By: Artem Nikulkov, Earth Coast Productions
Back in 2016, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the average American spends 12 hours a day consuming media and technology. That number has only risen. FaceTime has become a verb. I’ve been a part of live streaming technology from the beginning doing implementation and brand consulting. And, in just a few years, a lot has changed and a lot more is possible.
Live streaming is the future because in it, we’re able to connect with anyone anywhere, as a group of perfect strangers in a safe and welcoming way. Anyone can come to your meeting with this audio visual technology. And people want it! In fact, last year in the US alone, 1.1 billion hours of people’s time every day was spent watching live TV and broadcasts. There are powerful ways to position your business meetings to use new, live broadcasting technology to connect with people. No business meeting is too small to use this type of new technology.
There’s a camera that’s in development called Mevo which promises pro-level live streaming production at your fingertips. But just having the tech isn’t enough. You also need strategy and creativity. It is important to know how live streaming is different from video, and how to make it work for your business. With live stream, people are able to feel they are genuinely interacting and connecting with your and your brand. They can feel respected in a way that they typically don’t in the general commercial space.
Imagine for your next meeting that you get to ask your guests exactly what they want their event experience to look like and feel like. Viewers can in real time weigh in. They can cast their vote on anything from the music to which speaker will be presenting the keynote. Simply put, the people who got to interact with you before the event in this way are your staunch supporters. They are more invested in their experience before they arrive and throughout their entire journey.
So, what does all of that mean for events and meeting spaces? It means that the audience is ready for live streaming. People are expecting to be engaged in new ways, and with this new gear, cameras like Mevo and even your cell phone, you could be live streaming your events, everything from the smallest meeting to a large conference with the simplest tools at your disposal. Now, all of this doesn’t exactly replace a full production, but it does allow for live streaming to be a major part of your events, and you could be posting directly to a social media sites, like Facebook Live and YouTube Live to Periscope and Instagram, for example, even if they’re short snippets of events.
These are all ways to promote your brand, promote the event that you’re holding, and showcase why it’s so exciting to be there in person. This is a way to use these tools, not to draw away from people coming to the event in person, but to encourage people to show up to be there at the event and to feel like they are actually missing out on the experience by not being there in person. That is the message that you’re trying to convey with some of these live streaming tools. Now, it depends on the purpose of the live stream that you’re holding. For some events, you actually want to provide a type of experience that almost replaces them being there in person. This, of course, requires a full level of professional video production. However, live streaming to Instagram from your cell phone doesn’t require much, and it’s a tool that’s available to us to promote our events, to grow our followings, to engage with our audiences in meaningful ways. These are just some of the ways that you can use this technology in your next event.
Live streaming, when used strategically, makes your business more interactive, connected and thriving.
