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| Overview
Live, interactive webcasting is a communications tool
that can deliver a specific message to a targeted audience.
This targeted audience may be reached 24 hours a day
over the public Internet or over private Intranets.
In general, live event webcasting is ideal for delivering
your message from “one to many”.
Location
Requirements
The choice of location is important when planning your
live event webcast. Elements such as room size, staging
and internet connectivity are all important issues that
may influence the event’s successful broadcast.
Connectivity
The chosen location must have a high speed Internet
connection. This connection will be used to send one
set of streams from the location directly to the origin
server. Depending upon the size of the expected audience,
the origin server may act as the main broadcast server,
or it may act as the central delivery point for a content
delivery network. Details on these delivery configurations
are discussed in more detail in the Network Delivery
section of this paper. Regardless of delivery configuration,
there must be sufficient Internet connectivity to send
at least one set of streams to the origin server. In
most cases, this requires a sustainable and un-interrupted
upstream bandwidth from the location going to the origin
server of at least 300 kilobits per second. This upstream
bandwidth must be stable and it must not fluctuate.
Lighting
Proper lighting will determine much of the video quality
that is streamed to the targeted event’s viewers. In
general, a three point lighting configuration with a
speaker backlight will provide the necessary illumination
for a single spokesperson or a small panel. Large panels
of speakers and events with large projection screen
systems will require more complex lighting solutions.
We strongly recommend you hire a professional staging
company to evaluate your event configuration and to
set up professional lighting. Here is a typical camera
and lighting set up for a two camera shoot (wide and
tight) and minimal lighting.
Audio
Studies have shown that clean, clear audio is very important
to the viewer. Scratchy or muffled audio will lose viewers
and prevent you from delivering your message. Fortunately,
good audio is easily attained if you follow the advice
of the professionals. Again, we must recommend that
you use the event staff or hire a professional company
to set up your audio. When the webcasting crew arrives,
they will need a stereo feed from the “house” audio.
This is the final output of the mixture of all microphones.
This house feed is commonly supplied in an industry
standard XLR connector. VTN Studios will take this house
feed and run it through another mixer to properly set
the levels for the broadcast encoder.
Cameras
 Interactive
video webcasting is a digital event and will have the
highest quality when the camera feed is from a digital
camera. Even the best analog cameras do not create as
good a signal as a low end digital camera. When contracting
for videography always insist on DV or mini-DV cameras
as they produce a clean input signal that encodes the
best for a webcast. The webcast encoder can take either
an S-Video or DV (IE EE1394) input signal. If you wish
to have the best quality archive then you will use the
S -Video to broadcast live and use the DV to feed your
archival storage device. If you are less concerned with
archival then you can use the DV for live and either
archive the actual live event or create an archive from
the S-Video storage. In the near future, we expect DV
splitters to become available. When this occurs then
we can broadcast the live event on DV and archive a
DV feed at the same time. Technically, digital works
best due to its inherently superior signal to noise
ratio. By virtually eliminating analog noise artifacts,
the compression encoder can create a cleaner more crisp
broadcast signal.
Encoding
Encoding is the process of reducing the size of the
video so it becomes small enough to transmit over a
network. How small we make the video is based upon our
target viewer. For example, a viewer on a dial up modem
will have a maximum of 30-40 kilobits per second (kbps)
of bandwidth while a broadband viewer may have between
100 kbps and 700 kbps of bandwidth. Given that raw video
runs in excess of 30 Megabytes per second, there is
a great deal of work to be done to achieve a size that
will be deliverable to the low end, dial up modem viewer.
Encoding (compression) works by first reducing the video
resolution from full screen to something smaller, then
by eliminating redundancy from frame to frame and finally
by averaging the color inside individual blocks of data
(macro blocks).
What does this mean to the event producer? It means
that the producer can help control the event webcast
quality by limiting how much a camera has to pan or
zoom. When you pan (move side to side) or zoom, the
video become different from frame to frame, thus eliminating
much of the redundancy that would ordinarily be thrown
out. When we have less redundancy, we have to start
eliminating the “meat” instead of the fat and the resulting
video quality suffers.
Simply stated, if you are considering a low-end dial
up Internet viewer as part of your target audience then
you need to absolutely minimize panning and zooming.
Give the encoding system a chance to work by holding
your shots for at least 15 to 30 seconds (longer if
possible) and try to get your on stage talent to stay
at the podium instead of wandering. However, if you
are delivering over a private network or only to broadband
viewers then you can be more lenient with the panning
and zooming. Your talent may wander some and the resulting
video will still be acceptable quality.
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| When planning your event,
you need to understand how little issues can be
controlled to make both the live event and the
online event a success.
Speakers
Chances are, your speaker has been taught that
wandering from side to side on the stage will
help keep the attention of the audience. This
traditional method may work fine for a physical
event but it creates real quality issues for the
online viewer. As mentioned in the section covering
encoding, the webcast will achieve the highest
online quality when the camera moves as little
as possible. Remember that your live event lasts
once while the online event continues working
around the clock and around the globe. We do not
wish to place constraints on your stage talent
but you should review your objectives to make
sure your event will deliver the best message
to your chosen audience.
Panel
Discussions
A panel discussion is a common event that requires
some planning to be an effective webcast. The
nature of a panel creates a situation where the
camera operator may have to do a lot of panning
and zooming, two elements that we already identified
as quality killers. The solution is to film the
event with a multi-camera set up. Have one camera
set for a wide shot and another camera moving
between speakers for the tight shot. Switch to
the wide shot when speakers change and switch
back to the tight shot after the second camera
has a set shot. This two camera cut system creates
very high quality events without ever needing
to pan or zoom.
Clothing
Clothing choices can make a difference in broadcast
TV and in interactive webcasting. Simply stated,
avoid high contrast checks, stripes and other
styles of clothing that will seem to shimmer or
dance on screen. Also avoid mixing red and blue
together. A light blue shirt is easier on the
camera than a stark white shirt. This does not
mean you should wear muted shades of gray. Just
use common sense with your selection of contrasts
and colors.
Slide Shows
It seems the business world lives on PowerPoint
slide shows. Live events with slide shows that
are broadcast on a big screen are very common.
And, these events create very difficult lighting
issues. If you are planning on an event with speakers
and large screen slide shows that need a dark
room, there is a simple solution. Place the projection
screens far enough away from the stage so there
can be spotlights on the stage while the remainder
of the room is darkened for the slide show. |
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| The Internet is all about personalization
and interactivity. We are not creating TV, we are creating
events that communicate AND gather viewer feedback. When
planning your online event, keep in mind the available
interactive options.
Moderated Q&A
Your physical audience can ask questions and so can
your online audience. With a moderated question and
answer module, you can give your online viewer the chance
to ask questions AND you can control which questions
are made public. In fact, only the moderator sees the
online questions so you can completely control which
questions, if any, you chose to answer from the online
audience.
Moderated Chat
Chat rooms are a staple of the Internet. They can be
entertaining and engaging. They can also be rude and
disruptive. Care should be used when choosing chat for
your online audience feedback method. While a moderated
chat gives you the ability to remove rude guests, this
removal often happens after the damage is done. In addition,
chat rooms work best when limited to no more than 50
people. If you are in an entertainment oriented event
you might want to explore chat. If you are in a business
event, we suggest a moderated Q&A where the questions
are seen only by the moderator, and not the entire online
audience.
Synchronized
Slide Shows
PowerPoint slide shows are a common part of many business
meetings. Slide shows are also a good communication
tool for online events.
1. Transmission
Size – Since your viewer is watching video
you want to be careful not to send slides that are large
in respect to kilobits (Kb). A good target is to keep
your slides under 30 Kb if your audience is low band
dial up viewers and under 50 Kb if your audience is
broadband.
2. Image Size
– Your online event will be displayed in a custom player
that contains video, slides and possibly an interactivity
area for moderated Q&A. This means your slides have
to fit into a smaller window than normally used for
PowerPoint slide shows (which often use the full computer
screen). Your slides will be 420 pixels by 315 pixels,
which is roughly ¼ of many computer screens. Keep this
in mind when building your online slides. One simple
trick is to set your PowerPoint to create a slide show
that is 4” x 3” in a landscape mode. This smaller size,
while not exact, will give you a good idea of how much
content you can fit into the online slide window.
3. Slide Content
– Your online slide window is actually a mini web page.
Any content that you can place in a web page may be
placed into the slide area. This includes Flash animations,
animated GIFs, HTML page content and images. Be sure
to keep your content to a small file size and your viewing
audience will be much happier.
Web Content
Just as the slide window discussed above may hold web
content, the other parts of your online event player
can also hold web content. This creates unique capabilities
where you can embed database look up engines (locate
nearest retailer), advertising and much more. Unlike
TV, your webcast can have multiple windows that are
all capable of interactivity and web content.
Information
Request Forms
An information request form is a “fill in the blank”
form that is sent to you via email. This is an ideal
form for gathering data that you do not wish to handle
during the live event. An information request form is
also great for the archived event.
Polling
Questionnaires
Interactivity is all about gathering data and engaging
your viewers. One of the most effective methods is to
include a polling questionnaire in your live event.
These polls may be a single question or multiple questions.
Multiple choice questions work very well. Your poll
results may be shown to the audience later during the
live event or held back for later distribution or they
can even be kept private for your own use. |
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| Your event has a name and may have
one, or more, sponsors. Your event should play online
in a method that gives you, and your sponsors, branding
that clearly establishes who you are and what the event
is all about.
Custom Players
You could use a standard media player for a live event
but you would lose all event branding and the ability
to include interactivity. When we build a live event,
we first develop a custom player that will hold your
video and all of your chosen interactive modules. This
custom player is built quickly from a selection of standard
templates. These player templates are then customized
to hold your logo and to match the look and feel of
your web site. The end result is an online event that
is branded to match your event.
Event Launch
Page
You spend a lot of money on your web site. Your marketing
efforts work hard to bring people to your website. Since
your website is an extension of your company and your
image, we feel the best place to launch your live event
is directly from your own website. While this sounds
very logical, other webcasting providers force you to
send your viewers to their website in order to see an
event, thus negating all of your hard spent marketing
money and effort. VTN Studios has developed a technology
that will let the entire event launch directly from
any page you chose on your website. Your viewers start
at your website, watch the event from your website and
finish the event at your website.
Event Life Cycle
A live event has a distinct life cycle, which if handled
properly, will increase the number of viewers that attend
your event. Done improperly and your viewers may not
be able to event find the event, much less attend. VTN
Studios has developed a complete, integrated system
that handles all of the life cycles of your event with
a single line of html code that your web developers
places on your web site. Once embedded, this system
handles all of the life cycles for you.
Pre-event...
Invitation
You will need to announce your event to your targeted
audience. This is best accomplished with email with
fax and mail being used as support vehicles. Email is
the preferred announcement because you can insert a
link directly into the email that will take the invitee
to your registration page. When using email, make sure
you only send to email lists that are built using today’s
best “opt-in” methodology. Never send to unsuspecting
or “harvested” email lists. A growing number of states
are now making spam against the law and punishable by
significant fines. In addition, if listed as a spammer,
you could have your website shut down and your domain
blocked by AOL and other large organizations. So, when
preparing your email list, use a little care and take
the time to build a proper “opt-in” email list.
Pre-event...
Registration
You may want to gather data on your viewers. One good
method is to build a registration form. These forms
work best when you ask for only the minimal amount of
required information, such as: name, company, title,
email and phone. If you need more data, we suggest you
gather the more in depth data from a polling questionnaire
built into the event or placed at the end of the event.
Make sure to add a check box on any form where the registrant
may sign up for your email newsletter and event announcements.
Pre-event...
Reminder
Prior to the actual day of the event, you should have
the event listed on your web site with a link that gives
the potential viewer an opportunity to sign up for an
email reminder the day of the event.
Pre-event...
Day of Event
When a viewer arrives at the link on the day of the
event, but prior to the event starting, we provide a
countdown clock that tells the viewer how much time
exists before the event will begin. This pre-event page
also runs an automatic system check to tell the potential
viewer that they are ready, or not ready, to view the
live event. If the viewer is not ready, this countdown
page will tell them what they are missing and give them
links to acquire what they are missing (current browser
or media player). This pre-event page eliminates technical
support and informs the viewer when the actual event
will begin.
Event
Once the event goes live, the countdown page automatically
changes to the live event. The viewer is delivered directly
into the live event.
Post Event...
Reminder
A typical event with 500 online viewers will often have
5000 viewers watch the archive. In other words, the
archive is a critical part of your message strategy
and should be made to look as good as possible. Once
the live event is over, there is typically some postproduction
clean up of the live video that is required. While waiting
for the archived event to become available, we turn
the event link into a reminder form where the viewer
may request a reminder when the archive event is available.
Post Event...
Archiving
An archived event can be made available to a global
audience 24 hours a day. This archived event plays inside
the same, custom branded player that was developed for
the live event and it plays directly from your website.
The archived event will be delivered to a much larger
audience than the live event. We suggest you add additional
features such as an information request form or poll
to the archive so you will gather information long after
the live event is over. Also make sure the archived
event plays directly from your own website and is not
a link to a service provider’s web site. You work hard
to make people visit your website, VTN Studios will
work hard to keep them there once they arrive. |
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over a computer network. These networks may be the
public Internet, a private Intranet or both.
Public
Network (Internet)
The public Internet enables over 100 million potential
viewers to watch your live event. These potential
viewers are globally dispersed and feature various
degrees of connection speeds. Delivering video
over the Internet requires the correct size video
stream be delivered to each viewer based upon
that viewer’s individual connection speed. VTN
Studios has developed a delivery system called
AutoStream that delivers the correct stream bandwidth
and resolution to each individual viewer automatically,
thus assuring the best possible viewer experience
with the best possible ease of use.
Private
Network (intranet)
Delivering interactive video to a corporate Intranet
is very different than delivering to the public
Internet. First, most private networks are protected
by a firewall. Second, most private networks do
not have enough incoming Internet connectivity
to allow all of their users to watch broadband
video at the same time. One solution that we frequently
utilize is collaboration with the private network
IT staff. We work directly with their staff to
help them set up internal video servers. These
internal servers are fed one stream from our origin
server and then the internal server sends out
multiple streams to the internal network. This
solution overcomes security and bandwidth limitations.
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Webcasting is an ideal
tool for delivering a message from “one to many”
where the “many” are geographically dispersed.
You can easily use this tool to give a live presentation
to a global audience or even an audience within
your own corporation. The viewers do not require
any special software or viewing hardware to watch,
and participate in an interactive webcast. The
cost of delivering your message is very low per
user and your audience size can scale from small
to very large.
Note that while live, interactive webcasting
is a great communication tool, it should not be
confused with other digital communication tools
such as video conferencing or web collaboration.
Video
Conferencing
Video conferencing requires special equipment
at both the broadcasting and viewing points. This
form of digital communication is best used for
point-to-point or point-to-multipoint situations
where groups of people sit in conference rooms
that are equipped with video conferencing equipment.
Cost of video conferencing is less than air travel
and is very good for spontaneous interaction between
small groups.
Web
Collaboration
Web collaboration requires the viewer and presenter
have custom software loaded on their computers.
The presenter controls the action of what happens
on the viewer’s screen. This software is most
often used for walking small groups of people
through a web site or to give specific training
on an application. Cost per viewer is low. This
tool is best used for small “one to few” interactive
collaboration. |
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| A few typical applications
for interactive, live webcasting are:
Conferences,
Seminars and Road Shows
These events are a commonplace occurrence for
corporations. The typical scenario has the corporate
presentation team schedules meetings in hotels
in cities across their target geography. The team
travels from city to city giving presentations.
While this certainly delivers a great opportunity
for participants in each city, it clearly does
not include participants that are not located
in one of the chosen cities or participants that
could not leave their office. An online broadcast
of these events greatly increases the audience
size and leverages the corporation’s seminar/Road
show investment.
Continuing
Education
Many industries require their members to participate
in continuing educational seminars on a yearly
basis. These CE events can be expanded in size
through the use on online interactive video webcasting.
The participants are better served because they
can skip expensive travel and the presentation
company gains a larger paying audience.
Product
launches
Launching a new product or service requires a
vast amount of communication. You need to inform
the press, your own staff, your reseller channels
and the end user. The most cost effective way
to deliver these messages is with an interactive
webcast.
Corporate
Communications
Human resources, sales training and messages from
the CEO are all typical elements of corporate
communications. If you think of your corporation
as an army that needs direction in order to march
in the same direction then you will quickly understand
the need for constant communication. The most
effective, and affordable, way to communicate
from “one to many” is with interactive webcasting.
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One of the most compelling
aspects of interactive webcasting is the cost
savings versus alternative methods of communicating
your message from one to many people over a widely
dispersed geographic area. When faced with dilemmas
such as of having your sales staff travel from
the field to a central location for a sales meeting
and the opportunity costs associated with this,
or conducting training to a large geographically
dispersed audience, and other one to many communication
applications, webcasting can provide a potent
and cost effective alternative to other methods
of one-to-many communications. Two real world
examples:
1. Corporate
Communications, CEO Speech
The CEO of a large, public corporation wanted
to deliver a message to the entire company. His
company had just suffered losses over the past
two quarters and he wanted everyone to understand
what was being done to resolve the issues. He
wanted to lift spirits and get everyone going
in a positive direction. The solution was to deliver
his message to the entire company via a webcast
directly to their desktops. Unfortunately, the
company had three main locations with insufficient
Internet connectivity to enable all the employees
to watch at the same time. The final solution
involved their IT staff working with VTN Studios
to establish small stream servers inside each
campus. One stream was sent to each campus server
where it was replicated to all the internal participants.
Traditional message delivery costs were in the
tens of thousands of dollars and the message would
have taken weeks to deliver. Using the above-described
solution, this CEO delivered his message for a
few thousand dollars, built a network for future
messaging and saved himself money and time while
getting his company back on track.
2. Corporate Communications,
HR Update
A large corporation was holding a sales meeting
at a hotel that was out of province from the corporate
office. The VP of HR and the program director
of compensation wanted to give a short presentation
to the sales team. This would require two people
travel cross-country, stay in a hotel for two
days and spend close to $6000 in travel costs.
Instead, the company filmed the executives and
made the webcast available to both the meeting
participants AND the sales members that were unable
to attend the meeting. The cost of the webcast
was under $3000. The return on investment was
immediate. The savings in time away from the office
was tremendous. |
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“…Streaming technology
is like the fax machine 20 years ago. Who knew
that businesses today cannot function without
it?”
Craig Stevens
Zoom Technologies
“…Using video conferencing software means that
I need to make sure I have my clothes on, unless
I want my corporate partners to see me at my natural
best”
Darlene Booth
Naked News Network
"...Based on our experience, I believe everyone
'needs' web conferencing-they just may not know
it yet."
Rick Gorski, Manager
Strategic Initiatives, Gorton's |
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