Live Vs Pre-Recorded: Best Practices For Virtual Events
The question of Live Vs Pre-Recorded content for virtual events is one I hear a lot. An In-person event is usually mostly live so why should a virtual event be any different. Well let’s have a look at the pros and cons for each side and see where where they are best applied.
Virtual Events
A bit of context before we begin, what is a virtual event? In this case a virtual event is an event that is hosted online and watched by a remote audience.
Odds are you’ve already taken part in a virtual event especially this year. Whether that was a webinar or a simple zoom meeting.
Virtual events can take many shapes and can now represent all types of events like weddings, concerts or exhibitions. Now yes, this is not necessarily the same as an in person event even if there are valid arguments on both sides.
Here though we are having a look at what having live vs. prerecorded content does to a virtual event.
Live Vs Pre-Recorded:
LIVE
So what is live content? Well it’s content that is delivered at the same time as it is being filmed or created. For example a teacher doing a live course to a group of students online. Now before anyone mentions it, yes there is the delay of the internet that depending on the streaming system used could be virtually instant or 30 seconds. For the sake of this article though we are still classifying this as live.
Most content in a virtual event can be delivered live, as it would at an in-person event. Lets have a look at why we should keep doing live content and then some of the downsides it may have.
Benefits of Live Vs Pre-recorded
There are definitely benefits to doing live content, first of all it just feels more natural. Presenting live with all the breaks, pauses and breaths just gives a more organic feel to a presentation. A presenter having a sip of water humanises him, allowing the audience to connect more with him.
Secondly and perhaps one of the most important points is that live presentations are a lot more engaging. And in virtual events – audience interaction is one the most important metrics to work on. It is really a key point of success in virtual event and should be at the top of your list when planning your event. Being live, even with a slight delay allows you to speak and answer your audience, and react to their reactions. This again makes it all feel more natural. Some have tried to add audience engagement to their pre-recorded content but I always find it gives it a Dora the Explorer kind of feeling.
Then being live gives you flexibility, not only in terms of interaction but also with regards to your content. If you spend 10 hours creating a pre-recorded video to find out on the day that a key piece of information has changed, you might regret not having rehearsed more. It just gives you some room for change and adaptation.
Those are the main benefits of live content. Lets have a look at some of the downsides.
Downsides of Live
Being live unfortunately also has some downsides, and if you don’t believe it, just think back to all the “Fail” videos available on Youtube…
Primarily live just gives no room for error, when you’re doing an in-person presentation, if you do a little mistake well it’s easier to smooth out. Online, things just usually get amplified and shared. The last thing you want is for you to be the next viral sensation because you misread something in your slides.
Now this of course depends on the event and your audience. If this is an internal event then the chances of that happening are relatively slim. But one of the benefits of virtual events is the unlimited reach it provides, which in this case could be less beneficial.
When you’re presenting live it is important to be prepared and know your content well.
One of the benefits of live vs. pre-recorded is that it feels more natural and this is true most of the time. Sometimes though being on camera does not feel natural at all for some. Even skilled public speakers can unfortunately get a bit of camera fright. Which reverses the benefit and turns it into an extremely awkward presentation. Practice makes perfect in this case, if you need to present on camera make sure you have a go first and maybe record to see what you look like.
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Enroll NowLive Vs Pre-Recorded:
PRE-RECORDED
When we are hosting a virtual event we get the chance to pre-record some content if we want. Content that is usually filmed, in one or multiple takes. Then edited for a nicer result before being played back as a video.
Our guests might be able to tell the difference but it is most often a seamless experience. A pre-recorded message could even make up the entirety of your show if you so desire.
This of course also has its pros & cons, so let’s have a look at those before making our choice.
Benefits of Pre-recorded Vs Live
Pre-recorded content is really great in the sense that it can be edited to perfection. Or as close as we can get. Having the option to film multiple takes, pick our favorite part of each one and then putting together a perfect piece of content is great. This leads to another important aspect of virtual events, having high quality content.
You can’t just stream a bad quality shot of yourself with a webcam nowadays. Your guests expect higher quality visuals and content. Having complete control over the content is one way to effectively do this. We know what we are putting out there.
Knowing the exact content is also good, it leads to a lot less surprises on the actual event. If we have a 3 minute presentation we know it will be 3 minutes and not overrun as the presenter goes on a weird thought tangent.
It avoids all of the mistakes and umms and ahhs during a presentation. In fact whilst you are editing you can cut out all the empty space. Leading to much more active and fast-paced content. This is one way to fit in more information in less time for example.
Again that all sounds good but apart from the clear lack of audience interaction that pre-recorded contant has – lets also have a look at some of the other downsides.
Downsides of Pre-recorded
Pre-recording is a great way to get great content however depending on how it is shot and edited it is easy to get carried away. This can lead to content that looks too staged. And your guests might not feel as involved. It’s a lot easier to leave when you’re watching a video vs. when someone is actually presenting and talking to you.
On the same note it can make your message feel less authentic. It is a lot harder to read someone when you know they may have filmed this piece of content 50 times. On the extreme side it can even make the content seem dishonest.
Lastly if all of your content is pre-recorded, it could be argued that it isn’t an event. Would you for example call going to the cinema an event?
If all the content was recorded in a studio and is just available on demand then in a way it’s just like a Youtube video. To avoid this you still need to maintain the hype of an event. Get your guests networking and discussing the content. And of course try and interact with them as much as possible.
Conclusion
Now even though this will probably not settle the debate of live vs pre-recorded, here are my thoughts and experience on the matter.
Always include some form of Live content, whether it’s a panel discussion with a Q&A or even maybe a host introducing each part of the show. This allows your guests to feel involved. Then use pre-recorded content for the parts that really matter, like your main keynote or main message of the event. This is where high quality content is great to boost that message.
What you can do is top or tail it with some form of engagement to keep your guests hooked. Have a mini survey at the end or precede the talk with a poll on a certain topic. There are plenty of ways to engage with your guests.
I suppose me saying that both are important is the easy way out of the debate but it’s true, they both have a part to play in virtual events. As we saw both attendee engagement and high quality content are important to the success of your event so it is a bit of a balancing act. And if you want you can of course do only one or the other and have a great event. As long as you keep those two points in mind.
