Friday, August 20th, 2010
IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. IET.tv (http://tv.theiet.org) is their web-based service, delivering synchronised, multimedia content to web users anytime, anywhere. Stream UK has allowed IET to maximise the value of this content by streamlining the process of content management and distribution.
IET provide webcasting services to hundreds of leading global companies and brands, and Stream UK is now their partner to deliver market-leading webcasting production and software. IET offers a number of channels on IET.tv .These channels provide a corporate space to deliver presentations, product launches and demonstrations and similarly provide academic institutions a space to stream conferences and lectures using the Stream Connect software via IET.tv.
IET also has a huge archive of media content which needed to be managed and delivered efficiently via their public facing site, Stream UK allowed the IET to standardised all their assets and allow rapid categorisation and distribution on IET.tv with Stream Connect. Stream Connect allows IET to offer branded and interactive webcast interfaces that can be delivered across a world-class network.
Stream UK also migrated IET’s content, thousands of assets, onto the Stream UK Crowdsourcer platform, also used by the BBC, to drive IET.tv’s channel-based site structure. Combining automated transcoding with intuitive moderation and distribution tools, Stream Crowdsourcer is used retrospectively with existing media as well as providing advanced content management for the future.
As a result, webcasts are now being delivered (both live and on demand) with Stream Connect, benefitting from the tool’s interactive options, automatic archiving, and reliable delivery platform.
Tags: IET, IET.tv, Stream Connect, stream crowdsourcer, Stream UK
Posted in Case Studies, Company News, Crowdsourcer, Stream Connect, Webcasting |
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
In order to get the most out of webcasting, here are a few helpful tips covering the key benefits, and how to optimise your delivery.
Webcasting tips:-
Choosing the venue
If possible, bear in mind webcasting needs when deciding the venue. If possible, select one with a good uplink speed (ideally over 2mb), and try and run a test stream before the event itself.
Encoding considerations
Encoding refers to the processes involved in repurposing audio and video, and we can help you select the right format for you (Flash, .wmv, Silverlight etc). Remember that although you want the stream to look as good as possible, end-users with poor internet connections will struggle to watch without buffering issues. Consider delivering a ‘high’ and ‘low’ quality version to maximise penetration. Awareness of your audience’s bandwidth, firewall or VPN limitations, will help to plan, produce and deliver the right webcast solution.
Professional production
Audio. Good sound is vital! If the audio is of poor quality, people will tune off quickly. Use your test webcast to ensure you have a decent mix and sound level. If there are questions from the venue audience, make sure you have a hand held microphone and if you’re letting people dial in, test this thoroughly too.
Vision. Video requires a crew, lighting, and equipment. If you need a high quality experience for the viewers, make sure you have decent kit and operators. And if the centrepiece of the broadcast is a presenter, make sure they’re comfortable in front of the camera! Get stage training and direction if necessary.
Know your audience, know your message
Webcasting is intended to make a viewer feel ‘present’ even if they are thousands of miles away, so it is important to maximise the impact of the message you are delivering. If you are using webcasting to promote or sell, make sure the people viewing are a valuable target market – just as you would aim to do with offline. Similarly, consider how to get the key points across succinctly and the tone you need to set. Is a short, punchy webcast the best way to promote your product? Or is a detailed presentation with informative slides required to get key knowledge across? Will the audience want to interact and engage? If so, utilize the interactive options available. And if you want to know who is watching, implement a compulsory registration page. Data capture such as contact details, location, and preferences can be hugely beneficial if your webcast is part of a marketing drive.
Post event optimisation
Once of the most tangible benefits of webcasting is that after the event, you have valuable content. This can be turned into a searchable archive of presentations, or edited and distributed for continued promotion – whether as a viral campaign, or mastered onto a DVD.
Measure ROI & engagement
Cost-effectiveness and ROI
In the current economic climate, webcasting is becoming one of the core methods of communication strategy, not just because it helps overcome the logistical and geographical hurdles of having multiple offices. There is also the pressure to demonstrate to investors that you are tightening belts where possible, as well as an increasing need to ‘go green’.
An event requiring hundreds or thousands of employees to be in one place can be webcast to all for a fraction of the cost. And a marketing presentation can reach unlimited users on the web. But it is still key to demonstrate ROI so make sure you have measures in place.
Effective, interactive, and engaging
In terms of demonstrable benefits, webcasting is ideal for monitoring the effectiveness of the ‘message’ – whether it be one or promotion, training, or news. It is possible to measure exactly who watched, when and where. And with the addition of interactive elements you can promote employee or viewer engagement – with polls, chat, and questions, you can find out what they think, what they want to know, and even if they were paying attention! The company or presenter can either respond ‘live’ during the broadcast, or collate all feedback and questions for future response. Designed sensitively, and delivered effectively, webcasting encourages democratic dialogue within organisations, and provides an engaging and compelling platform when used for ‘selling’.
Live and on-demand webcasts are a fantastic way to communicate essential information. Stream UK can facilitate a complete end to end solution including production, encoding and broadcasting, as well as giving you complete control of webcast administration via Stream Connect 2.0.
Contact us for any of the services below.
- Media training
- Set-up, filming and production (equipment, location, technical support)
- Advice and recommendations in encoding, platforms, bandwidth
- Hosting and delivery
- Professional editing
- Slide synchronisation
- Appropriate corporate branding
- Viewer participation (submitting questions in live webcasts via interface..)
- Restriction and security options
- Post production
- Feedback capture
Tags: Stream Connect, Stream UK, Webcasting
Posted in Case Studies, Company News, Webcasting |
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Stream UK has recently updated its upload form for BBC News. The BBC currently use Stream UK’s Crowdsourcer Content Management System to allow viewers to submit a news photograph or video that they have taken that they believe the BBC might be interested in.
The upload form now has a webcam application which allows users to record a clip to send to BBC News.
The new upload form has been timed to coincide with the ‘If I were Prime Minister’ campaign. Viewers can send a short video clip describing what they would do if they were Prime Minister, the best of the clips will be shown on BBC News.
To find out more click here
To upload a clip click here
Tags: BBC, Crowdsourcer, user generated content, webcam
Posted in Company News, Crowdsourcer |
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Over the last 3 days Stream UK has worked with Rich Media Agency to deliver the Maudsley Annual Review Conference. The Institute of Psychiatry were due to present a new educational initiative which highlights and synthesizes key advances in psychiatry and will serve as an annual landmark of progress in the field.
Stream UK were employed to encode the footage of the five symposiums and provide live slide synching to deliver the sessions with Stream Connect, Stream UK’s webcasting tool. However, due to the closure of UK airspace as a result of the ash cloud from Iceland’s volcano, a number of the key speakers were unable to make it to the Kings College location.
Our Stream UK team came quickly to the rescue providing short tutorials on how to present using a webcam and our webcasting tool. This allowed those speakers that were unable to travel to present from various locations around the globe allowing the conference to go ahead as planned.
Tags: Encoding, Stream Connect, Stream UK
Posted in Company News, Encoding, Stream Connect |
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
On April 9-10 Cambridge Judge Business School used Stream UK to stream the Institute of Economic Thinking (INET) conference live from Kings College.
More than 150 academic, business and government policy thought leaders from around the world convened at Kings College in Cambridge to explore the reasons why prevailing economic theory failed to predict the recent financial and economic crisis.
Due to the exclusivity of invitations to the session rooms themselves, Judge Business School created several auditoriums, including a state-of-the-art lecture theatre, to allow a similar experience to others.
At short notice, Stream UK’s team were responsible for encoding a live video feed and delivering it at a quality high enough for audiences to watch on a plasma screen. Feedback from all parties was fantastic.
“You’re guys were great. Most helpful throughout the event. The quality of the webcast was high. They kept in contact with us throughout and it went very smoothly” Dave Amann, Judge Business School.
We look forward to more events like it.
Tags: Encoding, Stream UK, webcast
Posted in Company News, Encoding, Webcasting |
