3 responses on “Jason Tucker: How to Stream a Meetup or Live Event”

1. Bob Shepherd
   March 10, 2013 at 3:30 pm | Reply

   Such useful content here, Jason — thanks for providing these tips for better streaming. The one-person Google hangout is a great idea, and the inexpensive equipment recommendations are well worth considering. As for the self-destructing tripods, well, we’re talking WalMart here.

   It’s ironic that many of the techniques recommended weren’t available for the seminar itself, but I realize that much of your material is in the form of suggestions for the future. As in so many of the WordCamp clips, the sound is marred by ambient room noise, wall-bounce and loud audience reactions near the distant on-camera microphone. With an foreign accent, valuable information can be even more difficult to understand. Audio is always better with a wireless mic and receiver in the video setup. Alternatively, the public-address system can be connected to the camera by a wireless rig. In either case, an unmiked question from the audience can be handled by having the speaker repeat it — this also helps the attendees, especially if the questioner is sitting toward the front of the room.

   Your plan to selectively light the presenter is good because in a darkened room the presenter is hidden in shadow, as here. The spill from that lighting may be difficult to control, but the experimentation would certainly be worth trying. As we see here, even the position of the sun at various times of the day can become important if a room can’t be adequately darkened. Unexpected outdoor effects such as reflections from passing vehicle windows can be a problem.

   Thanks for all the info. I sincerely hope the principles explained here can be demonstrated by being used during the production of next year’s seminar videos.

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• Jason Tucker
  July 16, 2013 at 4:47 pm | Reply

  Thanks Bob. When you don’t have a lot of cash and you are just trying to make things work it takes time to make the right decisions and not get stuck in the “I’ll just buy everything on this list because this guy says so” and end up with gear you don’t appreciate and haven’t worked your way through bad equipment into good stuff that you found on your own.

  As for the production of this video I didn’t have anything to do with it but as WordCamp orgs get a few `camps under their belt the quality of the camp goes up as well. Typically most WordCamps are help in a place that they don’t have much control over the environment. This one was held at a co-working space that is a storefront of sorts. With massive windows that aren’t usually covered I’d imagine it would be hard for them to control the lighting in the room. I’ve also have done WordCamps at college campuses where the lighting is poor and dealing with white balance in the room is quite hard.

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2. Jason Tucker
   July 16, 2013 at 4:48 pm | Reply

   Thanks Bob. When you don’t have a lot of cash and you are just trying to make things work it takes time to make the right decisions and not get stuck in the “I’ll just buy everything on this list because this guy says so” and end up with gear you don’t appreciate and haven’t worked your way through bad equipment into good stuff that you found on your own.

   As for the production of this video I didn’t have anything to do with it but as WordCamp orgs get a few `camps under their belt the quality of the camp goes up as well. Typically most WordCamps are help in a place that they don’t have much control over the environment. This one was held at a co-working space that is a storefront of sorts. With massive windows that aren’t usually covered I’d imagine it would be hard for them to control the lighting in the room. I’ve also have done WordCamps at college campuses where the lighting is poor and dealing with white balance in the room is quite hard.

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