Hybrid Events & Live Streaming
Connect the room with speakers, audiences and contributors anywhere
Hybrid production is no longer a separate type of event.
It is simply another way of extending a live production beyond the people physically in the room.
Comtec provides professional hybrid event and live streaming production for conferences, awards ceremonies, product launches, corporate communications and multi-location events across Manchester, the UK and internationally.
We can integrate remote speakers, online audiences and additional locations into a physical event using professional cameras, sound, presentation content, live streaming and technical production.
Or, where there is no physical audience, we can create and manage a fully streamed production designed specifically for people watching online.
The objective is the same in either case:
Make everyone feel part of the same event, wherever they happen to be.
Make everyone feel part of the same event, wherever they happen to be.
Professional Live Streaming Production
A professional event stream involves much more than pointing a camera at a stage and connecting it to the internet.
The online audience needs to hear clearly, see the right camera shot, follow presentations and video content, understand who is speaking and remain connected to what is happening in the room.
That means treating the stream as part of the production rather than as an afterthought.
Comtec can combine cameras, audio, graphics, presentations, video playback and live switching to create a programme specifically for the remote audience while simultaneously supporting the live event in the venue.
Remote Speakers & Panellists
Speakers do not always need to travel to the event.
Remote presenters, specialists, panellists and interviewees can be integrated into the live production so they can contribute from another location.
That may involve a single remote keynote speaker or several contributors joining discussions and panels throughout the programme.
The important part is not simply establishing the connection.
Remote contributors need to hear what they need to hear, see what they need to see and understand when they are live.
The audience in the room needs to see and hear them naturally.
And the production team needs control of how those contributions become part of the show.
Multi-Camera Production & Live Switching
Different events require different approaches to camera production.
A conference may need cameras covering keynote speakers, panel discussions and audience questions.
An awards ceremony may require stage coverage, winners, presenters and audience reactions.
A product launch may combine live cameras with presentation content, graphics, video and demonstrations.
Comtec can provide multi-camera production and live switching to combine those sources into a coherent programme for streamed audiences, additional venues, recording or large screens within the event itself.
Presentations, Graphics & Video
The online audience should not have to watch a distant camera shot of a presentation screen.
Presentation slides, video, graphics, speaker names and other visual content can be integrated directly into the streamed programme.
That gives the remote viewer a much clearer experience and allows the production to move naturally between speakers, cameras, presentations, video and other content.
Our Creative Media & Event Content team can also develop presentation graphics, animation, video and screen content specifically for the production.
Audience Interaction & Remote Q&A
Hybrid doesn’t have to mean passive viewing.
Depending on the event and platform, online audiences can participate through questions, polls, moderated Q&A and other forms of interaction.
Remote audience contributions can then be incorporated into the physical event, allowing speakers and presenters in the venue to respond to people watching elsewhere.
The appropriate solution depends on the event, audience and objectives rather than simply adding technology because it is available.
Recording & On-Demand Content
A live event can continue to deliver value after the audience has gone home.
Conference sessions, keynote presentations, interviews, panel discussions, product demonstrations and other event content can be recorded for later use.
That material can support internal communications, training, social media, marketing, stakeholder engagement or on-demand viewing.
Where appropriate, Comtec can plan the recording and content capture as part of the original production rather than trying to recover useful material afterwards.
Multi-Location Event Production
Sometimes an event needs to connect more than one physical location.
Comtec can help link venues, speakers and audiences so that content and contributions can move between locations as part of one coordinated production.
That might involve two venues, several regional locations or a central event connecting with contributors and audiences elsewhere.
The technology used to achieve that has changed dramatically over the years.
The production challenge hasn’t:
Everybody needs to feel that they are participating in the same event.
Experience That Predates Modern Streaming
Comtec’s experience of connecting speakers, audiences and events across different locations began long before today’s web-based meeting and streaming platforms.
Our production history includes major satellite-linked corporate communications projects connecting audiences and presenters across the UK and Europe.
Those productions required many of the same disciplines that successful hybrid events require today: careful planning, coordination between locations, reliable communications, technical redundancy and people who understand what happens if something doesn’t work as expected.
Today’s technology makes many of those connections considerably easier.
But easier technology doesn’t remove the need for good production.
The technology has changed. The production principles have not.
Reliability & Technical Redundancy
A hybrid event creates an additional consideration that a purely physical event doesn’t have:
The connection matters.
- Remote speakers depend upon it.
- Online audiences depend upon it.
- Sometimes additional venues depend upon it.
That is why the production needs to consider internet connectivity, audio and video signal paths, remote contributor connections, playback systems and appropriate contingency arrangements before the event begins.
Not every event needs the same level of redundancy.
The important thing is understanding where the risks are and designing the production appropriately.
Hybrid Awards Ceremonies
Awards events can extend beyond the room through live streaming, remote presenters, video contributions and content capture.
The challenge is to preserve the pace, atmosphere and sense of occasion for both the audience in the venue and the people watching elsewhere.
Explore Awards Ceremony Production.
Hybrid Conferences
For conferences, hybrid production can bring remote keynote speakers, specialists and panellists into the programme while allowing delegates who cannot attend physically to participate online.
Cameras, presentations, audience questions, graphics and remote contributors can all become part of one managed production.
Explore Conference Production.
Hybrid Product Launches
Product launches can connect customers, employees, distributors, media and stakeholders in different locations to the same launch moment.
Live presenters, product demonstrations, films, graphics, remote contributors and audience interaction can all be combined into the production.
Explore Product Launch Production.
Complete Production or Specialist Streaming Support
You don’t have to give Comtec the entire event.
We can manage the complete hybrid production or work alongside your existing agency, venue, internal events team or technical suppliers.
You may simply need cameras and streaming.
Remote speaker integration.
Recording.
A multi-location connection.
Or experienced technical production support to bring several existing elements together.
We work both ways.
Hybrid Event & Live Streaming Production in Manchester and Across the UK
Comtec is based in Manchester and provides hybrid event and live streaming production throughout the North West, across the UK and internationally.
Whether you need to stream a conference from Manchester, bring a remote keynote speaker into a corporate event, connect several locations or deliver a complete hybrid production, we can design the technical solution around the event rather than forcing the event around the technology.
Planning a Hybrid or Live Streamed Event?
Tell us about the audience, venue, speakers, locations and what you want the event to achieve.
We’ll help determine the right combination of cameras, sound, streaming, remote contribution, presentation systems and technical production.
Connect the room. Connect the audience. Make it one event.