Viewers / Participants
- Always view a live stream or on-demand recording with a wired broadband internet connection with at least 2.0 mbps download speed for best results.
- Be sure to test your system’s compatibility at least an hour prior to any streaming event to ensure connection success and compatibility.
- You need to have speakers available for your PC so that you can hear the audio from the stream.
- If backup audio is provided, and you wish to dial in to the teleconference for the backup audio,be sure to mute your own phone line to reduce possible background noise.
- If you experience any kind of technical difficulties during a live event, please contact TelSpanimmediately so that we can work to resolve the problem as quick as possible.
For Hosts / Organizers
- Event/Room Setup:
- If you are hosting a live stream, the quality and availability of the internet connection in the event space is of utmost importance. You will want to verify with your venue that they can provide a direct, hard-wired ethernet connection with speeds of at least 5 mbps up/down.
- Try to refrain from using any type of a darker colored backdrop curtain. Most speakers choose black or dark blue as the color of their attire and will blend in with the background creating a “talking head” look.
- If you have no other options than a black backdrop curtain, it is then crucial to inform all speakers to REFRAIN from wearing dark clothing so they do not blend in to the background. Shades of gray or light brown/tan are usually best in this situation. You may also consider adding accent lighting on the background to try to separate it from the presenters.
- If the backdrop is dark colored and the speakers are also wearing dark clothing, then the lighting must be pushed high enough to make the speaker stand out from the background – in most cases blinding the speaker on stage and creating uneven lighting. This does not usually lend itself to a nice quality video capture and is cautioned against having this set up at your event.
- Speakers/Presenters:
- Instruct speakers to wear lighter colored clothing that is not distracting. If you know the color scheme of the room/staging/backdrop, instruct presenters to refrain from wearing anything of that same color.
- Inform speakers that they will be mic’d somehow (whether it’s a table mic, stand mic, lavaliere mic, etc.) and instruct your A/V provider to perform an audio check with every single speaker before they go on stage and begin their presentation.— Time constraints or a full/rapid/back-to-back schedule of presentations can sometimes make it difficult to perform quality checks before every single presentation/session, however this extra step really helps in making sure each session’s quality is uniform to the others as different speakers have different inflections, richness, and volume of speech.
- If using presentation materials such as PowerPoints, PDFs, video and audio clips, etc., it’s usually a best practice to have a set deadline that each presenter must provide their presentation materials to you (at the very least an hour before their scheduled presentation). This is especially crucial if the event is being streamed or recorded in our web platform for later viewing – TelSpan must be provided the materials within a reasonable amount of time to get them uploaded and ready for capture in the web platform. Again, at the very least an hour before the presentation.— Ideally you want to set up a system where each speaker must go to the A/V table to drop off their presentation materials by a certain time. This prevents any scrambling by the A/V crew and/or speakers themselves making last minute changes.