What It Takes To Run a Live Virtual Event Series: Behind The Scenes of NDI November

On today's Videoguys Live, James goes over everything you need to know in order to run a month long streaming event. Including everything from planning, pre-production, production and post production! He will talk about everything that went into the making of NDI November- a month long event totaling 18 live shows across 4 platforms simultaneously.

Watch the full video below:

On today's show we covered:
1. Planning a virtual event
2. Preparing, testing, and testing again
3. Producing different types of content
4. Tech tips & tricks

Preparation - Coordinate With Your Guests

• How would you like to participate in the show?
• ​Live in studio​
• Virtual LIVE Guest (Zoom, Teams, etc)​
• Pre-recorded Guest - Live to tape...

Preparation - Create Your Schedule

• Fill in established time slots with growing audience​
• Complement with additional times​
• Respect production needs and don't schedule too close together​
• Avoid Fridays and Mondays if possible (at least for our audience)​

• Ask if they have a preferred way of joining – Zoom, Teams, SRT?​
• ​Do they have access to a PTZ, or studio equipment (Always recommend remote guests wear headphones)​
• Set up a test call​
• Test in the same environment as the live show
• If the guest cannot make a test call, ask them to join early on the day of the show to allow for troubleshooting

Preparation - Our Technology

Switcher/Encoder:​

• TriCaster 1 Pro​

• TC1SP Small 14-Button Control Panel

Cameras:​

• Panasonic CX-350​

• BirdDog P100​

• BirdDog PF120​

• Panasonic CX-10​

AV Switch​

• NETGEAR M4250 AV Network Switch​

Confidence Monitor/Recorder​

• Atomos Sumo 19

NDI Workflow for NDI November

Production - Live Call Connect for Remote Guests

• Preinstalled on TC1 Pro for remote guests using Teams, Zoom, Skype ​
• LiveCall Connect in use on our TriCaster 1 Pro ​making it faster and easier to add a guest​

Production - Limitations of Live Call Connect for Remote Guests

• If a guest leaves a call, the image is affected for all other guests​
• Audio is routed automatically, However all guest audio is combined to one audio input​

Production - Epiphan Connect for Remote Guests

• We wanted more control of our guests, so we used Microsoft Teams with Epiphan Connect
• The easiest way to join a broadcast from anywhere
• Make joining your productions as easy as any Teams call
• Mix with isolated audio feeds
• Enjoy total control over who the audience hears in your broadcast with Epiphan Connect, which can isolate participant audio into separate tracks.

Production - Limitations of Epiphan Connect for Remote Guests

• The setup time required can be lengthy (5-10 minutes) ​
• Being Limited to Teams makes it so when Teams updates, Epiphan Connect may not work correctly​

Other Challenges - Using 2 Microphones in Studio
Our solution was to use the Wireless GO II

• Dual Channel Wireless Microphone System​
  
• 2 Microphones to 1 receiver​
• Can be used for shooting Product Spotlights​
• Small and portable​
• Great sound Quality

Other possible solutions:

• Bring in audio via your cameras​
• Use an external audio mixer

Other Challenges - Teleprompter

• Our normal guests of Gary, Jim, and James do not use teleprompters for our normal shows
• Our solution was to place a computer monitor directly under the main camera with an open Word Document
• Note: eye contact will not be as good using this method