A while back, I wrote a post called, “5 Tips For Remote TV Appearances & Video Calls”. It was designed to help people improve their appearance on video calls and other remote appearances. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on that post, so I took it to another level with this stream:
Improving Your Kit
I had a few people reach out afterwards to ask for recommendations for a setup. I’ll be honest, what I have is overkill for most people (though it’s a blast to play around with). There is a ton of great stuff out there that can help you with your stream.
This isn’t perfect list but it’s an example of the steps I would take now, having walked a much rougher path myself. Here’s a progression of reasonable items to add to improve your streaming setup:
$200.00 USD: Upgrade your video. Try using your smartphone as a camera with an HDMI dongle or adapter. On the iPhone? The Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter ($44.99 USD) is what you’re looking for. Android will depend on the device. For both, you’ll need a HDMI to USB converter, I recommend the Elgato Cam Link 4K. Or snag a better webcam like the Logitech Brio
With an iPhone, you can also use the app, Filmic Pro to remove all the interface elements from the camera and a lighting/USB cable to broadcast you iPhone via Ecamm Live or OBS + this plugin. Both routes produce fantastic quality at a lower cost
$100.00 USD: Upgrade your microphone. Using a computer? The Blue Yeti Nano ($99.99 USD). A smartphone? The Rode VideoMicro ($59.99 USD) with the Rode SC7 cable ($15.00 USD)
$240.00 USD: Upgrade your microphone (again). If you feel like you’ve outgrown the desk microphone and want to get a bit more freedom, it’s time to move to a shotgun microphone. I strongly recommend the Rode VideoMic NTG ($249.00 USD). This mic connects via 3.5mm audio (headphone jack) for mobile and USB-C (you can use an USB-A adapter) for computers. It’s very versatile and has a nice warm sound
$500—2,000.00 USD: Finally, it’s time to jump into a DSLR or mirrorless camera. I’m a huge fan of the Sony line-up after having been a Canon shooter for a while. The reason—besides unlimited run time and clean HDMI out? Auto-focus. The auto focus is quick, dead simple, and almost flawless. I use and would recommend the Sony A6400 ($998.00 USD). If you’ve got cash to burn, the Sony A6600 ($1799.00 USD) has some nice additional features that you’ll never use streaming but might you start shooting videos on the go
$300—1,500.00 USD: As a nice topper, you can always get a better lens for your camera. For mirrorless cameras, I recommend a wide and fast prime lens. This lens won’t zoom (it’s prime a/k/a fixed) but it will generate a nice background bokeh or blur. Anything in a 16mm to 26mm will work great. I use a 16mm (and that’s the example in the stream) but previous recorded on a 20m when I was shooting Canon. Right now, I’m rocking the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 ($399.00 USD). The lens is really going to change your look, so experiment and find the vibe you like!
If you want to see this progression in action, check out this video:
Here are the slides from the stream, but the format down below is probably more useful.
Live streaming isn’t a panacea. There are negatives that come along side the positives.
The alternative to live streams (for most cases) is a pre-recorded video. You’re used to these (or should be). They’re all over the place with varying levels of quality and success.
Videos can be scripted, edited, effects added, and a generally come out with a higher level of quality.
Live streams are a lot more casual and mistakes stay in (even in the replay), but you can interact with your audience in real time. That’s huge and can’t be discounted…assuming you have an audience.
Most platforms will save your live stream and make it available on-demand after the fact.
All live streams follow the same rough workflow. The subjects of your live stream (you, any guests, demos, screens, etc.) are recording using audio and video.
Those recordings are managed via studio software or a service and used to create a stream that is sent to one or more services that your audience watches.
Audience
You start your live stream with your audience. They are the most important part. Ask yourself these key questions:
Is my audience public? Or do I need to restrict access to the stream somehow?
Is this an existing audience with existing expectations or can I try something new?
Can this audience handle complicated technical setups?
Is the audience already active somewhere?
Am I trying to meet the audience where they are? Or should I go to them?
Remember, every barrier you put between your audience and your content is going to reduce that audience 10x.
Is that a verifiable stat? No, but it’s a solid rule of thumb. A better user/customer experience is the key to building an audience. It’s not just about the content, but how they can consume it as well.
Avoid the bottom workflow. It’s the most common one for larger companies and it works against their stated goals. Too many hoops for the audience to jump through.
While you might end up with the same amount of people filling in the form (so you can follow-up with them later) but the attitude of those people will differ wildly.
There’s a ton of content out there. Don’t get fooled into thinking that yours is so amazing that people will jump through hoops to watch it.
There are other streaming platforms (like Mixer or Vimeo) but you’re usually going to work with these five. Four mainly, Twitch is still primarily gaming and esports content but business and learning is growing quickly.
In addition to your audience, you may also want to consider if a streaming service your thinking of using offers features along these four attributes:
Embeddable: can you put the live stream on your own site? That can be huge for building your own audience independent of the streaming platform
Available: can you actually stream on the service? YouTube requires you to have at least 1,000 subs and other platforms have some restrictions in place as well
Permissions: can you adjust who sees the live stream? You may want to restrict access to certain people for paid events or privacy reasons
On-demand: does the service make the stream available on-demand afterwards? If so, what is that experience like for the audience?
Here’s the rough comparison of the top streaming platforms along these attributes.
Remember, it’s not all or nothing. You stream to multiple services using a re-streaming or multistreaming service.
Some apps/websites act as the studio as well as the service. Mobile apps for Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are examples of this. Simply click the button and go live!
The job of the studio software/service is to pull together all of the various inputs (our subjects) and let you manage them.
The studio is where you create various scenes. You can add overlays (images on top of your video), lower thirds (the fancy name for name bars), show comments, and pretty much anything you can dream up (assuming you have the time!).
Common studio choices:
OBS or more properly Open Broadcast Software Studio
When you just get started, the assumption is that a better camera is the best way to make a big impact on your stream. It’s actually lighting.
Fixing your lighting and tuning it to meet your needs is the quickest way to make a big impact on your stream.
Real talk, your webcam sucks. It’s there—which is good—but that’s about all that it has going for it. Webcams are tuned for broad focus (but usually fail to find it) and wide angles. Not ideal for a high quality broadcast.
Your smartphone probably has a fantastic camera. The challenge here is finding the right app that will let you stream that view out. Making things harder, the rear cameras are an order of magnitude better than the selfie camera but take some gymnastics or a second person to get a well framed shot.
A DSLR or mirrorless camera is a wonderful tool to deliver a high quality stream. On this stream, I used a Sony A6400 with a Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens. It’s a nice wide angle so it creates great shots when the camera is physically close to the subject.
If you’re looking for a DSLR or mirrorless camera, you need it to have two main attributes: unlimited run time and clean HDMI output. Basically, you have to be able to plug it into the wall (trust me, you don’t want to manage batteries during a stream) and you don’t want all of the camera indicators (white balance, focus, aperture, etc.) to show on the stream.
One thing not covered in the live stream was the requirement to get the DSLR/mirrorless output into your computer! For this you’ll need an HDMI to USB converter. The key term you’re looking for here is USB UVC support. This means your camera will show up like a webcam in any software that supports webcams without any additional configuration.
I like the Elgato CamLink for this. The BlackMagic Web Presenter is a higher end, more complicated choice but it opens up some cool connections down the road. I’d stick with the CamLink (and did).
With a camera setup, you know need to stage your performance!
Make sure you look into the lens directly. It’s tempting to look at the screen where you “feel” your audience to be but that’s distracting. Watch the stream at 48:40 to see this one in action.
If you have trouble with this, move the windows on screen that you find yourself looking at frequently closer to the camera. That’s the top of the screen if you’re using a webcam or one side if you’re using a DSLR/mirrorless.
For the composition of your shot, make sure your background is clean and minimal. When in doubt, move it out…of the shot. Also make sure that you’re in the center of the frame with a bit of room above your head and that nothing in the background is intersecting your head (like a window or bookshelf), that’s seriously distracting.
As seen here in an overhead shot. Lighting should be in front of the subject. You’re not showing an anonymous source, so don’t have a strong light shining on the subject from behind (it blacks them out).
While light directly on the subject is fine…
You can improve that setup dramatically by positioning the light (or the subject) so that it’s shining on the subject from a slight angle. This will create some difference in light on the subjects face and give it more depth.
An even better setup is if you can use a strong (key) light source about 45 degrees on one side of the subject and a weaker (fill) light source on the opposite 45 degree.
This setup gives you way more control of the depth of shadow on the subjects face and will create a very pleasing effect.
If you’re going all out, add a third, smaller light behind the subject shining between them and the background.
This fill light helps the subject pop from the background. If you’re using virtual background…don’t.
Just don’t.
Please.
But if you have to or if you’re using a green screen (and there are a few cases where this makes sense) the fill light is what makes this all work. Even in normal scenarios this light helps create that separation between subject and background and makes the shot more cinematic.
Audio
If you only remember two things about audio, remember these:
Microphones have direction
Hard surfaces bounce sound creating echoes
The standard microphone in your laptop or webcam is an omnidirectional microphone. It’s designed to pick up any sound near it and amplify that sound. That’s why they sound so poor.
“Standard” microphones are usually referred to by the type of their primary component: dynamic, condenser, or ribbon. These microphones are usually tuned for a specific purpose using a “pattern”. It’s these patterns that provide the direction of the microphone.
If you’re microphone is design to pick up sound from the side and you’re talking in the top (Hello, Blue Mic Yeti users!), that’s a problem. Understanding the construction, range, and direction of the microphone is key.
Lav microphones are omnidirectional but short range. This makes them ideal for placement on clothing. If you’re walking during your stream (it happens) or interviewing someone in person, you’re probably going to use a couple of lav mics.
Finally, we have shotgun mics. These mics are highly directional and a great way to capture audio for streams, especially in busier environments.
My go-to shotgun mic is the new Rode VideoMic NTG. It works with everything due to it’s 3.5mm and USB-C outputs.
If you’re wondering, yes, I use a lot of Rode gear. It’s a premium line so you’re going to pay a little more but it’s also extremely reliable and that something I value when it comes to streaming.
If you’re microphone uses an XLR output (a very common interface for music gear), you’re going to need a DAC or digital/audio converter. These usually have a microphone preamp to power the microphone and to increase and clean up it’s signal and then send it to your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
You don’t need anything too complicated here for most setups but there are a lot of possibilities.
Here are some brands to check out. You’re looking for products under their “Audio Interfaces” sections (usually):
I’ve owned interfaces from all of these companies and there’s not a huge difference in their product lines for most use cases. As you get more nuance in your audio production, there are significant differences but you can worry about those a long way down the road.
Right now, I’m waiting on an Audient Evo pre-order. The simple user interface and auto-gain functionality seems like a strong advancement for streamers. Looking forward to trying it out.
Subjects
Screens
Please don’t ever share your entire desktop. It’s too risky. Something may get seen that you want to keep private (think browsing history!).
On a similar note, turn off all notifications. We’ve all been in a meeting when that didn’t happen and the results are not good for the presenter.
Whether you’re sharing a web page, the terminal, or another app; zoom in!
You may be working on a stunning 32″ 5K HDR display but your audience is watching this in 1080p at best. More likely it’s a 720p stream (1280×720 vs 5120×2880…16x more pixels). Zoom in.
Zoom in.
A bit more…
There you go.
If you’re sharing slides, as much as I hate to say this, use PowerPoint. Ugh, why? It’s only because of one simple feature that Keynote on macOS lacks: presenting in a window.
By default, presentation software will take over every display connected to the machine that’s presenting. If it’s a one display machine, your slides are full screen. If you have two displays, you get a presenter view and the slides on the other display.
The problem here is that you access to your stream quality, audience, and any other material is hidden by the presentation.
In PowerPoint, click on the “Slide Show” ribbon section. Then, “Set Up Slide Show”. Finally, select the show type, “Browsed by an individual (window)” and voila! Your slides now present (with animations) in an easily shareable window.
Another route here is to make a PDF of your slides and present using your favourite PDF viewer. They usually have the ability to present without the window chrome (buttons, menus, etc.).
Stop moving your cursor around to point to things. Definitely don’t “wave” it around. That’s just distracting and usually runs counter to what you’re trying to do.
People
Remember to look directly into the lens. That’s how you make eye contact with your audience.
Yes, we brought this up earlier but it’s super important. Check out the stream at 48:40 if you don’t believe me.
Also, try not to:
Swivel in your chair or fidget in general. These habits are very obvious (and distracting) on camera
Don’t click a pen (or chew on it), rearrange your desk, or smack your lips…again, very distracting for the audience
Make sure to be open and honest. Don’t put on a character or think you need to act in a certain manner. The streamers that stand apart from the crowd are themselves.
Slow down and breath! When you’re streaming there are very few external indicators that can help you pace yourself. You’re going to have to create your own but in general, slow down
When—not if—something breaks, just acknowledge it. If it’s a
Engagement
The key aspect of streaming is audience engagement. That can be hard to do authentically. Esports is a great example of some authentic engagement but that doesn’t necessarily translate directly to teaching or business content.
If you’re streaming to multiple platforms, engagement gets harder. Make sure the audience access is worth. Maybe just posted to the additional platforms as an on-demand video noting it was live is a better play.
Here are some general tips on engagement:
Call out viewers and say hello
Remind the audience (regularly) that they can and should participate
Accept multiple forms of engagement, not everyone is going to want to ask a question or provide a comment
Ask for input, “Is this type of content valuable to you?” and don’t be shy about asking for the (very) occasional share. If an audience member shares your content, that’s a huge signal that they found it valuable
00:00:49 –> 00:00:51
Hey everybody, how’s it going?
00:00:51 –> 00:00:56
my name’s Mark Nunnikhoven, those of
you who know me, if not, I’ll introduce myself,
00:00:56 –> 00:00:57
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, how’s it going?
00:00:57 –> 00:00:58
I keep getting that echo.
00:00:58 –> 00:01:00
Speaker 1: my name’s Mark Nunnikhoven, Speaker 1: those of you who know-
00:01:00 –> 00:01:05
Boom, okay, so we’re talking about streaming,
about stuff like that happening in the background.
00:01:05 –> 00:01:10
[laughs] so, that was the audio from my stream
actually popping up in another tab, and we’re going to talk
00:01:10 –> 00:01:16
about how to avoid things like that, though obviously
I may have a little ground to makeup in the reputation space.
00:01:16 –> 00:01:20
but my name’s Mark Nunnikhoven,
I am actually a forensic scientist.
00:01:20 –> 00:01:22
I focus on cybersecurity and privacy.
00:01:22 –> 00:01:27
but part of that, or part of what I feel, I, you
know, my goal is, is to teach people, those complicated
00:01:27 –> 00:01:34
topics, and as a result of a lot of that teaching, I end
up dealing with video streaming, presentations on video.
00:01:34 –> 00:01:37
I am a regular radio columnist on CBC Ottawa.
00:01:37 –> 00:01:44
I’m in a lot of situations where it’s just kind of me in the
room, presenting out blind, to an audience that you hope
00:01:44 –> 00:01:51
is there and engaged, and maybe you get some commentary,
back, and speaking of that, we are live here on LinkedIn.
00:01:51 –> 00:01:55
We are live on YouTube, so if you have
comments, I really want this to be a discussion.
00:01:55 –> 00:01:58
I’ve got a bunch of material to present to you, but as we’re
going, if you have questions that is absolutely your best time, so
00:01:58 –> 00:01:58
what you’re going to see and as part of the stream, this is part
of that education, you’re going to see me talking directly into the
00:01:58 –> 00:01:58
camera, but you’re also going to see me, my eyes kind of shifting,
and we’re going to talk about that line of sight as part of
00:01:58 –> 00:01:58
this, live stream here, and that’s normally when I’m
looking at the comments, I’m looking to see here in, LinkedIn,
00:01:58 –> 00:02:25
if anyone, is, is, is on board, or is watching, or
is engaged, sort of like right now, and firing off a comment.
00:02:26 –> 00:02:30
I’m letting everybody know that I’m there,
and that’s a good way to kind of kick things off.
00:02:30 –> 00:02:34
same thing on YouTube, if there’s
comments we can see them pop up there, because that’s
00:02:34 –> 00:02:40
a big part of live streaming, so, that’s like,
you know, basically, I’ve dealt with this a lot.
00:02:40 –> 00:02:45
on my own, I’ve done, probably over 250 streams at
this point, through a variety of, of avenues, whether that’s
00:02:45 –> 00:02:48
on the official Trend Micro channels, whether that’s on own channels.
00:02:48 –> 00:02:50
there’s a lot there, and there’s
a lot of things that can go wrong.
00:02:50 –> 00:02:56
There’s a lot of things that you can make tiny, tiny tweaks
to, to make it look, so much better, and to have the
00:02:56 –> 00:03:00
delivery come across in a manner that really, really resonates.
00:03:01 –> 00:03:01
hi, Seline.
00:03:02 –> 00:03:03
good to see you, as well.
00:03:03 –> 00:03:04
Thanks for joining.
00:03:04 –> 00:03:07
If you have any questions fire them in the chat just like that.
00:03:07 –> 00:03:09
so let me share out a part of my screen here.
00:03:10 –> 00:03:12
and hey Mario, thanks for jumping on board.
00:03:12 –> 00:03:18
glad you could make it, perfect, so, so let’s walk
through this ’cause I have, some things for this conversation
00:03:18 –> 00:03:20
to help it guide it, and that’s another tip right off the bat.
00:03:20 –> 00:03:25
It’s really hard to have a conversation with yourself, so
you could actually create a live stream that’s just you
00:03:25 –> 00:03:30
talking, just in a lecture format, but if
you want to have a conversation, it’s good to have guides.
00:03:30 –> 00:03:35
and the first question I really want to ask
to you, is, should you live stream at all?
00:03:36 –> 00:03:56
The reason why I ask this is [laughs] because, I think
a lot of people have this dream of live streaming in their head.
00:03:56 –> 00:03:56
They have this idea, this concept of saying like, “Hey, I
should be live all the time.” and maybe that’s the
00:03:56 –> 00:03:56
right call, maybe it isn’t, but I think you should at least
ask the question, because this can be really, really tricky.
00:03:56 –> 00:03:56
so should you live stream at all?
00:03:56 –> 00:03:59
That for me really comes down to evaluating the difference
between delivering a straight video versus a live stream,
00:03:59 –> 00:04:04
and there’s some subtle differences between the two,
so for a video, it can be way easier to script.
00:04:04 –> 00:04:08
In fact, when you’re doing a video,
I hadn’t planned to show this, but why not?
00:04:09 –> 00:04:12
when you’re doing a video, you can
use things like a teleprompter, so this is,
00:04:13 –> 00:04:14
the, Parrot, Padcaster.
00:04:14 –> 00:04:20
very, very cool little teleprompter that sits on my lens,
and underneath here, my smartphone goes, and it displays
00:04:20 –> 00:04:26
everything, through the transparent glass, so that I
can read a prepared script, and that’s good on video.
00:04:26 –> 00:04:31
If I want to like prepare my message, tune it out,
or tune it in, and really dial it and have a high level
00:04:31 –> 00:04:34
polish, and also I can edit that stuff after the fact.
00:04:34 –> 00:04:34
I can do several takes.
00:04:34 –> 00:04:35
I can make sure it’s really good.
00:04:36 –> 00:04:38
That’s what a standard, video, right?
00:04:38 –> 00:04:43
And, we’re all kind of used to that I think, but I don’t think
a lot of us experiment as much as we, should in that
00:04:43 –> 00:04:49
format, so for live streams themselves usually you have an
outline, so for me, I’ve got a, a bunch of slides that
00:04:49 –> 00:04:52
are outlining what I want to talk about on the stream live today.
00:04:52 –> 00:04:57
You don’t have the ability to edit though, because what goes
out there, it goes out there, so you saw in the, first
00:04:57 –> 00:05:03
few seconds of this stream, the background audio kicked
in from a tab that I had open ironically to monitor the stream.
00:05:03 –> 00:05:08
Now, normally I mute this browser, but I’m also broadcasting
from the browser, so I couldn’t, so things happen, right?
00:05:08 –> 00:05:09
You can’t edit them out.
00:05:09 –> 00:05:14
but the advantage is, you know, I- there’s a more
casual feel to live streams, at least I feel that way, I
00:05:14 –> 00:05:19
think a lot of people are a lot more accepting on live streams,
and we get the ability to interact with the audience, right?
00:05:19 –> 00:05:23
So, I see, people tuning in, I see,
Robert, from the Netherlands.
00:05:23 –> 00:05:24
Hey Robert, how are you doing?
00:05:24 –> 00:05:25
I see some folks from around the world.
00:05:25 –> 00:05:29
We already said hi to, to, to Seline, Marios here, right?
00:05:29 –> 00:05:34
We’ve got an audience that I can interact with, so there’s some
advantages to being live, and that’s the big, big bonus here is that
00:05:34 –> 00:05:40
live element, so the advantage, or I should say the thing that’s
thinking in most people’s head right now is that, “Wait a minute.
00:05:40 –> 00:05:44
After a live stream doesn’t this go on demand afterwards?” Absolutely.
00:05:44 –> 00:05:50
People can tune into this after the fact and, check out your
live stream, and, have the ability to, let me just
00:05:50 –> 00:05:54
pull up my notes here for a second for a link to give to you guys.
00:05:54 –> 00:05:56
but they have the ability to view this afterwards.
00:05:56 –> 00:05:59
and that’s great, but all the same stuff is still in place.
00:06:00 –> 00:06:01
Glad to hear you’re doing good Robert.
00:06:02 –> 00:06:06
here’s the link, for today’s stream
everybody, popping this in the LinkedIn
00:06:06 –> 00:06:08
comments, and I’ll pop it over to YouTube in a second.
00:06:08 –> 00:06:11
that will be live shortly after this, so it’s not live yet.
00:06:11 –> 00:06:13
it will be in a few minutes.
00:06:13 –> 00:06:20
and if I can drop that into YouTube, we will do that
as well, so, that’s where today’s stuff is going, so, I mean,
00:06:20 –> 00:06:25
people can watch this on demand, so on that, that link that I just sent
you after the stream finishes you can go up there and check it out.
00:06:25 –> 00:06:30
and that works, but all the same caveats
that we saw on the past slides still apply, so it
00:06:30 –> 00:06:32
will still be more casual, there’d be I- issues.
00:06:32 –> 00:06:34
You can’t go back, and edit that video.
00:06:34 –> 00:06:36
and, and that’s not a bad thing, right?
00:06:36 –> 00:06:37
but just be aware of that.
00:06:38 –> 00:06:40
So, let’s assume you do want to live stream, okay [laughs].
00:06:40 –> 00:06:45
There’s a workflow to this, and it all follows the same
thing, and we’re going to deep dive into each of these
00:06:45 –> 00:06:47
areas because I think it’s, it’s really, really important.
00:06:47 –> 00:06:48
Hi Madeline.
00:06:48 –> 00:06:49
Thanks for joining in.
00:06:49 –> 00:06:54
I hope everyone who is joining in, you guys are safe at
home, and you know, using this time to, to move things
00:06:54 –> 00:06:56
forward, to learn some new skills, hopefully like live stream.
00:06:57 –> 00:06:58
So, for live streaming you have subjects.
00:06:58 –> 00:07:03
In this case right now I- I’m a subject of the live
stream as well as the slides that I’m showing you.
00:07:03 –> 00:07:06
these subjects, need to be recorded some way.
00:07:06 –> 00:07:10
They need to be then pushed through, a
software, or a service that’s, acts as a studio,
00:07:11 –> 00:07:14
and then, push to a service out to an audience.
00:07:14 –> 00:07:18
So, in this case, for this live stream,
myself and my slides are the subjects.
00:07:18 –> 00:07:23
I’m recording them using, this camera and a microphone,
down here off screen that we’ll talk about in a little bit.
00:07:24 –> 00:07:29
I’m using a studio software called StreamYard
that’s pushing out directly to two different services,
00:07:30 –> 00:07:33
YouTube and LinkedIn live to you, the audience, okay?
00:07:33 –> 00:07:39
Now, there is a multitude of permutations around how you
can set this up, and what makes sense for you, but
00:07:39 –> 00:07:44
this is the general flow, so we’re going to talk about all
of these areas, but we’re going to start right to left.
00:07:44 –> 00:07:50
We’re going to start with the most important, part
of this entire process, and that’s your audience, okay?
00:07:50 –> 00:07:54
The audience is absolutely key, because
they’re going to drive all of your decisions.
00:07:54 –> 00:07:58
For those of you on the technical side of the world,
if you’re dealing with, software development,
00:07:58 –> 00:08:02
you know, you talk to the user, you figure out what
they need, and you worry about the user experiences.
00:08:02 –> 00:08:03
The same thing with live streaming.
00:08:03 –> 00:08:07
We need to worry about the audience first because
that’s going to dictate a bunch of the things
00:08:07 –> 00:08:12
that we can or cannot use moving forward, okay?
00:08:12 –> 00:08:17
So, for our audience, the first thing we want to kind of
walk through is this checklist; is the audience public?
00:08:17 –> 00:08:20
So, for today’s stream, I want to broadcast this out wide.
00:08:20 –> 00:08:23
This is public information, it’s going to sit on my LinkedIn page.
00:08:24 –> 00:08:28
It’s going to sink, sit on my YouTube channel,
/marknca if you haven’t already subscribed.
00:08:29 –> 00:08:32
and that’s going to sit over there, and that’s
going to live for a long time, so this is public.
00:08:32 –> 00:08:35
There’s nothing private in here, so I’m okay with it being public.
00:08:35 –> 00:08:36
is this a repeat audience?
00:08:36 –> 00:08:38
Well, hopefully it is.
00:08:38 –> 00:08:42
but the reason why you want to ask that question
is if you’ve made some technical decisions, like you want
00:08:42 –> 00:08:44
to stream to your audience through something like Zoom.
00:08:45 –> 00:08:52
After the initial technical setup of getting them to install
Zoom and configure it, it’s easier to get to that audience again.
00:08:52 –> 00:08:59
But, there’s also an expectation from that audience again, so if I’m
talking to you regularly here on LinkedIn, and if I decide all of a
00:08:59 –> 00:09:02
sudden to switch to another service, you may not follow me over, right?
00:09:02 –> 00:09:04
Because, there’s an expectation there.
00:09:04 –> 00:09:07
Second thing you want to ask is what’s
the technical level of that audience?
00:09:07 –> 00:09:09
So, are people comfortable installing software?
00:09:09 –> 00:09:12
That can be a big burden for a lot of people, right?
00:09:12 –> 00:09:17
I know I was helping out a family member the other
day, remotely trying to configure some basic software.
00:09:17 –> 00:09:19
you know, and it took 15, 20 minutes.
00:09:19 –> 00:09:24
If that person is trying to attend a live stream and they start,
you know, just two or three minutes beforehand, you could lose
00:09:24 –> 00:09:29
that audience if there’s a really high technical bar to get
in there if they’re not really savvy, so understanding the
00:09:29 –> 00:09:32
technical level of your audience is going to dictate where you go.
00:09:32 –> 00:09:34
Same with if they’re already on that platform.
00:09:34 –> 00:09:40
and then, the biggest decision, and if you, anybody on this
stream is in the marketing side of things, this is a big, big decision.
00:09:41 –> 00:09:46
Do you want to meet your audience where they are, or
do you want to try to draw them to your properties?
00:09:46 –> 00:09:48
So, in this case, I’m meeting you where you are.
00:09:48 –> 00:09:49
You’re on LinkedIn, you’re on YouTube.
00:09:49 –> 00:09:54
I [inaudible 00:10:29] set this scream up and say, go
to my website, go to markn.ca to watch this stream.
00:09:55 –> 00:10:00
I’m trying to meet you in the moment,
where you are, and where you’re going.
00:10:00 –> 00:10:04
and Zach I saw on YouTube
absolutely a hundred percent great time to up skill.
00:10:04 –> 00:10:07
Hopefully, this can help you guys, up skill your streaming.
00:10:07 –> 00:10:13
if you have questions, as I said in the intro, ask
them on LinkedIn, ask them on YouTube, and I will
00:10:13 –> 00:10:17
address them in the, in the flow, because I think that
makes a lot more sense if all of this material is going to
00:10:17 –> 00:10:21
be up at that link, at the end of this, including the
slides, including all the references to anything I mention.
00:10:22 –> 00:10:25
slides are going up immediately,
the references will be up shortly.
00:10:25 –> 00:10:29
I just need to finish typing them up ’cause there’s
a bunch, but yeah, ask the questions here, so
00:10:29 –> 00:10:31
that’s, that’s where we are, it’s basically where are they?
00:10:31 –> 00:10:32
You know, what level are they at?
00:10:32 –> 00:10:35
Because, a lot of people know how to access, Facebook live.
00:10:35 –> 00:10:35
Very simple.
00:10:35 –> 00:10:41
They’re used to interacting on Facebook, but you know, on the flip
side, if you ask them to do a WebEx or a Zoom, or GoToMeeting,
00:10:41 –> 00:10:46
something where they have to install software that’s a much higher
demand to the audience, and your content better be worth it, and
00:10:46 –> 00:10:49
you better expect a smaller audience because of those decisions.
00:10:51 –> 00:10:51
All right?
00:10:51 –> 00:10:58
General rule of thumb, every barrier between you,
and your audience I- is going to reduce that audience by 10 X.
00:10:58 –> 00:10:58
Okay?
00:10:58 –> 00:10:59
There’s no data behind that whatsoever.
00:10:59 –> 00:11:05
It’s just a gut feeling I have based on, user interaction
models, and user experience models, but I think it holds up.
00:11:05 –> 00:11:11
So, if we look at that, if we go through sort of a traditional marketing
method, if you’re not in marketing, I apologize, bear with me, but you
00:11:11 –> 00:11:16
can understand this float too, because you’ve probably dealt
with it, and if you’re running streams, you’re going to be in marketing
00:11:16 –> 00:11:23
now, ’cause you got to market your own streams, so normally you have
for corporate stuff a landing page, a sign up form, email confirmation,
00:11:23 –> 00:11:26
m- probably install some software to finally view the content.
00:11:27 –> 00:11:30
For live streaming, this is the reason why people absolutely love it.
00:11:30 –> 00:11:35
you can just throw it up, people view it, and if you want
to ask them for something afterwards, you can have a sign up form.
00:11:36 –> 00:11:36
Set it.
00:11:36 –> 00:11:38
It’s, it’s like a direct connection, right?
00:11:38 –> 00:11:44
Like, I hit one button to go live here, and I’m connecting with
you folks on LinkedIn, I’m connecting on YouTube, and, and the
00:11:44 –> 00:11:49
people who don’t catch this live will be able to watch it,
within the first, you know, 24 hours you’ll see a massive spike,
00:11:49 –> 00:11:51
but they’ll be able to watch this as long as my channels are alive.
00:11:51 –> 00:11:54
So, it’s a really direct connection with your audience.
00:11:54 –> 00:11:59
If we apply that general drop-off rule, let’s say you’ve
got a hundred thousand people aware of your stream.
00:12:00 –> 00:12:01
now that doesn’t happen for me.
00:12:01 –> 00:12:05
I’m not in like the eSports, like Ninja
level or SypherPK, or anything like that.
00:12:05 –> 00:12:09
I’m not a massive corporation with a big budget
behind me, but let’s say just for argument’s
00:12:09 –> 00:12:11
sake, a hundred thousand people heard about it.
00:12:11 –> 00:12:17
In the corporate world you can see that drop off to down to maybe
one person is actually going to view the content all the way through.
00:12:17 –> 00:12:20
Again, rough rule of thumb, because there’s so many barriers.
00:12:20 –> 00:12:25
If you take the same numbers, you’re probably going to have
about 10,000 people viewing it, on the live streaming
00:12:25 –> 00:12:29
world, because you’ve reduced, those hurdles, you’ve
made it a much smoother user experience to get through.
00:12:29 –> 00:12:33
Interestingly enough, you’re getting the same amount of people
signing up, and get that information if you’re interested
00:12:33 –> 00:12:35
in marketing to capture, or to follow up with that audience.
00:12:36 –> 00:12:38
The difference is the attitude of those people.
00:12:38 –> 00:12:42
the thousand people that have wa- after, 10,000
people have watched, they’re going to be a lot more positive and
00:12:42 –> 00:12:44
receptive versus a thousand people who are jumping through hoops.
00:12:44 –> 00:12:46
Just something to keep in mind.
00:12:46 –> 00:12:50
but let’s move on to some more interesting, some
of the more technical side of this stuff, and again,
00:12:50 –> 00:12:52
if you guys have questions fire them up in the chat.
00:12:52 –> 00:12:58
Happy to address them as we go here, so those
services we talked about, they’re the key.
00:12:58 –> 00:13:01
Now that you know that the audience, let’s
say you want to present to a public audience,
00:13:01 –> 00:13:04
now you know what you can start to pick for services.
00:13:04 –> 00:13:08
You can start to make determinations
as to what’s applicable and what’s not.
00:13:08 –> 00:13:13
The main four you’re going to hear time and time
again are YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
00:13:13 –> 00:13:15
It’s just how it is, right?
00:13:15 –> 00:13:16
We’re streaming live to two of them right now.
00:13:16 –> 00:13:21
We’re streaming to LinkedIn, we’re streaming to YouTube, and
they’re very, very common, in the streaming world.
00:13:21 –> 00:13:22
You might also hear about Twitch.
00:13:24 –> 00:13:26
Now, Twitch is from Amazon.
00:13:26 –> 00:13:27
they bought it.
00:13:27 –> 00:13:30
It was, Justin TV, then it became
Twitch TV, and now it’s part of Amazon.
00:13:30 –> 00:13:35
It is primarily around eSports and gaming, but they
have a lot of non-gaming content on the rise now.
00:13:35 –> 00:13:37
it is a pure streaming platform.
00:13:37 –> 00:13:38
it was built.
00:13:38 –> 00:13:40
You can very much tell it’s built around eSports.
00:13:40 –> 00:13:41
a lot of major gamers.
00:13:41 –> 00:13:44
It’s where Ninja got to start before it moved over to Mixer.
00:13:44 –> 00:13:45
it’s huge, right?
00:13:45 –> 00:13:49
So, it is very core to the streaming conversations,
but most of the time for learning for business, we’re
00:13:49 –> 00:13:52
going to be talking about, the top four here.
00:13:53 –> 00:13:53
and that’s okay.
00:13:53 –> 00:13:54
It’s not a problem.
00:13:54 –> 00:13:56
Now, there are a ton of other platforms out there.
00:13:56 –> 00:14:00
things like Mixer from Microsoft,
Vimeo has a live streaming platform.
00:14:00 –> 00:14:01
there’s a ton of different ones there.
00:14:01 –> 00:14:06
whatever’s going to fill your need, that’s the key
here, but these are the most common ones that you come across.
00:14:07 –> 00:14:12
Now, there’s four attributes that I like to
do, use when I’m evaluating these services.
00:14:12 –> 00:14:13
is it embeddable?
00:14:13 –> 00:14:14
Can I put this on my website?
00:14:14 –> 00:14:17
So, you see with that link on markn.ca.
00:14:17 –> 00:14:23
w- this live stream is actually there, and if I publish this ahead of
time, you could watch the live stream instead of on YouTube or LinkedIn.
00:14:23 –> 00:14:25
You can actually watch the live stream on my website.
00:14:26 –> 00:14:29
That could be really advantageous for people,
and that could be something that you want.
00:14:29 –> 00:14:32
Maybe it isn’t, but it’s nice to know what’s possible.
00:14:33 –> 00:14:34
can you access these streaming features?
00:14:34 –> 00:14:36
So, some things like YouTube streaming is gated.
00:14:36 –> 00:14:42
You have to have a thousand subscribers on your channel,
no content strikes, and a bunch of other criteria met
00:14:42 –> 00:14:44
before you’re even allowed to live stream on YouTube.
00:14:45 –> 00:14:46
same with LinkedIn live.
00:14:46 –> 00:14:51
LinkedIn live had a b- a limited preview then they had,
I think they have general availability, but I’m not sure if
00:14:51 –> 00:14:54
it’s even available for all pages yet, so is it available?
00:14:54 –> 00:14:58
and then, you control who sees the
stream, so not all streams need to be public.
00:14:58 –> 00:15:03
This is a, a thing I often advise people,
in, when they’re dealing with Facebook.
00:15:03 –> 00:15:07
Facebook has a huge amount of privacy challenges, but
one thing they did really, really well is they built a permission
00:15:07 –> 00:15:10
system in, so you can live stream on Facebook to nobody.
00:15:11 –> 00:15:13
You can lock it down so that nobody, but you could see it.
00:15:13 –> 00:15:19
more, interesting to most people [laughs] is that you
can Facebook, s- live, to like two or three people,
00:15:19 –> 00:15:25
so a very common use case, I find advising families on is if
you’ve got the grandkids, and you want to stream to the grandparents,
00:15:26 –> 00:15:31
you can stream it on Facebook live directly to only those two parents,
or grandparents, so that they’re the only ones who can see it.
00:15:32 –> 00:15:34
Great, great functionality.
00:15:34 –> 00:15:38
in the larger world, for corporate, you can make sure
that this is gated, so that you can only s- people who have the
00:15:38 –> 00:15:41
access or paid for can see it, maybe a factor for your streams.
00:15:41 –> 00:15:47
And then, the finally one is after we’re, after you stream it
is available on demand, not actually the case on all platforms.
00:15:47 –> 00:15:49
so Twitch is the most noticeable.
00:15:49 –> 00:15:54
Twitch, doesn’t allow o- it only allow us on
demand for a window unless you, clip, part of the clip.
00:15:54 –> 00:15:55
so it’s not always there.
00:15:55 –> 00:15:59
It’s a 30 day rotating window unless you pay
more or reconfigure settings, but you can’t keep
00:15:59 –> 00:16:02
them forever, so those are the four attributes.
00:16:02 –> 00:16:04
and again, this chart is going to be up on the sites.
00:16:04 –> 00:16:07
You don’t have to scramble to write it down,
but here’s, here’s how it basically, stacks up.
00:16:08 –> 00:16:12
YouTube’s fully embeddable, available with,
you know, certain kind of restrictions.
00:16:12 –> 00:16:15
Permissions not really, you can have
un- unlisted, which is kind of helpful.
00:16:15 –> 00:16:19
but it’s still, you have to assume that it’s
public, and, you know, it’s on demand afterwards of course.
00:16:19 –> 00:16:21
So, you go across, you see that.
00:16:21 –> 00:16:23
LinkedIn is by far the most restricted platform?
00:16:23 –> 00:16:27
but ironically for corporate business
it’s actually really, really engaging.
00:16:27 –> 00:16:32
you tend to get a lot of people viewing on LinkedIn
live even though it’s the most stubborn to deal with.
00:16:32 –> 00:16:39
one of the downsides of LinkedIn live is that all the other
platforms will feed their comments back to your software, so you can
00:16:39 –> 00:16:41
have a central place to look at your comments, and manage your audience.
00:16:41 –> 00:16:46
LinkedIn won’t, so you always have to have LinkedIn open,
and looking at it in addition to something else, pain if
00:16:46 –> 00:16:50
you’re doing multiple streams at the same time, which you can do.
00:16:50 –> 00:16:54
You can use a service called a restraining
service, or some studio platforms support it.
00:16:54 –> 00:16:58
If you’re directly doing it from your studio, you
need to worry about the bandwidth you have available.
00:16:58 –> 00:17:01
Do you have enough upload to create multiple streams out?
00:17:01 –> 00:17:07
It’s far more effective to use a service like restream.io or
several [inaudible 00:18:09] like Vimeo does it, where you send
00:17:07 –> 00:17:10
one stream to them, and they branch it off to the various services.
00:17:10 –> 00:17:12
So, like today we are streaming to LinkedIn.
00:17:12 –> 00:17:17
We are also streaming, to YouTube,
which is giving us this ability to go multiple, right?
00:17:17 –> 00:17:18
Which is very handy.
00:17:18 –> 00:17:22
You can go to where the audience absolutely
is, so that brings us to our next point.
00:17:22 –> 00:17:28
That brings us to the studio side of things, so,
[Studio 00:18:30] is essentially a software or
00:17:28 –> 00:17:31
service, that lets you set up your stream, right?
00:17:31 –> 00:17:37
Very, very easy, very simple, so sometimes this is actually the
app or the service itself for YouTube, for Twitter, for Facebook.
00:17:38 –> 00:17:39
you know Facebook’s easy example.
00:17:39 –> 00:17:44
Same with Instagram TV though we’re not talking about IG
that much ’cause they’re very restricted in what they’ll
00:17:44 –> 00:17:46
let you stream ’cause it’s only from their app or site.
00:17:46 –> 00:17:51
Basically, you know, you take your phone, you hit the
button, you say go live, and you’re live so it’s the
00:17:51 –> 00:17:54
service, it’s the studio, it’s everything all in one.
00:17:54 –> 00:17:59
which is, is great, but it’s also, you know,
you’re very much constrained to the default experience.
00:17:59 –> 00:18:02
You can’t expand it out unless you take some additional steps.
00:18:02 –> 00:18:03
So keep that in mind.
00:18:04 –> 00:18:10
But, basically what a studio does is helps you take multiple inputs,
so if you have multiple cameras, multiple people, multiple screens,
00:18:10 –> 00:18:17
multiple audio inputs, whatever you want to do, and you create
your broadcast, so the studio is the software service that brings
00:18:17 –> 00:18:22
that all together, and then, creates a single stream from that, right?
00:18:22 –> 00:18:29
Now there is a multitude of options when it comes to Studio from
super, super simple to really insanely broadcast level complex.
00:18:29 –> 00:18:36
If it’s just you doing the streaming, or just starting out, keep
it on the simple side [laughs] keep it as basic as possible,
00:18:36 –> 00:18:38
because that’s where you’re going to see the most benefit.
00:18:38 –> 00:18:46
names here you’re going to see that the biggest by far is OBS,
Open Broadcast Studio is available on Mac, Linux and Windows for free.
00:18:46 –> 00:18:52
Fantastic piece of software, not the
most polished UI on the planet, okay?
00:18:53 –> 00:18:59
So, there’s a lot of investment you as the streamer need to make
in the understanding how it works, because if things break on the
00:18:59 –> 00:19:01
fly, you want to be able to fix it, you want to be able to adjust.
00:19:01 –> 00:19:03
but for free, fantastic.
00:19:03 –> 00:19:07
There is another free version from Streamlabs,
which is a gaming, support company really.
00:19:07 –> 00:19:09
They’re, they have taken the open source project.
00:19:09 –> 00:19:10
They have polished it.
00:19:10 –> 00:19:12
They have created a better user interface on top of it.
00:19:12 –> 00:19:14
they offer support on top of it.
00:19:14 –> 00:19:15
It’s still free.
00:19:15 –> 00:19:20
They have a marketplace of services that they sell to
streamers, so the ways to take donations, widgets
00:19:20 –> 00:19:25
to, to show top subscribers, stuff like that, that are really
interesting to the eSports world, but very useful.
00:19:25 –> 00:19:27
StreamYard is a web browser based solution.
00:19:27 –> 00:19:29
It’s actually what I’m using today.
00:19:29 –> 00:19:31
Normally, I use, ECAM, which is in the middle.
00:19:31 –> 00:19:36
It’s a macOS software, but StreamYard is,
something I’ve been testing out, because I h- host
00:19:36 –> 00:19:38
a show for Trend Micro called Let’s Talk Cloud.
00:19:38 –> 00:19:44
In that show I invite guests on to talk, so we do a, an interview
format, and that, makes it easier for the guests.
00:19:44 –> 00:19:45
I just send them a URL.
00:19:45 –> 00:19:47
They can go to that in their browser,
and then, they can join the stream.
00:19:47 –> 00:19:48
That’s the end of their configuration.
00:19:49 –> 00:19:53
That has made things so much easier than trying to set up
a Zoom call, or a Skype call, or whatever the case may be.
00:19:53 –> 00:19:57
So, StreamYard loses a lot of functionality,
but in that simplicity there’s some- something
00:19:57 –> 00:20:00
freeing about that I find, which is nice.
00:20:00 –> 00:20:06
Wirecast expensive, broadcast quality, crazy, crazy
complicated, but It can do anything you could ever dream of.
00:20:07 –> 00:20:10
I do prefer ECAM if you’re on macOS,
it’s a hundred bucks a year I think.
00:20:10 –> 00:20:14
but it sort of hits that middle sweet
spot between simple, and complicated.
00:20:14 –> 00:20:20
It lets you do some really fancy stuff, so multiple camera angle
switching, transitions, you know, complicated screen
00:20:20 –> 00:20:26
shares, multiple overlays, so things like, let me
show you here, there, so that little, logo that
00:20:26 –> 00:20:32
popped up all the way at the top, that you can see part
of the Mark logo, Mark NCA, that’s an overlay, so I can
00:20:32 –> 00:20:38
remove, or add those into my stream, and ECAM makes
that really easy and exploits the same kind of idea on Windows.
00:20:38 –> 00:20:43
So, these are studio software that help you pull all
that input together, and then, push out the stream.
00:20:43 –> 00:20:46
As the streamer this is where you’re going
to be spending most amount of your time.
00:20:46 –> 00:20:52
You need to know these tools inside and out, because everything
is going to break at some point, and you need to know how to
00:20:52 –> 00:20:57
fix it on the fly, and to move your stream forward,
so it’s worth picking one of these, and moving,
00:20:57 –> 00:20:59
and investing the time to understand it truly.
00:20:59 –> 00:21:02
I would strongly recommend starting with StreamYard.
00:21:02 –> 00:21:05
if you’re on macOS ECAM is definitely worth checking out.
00:21:05 –> 00:21:11
or if you’re going to go the OBS route, Streamlabs
OBS over normal OBS, just to get the idea the, you know, to get that
00:21:11 –> 00:21:18
smoother, simpler user experience, so let’s move on to recording
’cause I think that’s where a lot of people have, some, some
00:21:18 –> 00:21:23
of the q- main questions ’cause everything I’ve covered up to now
is, you know, you can spend time, and Google it, and figure
00:21:23 –> 00:21:29
it out, but when you’re recording there’s a lot of tricks, a lot of
tips and tricks to know, and we’re going to start with video, okay?
00:21:30 –> 00:21:33
you may have noticed my video looks pretty solid, right?
00:21:33 –> 00:21:39
I probably should have framed this a little bit better, but
I’ll leave that for the example, so, video, something to
00:21:39 –> 00:21:48
remember here is that light is going to make a bigger impact by far
like a mountain, mountain of difference compared to your camera, okay?
00:21:48 –> 00:21:49
Light over camera.
00:21:49 –> 00:21:52
If I had, if you gave me a hundred bucks,
and said you could spend this on one, thing,
00:21:52 –> 00:21:55
I would spend it on light for visuals at least.
00:21:55 –> 00:21:59
that is going to make a massive,
massive impact to the, the quality of your feed.
00:21:59 –> 00:22:05
Obviously, you want a better camera too, but light’s going to
be a bigger employer than you think, so, four cameras.
00:22:06 –> 00:22:09
You’ve got your webcam, it’s there, okay?
00:22:09 –> 00:22:11
It, it, it works.
00:22:11 –> 00:22:13
It works almost by default no matter what.
00:22:13 –> 00:22:15
that’s all I can say that’s good about it.
00:22:15 –> 00:22:20
It’s there, better than nothing, right?
00:22:21 –> 00:22:22
It’ll get the job done.
00:22:22 –> 00:22:27
you’ve also got your smartphone, your smartphone,
the good news here is the front camera is
00:22:27 –> 00:22:29
definitely better than, your webcam for sure.
00:22:29 –> 00:22:34
the back cameras are excellent, and there are ways
to use your back cameras as, streaming cameras.
00:22:34 –> 00:22:37
The challenge there is that you don’t have the way to monitor it, right?
00:22:37 –> 00:22:41
So, you need to make sure that you can check the stream
in some other way, or have somebody frame this up for you.
00:22:41 –> 00:22:44
but you can even use your smartphone with your desktop.
00:22:44 –> 00:22:48
You can set it up as a camera, as an input feed
that way, and you’ll get really, really great quality.
00:22:48 –> 00:22:52
The cameras on this modern smartphones are ridiculously good, okay?
00:22:53 –> 00:22:54
Especially in stable conditions.
00:22:54 –> 00:22:59
and even if you’re walking around, but they’re,
they’re great choice, so you don’t have to go and buy a camera.
00:22:59 –> 00:23:02
You’ve probably already got a great quality
camera sitting in your pocket somewhere.
00:23:02 –> 00:23:06
and the last option is a DSLR,
or mirrorless, an actual, actual camera.
00:23:06 –> 00:23:13
Downsides here, they’re expensive, upside, lots and lots
of options, so right now I’m using a 16 millimeter wide,
00:23:14 –> 00:23:16
F2.0 lens, which is, really, really nice.
00:23:16 –> 00:23:18
Like, it looks crystal clear.
00:23:18 –> 00:23:19
you can see the background.
00:23:19 –> 00:23:21
this is actually a physical background by the way.
00:23:22 –> 00:23:26
it is, blurred out because the quality
of the lens, I also have other options, right?
00:23:26 –> 00:23:31
I can add other lenses as I need, to
go, and you can see there actually the focus.
00:23:31 –> 00:23:31
There we go.
00:23:31 –> 00:23:32
So, focus changes nicely.
00:23:32 –> 00:23:33
Now, I’m blurred out.
00:23:34 –> 00:23:40
and that’s all optical, that’s not software, messing
around, so that the quality of this is going to be much, much higher.
00:23:40 –> 00:23:42
Obviously, there’s a commensurate investment.
00:23:42 –> 00:23:47
and there’s a bunch of criteria around getting a camera that
would stream because none of these DSLRs and, mirrorless
00:23:47 –> 00:23:51
cameras are actually designed to run continuously like a video camera.
00:23:51 –> 00:23:55
They normally have 30 minute limits on them because of some
really interesting copyright restrictions, but they’re
00:23:55 –> 00:23:58
not, not designed to run constantly for an hour or two hours.
00:23:58 –> 00:24:01
So, you can have some overheating issues, you have power challenges.
00:24:01 –> 00:24:06
I will add a bunch of that stuff in the links,
because there’s a great camera checker from El Gato.
00:24:06 –> 00:24:11
they make a bunch of streaming, software, or streaming
hardware to support, they’re the makers of the Stream Deck,
00:24:11 –> 00:24:16
which is a cool little button thing, and that you can hit,
to get, quicker access to various streaming features.
00:24:16 –> 00:24:23
they also have a list f- of cameras, DSLRs
and mirrorless that support streaming with unlimited power,
00:24:23 –> 00:24:29
so when you can, you can plug them in an AC adapter, and
a clean HDMI out, so right now you’re seeing a clean feed.
00:24:29 –> 00:24:36
It’s just me in the background where on my camera monitor I have
all the normal little gadgets, and, and graphs on the camera
00:24:36 –> 00:24:39
showing me the, onboard audio, and showing me the focus.
00:24:39 –> 00:24:43
It’s showing me a whole bunch of stuff, but none of that
gets pushed out to the stream that’s called clean HDMI.
00:24:43 –> 00:24:46
It’s absolutely critical for, streaming.
00:24:47 –> 00:24:51
So, that’ll be in the references, but if you know, if
you go that route, you’re going to make a significant investment.
00:24:51 –> 00:24:52
You’re going to be jumping up here.
00:24:52 –> 00:24:57
you know, you’re talking several hundred dollars,
if not a thousand to $2,000 to get a streaming setup
00:24:57 –> 00:25:03
for a DSLR, that’s a, a high enough quality
to justify jumping up that high, so here’s an example.
00:25:03 –> 00:25:04
this is a shot for me.
00:25:04 –> 00:25:06
It’s sitting right here like I am right now.
00:25:06 –> 00:25:09
I took this just before the stream
started, from my I- iMac webcam.
00:25:10 –> 00:25:15
So, 2019 iMac webcam, it could barely get focused
on me, and I’m three feet from the camera.
00:25:16 –> 00:25:17
It looks horrible.
00:25:18 –> 00:25:22
Contrast, that’s the same setup, same lighting,
and everything from my, actual DSLR.
00:25:22 –> 00:25:24
I’ve got a Sony a6400.
00:25:25 –> 00:25:26
night and day difference, right?
00:25:26 –> 00:25:29
Like, you want to look better on stream?
00:25:29 –> 00:25:30
Here you go.
00:25:30 –> 00:25:34
So, this is the best I could get out of the webcam because of the
lighting, and now that should have actually grabbed focus on me.
00:25:34 –> 00:25:39
It was struggling even though this is a ridiculously
well lit room, that is with a DSLR.
00:25:39 –> 00:25:45
Y- you probably want to go that route
if you’re streaming on a regular basis.
00:25:45 –> 00:25:47
Okay, so here’s some practical tips.
00:25:47 –> 00:25:54
Now, this works whether you’re streaming, or just appearing on a stream,
or appearing on a video call, this is the most critical thing I can
00:25:54 –> 00:26:00
tell you whatsoever, and that is the lens should be at eye level, okay?
00:26:00 –> 00:26:06
The biggest [laughs] mistake and we all see it on Zoom
calls, we all see it on WebEx, is we see it on FaceTime, is
00:26:06 –> 00:26:15
that people have their laptop screen pivoted like this, and
their faces here, so you get this giant chin effect,
00:26:15 –> 00:26:18
because the camera, I can’t even do it on this camera.
00:26:18 –> 00:26:23
That’s how bad it ends up getting, is that your
camera is trying to look at you like this, right?
00:26:23 –> 00:26:25
That’s the big chin effect.
00:26:25 –> 00:26:32
B- it’s not flattering to anybody ever, ever, so if
you’re on a laptop, and you’re using the laptop’s
00:26:32 –> 00:26:34
webcam, which is, if it’s what you’ve got, that’s fine.
00:26:35 –> 00:26:41
Grab a stack of books, get a stack of books, put them
underneath the laptop, push the laptop screen up to
00:26:41 –> 00:26:44
90 degrees, and then, have it right at eye level.
00:26:44 –> 00:26:44
Okay?
00:26:45 –> 00:26:48
Right at eye level looking at you there,
or even slightly above looking down, okay?
00:26:48 –> 00:26:51
This is a very flattering angle.
00:26:51 –> 00:26:57
Maybe not for me, but it’s a flattering angle looking
downward to the subject that makes a big, big difference.
00:26:58 –> 00:27:04
Second thing that you can do, and again this applies
across anytime you’re appearing on a camera, concern
00:27:04 –> 00:27:09
yourself with something called framing and composition,
so right now I’ve made a couple of simple mistakes.
00:27:10 –> 00:27:14
Let’s say on purpose so that I can teach you [laughs].
00:27:14 –> 00:27:18
You can see in my background, and again,
this is actually a physical background.
00:27:18 –> 00:27:19
This is in my home studio.
00:27:20 –> 00:27:22
thanks for joining Raph, I appreciate it.
00:27:22 –> 00:27:23
You got any questions, you let me know.
00:27:23 –> 00:27:28
so this is actually a physical background, but
you see I have the light switch in frame right now,
00:27:28 –> 00:27:31
and I didn’t need to, that’s a bad thing on my part.
00:27:31 –> 00:27:32
That’s a mistake.
00:27:32 –> 00:27:38
I shouldn’t have done that, so what I should have done was
actually adjust the camera slightly, so that now it’s off camera.
00:27:39 –> 00:27:40
See how much better that looks?
00:27:41 –> 00:27:44
Right, that looks way better with just a slight adjustment in my camera.
00:27:45 –> 00:27:49
The other things you want to look for is you want
to make sure that your background’s not busy, okay?
00:27:49 –> 00:27:51
Not busy, not crazy.
00:27:51 –> 00:27:53
Now, this is all acoustic foam.
00:27:53 –> 00:27:56
It doesn’t do much acoustically ironically, but it looks kind of cool.
00:27:56 –> 00:27:58
It gives me a little bit of future vibe, gives me a studio vibe.
00:27:59 –> 00:28:05
for a lot of the tech teaching that I do, a lot of the security,
coaching that I do, this vibe suits the message, right?
00:28:05 –> 00:28:11
but you want simple, and again, the best thing you can do for
any of these calls is just take stuff out of the background, right?
00:28:11 –> 00:28:14
Just remove it, move it off camera so that it’s not seen.
00:28:14 –> 00:28:18
big thing you want to zo- is, do
as well as you want to frame yourself, so
00:28:18 –> 00:28:20
that you are, in the middle of the shot.
00:28:20 –> 00:28:22
You’re not a newscaster, okay?
00:28:22 –> 00:28:28
If I’m doing a news broadcast, this is a great frame because
right here is where you’re going to put up some graphics, right?
00:28:28 –> 00:28:31
You’re going put the over the shoulder graphic right here.
00:28:31 –> 00:28:33
If you’re doing that, this is a great set, way to frame yourself up.
00:28:34 –> 00:28:38
Most of the time you’re not [laughs] so you want to
be dead center, and you want a little bit, I could
00:28:38 –> 00:28:41
probably use a little bit more, headroom, right?
00:28:41 –> 00:28:41
Breathing room here.
00:28:42 –> 00:28:43
You don’t need to see as much of my chest here.
00:28:44 –> 00:28:50
You can have a little bit more o- on top to give an even more accurate
framing, but at half the time I find it’s a posture issue for
00:28:50 –> 00:28:54
me I’ll, I’ll be nice, and I’ll, I’ll try to think I sit like this.
00:28:54 –> 00:28:57
Really, I slouch, so when I slouch I’m framed well, okay?
00:28:57 –> 00:29:04
other key, key thing is be aware of what’s behind your
head, so a lot of the time what you’re going to see is somebody
00:29:04 –> 00:29:07
will have like a line intersecting them in the background.
00:29:08 –> 00:29:11
It’s like a bookshelf, or there’s a window, or something.
00:29:11 –> 00:29:13
That’s super distracting to most people.
00:29:13 –> 00:29:19
Again, just, you know, tilt the camera, move the camera,
do something to get that intersection out of your head.
00:29:19 –> 00:29:25
Now, here what I’ve done in this s- setup is I’ll get this weird
kind of funky parallax, so when I go all the way back to force
00:29:25 –> 00:29:32
the camera to focus on this, you can see it more, but when I’m up
close for the blur, then it gets me the intended impact I want.
00:29:32 –> 00:29:36
but you can see on frame I’ve got the,
in the slides, you can see a little window example.
00:29:36 –> 00:29:37
Make sure it’s not slicing your head.
00:29:38 –> 00:29:39
That’s absolutely critical.
00:29:40 –> 00:29:43
you know, but the really simple things that you
can do to, to cut things up, to make it look better.
00:29:44 –> 00:29:45
Next thing is light.
00:29:45 –> 00:29:48
so if you have one, source of light, that’s okay.
00:29:48 –> 00:29:51
You can’t control it necessarily, and this
is looking, the slide is looking down.
00:29:51 –> 00:29:52
It’s an overhead shot.
00:29:52 –> 00:29:55
if it’s directly at your face, that’s okay.
00:29:55 –> 00:29:58
what would be better is if you
could move it slightly to the side.
00:29:59 –> 00:30:04
The reason why you want to slightly bias your, your,
lighting is if you see my face right now, this side is more exposed.
00:30:05 –> 00:30:08
It’s wa- better lit than here, but that gives me some contrast, right?
00:30:08 –> 00:30:10
That gives me a little bit of depth in my face.
00:30:11 –> 00:30:17
if I change that, see now that’s pretty even lighting, so
I’ve got studio lights set up, so I can do this kind
00:30:17 –> 00:30:19
of thing, but see the difference with pretty even lighting.
00:30:21 –> 00:30:27
Now my face loses some of that drama, some of that
depth, and I get way more reflection on my glasses.
00:30:27 –> 00:30:31
If I kill that light now I get back to this different, it seems shading.
00:30:31 –> 00:30:36
I’ve got more light on this side of my face, and
less here, which gives me a little bit of depth.
00:30:36 –> 00:30:39
There’s a little more cinematic look, very, very simple thing to do.
00:30:39 –> 00:30:41
so you can do that with one light by adjusting it.
00:30:42 –> 00:30:48
Ideally, you’ve got multiple lights, so
that’s what I’ve got here for my setup.
00:30:48 –> 00:30:50
I have a massive floor to ceiling window,
which is giving me, my key light.
00:30:50 –> 00:30:54
I actually have an enhanced, so there’s
a, a, a diffuser to make that softer.
00:30:54 –> 00:31:00
and then, when you saw, when I put on that other light,
that was my fill light that I don’t actually need today, but
00:31:00 –> 00:31:06
that was overpowered, so that fill light should really be lower to
make it look, a little bit, more of that contrast.
00:31:06 –> 00:31:10
And, you’re going to have to adjust based on the
conditions, especially if you’re using natural
00:31:10 –> 00:31:13
light, as things change throughout the day.
00:31:13 –> 00:31:17
That’s the one challenge of natural light is
nature controls what you don’t [laughs] so you need
00:31:17 –> 00:31:20
to adjust that, but one strong light to four…
00:31:20 –> 00:31:26
about 45 degrees away from your face on this angle, and a
weaker light on the other matching angle will give you a really
00:31:26 –> 00:31:27
nice depth, and I could probably use a little less light here.
00:31:27 –> 00:31:27
let’s see what that looks like.
00:31:27 –> 00:31:37
Mess around, so if I re- remove that, I don’t get as
much contrast, and I’m back to more even lighting,
00:31:37 –> 00:31:39
which I don’t think is nearly as, as dramatic, right?
00:31:39 –> 00:31:42
So, maybe I just change the co- color of that light.
00:31:43 –> 00:31:48
So, that’s a key thing with lighting, and then, in an ideal
setup, you also have a light behind you, sort of at
00:31:48 –> 00:31:52
this angle coming this way to illuminate the back of your head.
00:31:52 –> 00:31:58
Now, if you break my number one rule, you
are absolutely 100% going to need this light.
00:32:00 –> 00:32:02
My number one rule is very simple.
00:32:03 –> 00:32:10
Please, please for the love of anything you
worship, do not use virtual backgrounds.
00:32:12 –> 00:32:15
Just don’t, just, just don’t.
00:32:17 –> 00:32:19
I can end the screen right there, and be happy.
00:32:19 –> 00:32:26
If like one person came away from this going, I’m not going to use a
virtual background anymore, so the reason why I say virtual backgrounds
00:32:26 –> 00:32:33
are bad, I would much rather you be behind a solid wall,
with a little bit of light applied to make it look more interesting,
00:32:33 –> 00:32:38
because virtual backgrounds are A, they’re CPU intensive, but
the, basically the computer is trying to figure out the difference
00:32:38 –> 00:32:45
between you and the background, so what I’ve got right now here in
optics where my background is blurrier than, me,
00:32:45 –> 00:32:48
is, what the virtual backgrounds are trying to achieve.
00:32:48 –> 00:32:54
Now, the problem with that is most of the time, and you’ll see it
a lot with what’s left of my hair, and, with people
00:32:54 –> 00:33:00
who have, different, clothing on is that the computer
can’t cut it out properly, especially if they’re moving a lot, right?
00:33:00 –> 00:33:01
Another pro tip don’t move.
00:33:02 –> 00:33:04
they’re, when they’re moving a lot, the computer can’t keep up.
00:33:04 –> 00:33:10
Well, what you can do to help that is actually add
that hair light, adding a light between you and
00:33:10 –> 00:33:14
the background provides a stronger edge, right?
00:33:14 –> 00:33:19
It’s a stronger edge that gives you, a good pop between
you and the background, which makes it easier for the computer
00:33:19 –> 00:33:22
to cut the background out, and replace it with something else.
00:33:22 –> 00:33:24
It’s the exact same theory when you’re using a green screen.
00:33:24 –> 00:33:31
If you’ve ever seen a low budget movie, they tend to not be able
to, properly separate the person from the green screen.
00:33:31 –> 00:33:36
You’ll see little edges of green all the way around,
because there’s no light between this subject and the
00:33:36 –> 00:33:38
background, and I’m glad you guys are agreeing.
00:33:38 –> 00:33:39
Robert, Mariel, thank you.
00:33:39 –> 00:33:40
glad you’re staying with me.
00:33:40 –> 00:33:45
I was waiting for people to drop off the stream after I said no
virtual backgrounds, and I’m glad you guys are still with us.
00:33:46 –> 00:33:46
but that’s the difference.
00:33:46 –> 00:33:51
You need light to help you separate from your
background so that the computer can calculate it.
00:33:51 –> 00:33:57
and if you do want to use a virtual background, please
just make it a simple, one wall solid color, or maybe a
00:33:57 –> 00:34:03
very subtle gradient, from behind your head out to give
it a little bit of texture, because there are, you know,
00:34:03 –> 00:34:08
the one acceptable use case on the virtual background thing is
basically you can’t change your physical surroundings, so you want
00:34:08 –> 00:34:13
to, create some privacy there, and in those cases make
sure you’ve got that light, between you and the background,
00:34:13 –> 00:34:18
and make sure you don’t move, so that once it’s calculated, it’s
the minimal effort for the computer, but that’s the key here.
00:34:18 –> 00:34:21
And again, these slides are all going to be up
on my site so you can refer back to them,
00:34:21 –> 00:34:23
because you don’t need crazy complicated lights.
00:34:23 –> 00:34:25
You can do this with very simple, houselights.
00:34:25 –> 00:34:29
Another great, great thing is the light on your ca- phone.
00:34:29 –> 00:34:35
Your lighting on your phone works as a pretty good light,
when you position it properly, so you see the drama it adds there.
00:34:35 –> 00:34:40
I would never light myself this way, if I was doing a Halloween
broadcast maybe, but if you were, don’t have a
00:34:40 –> 00:34:43
flexible light source handy when in a pinch you can do this.
00:34:43 –> 00:34:47
obviously you can buy a bunch of lights,
when I can, I can add the links up there for you to.
00:34:48 –> 00:34:53
of course Raph being Raph on the, on the comments has
me as his ba- virtual background, which I will officially add
00:34:53 –> 00:34:56
is yet another exemption to my no virtual background rules.
00:34:56 –> 00:34:58
If it’s me, you’re good to go baby.
00:34:58 –> 00:35:01
that’s just quality live stream, I mean, that’s what that is.
00:35:01 –> 00:35:02
So, that’s lighting.
00:35:03 –> 00:35:06
Let’s talk audio for a second, because I
don’t know if the microphone’s picking up.
00:35:06 –> 00:35:09
I assume it is, but another pro tip, yeah, there you go.
00:35:11 –> 00:35:12
Don’t put ice in your drink.
00:35:13 –> 00:35:14
I love really cold drinks.
00:35:15 –> 00:35:19
and if you put, ice in them, the microphone
is probably going to pick that up, so no ice in your drinks
00:35:19 –> 00:35:24
’cause it’ll ding off there, but audio is another
thing that’s really, really easy to clean up quickly.
00:35:25 –> 00:35:26
Key things here.
00:35:26 –> 00:35:27
Microphones have direction.
00:35:28 –> 00:35:32
Yeah, they, they have direction,
and hard surfaces bounce sounds.
00:35:32 –> 00:35:35
So you heard me earlier say that,
this acoustic foam doesn’t do too much.
00:35:35 –> 00:35:39
it helps, it’s little pyramids, and it
helps, bounce the sound a little bit.
00:35:39 –> 00:35:41
I have a simpler example.
00:35:41 –> 00:35:42
This one I can actually show you.
00:35:43 –> 00:35:44
this one does pretty well.
00:35:44 –> 00:35:46
This is a portable acoustic shield.
00:35:47 –> 00:35:52
Most of the time, if I’m doing a radio broadcast I have this
behind the microphone, so I’m speaking into it, so that it will
00:35:52 –> 00:35:55
actually, dissipate the sound, so that it doesn’t echo back.
00:35:56 –> 00:36:01
I also have some custom sound, sound panels that I’ve put up,
on the opposing wall, because unfortunately,
00:36:01 –> 00:36:07
as much as I love my home studio, it’s hardwood
floor, I’d say 30% of the wall surfaces are glass.
00:36:07 –> 00:36:09
The rest are just plain.
00:36:09 –> 00:36:10
There’s not much on them.
00:36:10 –> 00:36:12
and, it’s rather echoey, right?
00:36:12 –> 00:36:20
So, I’ve done things to dampen that sound, to reduce that bounce, so
three major types of microphones you’re going to see just standard mics.
00:36:21 –> 00:36:23
These come in, different capsules inside.
00:36:23 –> 00:36:25
They have different warmth, but,
on the left you see just microphones.
00:36:26 –> 00:36:32
they’re most common, but then you’re going to see
things like a lavalier mic, so this is a lav mic, and this is
00:36:32 –> 00:36:36
what I can see if we get focused on that it’s really small,
so it’s going to be hard, that’s why I put a picture
00:36:36 –> 00:36:39
up there, but lav mics are normally attached on clothing.
00:36:40 –> 00:36:41
very, very subtle.
00:36:41 –> 00:36:46
They are, they’re not long throw mics, so they won’t pick up
stuff from across the room, but they are semi-directional,
00:36:46 –> 00:36:49
so they’ll go up in a cone basically from where they’re presented.
00:36:49 –> 00:36:51
but these can be, these are very, very useful.
00:36:51 –> 00:36:54
They are used a lot of time in interviews, because they’re very subtle.
00:36:54 –> 00:36:57
the most common you’re going to see for
streaming, and the ones that I recommend a lot of the
00:36:57 –> 00:37:01
time are actually shotgun mics, so this is a shotgun mic.
00:37:01 –> 00:37:06
It is a long tube, it is a longer version
of the one that you’re seeing on screen right now.
00:37:06 –> 00:37:10
you can see that for, for reference,
that is a full, like high end shotgun mic.
00:37:10 –> 00:37:12
this is a smaller shotgun mic.
00:37:12 –> 00:37:18
You can see this is a dead cat, this is a windscreen on
top of it, but if I take the windscreen off underneath
00:37:18 –> 00:37:20
you will see that as a tiny little shotgun mic.
00:37:21 –> 00:37:27
It’s designed to sit on top of a camera, or, on a smart
phone, on a cold shoe mount, and it is a directional
00:37:27 –> 00:37:33
microphone, so that’s why shotgun mics are really, really good, I’m
actually using the one you see on screen right now for the stream.
00:37:33 –> 00:37:38
It is pointed down and up towards me, so that it
is only getting my voice, so that people around,
00:37:38 –> 00:37:41
or out on the street, you shouldn’t pick up that noise.
00:37:41 –> 00:37:45
That’s why they’re very, very good for, streams, for videos.
00:37:45 –> 00:37:50
A lot of the time for, TV br- shows, when you’re
recording a TV show, what you’re going to see is the,
00:37:50 –> 00:37:55
you won’t see it, but you’ll see it after the fact sometimes
in the making of is that shotgun mics are actually right out
00:37:55 –> 00:38:00
of frame, so the shotgun mic would be hanging up in front of
me, pointed down towards my head and about there, so
00:38:00 –> 00:38:03
you won’t be able to see it, but you’d be able to hear, right?
00:38:03 –> 00:38:06
‘Cause my voice is getting broadcast out,
and getting caught into the microphone.
00:38:06 –> 00:38:07
these are very, very handy.
00:38:07 –> 00:38:13
The challenge you have with omnidirectional
mics, so mics that go everywhere, is that
00:38:13 –> 00:38:15
they’re going to pick up the sound everywhere.
00:38:15 –> 00:38:17
so I’m quarantined here with my family.
00:38:17 –> 00:38:22
They’re around, they’re still doing their stuff, and
because I’m using a directional mic, it is far less likely
00:38:22 –> 00:38:26
that you’re going to hear them, off camera, right?
00:38:26 –> 00:38:28
Now, if I was using a standard directional mic, you…
00:38:28 –> 00:38:30
or an omnidirectional mic, you might hear them.
00:38:30 –> 00:38:32
Now, I also have, a mic, mic.
00:38:32 –> 00:38:34
This is a PodMic from Rode.
00:38:34 –> 00:38:37
I really like Rode for the mics, still there’s a bunch of
great [inaudible 00:40:50] that I’ll put in the references.
00:38:37 –> 00:38:39
This one is also directional.
00:38:39 –> 00:38:45
The important thing, and you see this all the time with a Yeti
from Blue, is to understand how this microphone captures sound.
00:38:45 –> 00:38:48
This particular microphone you speak directly into, right?
00:38:48 –> 00:38:52
You should be about a hank 10 away from it,
and you speak directly into the microphone.
00:38:52 –> 00:38:57
For the Yeti, for those of you that have
the Yeti, you speak into it this way.
00:38:58 –> 00:39:02
The amount of times I see people speaking
into the top of the Yeti, it blows my mind.
00:39:02 –> 00:39:04
That’s not how the Yeti works.
00:39:04 –> 00:39:06
The Yeti, you speak into, parallel.
00:39:06 –> 00:39:10
You speak directly into the thing, and
every microphone has a direction like that.
00:39:10 –> 00:39:15
Once you get used to different mic designs, you won’t have to ask,
but the easiest way to do is to ask if you’re, working
00:39:15 –> 00:39:18
with a team, how the, what the directionality on the mics are.
00:39:18 –> 00:39:20
if not, then just do a little research on your own.
00:39:20 –> 00:39:27
But, for your live streaming I strongly recommend shotgun
mics or a lav mic if you’re, not able to get,
00:39:27 –> 00:39:32
clean, sound, or if you think you’re going
to walk a lot, so that’s the downside of the shotgun mics.
00:39:32 –> 00:39:36
If I was going to do a presentation on my whiteboards
[inaudible 00:41:51] I was going to teach a class like
00:39:36 –> 00:39:41
live, and do a physical whiteboard, I wouldn’t want to
shotgun mic, because most of the time I’m going to be facing
00:39:41 –> 00:39:43
away, and you’re not going to hear me nearly as clear.
00:39:45 –> 00:39:49
Now, what I said there was I’d be facing away and
you’re not going to hear me nearly as clearly.
00:39:49 –> 00:39:57
If I had a lav mic on my shirt when I turn that
turns with me, so it’s not going to be near.
00:39:57 –> 00:40:01
I’m not going to drop off nearly as much, so if you’re a
mover, if you’re going to be turning away from the camera
00:40:01 –> 00:40:05
a lot, and you shouldn’t unless you’re giving them another
subject like the whiteboard a lav might be a better.
00:40:06 –> 00:40:10
you’re going to be wired up with a lav, but you
can get, little things like these transmitters.
00:40:11 –> 00:40:18
This is a wireless system that lets me take that lav as a wireless lav,
so this would attach to my belt, another attached to my computer, and
00:40:18 –> 00:40:22
I’d be able to, walk around, and still have really clear audio.
00:40:24 –> 00:40:29
Key thing to be aware of as well, different styles
of microphone, so this big long shotgun is a, XLR.
00:40:30 –> 00:40:33
I think you can see that, that is, there you go.
00:40:34 –> 00:40:39
3 prong XLR, standard for, the last
few decades to connect audio equipment.
00:40:39 –> 00:40:45
this needs to connect into a DAC, so a digital
audio converter, so I have a box down, on my desk
00:40:45 –> 00:40:50
that converts, the XLR cables, gives me a bunch
of pre-amps, and some cool stuff to play with the sound.
00:40:50 –> 00:40:58
Then it converts it into an audio signal for my computer as
opposed to, this is the Rode NTG USB, shotgun,
00:40:58 –> 00:41:01
which goes directly, and this is a digital audio convert.
00:41:02 –> 00:41:03
So, I prefer simple.
00:41:03 –> 00:41:09
I try to go digital audio converter when I can, but I’ve got
enough microphones to justify a digital audio converter deck box.
00:41:09 –> 00:41:14
a whole multitude of things there, but just to be
aware, sometimes you may also end up with,
00:41:14 –> 00:41:18
this is just a straight, standard TRRS audio cable.
00:41:18 –> 00:41:21
you’re going to see that on your phone a lot of the time.
00:41:21 –> 00:41:27
I want to see if I can rack focus on this, so this is, from
the lav mic, there we go, so you see there’s two little bands there.
00:41:28 –> 00:41:31
That is a standard TRS connection.
00:41:32 –> 00:41:37
TRRS has a third band, and that’s what our cell
phones use for, the audio controls, and stuff.
00:41:38 –> 00:41:42
Be very careful when you’re using these
microphones to know your extra R in the TRRS.
00:41:43 –> 00:41:46
You may need a converter, to help it
actually work as an, as a microphone.
00:41:47 –> 00:41:50
Otherwise, it’s going in on the wrong
cable, and it thinks it’s a headphone.
00:41:50 –> 00:41:52
Again, I’ll put in the references, don’t sweat it too much.
00:41:53 –> 00:41:56
and if you guys have questions as
we’re going through this, you, you let me know.
00:41:56 –> 00:41:57
I know I’m just kind of streaming on here.
00:41:57 –> 00:41:58
but that was part of the point.
00:41:58 –> 00:42:01
but again, comments, LinkedIn, live on, YouTube.
00:42:01 –> 00:42:03
Happy to answer anything you got.
00:42:04 –> 00:42:05
Subjects, let’s talk about that.
00:42:05 –> 00:42:07
[inaudible 00:44:30] we’re getting near the end here.
00:42:07 –> 00:42:08
thank you for bearing with me for this long.
00:42:08 –> 00:42:10
Hopefully, this has been useful.
00:42:10 –> 00:42:12
Hopefully, you guys have learned something from this.
00:42:12 –> 00:42:14
subjects are where most of you come into place.
00:42:14 –> 00:42:17
The mechanics and logistics of streaming,
we’ve covered a lot of that now.
00:42:17 –> 00:42:18
We’ve added some tips in there.
00:42:18 –> 00:42:21
and I’ll put some more up in
those references as I think of them.
00:42:21 –> 00:42:23
but subjects, let’s start with the easy ones, screens.
00:42:25 –> 00:42:30
Please for the love of everything do not share
your entire desktop, and turn off notifications.
00:42:35 –> 00:42:37
Don’t turn on, turn off your notifications.
00:42:37 –> 00:42:43
The reason being, you never know what you forgot to cover up,
and you never know what’s coming in on your notifications.
00:42:43 –> 00:42:48
I have been in meetings, I’m sure you guys have all been in meetings
when somebody who’s presenting share their entire desktop forgot to
00:42:48 –> 00:42:55
turn off notifications, and somebody’s back channeling them during
the meeting through Messenger, and you see what they’re saying.
00:42:55 –> 00:43:00
I can’t believe, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and it’s
up there on the screen for everybody to see, or you see
00:43:00 –> 00:43:02
their meeting invites, or you see their email come in.
00:43:02 –> 00:43:07
As a security, and a privacy guy please
just don’t share your entire screen.
00:43:07 –> 00:43:13
The only time you ever should be sharing your entire screen is if you
create an entirely new account that is only for presenting, and you
00:43:13 –> 00:43:20
use that as an isolated setup, and you want to s- show, you know, hey,
this is how you click here, this is how you go there, blah, blah, blah.
00:43:20 –> 00:43:24
No matter what, turn off notifications unless
you need to show that actual notification.
00:43:24 –> 00:43:30
All of these, pieces of studio software allow
you to s- share an individual app, but I’m sorry Robert
00:43:30 –> 00:43:34
if you learned that one the hard way, it is a
tough lesson, and normally it’s a lesson you learn once.
00:43:34 –> 00:43:37
so, when you’re sharing your screen, zoom in.
00:43:37 –> 00:43:39
Like zoom in man.
00:43:39 –> 00:43:43
make your fonts bigger, make it, you
know, visible for people because you got to remember most of
00:43:43 –> 00:43:51
the time we are, lucky enough to have monster,
monster, displays, and that’s great, but
00:43:51 –> 00:43:55
when you’re streaming them out, it gets crunched really, really
bad, and I’m glad, Raph you got something out of this.
00:43:55 –> 00:43:57
I will absolutely follow up with you later, buddy.
00:43:57 –> 00:44:00
and I’m glad you’re adding
stuff, up on your Amazon cart.
00:44:00 –> 00:44:01
Hopefully, it’s been useful.
00:44:01 –> 00:44:06
For the rest of you I’m going to add that list of,
things, possibilities, gear I’ve tested, gear I know about
00:44:06 –> 00:44:09
to that reference like on Mark NCA, so you can check it out.
00:44:09 –> 00:44:11
and yes, [inaudible 00:46:44] it can absolutely be embarrassing.
00:44:11 –> 00:44:17
I know when I share out an app, especially a web
browser, I can go, “Oh my God, what did I surf?” Right?
00:44:17 –> 00:44:22
‘Cause out of context things can look really, really bad, but as you’re
sharing that, zoom it, so make sure that it’s, it’s large.
00:44:22 –> 00:44:23
You know, as I mentioned we have big screens.
00:44:23 –> 00:44:25
I’m presenting off an iMac.
00:44:25 –> 00:44:26
It’s got a 5K display.
00:44:26 –> 00:44:27
It’s great.
00:44:27 –> 00:44:32
I love it, but when I’m sharing it with you, you guys can’t see the,
the screen, the font size that I have, so zoom in, especially if
00:44:32 –> 00:44:35
you’re making slides, make them bigger, brighter, more interactive.
00:44:35 –> 00:44:38
and on that note for slides, share PowerPoint in a window.
00:44:38 –> 00:44:39
That’s what I’m doing now.
00:44:39 –> 00:44:40
That’s why you see the little Chrome up top.
00:44:40 –> 00:44:45
if I was presenting in something other than StreamYard,
you would be able to see, that would be gone.
00:44:45 –> 00:44:47
or export them to a PDF.
00:44:47 –> 00:44:51
The reason being, even if you have multiple displays,
because Keynote and PowerPoint are very greedy.
00:44:51 –> 00:44:54
As soon as you start to present, they take over the entire display.
00:44:54 –> 00:44:57
You lose your audience view, you lose your streaming view.
00:44:57 –> 00:45:02
If something goes wrong, you have no idea, not a good thing.
00:45:02 –> 00:45:07
So, in PowerPoint, if you go to the settings for
the, if you got to slide show on the ribbon, there
00:45:07 –> 00:45:09
is a setup slide show button, you can click on that.
00:45:09 –> 00:45:12
The second option from the top lets you present in a window.
00:45:12 –> 00:45:15
You still get all your animations, you still get everything.
00:45:16 –> 00:45:17
It’s very, very useful.
00:45:17 –> 00:45:18
Robert, thanks for joining.
00:45:18 –> 00:45:19
I appreciate you taking the time.
00:45:20 –> 00:45:26
I hate PowerPoint with a passion, and yet I still use it to
present on stream because of this mode you’re seeing right now.
00:45:26 –> 00:45:27
Very, very useful.
00:45:27 –> 00:45:30
If you don’t want to use PowerPoint, you can go
to, PDF viewer, and do the same thing.
00:45:30 –> 00:45:33
Way more useful because you want to be able
to see what’s going on, on your stream.
00:45:34 –> 00:45:36
Also, stop moving your cursor.
00:45:37 –> 00:45:42
Your cursor is not a pointy thing to point
at people, and show them what’s going on.
00:45:42 –> 00:45:44
It is distracting, it is annoying.
00:45:45 –> 00:45:47
It’s not accomplishing the goal that you want.
00:45:47 –> 00:45:52
So, stop moving your cursor, keep it
steady, and that goes for people too.
00:45:52 –> 00:45:53
Don’t move around a lot.
00:45:53 –> 00:45:56
You d- should not need to move that
much, but people, it’s tricky.
00:45:56 –> 00:46:02
It’s challenging to talk, so I’ve been talking to you
guys for 49 minutes clearly, directly into a camera.
00:46:02 –> 00:46:05
I’m used to it, but it’s really disorienting for most people.
00:46:05 –> 00:46:09
it is difficult for people to
understand how to, how to do this.
00:46:10 –> 00:46:11
you know, and there, and there’s a few tricks here.
00:46:11 –> 00:46:13
I’m going to, I’m going to walk through this,
and if you have questions you let me know.
00:46:14 –> 00:46:16
the biggest one is look into the lens.
00:46:16 –> 00:46:19
That’s, that’s how you make eye contact with your audience.
00:46:21 –> 00:46:27
You’ll see for that one I, I didn’t, I was actually
looking at you the stream on, on my PC, on my iMac,
00:46:27 –> 00:46:30
and that’s sort of a normal problem for people.
00:46:30 –> 00:46:37
The, you know, even in a video call is that they’ll look at
the display of the people on screen instead of into the lens.
00:46:38 –> 00:46:45
The lens is directly how you make eye contact with your audience, so
when I’m right now looking directly into the lens, it takes a little
00:46:45 –> 00:46:48
doing ’cause, even now I want to look at the monitor above the lens.
00:46:48 –> 00:46:49
but you look directly in the lens.
00:46:49 –> 00:46:51
This is how you make eye contact, this is how you make an impact.
00:46:51 –> 00:46:56
Now, you don’t need to creepy stare like this all
the time, but you do need to look at the lens.
00:46:56 –> 00:47:02
Now, if you’re coding and teaching people to code, and have this
sort of off angle camera that can work sometimes as long as you
00:47:02 –> 00:47:09
remember to look back into the camera, and this is probably the
biggest issue with, streaming off a DSLR, or doing video
00:47:09 –> 00:47:14
work off a, an actual camera is that it’s not as conveniently located
as that webcam just in the top of your display, but even if you’re
00:47:14 –> 00:47:18
using your webcam, look up at the webcam not at what’s on the screen.
00:47:19 –> 00:47:26
Easy tip to help you here, take the video, or the window that
you’re looking at on your PC and shove it to the top, just close
00:47:26 –> 00:47:32
to the camera as you possibly can, just because that will
help you look up, and make that eye contact looking into the lens.
00:47:32 –> 00:47:34
It makes a massive, massive difference.
00:47:34 –> 00:47:36
A couple of key tips here as well.
00:47:36 –> 00:47:37
Try not to fidget.
00:47:37 –> 00:47:38
Don’t be doing this.
00:47:38 –> 00:47:44
Don’t be doing this all the time, don’t be like, you
know, clicking on a pen or working with something with your hands.
00:47:45 –> 00:47:47
All that stuff is very distracting, right?
00:47:47 –> 00:47:52
second of all, be open and honest, so right back to the
start of the stream when, the audio of the stream was
00:47:52 –> 00:47:58
kicking in another window, can’t cover that up, can’t walk that
back, just acknowledge [inaudible 00:50:37] here was a problem.
00:47:58 –> 00:48:02
okay, I’m going to ignore, you know, I’m going
to just fix that, and bear with me for two seconds,
00:48:02 –> 00:48:04
and then slow down, right, slow down and breathe.
00:48:04 –> 00:48:05
Understand your pacing.
00:48:05 –> 00:48:08
You can get really nervous, and, and push through.
00:48:08 –> 00:48:08
That’s a big sign.
00:48:08 –> 00:48:11
I, you know, that’s a big symptom of
people getting nervous is they get faster.
00:48:12 –> 00:48:18
but more likely because there’s no interaction, because
there’s no feedback, you just tend to race through, so when
00:48:18 –> 00:48:22
you’re in an audience, and I give a lot of presentations
to folks all around the world, or at least I
00:48:22 –> 00:48:24
used to, travel around, and give presentations.
00:48:24 –> 00:48:31
When you’re in the room with somebody, you can read that room,
you can see how your delivery is working, you can see if it’s
00:48:31 –> 00:48:33
registering with people, you can understand their body language.
00:48:33 –> 00:48:39
Even when I do my radio column, and I’m in studio versus
remote, if I’m in studio talking to the host, Robin
00:48:39 –> 00:48:44
and I are having a conversation, and just like any other
conversation we, read off of each other, so you
00:48:44 –> 00:48:47
can, you can know when to jump in, you know, when to pause.
00:48:47 –> 00:48:53
You can make these dramatic, sort of impacts, because
there’s that repres- repres- I can’t even
00:48:53 –> 00:48:58
say that word, so I’m going to acknowledge, be honest, and
open that I cannot say represe- see, I can’t even say it.
00:48:59 –> 00:49:00
I’m not going to be able to say that.
00:49:00 –> 00:49:04
I’m just going to move on, but there’s a reciprocal,
I can say that one, back and forth.
00:49:04 –> 00:49:06
There’s a body language, there’s a lot of subtexts.
00:49:06 –> 00:49:11
You don’t have that when you’re streaming alone, so right now
I’m talking, and I get some comments on LinkedIn, I’m getting
00:49:11 –> 00:49:17
comments on YouTube, so I get some interaction, but it’s not
timely because the stream is three or four seconds behind anyway,
00:49:18 –> 00:49:22
so I’m not having that conversation, which means a lot of the
time you’re going to speed up, so if you don’t just caution
00:49:22 –> 00:49:29
yourself to slow down, breathe, maybe get a timer on screen, so
that you can, see, how you’re going for pacing.
00:49:29 –> 00:49:35
and like I said repeatedly, when something breaks, just
acknowledge it, move on, and hopefully have a backup in place, so if you
00:49:35 –> 00:49:42
can have two cameras, if you can have multiple mics, things like that,
so a lot of the time when this happened to me live on a stream three
00:49:42 –> 00:49:47
weeks ago, my camera, I had been using it all morning, it had
actually overheated, which is the first time it’s ever happened
00:49:47 –> 00:49:50
since I have this camera, and I was, I was so genuinely shocked.
00:49:50 –> 00:49:51
But, I was in the middle of an interview.
00:49:51 –> 00:49:57
I was interviewing [inaudible 00:52:39] Brazil from a, a
cloud guru, a fantastic friend, thankfully, and great, great
00:49:57 –> 00:50:03
guy, so he was totally fine, but, I’m interviewing
and my camera just dies, just goes completely black, and I’m
00:50:03 –> 00:50:05
like, what can I do when I’m in the middle of the stream?
00:50:05 –> 00:50:06
I can’t reboot the stream software.
00:50:06 –> 00:50:11
I can’t, you know, I try to, the camera’s got to
shut down and cool down, so I just switched over to my webcam.
00:50:12 –> 00:50:13
Not ideal, but you know what?
00:50:13 –> 00:50:18
It’s better than nothing, so I adjusted, and, and went on, and
I just acknowledge it, said, “Yep, my camera just overheated.
00:50:18 –> 00:50:21
I’m just going to switch over here.” same thing
happens, so in a pinch, you know, things are going to break.
00:50:21 –> 00:50:23
you, it’s life, right?
00:50:23 –> 00:50:26
It’s life, and that’s the challenge here, but,
if you’re honest and open about it, and
00:50:26 –> 00:50:29
acknowledge it, the audience is pretty good about it.
00:50:29 –> 00:50:32
So, last area I want to cover here, and
I know you guys have been super patient.
00:50:32 –> 00:50:33
You’ve been s- sticking with me the whole time.
00:50:33 –> 00:50:37
I very, very much appreciate it, is engagement,
and I’ve done an okay job today.
00:50:37 –> 00:50:39
Not a fantastic job.
00:50:39 –> 00:50:40
I, it really depends on it, it’s an art.
00:50:40 –> 00:50:42
It’s something that you need to practice.
00:50:42 –> 00:50:45
some platforms make it really hard, so
LinkedIn makes it hard so you have to monitor LinkedIn.
00:50:46 –> 00:50:53
if using StreamYard or ECAM, or, OBS, you can actually
pull in all of your comments from Facebook, from, YouTube, from
00:50:53 –> 00:50:59
Twitter, from Twitch into the software, and either display them
on the screen, or at least have just one place to look at them.
00:51:00 –> 00:51:06
If you’re splitting streams with y- LinkedIn and other platforms,
I recommend hopefully having a team behind you that can use
00:51:06 –> 00:51:11
something like a shared Google Doc that updates in real time
where they can scream all the comments to you so you can respond.
00:51:11 –> 00:51:14
but it’s nice to call out viewers, and
say hello to them, you know, because this
00:51:14 –> 00:51:17
is not, this is more of a conversational tone.
00:51:17 –> 00:51:20
and you’ll hopefully get more engagement
that way, you know, saying hi, and thanking,
00:51:20 –> 00:51:21
Robert for being here, thanking Raph for being here.
00:51:23 –> 00:51:25
Thank you all for being here, is part of that.
00:51:25 –> 00:51:30
regular reminders that people can participate,
it can be hard for people to ask a question, and they
00:51:30 –> 00:51:32
don’t feel comfortable about it, they’re not sure.
00:51:32 –> 00:51:36
you know, reminding them it’s okay, reminding them
that there are no bad questions, even having some
00:51:36 –> 00:51:41
seed questions just saying, you know, as I was writing out
this content, I thought of a few things that I hadn’t
00:51:41 –> 00:51:45
covered that may be really interesting to you, so, you know,
if you’re, here’s a potential question, this and go.
00:51:46 –> 00:51:51
also accepting the fact that, you know, people don’t
necessarily, like to, to comment directly on the stream.
00:51:51 –> 00:51:54
Maybe they want to think about it more so, so
being honest, and open, and letting people know.
00:51:54 –> 00:52:00
so for me here, if I, just readjust my view,
and I give you this one, you can hit me up, @marknca.
00:52:01 –> 00:52:04
I’m on, Twitter, on
LinkedIn here, on GitHub, on YouTube.
00:52:04 –> 00:52:11
Everywhere I go on social @marknca is me, and I’m happy
to chat about this stuff or you can email me, me@markn.ca.
00:52:11 –> 00:52:15
I am happy to talk about this stuff afterwards,
as well, and then just ask for input, right?
00:52:15 –> 00:52:17
Ask for input, ask for a share.
00:52:17 –> 00:52:19
Like, hey, if you guys want to see more material like this, let me know.
00:52:19 –> 00:52:21
If you want to see different stuff, let me know.
00:52:22 –> 00:52:26
I’m happy to cover whatever, in any chance you guys
get to share this content that shows me that it’s valuable.
00:52:26 –> 00:52:29
and asking for that in a polite
way, I don’t think is, is necessarily wrong.
00:52:29 –> 00:52:30
Don’t be overbearing about it.
00:52:31 –> 00:52:35
some fun examples if you watch, and if you
want some good, enjoyment, on YouTube during
00:52:35 –> 00:52:41
quarantine, check out how ridiculous, a team of lads
from, Perth, Australia, their basic premise is they drop
00:52:41 –> 00:52:47
stuff off a really high tower, about 45 meters high on the
trampolines, onto a trampoline that Mark [Rober 00:55:48]
00:52:47 –> 00:52:49
another one of my favorite YouTubers, built for them.
00:52:49 –> 00:52:52
and they have all these hilarious ways to
ask you to subscribe, and click the bell so that
00:52:52 –> 00:52:54
you’re notified, because that’s their business.
00:52:54 –> 00:52:59
They’re, they’re driven for ad revenue and for
subscriptions, so it’s not bad to ask for a share.
00:52:59 –> 00:53:04
It’s also proof, for you as a streamer that your
content’s working, but more importantly, any sort of input and
00:53:04 –> 00:53:06
feedback you can get, is, is a very, very positive thing.
00:53:06 –> 00:53:10
That’s something you should be looking for because
the idea of live streaming is really that engagement.
00:53:10 –> 00:53:15
It’s that back and forth, so for me, that’s everything I got today.
00:53:15 –> 00:53:17
I think that covered all the main points.
00:53:17 –> 00:53:18
there’s a lot of stuff, to this.
00:53:18 –> 00:53:20
There’s a lot of fun things.
00:53:20 –> 00:53:22
you know, the biggest thing for streaming I think is just start.
00:53:23 –> 00:53:29
If you go, on my YouTube channel, so youtube.com/marknca,
if you look at some of my early stuff, under
00:53:29 –> 00:53:32
the Mornings, With Mark playlist, it’s horrible.
00:53:32 –> 00:53:37
The content’s like reasonable, like the conversation’s reasonable,
but the, the technical quality around it is bad.
00:53:37 –> 00:53:40
so you know, the easy thing I ask when people
ask me like, “Hey, how [inaudible 00:56:45] streaming,
00:53:40 –> 00:53:44
and, you know, how have you gotten to the point where
you’ve got a good sp- like, you know, a reasonable setup?”
00:53:44 –> 00:53:45
I say, “Well, practice.
00:53:45 –> 00:53:46
It’s practice.
00:53:46 –> 00:53:46
It’s 100% of practicing.”
00:53:46 –> 00:53:50
Same with talking into a camera like this, it is all practice.
00:53:50 –> 00:53:52
You have to keep working at it to get better at it.
00:53:52 –> 00:53:58
It is a bizarre thing in the abstract for me to be sitting
here with people in the house yet I’m talking directly
00:53:58 –> 00:54:04
into a camera and even ignoring what’s going on, just go,
you know, on the side of my vision where all of you are
00:54:04 –> 00:54:06
going on, and periodically I look to see the comments.
00:54:06 –> 00:54:07
It’s a bizarre thing.
00:54:07 –> 00:54:08
You need to get used to it.
00:54:08 –> 00:54:10
Same with briefing and going live like this.
00:54:10 –> 00:54:12
It’s a skill for so- a lot of people.
00:54:12 –> 00:54:15
It’s not something that comes to most
people naturally, you have to practice it.
00:54:15 –> 00:54:19
That’s why having an outline, you
know, today I printed up all my slides.
00:54:19 –> 00:54:24
a lot of the time I just have bullet list of what I
want to talk about, and some reference points to bring in.
00:54:25 –> 00:54:30
As you get better at that, as you practice more, you
will have the ability to, bring in things like overlays,
00:54:30 –> 00:54:34
so that you can show a lot of the time, on my Mornings
With Mark, I’m talking about security and privacy issues.
00:54:34 –> 00:54:38
I’ll show webpages, and say, Hey, I was reading this article, and
show the page ’cause that’s a little more interesting than looking
00:54:38 –> 00:54:41
at my ugly mug, for seven or eight minutes straight.
00:54:41 –> 00:54:43
All these things, I think it’s a blast.
00:54:43 –> 00:54:44
I think it’s a ton of fun.
00:54:44 –> 00:54:49
I hopefully here with some great technical tips,
just to help you get some of the, basics down.
00:54:50 –> 00:54:55
I’m going to drop this link, which is what I’m doing over the, over
my shoulder here, I’m looking away from the camera, you can tell.
00:54:55 –> 00:54:59
That’s one of the reasons I like this angle, to be honest,
is that you can tell explicitly when I’m doing something.
Livestream 
