Preparing for your first live stream event can be stressful. The process can quickly feel overwhelming, from preparing guest speakers to possible concerns about internet connectivity and WiFi. Organizing a successful live stream event is more manageable than many people realize. Organization and preparation are the keys to hosting a live stream without losing your sanity.
Begin preparing for the live stream by acquiring the necessary supplies. You will need a camera, microphone, good lighting, and a stable internet connection. An encoder must translate the content into streamable files for internet sharing. Encoder software is available online; however, the computer's processing speed can limit software encoders. Hardware encoders like Epiphan's Pearl Nano specialize in live streaming, freeing up the computer for other tasks.
Goal Definition and Topic Selection
Is the purpose of the live stream to inform your audience about a product or an available service? Are you promoting or selling an item and interested in developing leads? Or is the goal to grow your audience? Defining the purposes of the live stream will help create relevant content with a clear focus. Clarifying this information beforehand helps shape the look of the live stream.
Set Up a Clear Outline
Predetermined questions and talking points help keep the live stream focused and lessen the likelihood of the conversation veering too far off track. While strict adherence to a script can feel awkward and stiff, a loose outline provides areas for applicable exploration while leaving room for spontaneity and personality.
Speaker Preparation
Meeting with the guest speaker or panel ahead of time goes a long way toward ensuring a smooth and successful live stream. Talking with the speaker before the live stream day allows you to answer any questions about technology issues and ensure they are set up to join the broadcast. Scheduling a dry run the day before helps eliminate minor issues that can become big problems on the broadcast day.
A dry run also gives the speaker a heads up on the questions and topics covered during the broadcast, allowing them time to perfect their answers and the courtesy of not being caught off guard by an unexpected discussion. Recording a rehearsal provides valuable insight as to how you'll look and sound on camera while you still have time to make adjustments in any areas where you are not comfortable.
Capitalize on Audience Engagement
The level of audience engagement is an area that many first-time live streamers are unprepared to handle. One of the principal advantages of a live stream broadcast is audience participation. Live streams empower content creators to interact with their audience in real-time. During the live stream broadcast, the comments will probably post very quickly, and responding to each one will become overwhelming.
But responding to audience queries and comments is essential to keeping everyone engaged, which is the main focus of a live stream broadcast. To keep things running while maintaining engagement and enthusiasm, appointing people to monitor the social media aspect is a wise idea. Assigning this role to someone else lets you concentrate on your role as the host, centre your focus on the speaker, and maintain the direction of the content.
The setup can seem overwhelming and intimidating for a first-time live stream host. Remember to enjoy the process; you'll be a practised hand before you know it.
