Live Video Stream vs. Web Video Conference: What's the Difference and Why Does it Matter?

As more states open up and as businesses work to get “back to normal,” the reality is that we’re not going “back to normal” in many aspects of business life. The pivot to telecommuting has been remarkable, and many organizations, especially large employers, are taking their time returning people to the work place. In addition, guidelines for gatherings of large groups of people aren’t going away any time soon.

What’s the opportunity and how do we adapt?

One way to thrive in this new environment is to embrace live video streaming. Live video streaming is different than the video conferencing experience you’ve been having on platforms like Zoom and WebEx. Live video streaming offers its own benefits and value. Let me explain.

How is a live video stream different from a Web video conference?

A live video stream is a high-quality video and audio stream sent in one direction. The audience watches the video. Presenters do not see the audience. The audience can participate using a chat feature, or possibly submit questions via phone line or email.

A live video stream allows you to include more than one video camera and incorporates quality microphones and lighting and seamlessly integrates full-screen graphics, such as PowerPoint presentations, lower-thirds with names and titles, and other media like videos. It typically requires a minimal production crew with audio, video, and streaming equipment.

When should I do a live video stream?

A live video stream is good for delivering content that doesn’t require a lot of interaction with the audience. You may have a Q&A session at the end, but the majority of the live stream will be conducted at a single location with the presenter(s).

A good place to start is to think about the large, in-person meetings you’ve conducted and/or attended in the past and consider if a live stream would be a worthy substitute. Some examples include:

• All-employee meetings
• Training sessions
• Senior leadership presentations on strategy or results
• New product announcements and demonstrations
• Policy changes
• Open enrollment meetings
• Employee recognition
• New initiatives
• Panel discussions (can be conducted with social distance)
• Interviews and Q&A (can be conducted with social distance)
• Virtual press conferences
• Personal milestones – Anniversaries, graduations
• Branding announcements
• Cybersecurity?

The Viz-Bang hybrid option

There is an option I can offer that combines the best of both approaches, which can be very helpful if your presenters are in multiple locations. The hybrid option allows just the presenters to join the meeting via a video web conference platform like Zoom or WebEx. But between the presenters and the audience is gateway that takes all of the presenters and streams their video to attendees. The attendees join the video stream via a unique URL. They can watch through their browser. They don’t need any web video conference to participate. The video player is embedded in a branded landing page, so it looks like it’s part of the organization streaming the event, not Zoom or WebEx. There’s a person monitoring the gateway should there be any technical issues. There’s an option for attendees to type in and submit questions. 

The benefits of the hybrid option include:

• Ease of use for presenters in multiple locations.
• Secure, branded experience.
• Can manage graphics, like PowerPoint slides, and play videos for presenters.
• No third-party software for attendees to download before joining the meeting.
• Proprietary platform with a technician monitoring meeting.
• Stable. No bandwidth issues that may cause buffering, frozen screens, etc.
• Robust reporting.

 Where will people watch my live video stream?

We can stream video live to your organization’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. We also can create branded landing pages using the hybrid option. Or we can integrate into your organization’s internal networks so the audience can watch and participate using their normal intranet connection.

 What do I do after the live video stream?

While the content going out over the video stream is live, we are also recording it for use after the meeting or event. We can edit the content for distribution on platforms or via email. Or you can archive the entire meeting for people who were unable to attend the live stream. For example, a training session can be repurposed multiple times, including training new hires during their onboarding experience.

Now what?

Let’s talk about it. What in-person meetings or events would have been planned for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021 that you have been affected by the new guidelines for gatherings of people? Let’s create a plan to transition these events to live video streaming events and identify the opportunities that will arise along the way.