Creating and managing streams on the virtual platform

In this article, we explain how you can set up and manage different streams in evenito - from creating the stream (one-to-many, many-to-many, few-to-many) to assigning moderators and going live.

Requirements

First activate the “Virtual platform” under “Modules” in the navigation bar. After activating the module, the navigation item "Virtual Platform" will be shown in the navigation.

In order for a stream to be displayed on the virtual platform, a schedule item or a booth is required to which the stream can be linked. If you have not yet set up a schedule item, you can do so in the “Event settings” under “Schedule”. You can create booths under “Content” > “Booths”.

Differences between stream types

One-to-Many

In this format, also known as a webcast or livestream, the content is transmitted by one person or group of people to many viewers using video and audio. With the help of a (Q&A) chat or live surveys, the moderators and speakers can interact with the participants. The participants themselves have no audio and video rights in this stream type.

In this setup, the moderators and speakers are together in one place (e.g. in a studio). The setup and implementation is often more complex.

If you want to set up and run a one-to-many stream without an external producer, you can use Vimeo or YouTube, for example.

Many-to-Many

Up to 50 people per stream can take part in this audio and video meeting. All participants can talk to each other directly in the video call or via chat and Q&A chat. It is also possible to share content such as a presentation via screen sharing or a YouTube video using the integrated “share video” function and to collaborate using the live polls in evenito connect.

Many-to-many meetings in evenito run via the third-party provider Jitsi.

Few-to-Many

This type of stream combines the two types listed above. The moderators / speakers dial into a video call (many-to-many), which is then streamed and transmitted to a larger group of people in the form of a few-to-many stream. While the moderators / speakers can thus actively see and hear each other, the participants themselves have no audio or video rights. Communication takes place via (Q&A) chat or live polls, for example.

The video call of the moderators / speakers takes place via the third-party provider Jitsi. This meeting is broadcast using the streaming provider MUX.

Alternatively, this can also be done using an external many-to-many meeting or, in the case of an event with an external production partner, via the director. It is important to know that not every many-to-many tool has the function to stream from a meeting. If you choose an external many-to-many meeting that is to be broadcast live to the participants using the mux player, you have an individual stream key and stream link available when setting up a many-to-many stream in evenito. In the second option, i.e. implementation via an external producer, the moderators / speakers each receive a separate access link for an external tool from the producer.

Create a stream

First open the menu item “Virtual platform” and click on the “Streams” tab.

Click on the plus icon in the top right corner to add a new stream. In the “Create stream” window, first select the stream type. With the stream type, you can specify whether you want to embed a one-to-many stream using an embed code - not just a URL - (e.g. via YouTube or Vimeo or a professional streaming production service provider), set up an interactive meeting as a many-to-many stream or whether you want to stream a plenary discussion between several speakers to a large number of viewers in the form of a few-to-many stream. We explain the differences between the various stream types in more detail in this section of the article.

You can enter the following additional information for each stream:

• Name (Required field): is used to name the individual streams in the evenito back office. For many-to-many streams, the title is also displayed within the meeting for the participants.
• Description: is only shown on the virtual platform for many-to-many and few-to-many-meetings. Here you can enter additional information for your speakers / moderators or participants, e.g. that they should ensure that camera & audio devices are enabled before entering the meeting room. This message is displayed as soon as the speakers, moderators or participants click on the “Enter” button in the schedule item on the virtual platform but before they click on the "Join" button to actually join the meeting.

• Moderators: are mandatory for few-to-many streams and optional for many-to-many streams. You have the option of defining several moderators. We explain how to define a moderator for these two stream types in this section of the article. No moderators need to be defined for a one-to-many stream. 
• Embedding code (iframe oder javascript) - only for one-to-many streams:  The corresponding embed code with all the necessary video rights (e.g. audio play, hiding controls) must be stored here. These instructions show you how this works with a YouTube video, for example.

• Schedule items: in order for a stream to be displayed on the virtual platform, it must be assigned to either a schedule item or a booth. In the “Schedule items” dropdown, you can choose from the schedule items already set up in the event. You can add further information such as a description in the description field of the corresponding schedule item under "Event settings" > "Schedule".
• Booths: to link your stream to a booth, select an already set up booth from the dropdown menu. We explain how you can set up a booth in this article.

Confirm your selection with “Add”. Your stream will now be listed in the overview.

Define moderators (few-to-many & many-to-many)

First create your speakers and moderators as contacts in the menu item “Guest management” in the “Contacts” area.

If you also want your speakers / moderators to be listed in the schedule overview on Connect and the website, as well as below the stream, create corresponding speaker profiles in the menu item “Event settings” in the “Speakers” section.

When setting up a new few-to-many stream or a many-to-many stream, you can link the desired moderators to the stream in the “Moderators” field. Click on the drop-down menu to open it and select the desired contacts. If there are a large number of contacts in the event, you can search through the contacts by entering their first name or surname in the moderator field.

If you have already created the corresponding streams, you can click on a stream under “Streams” to open the stream settings. On the right-hand side, you can add or remove the “Moderators”.

Activate "Everyone follows me"

Moderators can activate the everyone-follows-me function. This allows the follow-me moderator to control the view for all other participants in the meeting. For example, if the follow-me moderator fixes a participant so that they are displayed larger, this participant is also focused for all other participants.

To save this setting, the follow-me moderator (i.e. the person leading through the event) must already be in the stream on Connect. The “Settings” can be opened by clicking on the three dots in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.

In the settings, click on the"Moderation" tab and activate the checkbox for "Everyone follows me". The settings are saved with clicking on the "OK" button.

Mute all participants & switch off cameras

To set all participants to mute and switch off their cameras by default when joining a many-to-many stream, open the settings by clicking on the three dots at the bottom of the stream. In the settings window, you can activate the functions “Everyone starts muted” and “Everyone starts hidden” in the “Moderation” tab.

Assign moderator rights to participants

To assign moderation rights to a participant, hover over the tile of the corresponding participant and click on the three dots at the top of the tile. Now select the function “Grant Moderator Rights” and confirm with “Yes”.

Remove participants

You can remove individual participants from your meeting using the "Kick out" function. To do this, hover over a participant tile, click on the three dots and confirm the action (see screenshot above).

Few-to-many stream - Tips & Tricks

Preparation

Below you will find important recommendations and setting options for the best possible user experience:

• Wait until all your presenters are in the Jitsi session. We recommend that there is more than one person (presenter/speaker) in the meeting from which you are streaming.
• To activate the “Everyone follows me” function, proceed as described in this section. This way, your participants will see everything you see.
• Make sure you are not muted and that you are using the correct camera.

• Then click on “Go live” above the stream. Make sure that one person is designated to click the button and that all presenters know who will take on this task. We recommend that only the moderator is allowed to click on “Go live” or “Go offline”. Otherwise, there is a risk that the stream will be interrupted unintentionally.
  
  
  
• Wait for the audio message “Live streaming has started”. All present moderators in the stream will hear this announcement.
• Wait approx. 3-5 seconds after the audio cue before you start speaking. This will ensure that the beginning is not cut off.

Note on video quality

To improve the video quality, click on the three dots in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to open the “Settings” and then click on "Moderation". Activate the checkbox for “Everyone follows me”.

Then return to the stream and click on the tile symbol  in the navigation bar to change the view. You can use this function to switch between the tile view (all actors are arranged below and next to each other) and the list view (all actors are listed in the sidebar on the right and the selected person or slide is displayed in full screen mode).

With the Follow-Me function, all participants see the moderator's presentation, which avoids unnecessary display changes and ensures a higher quality user experience.

Here you will find the recommended settings of our third-party provider Mux.

During your few-to-many livestream

However, neither your participants nor your moderators/speakers will notice this delay. Your speakers and moderators communicate with each other within the many-to-many meeting, but do not see the embedded livestream on evenito connect. Your participants will only see the embedded livestream and communicate via the chat, Q&A or polls.

Open the presentation or video in a new window (e.g. in an incognito window). If you open the window while you are already streaming, it is best to switch to full screen mode so that your participants cannot see your other tabs.
Click on "Start screensharing" in the navigation bar of the stream and select the desired window in the "Window" tab. Confirm your selection with the "Share" button.

Additional notes and recommendations:

To ensure the best possible streaming quality, we recommend that the person sharing their screen does not switch on the camera unless this has been thoroughly tested in advance and there is a very good internet connection. In this case, the camera image is displayed at the bottom right and cannot be moved or resized.

We also recommend that you work with two screens at best. This way, you can open a presentation in full screen mode on one screen and view what is happening in the many-to-many meeting on the other.

End few-to-many stream

End the few-to-many meeting by clicking on the “Go offline” button. Wait for the audio message “Live streaming has stopped”.

Recording of few-to-many streams

Your few-to-many streams set up in evenito are recorded automatically. As soon as you end your stream by clicking on the “Go offline” button, the recording is created in the background. Depending on the size of the file, this can take a few minutes. As soon as the recording has been completed, it is available for download in the evenito back office. To do this, open the menu item “Virtual platform” and go to the “Streams” tab. Now open the editing screen by clicking on the stream. Your recording is now available for download in the “Stream recordings” section at the bottom right.

Edit or delete a stream

To edit a stream, click on the desired stream in the overview to open the settings and editing options.

You can delete a stream either in the stream overview or in the stream settings. In the overview under “Streams”, you can hover over the stream and click on the trash can icon that appears to the right of the stream. In the stream, you can click on the trash can icon at the top right.