So you’ve drawn the short straw and it’s your turn to organise the company conference, the brief make it better than last year and with less budget – Oh and the boss wants it live streamed!!!

Don’t worry; hopefully our little guide will help when choosing a venue.

Is there adequate internet access?

Obviously without the internet there is no web-cast, most venues will offer some kind of internet but you need to make sure it’s capable of handling the bandwidth needed to stream.

The golden rule is never use the WIFI it’s normally not stable, not secure and fluctuates too much. Plus when your delegates start using it via their tablets, laptops and phones they’ll be very little bandwidth left.

Ask for a fixed line dedicated to you, you’ll probably have to pay extra but it’s worth it, you don’t need much bandwidth 5mb upload will be fine.

Visit the venue, test the internet line and make friends with the IT department.

Look Feel and Ambiance

A beautiful country estate, hotel or impressive office block is all very well for delegates attending your event but will be completely lost on a remote audience.

Create a presentation area with both the local and remote viewers in mind, a simple backdrop; good lighting and a little branding will go a long way to enhance the on-line viewers experience.

Check what the venue supplies as part of the room hire package and what the extras are for example are seats, tables, AV equipment, lectern and staging included?

Is there adequate lighting?

Lighting on the presenter for video web-casts is an essential consideration; it gives depth to the cameras view of the presenter and will set the presenter apart from the background.

If you have a local audience attending they may require the house lights low if slides or video are shown on a screen, which can easily throw the presenter into darkness for the remote viewers.

Ask the venue or AV company for some staging lights, or a brighter projector so the house lights can be kept up.

AV equipment

The standard of in-house AV equipment differs greatly from venue to venue; some have state of the art integrated lights, audio and projection systems other a battered domestic projector propped up on a desert trolley.

Remember it’s not just the equipment you’ll need but also a technician to set-up and operate. Additional equipment and crew may be needed they’ll need time to set-up and have a cost implication.

Venue staff names, numbers and shift patterns

When you do the site visit make sure you meet or log contact details all the venue personnel that you will require on the day. There is nothing worse than finding out that helpful event manger or venue technician shift finished 10 minutes ago.

We’re always happy to work alongside any venue teams to ensure your event run smoothly, backups are in place and your event is a success.

If you would like to discuss your latest web-cast or any venue or connectivity concerns, call us on 01223 855669 or email adrian@eventstreaming.tv – when it comes to webcasting and events we love a good chat!

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