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Pick the Right Bitrate for Your Next Live Video Event

bitrate

If you’ve spent any amount of time watching or participating in a live event over the last year, chances are you’ve noticed a difference in the level of engagement between events with clear video and perfect audio, and events where you can only hear every fifth word of what the presenter is saying.   

While it’s true that top-notch streaming equipment and high-speed Internet can lead to the perfect lag-free Live Event, there’s another factor that could be contributing to the quality of your steam — bitrate. 

WHAT IS BITRATE?  

To keep it simple, bitrate is the quality of the video or audio being streamed during your Live Event. It’s measured in kilobits per second (kbps), which means we’re looking at how many ‘bits’ of data you’re sending, and at what ‘rate’ (speed) they’re being sent. 

Higher bitrates typically use up more Internet bandwidth, so it makes sense that using a higher bitrate can improve video quality. However, selecting the highest bitrate without considering other factors like expected quality and video complexity is not the most efficient plan for your Live Event. Plus, if your network’s bandwidth is insufficient, most video streaming platforms will prioritize audio quality over video quality.  

SO, WHICH BITRATE IS RIGHT FOR MY LIVE EVENT?  

There are many factors that can impact your choice of bitrate. In addition to meeting the requirement dictated by whichever codec (software programs that encode or decode a video stream into a different type of stream) you’ve chosen, your decision will revolve around your organization’s preferred quality for your Live Event – the higher the bitrate, the better quality your Live Event will be. But the actual bandwidth consumption for every Live Event will vary based on video layout, video resolution, video frames per second, and whether you’re utilizing an Enterprise Content Delivery Network (ECDN), like Kollective . When more bandwidth is available, quality and usage will increase to deliver the best experience. 

Assess your organization’s quality expectation for your Live Event. This boils down to how advanced the culture of video is within your organization and will depend on how expectations around video have been set previously. Over the last 12 months with the rise of remote work and increased video communications, most organizations probably have a more robust video strategy, so their employees expect Netflix and Hulu-quality Live Event experiences. In order to hold a high-quality Live Event, you have to choose a high enough bitrate to support the video complexity and motion content of the source you’re pushing to viewers. 

Here’s a breakdown of Kollective’s recommended bitrate based on desired resolution and frame rate:

Screen Shot 2021 03 11 at 10.56.13 AM 300x156 1


WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO LIVE EVENT QUALITY? 

Live Event quality takes both resolution and frame rate into consideration. Resolution is how many horizontal lines a frame of video has from top to bottom. The more lines of video, the “clearer” the picture is. Frame rate is the number of frames in one second of video. The more frames per second (fps), the smoother the video’s motion.  

When you’re selecting the proper frame rate and resolution for your Live Event, think about the content and purpose of the event, specifically related to motion and video complexity. The more motion your video has, the higher frame rate you want. For example, if you watch a basketball game at 10 frames per second, it will look like a cartoon flip book or strobe light. If you have a group of very animated presenters, it’s nice to have a decent frame rate to keep up with their motion, usually around 30 fps or higher.  

Video complexity refers to the level of detail in the video, so if you have multiple speakers in different panels during your event, of if you’re showing a slide presentation with small font or moving pieces, your Live Event is going to require a higher degree of complexity in order to meet your organization’s quality expectation.  

START STREAMING 

Once you’ve selected your bitrate, you’re good to start streaming your Live Video Event. Just remember that choosing the right bitrate can be a bit of a trial-and-error process and can change with each Live Event your organization presents depending on your ECDN capabilities, quality expectation and video complexity.  

If you’d like to learn how an ECDN helps improve the quality of your internal communications, read our Browser-Based Peering Solution Brief.

The post Pick the Right Bitrate for Your Next Live Video Event appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Prepare to Succeed: Microsoft Teams Live Events Best Practices

CMMA Blog

Do you know the difference between planning and preparation? Although interdependent, the two are not one and the same. For example, you can plan a live event , but being prepared to host it is another story. Preparation will save your event and enable your business’ communication continuation when things outside your control happen.

These are the Live Event planning best practices you need to know to guarantee a successful live event in Microsoft Teams.

Event Qualification

Before diving head-first into planning a Microsoft Teams Live Event, it’s important to ask the right questions regarding the what, who, when, where and how.

The What

Defining what kind of event you’re planning and what it’s supposed to look like is the first step preparing for a Live Event. Ask:

  • What style of communication does it require?
    • Is it formal, like a quarterly Town Hall meeting?
    • Is it an announcement of changes in retirement policies?
    • Is it an emergency all-hands regarding the Coronavirus global situation?
    • Is it a training/learning session?
    • Or is it more casual, more like a team-style meeting than an actual webcast?
  • What should go in it in terms of content and features?
    • Pre-recorded videos? Slides? Desktop sharing?

The Who

Just as important as the what, is the who. You can’t have an event without presenters and attendees.

  • Who are the speakers and where are they based or, where are they joining from?
  • Who are the attendees invited to this event and how many are they?
  • Are they spread globally, single continent, single country?

The When

Establishing an event timeline is critical to ensuring its success. In addition to setting a date, consider:

  • What is the preparation complexity?
  • Which resources are involved and what is their availability?
  • What is the budget availability and impact?

Remember, short timelines mean event planning is compressed into smaller window, which may result in higher risk. When possible, build in buffers to give yourself adequate time to prepare.

The Where

Where your Live Event is held, plays a significant role in how you choose to broadcast it. Is it:

  • On corporate grounds, benefiting from the corporate infrastructure?
  • External, in a convention center or hotel?
  • Do you have remote speakers and if so, where are they connecting from and how?

How you answer these questions will help determine what sort of support is needed to supplement your Teams Live Event.

The How

The how is shaped by the answers to all the previous questions and will enable you to assess several aspects regarding event preparation. For example:

  • Will you be using QuickStart or Encoder?
  • What resources are necessary to manage the event?
  • Can it be managed by a small internal team, or do you need to bring in a third-party vendor to help with planning and execution?

If answering all these questions seems daunting, remember, it takes a village to produce a Live Event. You’re not in this alone.

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Live Event roles and responsibilities

Just like a conference or tradeshow requires a team to make it work, so does a Microsoft Teams Live Event. As the event owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure you have the right people in the right positions for it to succeed. Here’s a quick list of actions to take to drive better alignment.

  • Check that event personnel have the appropriate license level or type
  • Get trained on Microsoft Teams Live Events – QuickStart or Encoder
  • Create and customize the actual event
  • Schedule and run practice events in advance of the real deal
  • Schedule prep sessions with remote speakers or dry runs
  • Draft and distribute info packs for remote teams involved
  • Prepare the end-user best practices
  • Agree on a schedule for the Network Readiness Tests (if you have the Kollective ECDN )
  • Set arrival and departure times for the resources involved on the day of the event
  • Decide success criteria
  • Schedule a post-event debrief

Getting everyone on the same page early, means fewer question marks down the line.

Testing & Documentation

Another essential component of preparing for a Teams Live Event is testing network readiness. It must be carried out regardless of whether you’re running a QuickStart Teams Live Event or Encoder with production crew. If using QuickStart, ensure all presenters are connected using the exact same set-up as they will on the day of the live event – same room, machine, lighting, microphone or headset etc. This will help you spot any issues or areas of improvement ahead of time.

During this time, it is also important to document any learnings; that include both mistakes and things that went well. Running live events is sometimes unpredictable and, despite all your planning and preparation, something completely unexpected might be thrown your way. Whether you use these notes for yourself or for helping a fellow communicator and event owner, the insights are invaluable.

Watch the Webinar on Demand to Learn More

Every Microsoft Teams Live Event is unique, which means the planning and preparation will vary with each. While you can develop guidelines to help guide your preparation for a Live Event, there is no set blueprint to ensure success.

To learn more about the ins and outs of Live Event planning and preparation, watch our webinar, Live Events in Microsoft Teams Made Easy.

The post Prepare to Succeed: Microsoft Teams Live Events Best Practices appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here

How to Plan Your First Live Event in Microsoft Teams

CMMA Blog

As teleworking takes hold around the world, enterprise organizations are turning to online collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams to broadcast Live Video communications. Although the platform is intuitive and easy to use, adopting new technologies is never easy, and learning to scale Live Video to a remote workforce is no exception.

In a recent webinar, we were joined by Steve Smith, Instructor and Microsoft Regional Director at Combined Knowledge , who walked us through how to prepare for your first Microsoft Teams Live Event. Here’s an overview of what he shared.

Tips for Setting Up Teams for Live Events

Before your organization can start broadcasting Live Video to hundreds or even thousands of employees, it’s important to prepare your system for the event. Network readiness is the first thing you need to consider. A lot of companies don’t put much thought in this; they just push the button and start sharing. While this isn’t a concern for one-to-one or one-to-few video calls, it can result in event failure for large-scale communications.

Secondly, you need to ensure you have the right licenses in place to broadcast the event to a wide audience. Remember, there are a variety of roles involved in Live Event production: producers, presenters, attendees and, depending on the event, third-party vendors streaming the event through an external app. You will need:

  • An Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3, or E5 license or an Office 365 A3 or A5 license
  • A Microsoft Teams license
  • A Microsoft Stream license

The User preparing the meeting must also have the following settings enabled:

  • Private meeting scheduling in Teams enabled (The TeamsMeetingPolicy -AllowPrivateMeetingScheduling parameter = True)
  • Video sharing enabled in Teams meetings (The TeamsMeetingPolicy -AllowIPVideo parameter = True)
  • Screen sharing enabled in Teams meetings (The TeamsMeetingPolicy -ScreenSharingMode parameter = EntireScreen)
  • Live event scheduling in Teams enabled (The TeamsMeetingBroadcastPolicy -AllowBroadcastScheduling parameter = True)
  • Permissions to create live events in Stream (for external app or device production)

Be aware that a non-authenticated user cannot be a producer or presenter in Teams Live Events.

Live Events Capacity Planning

When planning a Live Event in Teams, you also need to be aware of the platform’s capacity. For events produced in Teams:

  • Maximum audience size: 100,000 attendees through July 1 (Shout out to Microsoft for increasing the limit from 10,000 attendees to support enterprises impacted by COVID-19!)
  • Maximum Live Event duration: 4 hours
  • Maximum number of concurrent Live Events per O365 tenant: 15

Events produced outside of teams, by Skype for example, will have similar capacities, but not all features transfer over between the two. This document from Microsoft breaks it down.

Configure Teams Admin Settings

Microsoft Teams admin center

From a configuration perspective, you need to make sure you’ve enabled the Live Event options. To do this, go into your Microsoft 365 tenant administration and open the Teams admin center. Here you can enable event scheduling, who can join, and who can record.

Manage Events Through PowerShell

PowerShell for Microsoft Teams Live Events

For those who are IT savvy and like to manage events through PowerShell, there is a module for Teams that has all the settings for Live Events enabled. In the PowerShell tool, simply install the Microsoft Teams module which will allow you to control the same settings as the Microsoft Teams admin center. You can also perform management tasks during the meeting like reviewing the number of attendees or pulling reports in PowerShell as well.

Create a Live Event in TeamS

Set Up Microsoft Teams Live Event

Now that Live Events are enabled in Teams, it’s time to create your first event . To do so, open the meetings app in Teams as you would when scheduling a standard meeting. A drop-down should populate with the option to create a new Live Event. Whoever creates the event is the default organizer/producer, and it is their responsibility to invite other presenters to the meeting.

Configure Live Event Options

Configure Teams Live Events

The next step is inviting attendees to join your meeting. First, decide who you want to target your event to. Is it for everyone in the organization, the public, or do you want to limit the scope to a specific audience? (The options you see are predetermined by the settings applied in the tenant app.)

At this stage, you can also set a recording default. If you choose the option to make the recording available to attendees, it will be saved to Stream and be available on demand for those who either could not attend or would like to view the recording later.

Publish the Event

Publish Microsoft Teams Live Event

When you are ready to publish the event, a link will be sent to you. This is the attendee link and it can be shared on any channel to drive traffic to your Live Event. The producer is then responsible for starting the event and recording it.

Learn More about Live Events in Microsoft Teams

There you have it! For more information on planning Microsoft Teams Live Events, watch our on-demand webinar, Live Events in Microsoft Teams Made Easy.

The post How to Plan Your First Live Event in Microsoft Teams appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here