DIY: How to create a webcast from a live event

For many reasons, webcasting can be an excellent way to extend the effectiveness of your conference proceedings. With a little clever manipulation, you can use webcasting for marketing and promotion to the masses, for distance or e-learning purposes, or offer it as an additional benefit for members who simply don’t want to travel. The reasons for webcasting are infinite — but you’ve already figured that out. Now you’re wondering how you can find the additional $10,000 to broadcast this event to your remote audience. Well, here are a few ways to spend significantly less and achieve similar results.

1. Source your webcasting platform. As mentioned in the Five cheap and easy tips for livestreaming article, shop around for a Web-based webcasting provider that offers a free or low cost solution. Key feature: Look for an option that allows you to broadcast the presentation, or content, from the speaker’s computer. Both Livestream.com and Ustream.com offer this with a supplemental (free) download of their Procaster or Producer software, respectively.
   • Based on needs, you might need to upgrade your channel to a premium offering. Reasons for doing so include:
     • Custom branding – allows you to sell sponsorships on the webcasting “skin” (the term for the visual display surrounding the webcast video and slide deck). Also removes ads from your webcast.
     • Login requirements – if you’d like to offer CEUs or track viewership for reporting to sponsors, you can require attendees to login to view the content.
     • Safety/Security – if you require an attendee to log in, you can protect any sensitive or private content.
2. If your audiovisual provider cannot offer you a video feed from the cameras being used, or if you don’t have a camera in your AV package, you can set up your own system. Here’s how:
   • Use a tripod and check angles in the room for the best placement.
   • Choose your camera. Many digital camcorders won’t stream to the Internet. Believe it or not, most of the old tape cameras will. Just be sure to remove the tape so it doesn’t go into auto shotdown mode.
   • Using a firewire cable, you should be able to send the video images directly to the laptop from which you will broadcast. If you don’t have a firewire cable on your camera, you will need an RCA cable and a video capture card.
3. Request an audio feed from the sound board and plug into the microphone jack on your camera. (You may need an adapter, so be sure to ask for one.) According to online video experts, video quality is actually second in priority to audio quality. The use of an external microphone is crucial to attaining great sound.
4. If using the Procaster or Producer programs, load the presenter’s slide deck onto your webcasting laptop so you can broadcast the slides, ensuring the remote audience sees a mirror image of what is on screen in the room.

Be sure to run a few trials before the live broadcast. It is important to keep in mind that the quality will probably not match what you would receive from a professional webcasting platform such as Sonic Foundry or On24. However, with a little practice, you should be able to provide a decent quality with little expenditure beyond time.

Poll Question: If asked, could you easily explain the difference between videoconferencing, webcasting, webinars and live streaming? Depending on results, this could be a future topic for our monthly column!