How to Execute a Successful Webcast
The Walkthrough Checklist
1. Lighting: Particularly if you are doing video, you need to do some testing of the venue’s lighting before you declare it webcast-ready. Look for soft, even lighting and avoid glare (on people’s foreheads especially). The opposite is true as well: check for "blackout zones" that can give the illusion of speakers with half of a head if they have dark hair against a black curtain or other dark spot.
2. Backdrop: Try to secure draping with nice, rich contrast against your speakers. Avoid all black, colors that are too vivid, and royal blue. Rich browns look fantastic with good, even lighting. Avoid complex backgrounds, especially if your speaker is a "wanderer" who will not stay behind the podium for a video-based production.
3. Podium microphones or Lavalieres: Are your speakers tall or short, or will they even use a podium?
4. Projection and/or accompanying media: Watch for interference. Use rear projection if available; use tricks like providing only a podium microphone if the speaker tends to wander during a meeting—the speaker will not be heard if he or she wanders too far! Hike the screen up above the speaker’s head so if he or she does wander, it doesn’t change the lighting on the speaker. Add a "confidence monitor" near the podium or at the mouth of the audience so that the speaker can refer to slides without looking away from the audience, etc.
5. Camera positioning: Determine the various locations and angles that can safely house a camera with a camera operator. Take pictures from the various potential camera potions and add the snaps to a Production Rundown binder that you can review with the camera crew prior to the event. Show the camera crew exactly what angles you expect from them and how you want the room, speakers, and any interaction videotaped. Let them know if the speaker likes to move away from the podium, whether Q&A will be done via microphone handler or a Q&A microphone setup on a stand that people will need to approach and wait on line for, or if you will need a slide reference for postproduction in order to be able to add slides.
6. Room layout: Check your vantage points and try to get a sense of what the audience will be seeing and where they will sit. Try to target obstacles to your webcast—if there is a lot of noise from another venue or the lighting just can’t be fixed, be prepared to think like MacGyver on all fronts and you can restack your room and your webcast to fit your needs.
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