! Spreecast Help Guide: How to Produce a Spreecast!

Transcription

1 ! Spreecast Help Guide: How to Produce a Spreecast! This document is meant to serve as in-depth guide for how to create and produce a spreecast. That said, if you have any questions or issues that are not addressed by this guide or need further clarification about something, you can find extensive additional information online in the spreecast Knowledge Center, located here: What you need to get started: You will need a computer with a webcam and earphones/headphones. A hardline Internet connection (Ethernet cord) is always preferred, but strong wireless should also be fine. The biggest variable in the quality of your spreecast experience will be the quality of your connection. Please make sure you have an up-to-date version of Adobe Flash on your computer (check here; please have version 11.2 or higher). Note: Safari and Chrome are our preferred browsers but Firefox/Internet Explorer should be fine as long as you update Flash. When in doubt, update Flash:

2 ! Part 1: Creating your spreecast 1. Go to If this is the first time going to the Spreecast site (at all or from a particular computer) you will either have to log in or sign up to create your Spreecast account. Note for creating an account: You can sign-up via your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter credentials, or via . If you choose to sign up via , you will need to accept a confirmation in order to authenticate your account. Accept the and refresh the Spreecast homepage. If you don t see the within 5 minutes, check your spam folder.

3 2. Once signed in you ll land on Spreecast s homepage. To begin creating your spreecast click the green Create Spreecast button. Note for creating a spreecast: You can create your spreecast event page weeks, days, or minutes in advance of your actual event. Once you create the virtual spreecast room, you can start promoting and sharing the link to your event via social channels, embed it on other sites, etc., to increase the visibility of your spreecast and the number of attendees on the day of.!

4 3. Fill out the information for your spreecast a. Name your spreecast, choose its level of visibility, schedule it now or in advance, give the event a cover photo, select the category it belongs in, add a description, and add tags. b. When done, click Create Spreecast and you will be taken to your spreecast event page. Remember: You can alter these details at any time after creating your spreecast by clicking Edit next to the title of your spreecast

5 4. Now you will be taken to your spreecast event page. If this is your first time using spreecast (at all, or from a certain computer) you will be prompted to: a. Enable your webcam in the Adobe Dialogue Box that pops up; click Allow and Remember, and then click Close Note: Google Chrome users will have to enable their cameras twice look for a gray bar at top of page, and allow! b. Select the correct camera and microphone for your computer in the setup pop-up box; if you see options for either, click whichever you want to use. Once you see your video preview and green bar moving up/down then you know it is working.

6 5. Welcome to your spreecast event page (and our virtual greenroom!) a. If you are ready to go live, click the red Go Live! button and skip to page 15. b. If you are not ready to go live (i.e. still setting-up or your spreecast is in a few days), click Not Yet, I m Still Setting Up. Remember: Until you click the Go Live! button, you re in our virtual green room, and viewers cannot see or hear you getting setup, even though you re on camera. Instead, they will see whatever image you uploaded for your event and a countdown timer (similar to picture in the bottom right corner). Your View in the Virtual Green Room Audience View While You Are in the Virtual Green Room

7 ! Part 2: Getting ready for your spreecast The virtual green room is what we call our staging environment it s the time before you go live, where you can get ready for your spreecast (days or hours in advance). 1. Decide which platform features you want to enable or disable Click the Producer Settings tab in the top left corner of the screen and choose which features you d like to enable or disable: Camera Requests = Audience can request to ask questions on camera via their personal webcam using blue Camera button Question = Audience can submit text questions using blue Question button (which hosts can vet/share via queue) Do you want viewers to be able to see the submitted questions? = Visibility level of items in the Screen Queue. Selecting starred means that only items that are manually starred in the queue will be visible to the audience. This is a good option if, for instance, you want to preload your own materials into the queue that you don t want viewers to see until you put them on screen.

8 2. Invite people to your spreecast in advance. If your spreecast is Public: Open to all, and findable on the Spreecast site; invite people using our Invite function, or grab the URL at the top of your spreecast page and share it via an e-newsletter, , blog post, tweet, FB, etc., and invite them to join using that link. Unlisted: Need spreecast event link to join; distribute event link to specific group via e-newsletter, social channels, , etc. Private: Invitation required; invite all guests using the Invite function (gray Invite button) on the spreecast page. The image below is what will be displayed when you opt to invite other users

9 3. Decide if you want to embed your spreecast on other external sites. You can embed your spreecast in as many places as you want to on a website, blog, or Facebook page, or on all three! Click the </> icon in the right hand bar next to the video player to grab the embed code for your spreecast. Learn more about how to embed a spreecast and about our different embedded player sizes here:

10 4. Preload items you want to share with viewers when you re live into the Questions and suggestions input box Spreecast is partnered with embed.ly so you can add 250+ kinds of external media links (videos, pics, PPTs) to the Questions and suggestions input box (see below) to share live with viewers. Check out our external media "how-to for more details. You can also preload text items into the Queue--questions, links, twitter handles, and other promotional materials--that you want to share. See our Questions and suggestions input box best practices for more tips. Note(s): When adding external media links to the input box, let the thumbnail of a video, tweet, etc., load before clicking Submit. For a YouTube video to auto play when it s put it on screen, add &autoplay=1 to the end of the URL before submitting it Remember: questions submitted from the audience will also show up in the Questions and suggestions input box, in addition to items you submit.

11 5. Decide if you want any co-producers to help you produce your live spreecast. There s no limit to the # of co-producers you can have on a spreecast, on or off camera. Colleagues can easily produce spreecasts together and divide up producer roles. For instance, if you re expecting a large/active spreecast, you might assign one person to moderate the Live Chat, another to vet/star questions in the Queue, and another to vet camera requests (depending on what features you ve enabled for your session). To invite someone to be a co-producer: Find their thumbnail in the Face Block area and click Make Producer. They will receive an invite, which they will accept. Once they accept, they will then have the ability to start/end the spreecast, moderate chat, vet questions, etc.

12 Note: If you choose to have co-producers, remember to communicate with each other both before and during your spreecast via the Producer Chat a private chat accessible only to co-producers. Go to the Producers tab, and click the arrow in the corner of the producer chat area to pop-out the Producer Chat box and move it around your screen so its easily accessible/readable. Tip: Make your on screen moderator a Producer too and tell them to pop open their Producer Chat. Communicate and coordinate with your moderator during the live spreecast using Producer Chat (for ex: Take one more audience text question then wrap up )

13 6. Invite your speakers or guests to join you on camera before you start your spreecast, and help them get set-up. You can do this an hour(s) before your spreecast goes live or a few days before. Either way, it s smart to get guests on early to check their video/audio feeds, connection, and troubleshoot any issues in advance. To do this: a. Locate your guest s thumbnail in the viewer s list section and click on it. Then click the blue Invite On Camera button in the pop up window. Note: You re still in the virtual green room (aka: not live) so your guest will not be able to see/hear you until you send them this invite (aka: give them a backstage pass)

14 Continued: Invite your speakers or guests to join you on camera before you start your spreecast, and help them get set-up. b. When they ve accepted your invite, you should be able to see their camera feed in the preview area (it can take a few seconds to come through). Once you see their preview click Put On Air. Note: If their feed is not coming through, private chat them to make sure they ve enabled their camera (if they re using Chrome, make sure they ve enabled their camera in both the Adobe Dialogue Box and in the gray pop up bar at the top of their webpage). If that is not the problem, make sure they have the correct camera selected for their computer by having them click the settings button in the bar beneath the video player. c. Repeat for other guests who will be on screen.

15 7. Once your guest(s) are on screen, check a few things before starting your spreecast Check your guest s background lighting and make sure it looks OK. Check your guest s audio: o If they can t hear you when on screen, tell them to click Settings icon in bar below the video and make sure the right mic is selected. Also, make sure they don t have the page open in two tabs and close other apps like Skype, ichat, etc. o Once you can hear them, check to make sure you don t hear any audio feedback (your voice coming out of a guest s computer speakers and back into the spreecast via their mic). If you do, your audience will hear it too, and it will be unpleasant. Putting all on camera participants in headphones/earphones will eliminate any possibility of this. If you/guest don t have headphones, encourage them to turn down their computer speaker volume. Check your guest s connectivity: Scroll over guest s face; the signal meter icon allows you to check their connectivity (bitrate, ping, & packet loss). o Ideally bandwidth (bitrate) will be over 150kbps, ping less than 100ms, and packet loss as close to 0% as possible. o Ask your guest to go to Ideally they will have 1.5 mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload bandwidth. o If your guest s connection is not good, encourage them to plug in with an Ethernet cord. If they cannot, encourage them to close out of other windows, applications, and ask others around them to get off the wireless Internet. o Remember: the biggest variable in the quality of a spreecast experiences is the quality of connections.

16 ! Part 3: Lights, Camera, Spreecast! 1. Start your spreecast. If you are going to be an off-camera producer, tell your on camera host to give the other guests a countdown when they are ready to go live and then click the red Go Live! button. Tell them a small box will pop up asking if they are sure they want to go live, and click the red Start Spreecast button again and then they will be live. Take yourself off screen at this point. If you are an on camera producer, do the above yourself and stay on camera.

17 Note: When you are live, you will see the red Live logo and a timer next to it telling you how long you have been live and recording.

18 2. Display items from the Screen Queue on screen during your spreecast. To share something with live viewers put it into the Screen Queue, find it at the bottom, and then click Put On Screen. a. If an item is text based (question, comment, hyperlink) it will show up below the video player in the viewer question and suggestion box (Example A below). To add something new to this area, enter your desired text in the viewer question and suggestion box and hit submit. Mouse over this item, and select put on air to add it to the current topic bar as shown below.

19 B. If you add an external media link to the Queue and put it on screen, it will pop up as a separate window within the player (see Example B below-- a YouTube video brought on screen) Note: When adding external media links, let the thumbnail of a video, tweet, etc., load before clicking Submit.

20 3. Ending your spreecast. When you want to end your live spreecast for everyone, click the gray End Spreecast button. A small window will pop up asking you if you are sure you want to end the spreecast for everyone click the blue End Spreecast for Everyone. If you are an off camera producer, we suggest you end the spreecast even if someone on camera started it.

21 4. Saving your spreecast. After ending your live spreecast, you will automatically be taken to a page where you can finalize the details of your archive. You can also decide when you want your archive to start playing back from (for instance, if you were on air before you realized you were set the playback time to begin when you started for real ). When done, click Save. Note: You can edit these details at any time by going to your archive and clicking the Edit button next to the title of your spreecast.

22 5. Archive complete. Now create Clips! You re all done! Enjoy your spreecast archive and even better, make shorter clips of the content to share across social media channels by clicking the blue Create a Clip button below the video player.

23 6. Create your very own Clips. To create a Clip either drag the green bar to the desired start time and end time, or manually enter the start and end time of your clip. Give your clip a title (and description if you want), preview it, and then click Create Clip.

24 7. Clip completed. Now don t forget to share! Now you can share your content across social channels, etc.! Tweet the link to your clip, share it on Facebook, grab the embed code in drop down tab to the left of the video player and embed it on your blog or website, etc. The world is your spree-oyster.

25 Congratulations! You have made it to the end and are on your way to becoming a pro. The world is now your spree-oyster Your sproyster.