This remote working brought on by the global coronavirus crisis has turned everyone into a video star. Be it Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, Teams, WebEx, GoToMeeting, Mikogo or any of the other platforms, all of a sudden, you’re expected to give sales meetings, presentations, seminars, workshops with a webcam that’s usually worse than the camera in your phone. There’s also public meetings- from city commissions and school boards and really important things like the NFL draft. We’ve seen broadcast TV go from huge productions with live audiences to Chris Cuomo in his basement.

The advantages of livestreaming can be immense. Our audience is only limited to places within reach of the Internet, no travel required. Instant feedback and group discussion can become part of any production. When we consider that the average current iPhone has more power in it than a multi-million dollar video production truck circa 1990 when The Next Wave began, it’s only fitting that we’re also on the leading edge of the livestream revolution.

We did our first livestream for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau back in 2012, using proprietary tools from uStream, to later doing livestreams with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) and Youtube. We’ve recently added a live switcher/keyer/streaming board to our video production toolset, allowing us to switch as many as 4 video sources at once including flying keys, graphic overlays and picture in picture.

A client who was supposed to do a 2.5 day live training in person, recently hired us to help her make her WebEx look better. One of the first things we learned is to leave a space on your Powerpoint slides for a picture in picture of you, because no one wants to stare at a slide while listening to you talk about it. Another tip- bigger text on slides, since some people may be participating with small screens.

When you combine professional lighting, sound along with top quality video cameras and a dedicated producer, you take your corporate communications to a whole new level. If you need advice, help or a complete broadcast production package, please consider calling The Next Wave to help you take your production to the next level.

A livestream setup for WebEx

How to take your WebEx seminar to the next level with pro video