What to Plan Before Livestreaming Your Next Event
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Livestreaming an event looks simple when it works. When it doesn't, the audience notices immediately — dropped audio, a frozen feed, or a camera pointed at the wrong person.
The difference is almost always planning. Here's what to settle before you go live.
Know your platform and your audience
Decide where the stream will live and who will watch. A private member stream and a public conference broadcast have different requirements for access, quality, and backup plans.
Confirm you control the account and the access. The production team can deliver the stream, but the platform and its settings remain with you.
Build a run of show
A run of show lists every moment — when each speaker starts, when graphics appear, when breaks happen, and what happens if a segment runs long. It's the single document that keeps a live event on track.
Share it with everyone involved in production. Surprises are expensive when you're live.
Plan audio first
Viewers will forgive a less-than-perfect picture. They will not forgive bad audio. Make sure microphones, mixing, and monitoring are planned before camera positions.
For panels and conversations, plan who is miked and how transitions between speakers are handled.
Have a contingency
Decide in advance what happens if the primary connection drops — a backup connection, a recorded message, or a pause. A planned fallback is always better than an improvised one on a live feed.
Plan what happens after
The livestream is one use of the event. The recording can become clips, articles, and promotion for your next event. Decide what you want from the recording before the event, not after.