May 2017

After 10 years of providing live streaming services for live events, we have three myths we really need to debunk.

Myth #1: If I offer live streaming of my event, no one will come to the live event.

Fact: This couldn’t be further from the truth. The thing is, if you announce a live stream option at the correct time, very few if any people will change their mind about attending live at the event. We’ve seen this time and time again.

When is a good time to offer the live stream option? We’ve found that making the offer 30 days before the live event offers enough time to promote it, and by this time, it’s also relativity certain that everyone who was thinking about coming to the live event has already made their decision.

Myth #2: The revenue from live stream ticket sales is not worth the effort.

Fact: We have so many examples over the years of live streaming revenue being big enough to pay for the entire event production. Can you even imagine raising over $1 million in event revenue through the vehicle of live streaming? We have several customers who pay for their entire production budget from just live streaming sales alone.

You have to remember that there will always be a bigger faction of people who can’t afford the actual cost of attending in person, or maybe they don’t have enough time off work, even though they desperately want to attend your event and learn from the presenters and in turn grow their business. Most people who are contemplating attending an event will weigh many factors and most will ask the question, “Will it be worth it if I attend this event?”

Myth #3: The technology is too complicated.

Fact: Listen, it’s 2017 and the technology for live streaming has become as stable as the Internet we all enjoy every day.

Last year we provided live streaming services for an event at a country club, with 500 people in attendance. We had done all of our pre-show communication with the venue and the tech staff. The staff assured us we would have our dedicated Internet line upon arrival. Well, we arrived and the venue told us that the room we were in didn’t have any Internet services after all, and they were sorry they couldn’t help us.

Our crew is a “can do” crew, and we went to work on a solution. We ended up streaming a two-day event from my iPad. AT&T came through for us, and the streaming audience had no idea the show was being streamed via an iPad!

After a decade of providing live streaming services, we have yet to see a customer financially harmed when offering live streaming of their event. We’ve also learned a lot about timing and ticket sales in the process—look for our best practices for promoting and selling tickets to an event in a future blog.

By now you’ve probably guessed that we highly recommend you provide live streaming services to your audience. Not only will you engage an audience you may have overlooked, there is a potential positive impact to your event’s bottom line.