Using the Kaltura Studio room during a DIY live webcast session - Best practices for event organizers

About

DIY live webcasts give you the ability to broadcast a high-quality live session directly from your browser via a Kaltura Studio room. Once a DIY live webcast session is created in Kaltura Events, the Kaltura Studio room is automatically created with stage ratio of a player (16:9). This gives the Studio room user the exact experience and layout that the end users will experience as they watch the player. The Kaltura Studio room is hidden from the general attendees, but moderators and speakers for this DIY live webcast session may access the Kaltura Studio room via a direct private link. This way, they can begin preparing the studio ahead of the broadcast. 

This article provides best practices for preparing the Kaltura Studio room ahead of a DIY live webcast session, beginning and ending a broadcast, and describes how to troubleshoot common issues and questions while using the Kaltura Studio room. Additional related Knowledge Center articles are provided at the end of this article for your reference. 

Prerequisites

As an event organizer, you must do the following so that your team (including Moderators and Speakers) can access and use the Kaltura Studio room: 

1. Add a DIY live webcast session 
2. Activate the Kaltura Studio room 
3. Share a direct private link to the Kaltura Studio room with moderators and speakers

Access the room

1. Navigate to the session page of your event site.
2. If the Kaltura Studio room has not already been started by the moderator, you may click the Start Meeting button to start the Kaltura Studio room. Once the room has been started, you may join the room either as a viewer or on stage, depending on the pre-set room mode.
3. Set your devices - When you enter a meeting room for the first time, you'll need to allow browser access, configure your devices, and optionally choose a background and/or enable noise reduction. This article will walk you through each step for a smooth and professional meeting experience.

Prepare the Kaltura Studio room ahead of the broadcast

When the Kaltura Studio room is initially launched, it is done so in Preview mode, giving you the opportunity to preview the stream before going live. The yellow Preview indicator in the upper left corner of your screen is displayed. You may hover over the Preview indicator for additional information. See Preview mode for more information. 

Following are some things you can do to prepare your Studio room for the broadcast: 

• Build your storyboard

Prepare your presentations effortlessly with Kaltura's Storyboard! Upload files in advance to simplify session prep. Organize, take breaks, and return to find everything where you left it. The storyboard replaces our familiar playlist and 'timeline', making life easier for hosts and moderators. 

Want to share a storyboard with your team? Make it global! To unlock the benefits of a Global Storyboard, simply reach out to your Kaltura representative and ask how to get started. 

• Brand your room

Hosts and moderators can customize their Kaltura room to fit the company's branding. Using Kaltura's branding feature, you can choose both a virtual background for the host and a background image to display behind and beyond the webcams on stage. You can also use the lower third feature to display the names of the people on stage in a larger size at the bottom of the screen, which helps highlight the brand, improves the user experience, and adds a layer of professionalism to your session. 

• Manage stage access

Ready to take your webinars to the next level? Kaltura's stage access feature can make your webinars more interactive, engaging, and enjoyable for both hosts and attendees. The stage access feature offers three different modes: "Everyone on Stage", where any participant can join the stage, "Request to Join", where participants can send requests to join the stage, and for full control, there's "Invite Only", where the moderator manages access.

With stage access, you won't need to worry about keeping tabs on raised hands, and you can customize the experience to fit your specific webinar needs. It's a simple way to have more control and flexibility regarding stage access.

• Organize your media

The Media Manager simplifies adding and navigating media during your session for a smoother experience. Unlike other meeting room menus organized by media type, the media manager conveniently houses all file types, allowing you to browse through your files in one place.

• Prepare the interludes

Elevate your presentations and captivate your audience with our Interludes feature! Effortlessly create dynamic slides to welcome guests or display during breaks with our user-friendly templates and real-time countdown timer. We offer a collection of aesthetic backgrounds to choose from, or you can get creative by uploading your own visuals and creating your own text.

• Set your scenes

The Scene manager feature in Kaltura is a powerful tool that allows you to create scenes with different layouts, and arrange content and participants on stage. This feature enables you to pre-create and prepare various setups in advance, reducing stress and ensuring a smooth experience during live sessions. 

• Prepare polls

Drive engagement during the session with interactions. Event organizers and moderators can prepare polls, quiz questions, rating scales, crowd votes, and open-ended questions ahead of the broadcast via the Interactions tab of the Chat and Collaboration widget, save them as drafts, then, when ready, publish them during the session. 

Begin the broadcast

Click the Go live button in the upper right corner of the screen.  

All room participants receive a notification that broadcast has started. 

Supported features during a session

Following are actions you can take during the broadcast: 

• Screen sharing
• Playlist creation and management
• Media manager and access to KMS media
• Recording 
• Quick polls
• Chat
• Stage management 
  • Fit to frame
  • Highlight user/content
  • Up to 25 users on stage
• Participants management
• Users' permissions
• Breakout rooms
• Raise hands
• Locking the room
• Miro whiteboard
• Broadcasting
• Branding
• Storyboard
• Stage access
• Speaker notes
• Interludes
• Backstage during interlude
• Scene manager

End the broadcast

Click the End live stream button in the upper right corner of your screen. 

The Studio is returned to Preview status.

For complete information on room functionality, please see the Kaltura Knowledge Center Meeting rooms category.

Additional resources

Prep for your event: Best practices worksheet

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