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)​

Preparation – Guests’ Technology

  • 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