Broadcast-style Town Hall Meeting, Corporate Events Online

Internal Communication Directors and Event Producers don’t like texts and emails that read, “The webcast is down.”

How can this be avoided?

When an organization decides to produce live streaming video for broadcast-style Town Hall Webcasts , certain steps must be taken in the early stages of preparation, on the network side of things, to set the groundwork for a positive experience for the audience and the presenters.

Here’s a quick overview of what these steps look like...

Streaming Live Events for the Broadcast Quality Generation

According the 2015 MPI Meetings Outlook, virtual attendance is expected to grow 3.1 percent in the coming year, compared to 2.4 percent for live attendance.

It suggests further, “planners must know about new technologies to be able to provide them to clients without their having to ask.” [1]

In this post, we will review how internet broadcasting creates value by streaming live events and how hybrid vents are being produced for the future to the "Broadcast Quality Generation." [2]

The Future Event Technician

As the digital world influences the way events are produced, event professionals are having a positive impact on the outcome of events, by applying skills with a greater emphasis on technology. 

Let’s look at some skills being applied to make positive contributions on events and how producers can defend, and in some cases increase, budgets to account for the demand for professionals with these skills.

We’ll look at…

- The technical skills that are in-demand in the market at large, and
- How they’ve been applied in digital event production

Where Money is Spent on IT

Heritage Action for America Presidential Forum Stage

Corporate Events Online was selected to manage the live video streaming for the “Take Back America Presidential Forum” by Heritage Action for America.

We recommended live video streaming through the Heritage for Action YouTube channel to support the organization’s communication goals of promoting traffic to their YouTube channel and their other social media assets through the sharability of the content.

YouTube has been steadily increasing their capacity and support for live video streaming dating back to their partnership with NBC to broadcast portions of the 2012 London Olympics. [1]

Source: Cisco VNI Global IP Traffic Forecast, 2014–2019

The Future of Video Communication for the Enterprise

According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, IP video will account for 80 percent of all IP traffic by 2019. It will take an individual over 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month in 2019. [1]

This growth will not be restricted to consumer video. Increased adoption of advanced video communications in the enterprise segment will cause business IP traffic to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 20 percent from 2014 to 2019. [2]

As organizations march toward aggressive goals in 2020 and apply advanced communication technology to connect and engage their workforce, let's review briefly, two important components of successful Town Hall Broadcasts for internal communication, in order to maximize the value of this medium.

Two Essential Components: Production

“Franklin D. Roosevelt,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/photos/franklin-d-roosevelt (accessed Jul 2, 2015).

Engagement Drive Business Performance

Establishing an Internet Broadcasting Platform as an on-going vehicle for internal communications can be a valuable component in connecting and engaging an increasingly mobile and global workforce - because as we hear repeatedly in many of our feedback sessions, engagement matters because it drives business performance.

The Broadcast-style Town Hall

As organizations push toward higher levels of business growth and develop new markets internationally, the Town Hall Meeting is an excellent point on an organization's yearly communication calendar to establish an internet broadcasting platform.

Let’s take a quick look at an example of how an organization could use this platform to reinforce organizational initiatives related to business performance that might not, at first glace, appear directly related to growth.

Photo Credit: United Press International

The Communication Opportunity in Leadership Change

According to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, 1341 Chief Executive Officers vacated their positions in 2014. [1] This means hundreds of organizations will have the opportunity to create an internal communication plan around the introduction of a new leader to the company.

The Medium is the Message

The communication plan regarding the introduction of new leadership to an organization will likely include messages delivered through several different communication mediums, like email and the organization’s website.

It may include a conference call so the incoming leader can communicate verbally with the entire organization. In planning out the communication strategy surrounding leadership change, there may be opportunities to break the mold and communicate in a way that the workforce can see and hear.

The Town Hall Meeting is usually the centerpiece series of communication within an organization’s communication plan. A Broadcast-style Town Hall Webcast allows an incoming Chief Executive to establish their identity with a global workforce, “face-to-face.” The audience, in turn, has the opportunity to identify important non-verbal cues associated with leadership: vision, confidence and authenticity.

Technical Challenges

Photo Credit: Chicago Blackhawks/Banner Collective

The Decision to Broadcast Home Games

The rise of the Chicago Blackhawks, as a team and as a franchise, was profiled in a New York Times article earlier this month. [1]

In the article, Victor Mather identifies the organization’s decision to broadcast home games as one of the key components of the team’s increased financial value, after ownership had passed to Rocky Wirtz in 2007.

The Blackhawks previous owner Bill Wirtz, Mather writes, “declined to allow team’s home games to be shown on television, thinking that it would hurt attendance.”

Ridiculous Rise in Franchise Value

By broadcasting home games, the team increased the demand of it’s product, by increasing the supply. This business decision by the Blackhawks helped create more opportunities for fans to connect to their content, and has contributed to the increased value of the franchise, from $168M in 2006 to $825M in 2014. [2]

As well, broadcasting home games has not had a negative impact on attendance. The Blackhawks led the NHL in attendance in 2015, edging out Montreal, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington, with an average home attendance of 21,769. [3]

The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) Midwest Chapter is hosting an educational program and panel discussion regarding the demystification of the internet as it relates to Exhibit & Event Technology called, "How Big is Your Pipe?" today from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.

The panel will be moderated by Carol McGury, Executive Vice President of Event & Education Services at SmithBucklin

There is more to a successful webcast than subscribing to a Content Delivery Network and letting it rip. It is important to configure your network properly for a successful broadcasting and viewing experience.

The first step is understanding the network of your broadcasting location, quality and quantity.