9 Tips for Choosing a Hybrid Event Streaming Partner

You’ve heard of hybrid events. You know that they can help you expand the reach of your event by including those who simply cannot attend via webcasting. But do you know what those remote attendees should experience and what the easiest and most reliable way to make that happen is?

Asking yourself the following questions will help you define your goals for webcasting your event, and help you find the right partner who can hide the complexity and execute a flawless hybrid experience.

1. Live. Not all webcasting vendors are created equal, and many of them don’t go live. Is it important to you to deliver live content to your remote audience? If so, make sure your partner and venue can accommodate that request.
2. Impact on the Presenter. Will your speaker be limited to PowerPoint slides and turn them in weeks in advance? Or will they be able to simply walk in, connect their tablet or laptop and start presenting?
3. Playback experience. Can the audience watch the stream from their mobile device in addition to a laptop or tablet? What’s the quality of the content being played back? Is the player customizable? Can the content be embedded into a blog post or community site and still give you all the functionality you expect? Asking these questions will ensure that every seat is a great one for the remote audience.
4. Remote interaction. How can the presenter interact with the online audience? Is there polling, Q&A or a live Twitter feed? The type of audience interaction is important.
5. On-demand playback. What happens after the live stream is over? Is managing that video important to you? Who is responsible for the on-demand playback and hosting? Will you get a file dump that you’ll have to sort through, or will everything you need be just a link away?
6. Analytics. Analytics not only tell you in real time how much traction you’re getting from the live webcast, but they’re invaluable in figuring out what works when planning future events. What resonated? What sessions had the most engagement? What’s the most popular on-demand session?
7. Scalable services. Is your event jumping from 10 breakout rooms to 50? How can your streaming provider help you keep costs down and reliably scale up?
8. Security. Do you want the event to be free and open, or do you need to limit access to paying customers or exclusive members? Either way, choosing a webcasting partner who can secure your content is crucial.
9. Company credibility. Is it important to confidently go through steps 1 – 8? Check references and choose a streaming partner wisely.