Multi-Camera Event Livestreaming from Axios Productions

New York City is not particularly known for its subtly and lack of events. In fact, it's quite the opposite. If nothing else, New York City is renowned as the home of, well, everything. From tiny events to massive concerts, the range of activities is essentially unequaled. With the surplus of things to do – be that educational, entertainment or anything else – in order to get the most out of your event, you need to find a way to not only stand out, but make it accessible to all.

In some cases, this is as simple as getting people through the door. For others, however, you might have to look towards guests attending, or rather viewing, from out of state. As a result, in comes the need for recording, televising, and in more recent times, livestreaming. 

Axios Productions, a New York-based production company that specializes in creating high-end multi-camera livestreams in New York City, has made a business out of producing livestreams (among other things).

That sounds great, but what exactly is livestreaming?

Livestreaming allows an audience from anywhere, from one to well over a million, to view an event in real time over the Internet. Unlike television, livestreaming permits viewers to interact via a chat room – not only with each other, but also with hosts, celebrities and even the event's featured speakers and guests. Streams can also be monetized via advertisements, selected specifically for your audience and event.

Livestreams are generally much more affordable than televising, while still appealing to an incredibly vast viewer-base. Smaller productions can utilize a single camera for the entire event, while the larger ones may find that to be inadequate. As such, multiple cameras may be preferred (similar to a television program in that they allow for a larger perspective). Specialists are required for more complex livestreams for the best results.

Axios Productions, a production and livestreaming expert, recently helped to bring one of TEDx's (a branch of the world-renowned TED conferences) latest events to life with multi-camera event livestreaming. Unlike television and other forms of recording, the entire TEDx Harlem production was streamed with a crew of just 15 people to over 700 live audience viewers. Three HD cameras with an additional feed for visual elements such as graphics, Powerpoint presentation, pictures and videos were used during the filming.

Livestreaming, through the use of a single camera, is simple enough to be done from a lone computer using nothing more than your webcam. However, scaling to accommodate such events as TEDx requires the use of multiple cameras – HD or otherwise – as well as a vast amount of engineering and planning. Of these tools, the most vital is the use of a "Tricaster system," which allows for streamers to feed multiple cameras into HD (anywhere from four to eight cameras) as well as load, edit and create on-screen graphics to be used during the live show.

On top of livestreaming, the entire event is also recorded and stored online, as well as a physical copy (when available) in a wide range of formats. 

If you're looking for a way to share your event with the world, not just your fellow New Yorker, livestreaming is more than just a unique suggestion. It is one of the most powerful tools for reaching not only the technological youth, but for accessing an audience across the planet. Streams can be monetized through advertisements, or remain entirely ad free. 

Whether you're hosting an event, producing a concert or setting up a conference, livestreaming allows you to reach more than just your local audience, while not causing you to go bankrupt or rely on old technology. If you're serious about your event, look into the support of a professional production and livestreaming crew, such as New York's Axios Productions.