives higher earnings and further growth while allowing you to focus on the content of the shows, not ad sales.
      • Further, the built-in rating engine and other metrics used by Google to suggest videos to users, can create its own feedback loop of support and audience generation. Together this creates a monetization model that can hold large potential benefits. with little work on the part of the podcaster.
  • Introduce your show to an entirely different audience
    • People often forget that YouTube is, at its heart, a social network much like all the others. While some of your current listeners and/or viewers night also follow you on YouTube, you will be introducing yourself to a large, new audience that has never heard of you — or your show — before. This is true of ay social network. Yes, there will always be some overlap, but there will also be a significant amount of new potential audience members in the mix. Go where you audience (or potential audience) congregates. In today’s world, YouTube is one of the most important places to be seen.
  • Current video podcasts easily re-purposed on a YouTube channel
    • If you are already producing some video content, a YouTube Channel is a great way to gain more exposure and audience with very little extra work.
  • Work as a companion to audio podcasts
    • Printed text can be an intimate connection between the writer and the reader — witness how many people cry at the end of a Harry Potter book. That said, as most podcasters have found, audio can be even more intimate. I often describe audio podcasting as “whispering in the ears” of my audience. This creates a deeper connection with your audience has they hear your voice, its inflections and tone. Still, video is more intimate still. The ability to see your face, your expressions, your movements bring an entirely different level of intimacy to the equation. If you are doing only an audio podcast, I would highly recommend creating some small video companion pieces which you can share via your regular podcast feed and also as part of your YouTube channel. In some cases, you might be about to repurpose your existing audio shows by “enhancing” them with graphics, photos and other supporting material. You can even use technology like QR codes and audio cues (See “Using Chirp to…) to add interactive features to your audio shows.
    • In a reverse example, I am seeing video podcasters and YouTube producers also creating audio only, long form, content as a companion to their shorter video presentations. In one case, Eric Rochow from Gardenfork.tv was producing short videos on food, farming, beekeeping and more for his video podcast. Like many producers, though, he saw the need for content his viewers could consume while doing other tasks like working in the garden or driving a vehicle. (one great advantage of audio podcasts). He also wanted to explore topics more thoroughly and more easily invite guests in for discussions. To fill that need, Eric created Gardenfork Radio, a fairly traditional talk radio show with segments on all his typical topics, a co-host with which to discuss these topics, interview guests and more. I see Eric’s combination of the video and audio as an excellent example of how podcasters can make use of both audio and video to reach a larger audience will also providing more in-depth information in a longer form show.
  • Consuming YouTube (and other) video via mobile now infinitely easier than before
    • In the past, when bandwidth was expensive and mobile bandwidth was slow to non-existent, it was difficult to consume video. Podcasting, due to its download model, allowed users to easily download content while and home and sync it to their mobile device for watching and listening wherever they might be. Due to the increasing speed of mobile bandwidth and the stability of various streaming alternatives for both audio and video, podcasting has lost a bit of its advantage. Yes, there are still times when podcasting can shine — such as when you are away from reliable cell phone coverage or on a limited bandwidth data plan, but the podcasting download model holds less advantage than ever before.  In this case, I think that streaming technology has “won” over podcasting in some ways. Yes, I still use both methods for accessing my favorite content, but as apps like Stitcher and Apple’s own Podcasting app have show — listeners want to be able to stream your content as well as subscribe in the usual podcast fashion.

What are your thoughts about YouTube channels and how podcaster might make use of them?

Use the comments here to let me know and continue the conversation.


You can check out my own YouTube channel here

“Marketing is Dead!” Long Live “Introductions”

After many years of talking about marketing, learning about marketing and consuming marketing. I feel confident in saying that “Marketing”, with a big M, is dead. The term carries so much baggage — so much angst and, in some ways, so much hatred, that it is worse than useless as a definition. Marketing’s meaning is perverted and distorted so much that people now have a visceral, physical, hateful reaction to the mere mention of the word. Marketing is dead…or should be… and we need to find not only new methods of “marketing”, but also new theories, new tactics and basically a whole lot a NEW ideas.

Hand - PaD 4/17/07Since the term marketing is so loaded, I think we need to usurp or create a new moniker for our active efforts to sell our books, music, movies, shows, arts and crafts. After some quick thought, the term Introduction seems a useful replacement. Instead of screaming our marketing at someone, via television, newspaper, magazine and radio, we should instead seek to introduce people to our work. We should then support them — in any way possible — in introducing our work to others. These introductions aren’t tied to money, prestige or other perks, but rather introductions are given on the basis of value. Each person is told, “if you like this, introduce it to your friends, family and peers.”

Author Seth Godin often talks about the need for a Purple Cow — something so unique, so fun so great — that people simply cannot NOT talk about. (Link to the book) When that happens, old school marketing goes out the window and new school Introductions begins. Still, you only have to watch TV, listen to the radio or read a newspaper to see that old school marketing still seems to be the only thing that people understand.

We must share our work!

As content creators, we MUST market — er, Introduce, — ourselves to the world. Books and scripts don’t sell themselves in a drawer. Music doesn’t sell itself in your computer recording studio. Photos can’t be hidden in the dark. In order to sell our products, they must be seen by the world — seen and appreciated. To start this process, we must introduce them to the world through people that appreciate them and activities that share them to like-minded people. This isn’t the scattershot screaming of today’s “Marketing.” It is a careful cultivation of people who can grow with you and your product over the years.

In seems only smart to change our tactics. If you talk to people about marketing most seem cynical, distraught and angry. Some even wish they didn’t do the marketing work they currently do. How sad! Is this where marketing has led us? You can understand their cynicism, though. The methods that were so carefully honed over the last 2-3 centuries are failing us. Changes in the our world, economy and technology have systematically stripped away the usefulness of old marketing, but as of yet, very little new thought has arisen to take its place. It is almost like we are shipwreck survivors who would rather go down with the debris from the ship than try to swim to the nearby shore. We are too afraid to try something new, even though the old is sinking beneath us. Instead we wallow in our cynicism and anger.

Introductions

Enter Introductions. Introductions are not about shouting at strangers, it is about conversing with friends. It is not about seeking the mass market, but rather the close knit niche markets that the Internet has made possible. It isn’t about sell, sell, sell as much as it is about share, share, share, talk, talk, talk and then, hopefully, sell, sell, sell. You aren’t trying to convince people to buy, you are rather introducing them to a product and then helping them come to their own thoughts of the benefits and desire to buy your product. Yes, it is still selling, but in a much different way.
The old method of marketing is like some carnival barker shouting about all the great wonders you will see inside the tent. Introductions are more like a casual discussion over a latte at your local coffee bar. Marketing is about short term, one chance, buy it now or get out of my face. Introductions are more “Check it out. See what you think. Tell your friends if you think it is fun, cool, useful.”

Are Introductions the answer to are current marketing woes? Who knows? That is one of the problems today. No one knows what is coming next and so they cling to the past. It frightens them to the point of inaction. That can’t see what the future holds and are scared to death of going there. Unfortunately, the future doesn’t care what we feel or how afraid we are. The future arrives regardless. It is time to start thinking new thoughts about marketing. My concept of Introductions is simply one possible way. Maybe you have something better, just waiting to be discovered.

The marketing ship is sinking! Isn’t it about time you let go of the ship and started swimming to shore. I know I am paddling as fast as I can to get there.

What are your thoughts about the future of marketing? Does it even have a future under a different name? Share your thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear what you think!

Giveaway: Podcasting for Dummies Book

To start the podcasting New Year right, I am giving away a copy of Podcasting for Dummies (1st Edition), written by two of my podcast buddies, Evo Terra and Tee Morris.

This book is a great introduction into the world of podcasting and can get you up and running in just a couple of hours. Learn about recording your show, starting your blog, RSS feeds, the iTunes podcast directory and more.

There are several ways to enter. You can do one or more to gain extra entries.

Contest ends January 22, 2012

 


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Use the Rafflecopter widget or Leave a comment on this post to enter.

 

Book Review: We are all weird by Seth Godin

We are all weird by Seth Godin

Whenever I read one of Seth Godin’s books I feel he is preaching to the choir because his thoughts are so much in tune with my own when it comes to New Media, marketing and business. I often that he is describing things in much the same way I do when talking to those people who don’t understand the new world we live in, but want to know more. We are all weird is another of these cases. I found myself nodding in agreement and even saying “yes, yes, yes!” out loud as I read.

The basic, overriding message to this book is, “Mass is dead. Here comes weird.” Godin should have just as easily said “Here comes niche. Here comes small or a variety of other words, but I am sure using weird makes readers stop and take notice.” I agree with him, too. The mass market is shrinking (he provides some charts showing how and why) and smart businesspeople will focus on tribes, niches, small groups to find those people with an affinity for their product.

“The opportunity of our time is to support the weird, to sell to the weird and, if you wish, to become weird.”

Like most “normal” processes of the world, the Internet and the hyper-connectivness it allows, is making weird the new normal. I know, that seems an oxymoronic phrase, but I get where Godin is coming from. As the “mass” decreases the old normal gives way to the new, weird, normal.

As with most of Godin’s books, this one gets me thinking, and making notes and instituting changes in my own marketing policies even as I am reading. You may have to think deeply about how to implement some of the ideas here, but I think there is something for nearly anyone who wants to reach a particular audience with a particular message. This can be anyone from a non-profit out to change the world to a corporate hive worker trying to keep their company relevant in the new weird, normal world.

We are all weird is available from Amazon.com as both a paperback and Kindle book. Use the links above to find out more information, read reviews and buy the book.

Disclaimer: I received an early, e-gallery version of We are all weird directly from the Domino Project. The opinions here are my own and no payment was made for this review.

Find more great New Media-related books in the Careers in New Media section of the WelchWrite Bookstore in association with Amazon.com

Project: Videos for UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Publication Party

We just completed a project for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program where we recorded their annual Publication Party and then created videos for each of the speakers which could then be used on their instructor information pages as well as on YouTube for the world to see.

This is a great way to promote your projects and events and you can and should do the same. Capture the content you are already creating and share it with the world!

Watch this video and others from the Publication Party on YouTube

My wife, Rosanne,  and I have worked as instructors for UCLA Extension for many years so when this even was scheduled they came to us knowing that we worked in New Media. Rosanne, has taught television writing and together we have taught “Podcasting and New Media for Writers” both online and as a 1-day workshop on the UCLA campus.

I was out of town on another project during this event, so Rosanne acted as the on-site producer and our good friend, Liam Johnson (@editorliam) handled the shooting and the editing of the final videos. If you are looking for an editor for your project, I highly recommend Liam. He is quite creative and dedicated.

You can find all the videos on the UCLA YouTube channel (you will need to scroll down a bit to find the videos), as related videos to the one embedded above or on the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Instructor Bio Pages.

Quora Answers: If I wanted to get my podcast sponsored, how do I do that?

The first step is documenting your audience and the amount of traffic your podcast attracts. With this information, you will be able to develop a press kit which you can use to approach potential sponsors. They will want to know that you are speaking to their potential buyers on a regular basis.

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Gathering demographic info for your listeners can be difficult, as podcast listeners seem to be notoriously shy of surveys. You can hold a contest as a way to increase survey response, though.

As for podcast statistics, you will probably need your raw log files in order to capture the total number of downloads for each episode. Then you can aggregate them to create your total monthly downloads. These downloads will include both new shows and older shows as people do not often listen in order, or find older episodes and listen directly from the web site. This number will show you the number of “impressions” you might be able to fulfill for a given sponsor.

Make sure when you develop any sponsorship campaign that the sponsor has a way to track exactly how many buyers came from your podcast. There should be a unique product code or coupon which they can track on their end so they don’t have to rely on you for that reporting. If they are tracking it themselves they will be much more trusting of that info.

Here is an example of a podcasting press kit – http://www.businesscast.ca/media…

Read more answers to this question

What do you need to live video stream your event?

One of the most common questions I get asked as a New Media consultant is “How do I live video stream my event?” The fact is, the technology part of the live streaming equation is easier than ever before, but it still requires a little bit of equipment and, more importantly, good planning to get your live video stream up and running.

…requires a little bit of equipment and, more importantly, good planning…

Time to prepare

First, you need to give yourself some time. I often receive requests and questions about live streaming the day before, or the day of, and event. If you haven’t been streaming your events before, this is usually not enough time to do more than the most basic of video streams. This doesn’t usually have anything to do with technology, but more to do with logistics.

Depending on what you are trying to accomplish you might simply have a laptop and webcam which is pointed at a stage or a speaker. Even then, though, you will need to have some basic knowledge of the different types of live video streaming services out there and what they can do. Ideally, you will want to do a “sound check” earlier in the day or even the day before your event to make sure you don’t have any issues with the local network, web cam and service. You will need to set up your account with the streaming service and learn how you can embed and link to your stream during your event.

Time to promote

This points to another issue with time, too. If you want to attract an audience to your live video stream, you need to give them plenty of notice. They will need to place the event in their calendars and plan around it just as they would if they were attending in person. This is one of the limitations of live streams, of course, you still need to be in a particular place at a particular time, even if that place is only on your own sofa.

Ideally, you want to promote your event 2-3 weeks ahead. Then you will also want to remind people 1 week before the event, 1 day before the event and finally, right before the event starts. You will want to embed the player for the live stream on your blog and/or web site so people can easily find it and even stumble across it if they have forgotten about the event.

Adding complexity

Live video streaming from one location is the simplest to set up, but often show hosts and producers what to take live callers, or even live video calls, during their event. While it is possible to do this in a number of ways, be aware that the complexity of your production will increase dramatically.

You will probably want, if not need, additional computers, higher speed Internet connections and more people to handle the technology…at least initially. Once you get things up and running, you might be able to produce your show by yourself, but allow yourself some “helping hands” at the beginning.

Saving it for later

You will also want to make arrangement to capture the video from your event for those who weren’t able to watch it live. The fact is, the size of this audience is often much larger than the audience watching live. You can deliver this video via YouTube or other video sharing site, embed it on your web site or blog or even sell it on DVD to those who might want to own a physical copy.

Do you want to learn more about live video streaming and how to get it working for your event? Add your comments here or email me at me@douglasewelch.com to set up a phone or in-person consult.

Remember, allow yourself plenty of time before your first event so you aren’t struggling with the technology while also trying to organize your event.