Encoding Engineer using StagePro by Corporate Events Online

As live event professionals ourselves, we build control and safety features into our webcasting software to meet the demands of the Live Event Industry to help Engineers be successful on-site when streaming live events.

One such feature in CEO StagePro, our proprietary webcasting portal, is the Doorman Page. I use this feature all the time on shows.

Let’s take a quick look at the Doorman Page feature to see how it benefits the event profession when streaming live events, using screenshots from a test event I created in our demo portal...

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]

“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]