Want to Monetize your live stream at your next event?

StreamGeeks EP || 12

Today on StreamGeeks we’re covering selling virtual event tickets, private live streams and #NABNY.

Learn how a large conference makes $100k+ selling virtual tickets

VidSummit is the leading Video Marketing Conferencing hosted in Los Angeles, California each year in October. 2017 was the first year VidSummit sold virtual ticket access to the live conference produced with PTZOptics cameras. Derral Eve’s the event organizer, is a social media leader and YouTube influencer who was able to leverage his social media channels to drive massive amounts of virtual tickets for the event. The event was two days long and included live streaming from three separate rooms. Virtual ticket holders were given access to a private CDN (Enterprise Stream.Live) where they would receive exclusive access to the live conference plus on-demand access to the video content. 98% of virtual ticket sales also purchased the on-demand video content and virtual ticket revenue surpassed $100,000.

• The picture to the left shows a PTZOptics 20X-SDI camera mounted on a tripod. This camera was used as an audience viewpoint ideal for capturing the Q&A.
• Virtual ticket sales paid for the entire VidSummit conference expenses. The event was so successful PTZOptics has a free course available for training.
• An IP Joystick was used to control three cameras in the main ballroom. Ethernet cabling is affordable and ideal.
• Don’t miss the full behind the scenes video of this  live streaming system available on our YouTube Channel.

This year we teamed up with David Foster, the Head Geek of Geeks Life and Co-Founder of Live Streaming Pros. The plan was simple. PTZOptics will supply all of the cameras, cables and PoE switches and Live Streaming Pros will provide their custom made live streaming computers running vMix. Each room would have at least 2 PTZ cameras and a static ZCam all connected via 3G SDI cabling to the PCIe capture cards available inputs in each streaming PC. There are three main rooms including a Main Ball Room, a Theater and a large room called “West Chester”. Each room has speakers lined up to be live streamed and recorded from 8AM to 6PM each day with a 1 hour break for lunch at noon.

For the large room we have (2) 20X SDI PTZOptics cameras along with a Wide Angle ZCAM-VL box camera we have setup for a stage/crowd shot. This is the stage where are the biggest name keynote speakers are going present. The combination of our three cameras in total, will allow us to use one camera for tracking the talent with our PTZ joystick. Each PTZ camera for the large room will be controlled over IP using the IP-JOY Joystick which will be connected to the same ethernet switch as the cameras. Each camera will have it’s own IP address and can be controlled with the joystick, vMix or any iOS mobile device. Since this is a public event we were sure to bring a WAP (Wireless Access Point) with

The Theater Room is also fairly large and ideal for multiple PTZ cameras. The plan is similar to the Main Ballroom except we will be using the HuddleCamHD Serial joystick controller which is a little easier to setup since their is no networking involved. The three camera setup will allow the camera operators to smoothly transition in-between camera angles and follow speakers that are moving on stage.

David has recently converted from Livestream Studio to vMix for live video production and hasn’t looked back. I am an avid vMix user myself so we go along quite nicely. On the software side David made sure to have VidSummit branded content made in the vMix title editor which allowed us to quickly popular lower third titles throughout the event as speakers changed. We were also able to connect to each camera over the network for IP camera control inside vMix. This allows us to create known camera preset positions inside vMix with names. Once each camera is connected to the vMix system we can open the input, select the PTZ tab and create presets which take little snapshots of the camera’s viewpoint from that position. Since we are working with volunteers in each room it’s great to have a list of preset position where they can see exactly where the camera will go with the click of a button.

The actual live streaming will be done with a LiveU wireless internet connection. My advice to Derral Eves the event manager was to live streaming in 720p and record the events to a the local hard drive in 1080p. David recommended recording the cameras in 1080p at 60 frames per second to get best crisp quality that he uses for his own live streaming and video production.

The Value of Virtual Tickets – When the Event is Sold Out

Virtual tickets are quickly becoming a valued revenue stream for live events around world. In this case study, we speak with VidSummit event planner Derral Eves about his experience selling virtual tickets for his live Video Marketing Conference. This year I had the pleasure to help Derral live stream the Los Angelos, California based Video Marketing conference held at the Westin Los Angelos Hotel Convention Center. Our goal was to create an engaging video production which would be live streamed to viewers around the world and recorded for on-demand video playback. The event used three live streaming systems to capture content from a main ball room, a theater and a large meeting room (more about the actually technology setup in this blog post).

Virtual tickets for a conference provide paying customers live access to the event from anywhere in the world. This year VidSummit charged viewers a fraction of the conference price, only $149, to watch the entire conference online. It was my job to transport the live viewers into VidSummit by delivering the best video production possible. I had a chance to converse with some of the excited virtual ticket holders on Facebook before the event and many sounded just as excited to be part of VidSummit as the actual in-person attendees. Along with the live stream access, VidSummit also offers a $50 option to access the on-demand video content we recorded as well. This was an option I bought personally knowing that I could not be in all three locations at once and had conflicting interests in atleast two of the various keynote timeslots.

As an event co-ordinator Eve’s has organized some of the Video Marketing Industries top thought leaders including: Gary Vaynerchuck, Shaun McBride, Cyreneq, Nike Pueringer, Luria Petrucci and many others. Flying these big name keynote speakers out to Los Angelos and paying for their time is not cheap. Luckily, VidSummit is a growing conference in a very fast moving industry, so the in-person ticket sales have always covered all expenses. Eve’s explains how live streaming the event allows for the events influence to grow beyond those who can afford to fly out to the California-based conference.

Adding live streaming to the conference allows the event to reach larger audiences but Eve’s was initially concerned about undermining the value of conference tickets which ranges from $400-800. There are so many people interested in this content who cannot afford to fly to Los Angelos, pay for a hotel and miss out on a week of week. So charging the right price for a virtual ticket was essential to growing the influence of the entire event without making people who do attend the conference think twice about watching from home.

“The value of attending a conference like this in person will never be undermined by the live streamed content” says Eves. For many Marketing Professionals attending this event is part of their professional development. By allowing employees to watch the conference from the comfort of their office has extended the reach of VidSummit dramatically. Eve’s explinas that access to live educational content is a growing field and it’s exciting for VidSummit to lead the industry with this type of technology. “Most of our conference attendees purchase a pass that provides on-demand access to all of the content anyway. We call this the ultimate pass. Without the ultimate pass conference attendees can simply purchase an attendee pass but we have seen that so many come back for the on-demand video access because you physically cannot attend all the event talks in-person”.

Learn more on Monetizing Live Streaming

1. Get your free copy of the Virtual Ticket here.
2. Take an online course on hosting private live streams here.
3. Learn what virtual tickets mean for the events industry here.
4. How to monetize your next live event - here
5. How to accept donations on your Facebook and YouTube live streams - here 
6. Selling Event Virtual Tickets and Private Live Streams - here
7. Viewer Statistics for live streaming – here
8. Here’s why Twitch is such a BIG opportunity for live streamers - here
9. Did you know your town may have a Business Improvement District? They may help your set up a live stream! More here
10. Selling Virtual Tickets with Event Planner Derral Eves - more here
11. Learn about three events that are already selling virtual tickets here.
12. A look at the technology needed to host private live streams here.
13. A look at planning a virtual event here.
14. Review your virtual ticket pricing strategy here.
15. Preparing your event for live streaming here.
16. Learn how to build your event live streaming team here.