Advanced/professional Live-streams are carefully planned productions that result in a professionally produced video feed that is broadcast via an encoding device direct to Vimeo, YouTube, or a Zoom webinars.
There are several important questions you need to answer before deciding which is the preferred delivery method.
Zoom Meetings vs. Webinars
If, after reviewing the charts below, you decide a webinar fits your need, you will need to complete the GCU Webinar Form that will ask about some of the points below. Use of Zoom meetings or Webinars should also be considered based on the experience you want to provide for your participants. Meetings are more interactive and provide different ways for participants to engage. Webinars provide the host the opportunity to have full control over presenting to a very large group with full permissions to manage the webinar, panelists, and attendees.
| Zoom Meetings | Zoom Webinars |
|---|---|
| Participant limit: 300 | Participant limit: 500 or 1000 |
| Content Sharing: All Participants | Content Sharing: Host, Co-host, and Panelists Only |
| Audio & Video: All Participants | Audio & Video: Host, Co-host, and Panelist Only |
| Chat: Host to All Participants and Participant to Participant Privately and Publicly. (Hosts have the ability to disable Public and Private Chat.) | Chat: Hosts, Co-hosts, Panelists, and Participants can publicly. (Hosts have the ability to disable chat completely for participants.) |
| Polling: Available | Polling: Available |
| Breakout Rooms: Available | Breakout Rooms: Not available |
| Waiting Rooms: Available | Waiting Rooms: Not available |
| Q&A: Available | Q&A: Available |
| Live-stream: Not available | Live-stream: Available with some restrictions. Refer to Live Stream a Zoom Webinar. |
| Use Case | Considerations | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Staff meeting | Less than 300 participants, video and audio of all participants, and ability to content share. More participant engagement. | Meeting |
| Training session | With less than 300 participants, breakout rooms are an option as well as polling. Includes a Raise Hand feature that is ideal for training sessions. The host can mute all participants and toggle on when appropriate to allow for interaction. | Meeting |
| Professional conference | More than 300 participants, more control for the host, co-host, and panelist. Audio, video, and content are shared by the host, co-host, and panelist only. Includes polling feature, which is often utilized for professional conferences. | Webinar |
| Class under 300 | Ideal for interactive sessions where you’ll want to have lots of audience participation or utilize breakout sessions for small group discussions. | Meeting |
| Class over 300 | A virtual lecture hall or auditorium with a very large audience. Ability to use Q&A feature for attendees to ask questions during class. | Webinar |
| Patient visit | May be used with some types of sensitive data, including Protected Health Information (PHI), and provides end-to-end encryption. Ability to lock meetings. | Meeting |
| Daily stand-up | Ability to see all participants. Everyone has audio and video and can chat publicly or privately. | Meeting |
| Town Hall | Large audience/event that is open to the public and needs little audience engagement. | Webinar |
Selectivity in which events are Live-streamed
Given the complexity and large number of staff required to produce an advanced/professional Live-stream, GCU is very selective in which events are professionally Live-streamed. Here are some of the criteria that are reviewed and evaluated for any Live-streaming requests.
- speaker (and speaker permission)
- topic – is the event topic of interest to a broad audience; is it relevant to current events
- potential audience reach – will the room or theater be filled to capacity and reach a large, remote audience
- event type and format
- length of the event
- copyrighted content
Complexity of an Advanced/Professional Live-stream
Advanced/professional Live-streams cannot be completed by one individual with a smartphone. Live-streams are high tech, high quality and require the direct involvement of 2-5 GCU department staff.
Number of People Involved
- Event speaker(s)
- Event manager/coordinator
- Videographer(s)
- Producer
- Onsite social media manager Producer and on-site social media manager may be completed by the same person depending on complexity and needs of the event.
- On-site or off-site social media monitoring and response
Equipment involved
- Professional lighting
- Professional audio
- Professional video equipment
- Fully reliable internet (dedicated Wi-Fi or hard-lined Ethernet)
Planning Involved
- Identification of individuals to fill roles and availability of equipment
- Obtaining speaker permissions/copyright permissions
- Integrated real world and digital marketing plan
- Includes promotion leading up to the event and day of communications (text/copy to go in the Live-stream social media posts)
- Logistics/planning meeting and site visit
- On-site video/audio/reliable internet check
- Setting up system for live internal communications plan during event (text, radio, slack, email)
- Event scheduling and live production plan
- When during the event will the live stream begin and end?
- Are there special elements like graphics or lower thirds that need to be inserted into the video? Who is providing the data/graphics?
- What should the camera(s) and audio feed(s) capture?
- Accessibility
- How and when will the video recording be captioned?
Important Questions to Ask and Consider
Before moving forward with any advanced/professional Live-stream plan, the following factors must be considered:
- Do you have the staff?
- Do we have the Technology and Logistics to Support the Live-stream?
- Do we have the Technology and Logistics to Support the Live-stream?
- Do we have Permission?
- Do we have advanced notice?
- Is this a good event for Live-streaming on the primary GCU Vimeo, Zoom, or YouTube account?
- Is there a willingness and enough time to create a communications and marketing plan for the event?
- Is there a commitment to providing closed captions for the event video after the conclusion of the event?