Transitioning to Virtual and Hybrid Events. Ben Chodor

The presenter is not visible on‐screen and the focus is on the slides using a microphone embedded directly in his or her computer or via a telephone connection. The virtual audience can type in questions and can also engage in open chat with a few viewers. Webinars are most commonly used for product launch or IT presentations where the focus is more on product specs or engineering details. These events are usually smaller in nature and may not always be available for on‐demand. They can also be ideal for presenters who have low internet bandwidth that can't support video or do not want to be on‐camera. Also, traditionally you would think of a webinar more as a seminar tool and one‐way technology and not used for collaboration.

      As well, one of the most attractive elements of a webinar is that that the software available to create webinars is fairly easy to use, the software is readily available, and they are a low‐cost way of creating content and delivering it to your targeted audience.

       Use Cases

      Product Training ‐ you launch a webinar series that will educate your channel partners about the technical details and functionality of a new product. You want to be able to have live Q&A available as well as open chat. You may not want the webinar to be available on‐demand because of confidentiality issues.

      Internal Communications ‐ Your company introduces a brand‐new expense tracking software that needs to roll out to regional employees over the course of a few weeks to educate and train as many employees as possible on detailed process flow. You need to focus on slides so employees can see how to go from one step to another. Because this is a training, you want to include audio over slides, Q&A, and a quiz at the end. In this use case it is important to have the program available on‐demand so that your audience can take the learning course whenever they are available and not at a set time or day of the week.

WEBCASTING

A live webcast is an online broadcast that takes place at a specific date and time. Just like live television, a live webcast happens in real time, with no ability to edit or correct footage. The spontaneity of a live webcast is one reason users enjoy attending them. It is also my belief that one of the keys to a successful virtual event is not only the webcast's functionality but also the quality of your webcasts.

      A live webcast may include one or more of these elements: slides, live video, Q&A, polls, surveys, online chat, and social media integration. Organizers of live webcasts choose which of these elements to include.

      Live webcasts are streamed over the internet via webcam, professional and prosumer video equipment, broadcast studios, satellite feeds, or videoconference units from physical event locations, to your home, office, or any location that you can get an internet connection. End users can experience live webcasts from any internet connected device and in browsers or mobile apps. Today, 96% of consumers rely on a smartphone to get things done. That means you need to ensure your content is viewable on a small screen!

      The newest webcasting technology provides a WebRTC presenter panel. WebRTC is an open source web and mobile technology that allows for real‐time communications. What does that mean to your Webcast? It enables you to create a broadcast experience and bring other remote presenters into your webcast so that you can have real conversation live. This enables you to have a panel event or a one‐on‐one interview with each presenter in a different location. I have been streaming since the late 1990s and I think this is the biggest change and enhancement in the world of webcasting. It takes your webcast and turns it into a broadcast experience. My advice is when selecting a webcasting solution, make sure they have WebRTC presenter side capabilities. Speakers have access to a browser‐based “presentation console” of live webcast platforms. This console provides controls that are available exclusively to presenters: starting and stopping the broadcast, advancing slides, viewing audience metrics, launching polls, viewing poll results, viewing questions, moderating questions, and more.

      End users access the “audience console,” which the live webcast platform makes available via browser or mobile app. The audience console enables users to view slides, hear audio, view video, participate in polls, submit questions, and access handouts.

An on‐demand archive of the live webcast is available as soon as the live webcast is over. Users who missed the live broadcast can return later to watch the webcast on demand. The most common uses of webcasts are for employee town halls, marketing events, educational programs, and to broadcast from a hybrid event. One of my favorite parts of a webcast is that you can handle audiences of any size while also delivering a higher‐quality program.

      Going forward I think more and more physical events will also broadcast all or portions of their program to a virtual audience, creating a compelling hybrid viewing experience.

      Note: The term “live webcast” is used synonymously with “live webinar” – just to clear up any confusion!

       Use Cases

      Corporate Announcement – Your CEO wants to address all of the employees with a quarterly town hall; some of the key elements are going to be an opening prerecorded video that the marketing team put together. Then the CEO will take the stage, and it could be his or her live video opening from an auditorium in front of employees at headquarters. After the opening, your CEO will incorporate slides and graphics to talk about quarterly results. The program will shift from graphics to one‐on‐one live interviews with a few key executives to congratulate them on their results, and to end the program there will be a panel of executives discussing the quarter, where they will take questions from employees. After the Q&A session is complete the webcast ends with a prerecorded montage of images of employees synced to music. The webcast can then be edited into smaller bitesize pieces of content to be shared internally or to the public. Also, this webcast can then be made available for employees to watch on‐demand. Most webcasting solutions today offer you the ability to edit your content, or you can download the content and your internal or external production team can edit it themselves.

Marketing Thought Leadership – You are going to have two or three industry experts discuss a topic for 30 to 40 minutes and then take questions from the live virtual audience. The moderator will open the program and introduce the panelists, who would be in different locations. The key elements here are that all panelists are being broadcast via webcam video so the audience can see them and hear their interactions with the other panelists. This program could consist of some slides, software demos, and polling as well. The biggest difference between this and a webinar is the use of video and the ability to take portions of this webcast and repackage it to share key takeaways on your website or via social media.

STREAMING

      Streaming is the term we will use for a broadcast that is going to Social Media locations like Facebook Live, YouTube, Twitch, Periscope/Twitter, LinkedIn Live, OTT channels like Roku's Smart TV and Apple TV, or imbedded into a company's website or partner's website. Streaming is ideally for syndicating your content live and on demand to various locations. It is a great way to broadcast your event. Additionally, all of the locations I mentioned above offer their own live streaming technology that you don't usually have to pay for, plus there are a lot of streaming services available for your organization to use. It feels like every day a new streaming service comes online and a new solution is available.

      What is OTT, you might ask? OTT stands for “over the top.” Traditionally, television was delivered via terrestrial broadcast and then moved to cable or satellite delivery. OTT is delivered directly to viewers via the internet, which is how all of the streaming networks are now delivered; think Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu to name a few.

You might be wondering why is it important for you to understand and know about OTT? It's because just like with virtual events and webcasting it is another avenue you might think of for delivering your event programing, and you now can integrate OTT programming in your virtual events. In other words, I can see the day when all associations,