It’s a rainy Tuesday morning, and your audience has gathered from all over the world to learn about the newest sales arm of your growing company. The coffee and donuts flow freely. You can just feel the excitement in the air.
Except, here’s the thing. It’s not rainy everywhere because this gathering is happening simultaneously on four continents. When it comes right down to it, it’s not even Tuesday everywhere! Ditto the breakfast pastries, which vary from nation to nation … and the air, which is crisp in New England and balmy in New Delhi. What’s happening, exactly? Your audience is about to enjoy some quality live event streaming — and it’s high time they did. This maturing technology has benefited businesses for years, and if you’re not using it, you’re already behind the competition.
Today, let’s look at what live streaming is, what this technology has in common with virtual event streaming, and its common uses. We’ll also consider reasons to live stream a conference, explore how the technology works, and outline how you can get started with live event streaming. With today’s wealth of engagement tools and event tech integrations, there’s no excuse not to immediately add this to your technology stack.
So plate up a danish in Europe, some pancakes in America, or a few lentil crepes in India, and sit down to this one-stop-shop tutorial on live streaming.
What Is Live Streaming?
Event live streaming is when you give people that are not physically at an event the ability to watch it in real-time. Live viewing is not a new technology. We’ve been watching live sports, like football games, for around a century now. However, live streaming — where people can watch an event over the internet anytime and anywhere- is a technology less than three decades old.
How Does It Work?
Live streaming is a relatively simple process. It hinges on sending only small amounts of data over the internet simultaneously, so the host doesn’t need to finish filming before pushing out watchable clips. Live streaming technology strings these small pieces of film together to create a seamless viewing experience so that audience members never see an interruption.
You need a camera, microphone, internet connection, and good lighting to live-stream from an in-person event on a virtual event platform. In addition, you will need live streaming software to connect the video you create to the internet. Users on the other end access the live stream through a video link or, sometimes, through mobile apps.
During the live stream, users login and start streaming either from the beginning or from the part they enter, depending on the available options. Once the event is over, the live stream software will turn it into a video that you can edit or leave as-is. This becomes a valuable piece of marketing content going forward.
What Is Virtual Event Live Streaming?
Virtual event live streaming is a type of live streaming in which people can attend and watch virtual events unfold from anywhere in the world. While all virtual event streaming is live streaming, not all live streaming is of virtual events.
What Is Live Streaming Used For?
Event live streaming for in-person occasions has a wealth of potential uses. It allows those who cannot physically gather to witness the event rather than miss the experience or watch a playback later. This is much better for event engagement. By live streaming the event on a state-of-the-art virtual event platform, you can leverage features that enable people to promote the event on social media, participate in Q&As and surveys, and chat with other attendees, increasing event engagement rates.
Here are just a few of the most common uses of live streaming.
- Marketing and Sales: Examples of events for which you might want to use live streaming include annual sales kickoffs, conferences, webinars, and trade shows.
- Academics and Education: Any academic event, from graduations and commencement ceremonies to employee onboarding and certification courses, can benefit from live streaming. This enables participants to learn from anywhere in the world.
- HR and Recruitment: Human Resources teams use live streaming for employee gatherings, benefits fairs, job fairs, lunch-and-learns, and more.
- Event Planning Services: Do you offer event planning for your clients? Live streaming is a great way to broadcast an event and attract audiences from around the world.
- PR, Media, and Entertainment: In this category, think of professional sporting events, festivals, parties, concerts, and corporate announcements.
- Philanthropy, Non-Profits, and Fundraising: In-person gatherings such as charity events and fundraising galas draw huge in-person audiences when done right. However, the simple combination of live streaming software and a virtual events platform with an auction feature can significantly increase your fundraising potential.
- Remote Virtual Office: Sometimes, an event is as simple as an important meeting at a physical office. If your workforce is distributed, setting up a virtual office and live-streaming the event is a great way to include everyone and create alignment.
Why Live Stream a Conference or Other Event?
There are a considerable number of benefits to conference live streaming, including the ability to:
Adapt to Any Circumstance
Live streaming is an excellent value-add for an in-person event, but what happens when a hurricane rolls in? Or a fire makes your West Coast team unable to travel? Or the next pandemic keeps your audience at home?
In these cases, it’s essential to adapt, and live streaming does just that. With virtual event technology that enables your audience to participate from afar, you’ll suffer less from any disruption. Attendees can still buy tickets to the event, view your material, chime in with questions and comments, and more.
Create an Accessible Environment for All
Of course, you don’t need a catastrophe to leverage the above benefits. With live stream technology, you can offer event attendance to people who don’t have the time, money, or resources to travel — or who have a disability that would otherwise prevent them from attending in person.
Scale Events
When you scale in-person-only events, you look at transitions like Hotel Ballroom à, Convention Center, à Superdome. That’s a pretty expensive equation! However, if you add live streaming, you can scale your attendance dramatically without renting palace grounds.
Drive More Revenue Opportunities
You’re increasing event ROI with each new person who buys a ticket to your event. Furthermore, each attendee is someone who might potentially take a class, buy a product or service, forge a partnership … and so on.
Easily Record and Distribute Content
With live event streaming software, it’s never been easier to record all your in-person events and push them to your audience later. Now you can not only reach people who aren’t physically present, but you can also reach them at later times.
Minimize Environmental Impact
The planet is in a fragile state. While in-person events are fun and exciting and can add to a business’s bottom line, there’s something to be said for keeping the in-person events small by adding a solid virtual component. Live streaming allows you to create more sustainable events, reducing the carbon footprint of any in-person get-together, Hybrid events reduce global emissions by roughly 90% — and for that, Mother Earth thanks you.
Create Standout Live Streaming Events with Professional Help
As you can see, the live-streaming events are nearly endless. If you want to stand out from the competition, attract global audiences, and give your employees the best possible experience, consider adding live streaming and other virtual event products to your technology stack today.
Whether your event is in-person, at a virtual venue, or falls under the heading of hybrid events, 6Connex can help. Our wealth of virtual event solutions will help you attract far-flung audiences to your conferences and gatherings, so you can maximize your reach today and in the future. Want to learn more? Feel free to request a virtual event platform demo.
Don’t take our word for it. Read what our clients say about how 6Connex has successfully helped other businesses build their brands, grow their market shares, and put technology to better use for efficiency and cost savings. Don’t hesitate to take your business to the next level … reach out today!
