Hands on Guide to Webcasting

A number of books now available provide a hands-on guide to webcasting and are a good source of complete webcasting information. If you are contemplating preparing a free Internet video broadcast, there are some basics of which you need to be aware. We'll cover some of those here but to become a fully informed Internet broadcaster, you will want to consult more complete and detailed sources of information.

What are Some Factors I Should Consider Before Webcasting?

In preparing a webcast, try to consider your audience. Will your viewers have computers that are fast enough and connections strong enough to view a webcast without problems? Have you chosen a format that most of your audience should be able to access easily? For instance if you feel that most of your viewers will be using Apple computers, you may want to produce your webcast in Quicktime.

Talk to your IT department. Will the company firewall allow you to stream a webcast? If the webcast is to be internal, can the network carry a large number of users? Will special ports need to be opened on the day of the webcast? These are all issues that need to be addressed well in advance of the event itself.

When Should I Test my Video Stream?

If you have just set up your webcasting equipment, always do an informal test run for a group of friends or employees who will give you feedback on the presentation and help you work out bugs in the system. Never make the inaugural run of your webcasting system with an important presentation or product launch. If you don't test streaming video, something will go wrong every time.

When you have the bugs worked out of your system and a major event planned, do a test run at least 24 hours before the event with a variety of computer systems and connection speeds. While it's impossible to anticipate everything that can go wrong, it doesn't hurt to try.

Finally, always have a back-up plan. If your event is to be a live presentation, hedge your bet by having a pre-recorded file ready that can immediately be made available to your viewers for download should something go wrong with any aspect of the proposed live program.

Are Lighting and Set Important?

Any hands-on guide to webcasting will discuss your lighting and set. Be aware that video presented via webcast has a tendency to appear darker, so use more lighting than you think necessary and position the lights above your speaker or presenter. Clean, white light is better than colored lights. Use a plain background in a light shade and avoid dark backgrounds. Minimize panning or moving the camera as this tends to cause distortion in the stream. If you must pan the camera, do so slowly and evenly. In both live webcasts and when presenting edited material for download, use switch cuts rather than fades.

Continue to: Should I Promote Webcast or Olympic Webcast

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