2021 Virtual Events: Pre-Recorded or Live?

Despite missing the days when we met face-to-face to expand our network, businesses and event organizers are resorting to virtual events for promoting their products and services.

Perhaps you have already laid out strategies to produce engaging virtual events, and your next step is to determine the best approach to broadcast a session’s content.

Broadcasting virtual events be done in different ways, you can either opt to live stream, post pre-recorded content, or do a combination of both.

Not sure what you should choose? Together, let’s discover what broadcasting options you have for your next event.

Pre-Recorded Content vs. Live Streaming

When planning a virtual event, you need to decide whether to present live or pre-record the sessions.

With live streaming, you can broadcast your live video content from your chosen platform and engage with your followers in real-time.

On the other hand, pre-recorded content is when you record your presentation in advance and refine it before presenting it to your audience.

If you are hosting a virtual conference or webinar, you might want to consider a pre-recorded presentation. On the other hand, a live-streamed event is a great way to launch a new product, conduct an interview, or showcase behind-the-scenes activities.

Depending on your goal, you can mix pre-recorded and live content or stick with one format.

Benefits of Live Streaming

Give Your Content a Sense of Urgency

Your content becomes urgent and special when you are streaming a one-time-only live event.

Regular content can usually be accessed anytime, giving users the choice to deprioritize it.

However, if you make your stream available for a limited time, the sense of urgency will add more value to the content, encouraging your audience to invest in your event.

Enhance Online Interaction

Live videos and pre-recorded videos differ most in their engagement level.

If your content is interesting to your audience, you’ll be able to boost interaction between you and your (potential) customers.

You can communicate sincerely with your audience in real-time, allowing them to express their concerns and share ideas, which will make your event flow more authentic and relatable.

It’s a Time-Saver

Aside from getting real-time feedback, you can save time producing virtual events by broadcasting live.

Creating live video content eliminates all the hard work involved in recording, editing, and reviewing pre-recorded content.

You can still live stream even if you don’t have a studio since all you need is a computer or mobile device and a platform.

Benefits of Pre-Recorded Virtual Events

Eliminate Interruptions

Although live videos allow you to connect with your audience in real-time, they are prone to interruptions. It can be a host not showing up at the last minute, kids or pets disrupting your activities, etc.

Some viewers can overlook these interruptions, but some may find them distracting.

Pre-recorded videos give your more control over your content as you can spend more time planning and executing.

Even if you experience interruptions during recording, you can polish the content before delivering it to your audience.

Help Presenters Feel at Ease

The experience of hosting a virtual event may be different from hosting a presentation in front of a live audience.

Making sure the presentation is polished will reduce stress for you and your host and increase their comfort level.

Pre-recording your content allows your presenters to record multiple takes until they perfect their delivery. Also, when you pre-record your event, you allow your presenters to see questions in advance and collect their thoughts for the Q&A session.

Enhance the Value of Your Production

No matter how well prepared you are, you cannot guarantee that your virtual events will be glitch-free.

This can be the speakers’ availability, technical difficulties, attendees not understanding how to stream your event, or you might not like how parts of the content were delivered.

When compared to fixing technical issues during a live event, pre-recorded content can be rectified more efficiently.

The benefits of pre-recording a virtual event go beyond reducing technical glitches. You can level up the presentation with an introduction, music, and graphics, which would require more planning and rehearsal if done live.

Additionally, since it’s pre-recorded, you can easily remove errors, resulting in flawless content.

Provide Flexibility for Every Schedule

Unlike live videos, pre-recorded videos allow you to reach a broader audience. This includes making your event available to those living in different time zones or located across the globe.

Rather than broadcasting once, you can schedule your event to stream at the best time for every time zone where your target audience lives.

Create Subtitles for Accessible Content

As you cater to your audience in different time zones, you have the advantage of making your pre-recordings accessible by adding subtitles and captions.

If you’re targeting a global audience, you can use the transcript and have it translated to different languages.

In addition to making the transcript available to your audience, you can use it to make the editing process more efficient so that you can concentrate on other aspects of your production.

Besides editing purposes, transcripts can be repurposed as part of your marketing campaigns.

Over To You

Every event is different, so deciding whether to use live or pre-recorded content depends on what the event is about and what you plan to achieve out of it.

Investing in compelling and engaging content, just as with any event, will drive your audience to attend more of your events.

Whether you broadcast live or pre-recorded videos, consider ways to make them accessible with the help of transcripts.

Are you looking for ways to add captions or subtitles to your videos? Upload your virtual event recordings and get text copies of your video in various file formats.

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