Pro Webcasting Blog

With such a diverse range of options, platforms and applications many people get hung up going in circles trying to figure out what they should do in order to make their webcast a success. In the end, they miss critical elements that would have made the process easier and created success.

Here are the top 10 must do webcasting tips that you should make sure you consider when preparing for a webcast.

1) Determine whether your webcast will be live or pre-recorded

If you’re wanting to connect with people in multiple time zones, having a plan that allows you to not only webcast live, but to provide immediate viewing of a pre-recorded version for others after you’ve finished is always a good choice.

2) Define your target viewing audience

Determining everything from what age group is going to be viewing your to whether a specific internal group in your corporate structure will be viewing your content exclusively is valuable in determining how you present your webcast.

3) Research and determine what OS platforms your audience be viewing your webcast from

Are your viewers going to be viewing this on internal computers maintained by an IT department, or is this going out to the masses? TIP: If you are wanting people to view this on their IPAD’s a webcast in an RTMP stream will not work even though it’s secure and provides one of the most standardized stream transcoding used by most major platforms today.

4) Learn what type of streaming format will you need to use in order to reach your audience the best

Security is key, but also understanding if your viewers are going to be watching this on their phone, at home on a desktop or in a coffee shop on their laptop is critical. Just because you can push a full HD stream out doesn’t mean that everyone will be able to view it on their device. Make sure you have an all inclusive plan for everyone to have an enjoyable and seamless process to connect with your webcast.

5) Know the average bandwidth that your audience will have to view your webcast

This builds on the previous point, but it’s critical to determine what the bandwidth is of your viewing audience. If you’re doing internal corporate meetings, chances are that someone sitting at their desk will have more bandwidth and can watch your full HD webcast on their stream in comparison to someone sitting at a coffee shop or at home that may have a slower connection. If your webcast breaks up or people are waiting for it to cache before resuming the stream again on their screen, those are critical moments that allow viewers to walk away from your message. Make sure you plan to provide multiple streams to fit everyone’s needs.

6) Make sure you know what type of bandwidth you have on location where you will be creating the webcast

So your viewers can view HD in their office because you have a fiber connection that rivals the latest military specs. You, however, have decieded to go on location at your companies event or at your CEO’s summer home and were told, “Oh yeah we have a high speed connection.” You never checked into this and found out the day of that you cannot send an HD stream like you promised everyone. Make sure you know what the capabilities are of where you’re SENDING your message just as much as what the capabilities are of those that are RECEIVING your message.

7) Define whether your webcast needs marketing. If so, how much and what’s your target market?

So you have a great webcast planned, but you need to make sure you have plenty of viewers to convince the powers that be that this is a good investment. Do you have enough existing viewers to do that, or are your goals to increase visibility and exposure of your brand and messaging with this webcast? If it’s the latter then you should define who your target audience is that you want to view this for the first time and you need to make sure you budget for a good marketing budget in addition to your webcast that will allow you to create quality exposure live to build the marketing momentum you need.

8) Make a decision on whether your webcast is for internal use only or does it need to meet specific security criteria

Even if you have a global audience, your webcast may require specific security handling for some or all of your audience. This is true whether you may need to stay in compliance with your internal IT department’s standards, or need to make sure that your stream that’s travelling globally isn’t intercepted by someone you may not want viewing it. Know what you need with regards to security before you get to the point of doing your webcast.

9) Define how you are going to interact with your audience and allow them to spread the word for you virally

Do you want to engage with your audience in a live interactive format? If so, how are you going to do that? Do you need to limit who you will interact with and who will only be able to view your content without interaction? Have you thought of how you are going to take care integrating and filtering social networking during your webcast to make sure it’s successful and not filled with spam while your webcast is live? Considering all of these questions is essential to make sure you have a plan that doesn’t blow up in your face even though it may have been built and created with the right intentions for your webcasting experience.

10) Create a plan for a captivating webcast that would make even the most skeptical of person want to stay “tuned-in” to your message for the entire webcast

There’s a nasty term that many in the broadcasting industry know when it comes to viewership. That term is “dead air time.” No one wants dead air time or gaps between programming because they know that those are points where they can loose viewers to other channels or interests. The same applies with webcasts. If you don’t have a captivating webcast that is pre-planned and provides value to your viewers every second that they’re connected with your content, you stand the high probability of people clicking on the next website, viewing other webcasts or going elsewhere that captures their attention. Develop a planned out webcast that creates value in the minds of your most critical viewers which delivers them value that makes them want to keep watching your webcast.