Live Stream Virtual Event: Helpful Tips

Congratulations on your upcoming Virtual Event! It's going to be wonderful and we are here to help make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. We have a few suggestions and Pro Tips that will can make your experience using BetterUnite and your event attendees experience throughout the event as seamless as possible.

First of all, please remember that BetterUnite is here to help! Our 24/7 staffed Support team stands at the ready to provide additional information or technical advice on your upcoming event. Simply email support@betterunite.com and your question will be logged in our ticketed system and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible.

Speaking of support: while the BetterUnite system was built to be as user-friendly as we could make it because we want to empower you to run your own campaigns, events, auctions, etc, we highly recommend that you opt-in to expanded support during your event. A virtual event is a tech-reliant event and you should have a tech partner monitoring your event, checking on you and available by text or phone an hour before and throughout your live stream. Go HERE to Pro-Up your event with Virtual Event Support DURING the live stream.

OK, on to your Live Stream Event Checklist.

TEST, TEST, TEST: This may be your organization's first virtual fundraising event and it is likely your attendees first virtual event as well. Having unknowns during your event is scary during in-person events and it might be even more true when you involve technology and you can't speak to your guests easily. Follow these steps to see what your guests will see, well in advance of your event:
- Decide on your live stream platform as far in advance of your event as possible. Each of the different live stream platforms that embed within BetterUnite (and any other that you allows you the embed function) will have different pros and cons. Considering video quality, latency (or delay) and audio are a few of the common concerns and variables.
- Decide on the content of your recorded and/or live production as far in advance of your event as possible. Many organizations will decide to hire a professional production or A/V company to help with the streaming content. Rule of thumb for live stream events is that they are far shorter than in-person events - often only 45 minutes to an hour. Every minute counts and there may be multiple shots, transitions from recorded to live content, or graphic elements that will help you to highlight your mission and raise money.
- Register for your own event - add an offline ticket purchase or create a free but hidden registration-only ticket if you don't have one. The latter is ideal, because it gives you the opportunity to move through the ticket purchasing or registration process that your attendees will and you can make sure that everything looks and feels the way that you would like.
- Preview your live stream before event. In the same web browser window, open both the admin side of your event AND your personal event registration (or My Event) page, that we described getting above. From the dashboard of your Event, go to Edit Event > Basics > Live Stream Options. Enter your Live Stream platform and your Channel ID or whatever is asked for. Toggle the Live Stream Visibility to Not Live. Now, go back to your My Event page. You will see a pink bar at the top left of your My Event page that says Preview Live Stream. Click that and you will be able to see what you are streaming from the perspective of the guest.
- Another option for testing is to make a copy of your event. From the event dashboard on your admin page, go to the Action Center > More > Copy Event. You will still want to register for the copied event so that you can see the guest view as you test.
- You can make donations and bid on auction items from your My Event page even after registering a credit card - all of these purchases will aggregate into your Shopping Cart and you can simply delete them there when your testing is finished.
Communicate with your Guests
- When your guest buys a ticket or registers for your event, they will receive via text and email their custom guest link (My Event page), unless you have opted out of that communications under the Advanced tab.
- BetterUnite will send an email reminder with a prominent button to View My Event, 3 days, 8 hours and 1 hour prior to the event.
- You must have entered an EVENT DATE & TIME for these reminders to go out (Manage Event > Edit Event > Basics). If your event happens over several days, you can enter a date range.
- If you do not enter a date and time or you opt out of the emailed communications, we strongly advise that you re-send guests reminders and provide their My Event links to them closely before your event to make sure they have their link handy. You can find a path to this sort of email through your email marketing tool by going to your Manage Event page (the event dashboard) and clicking Guest Messaging > Email Guests.
- You can still email all of your guests at any time, with their My Event page links, by going to your Manage Event page (the event dashboard) and clicking Guest Messaging > Email Guests.
- We further advise that you TEXT your guests in advance of your event or at the time of your live stream. Go to your Manage Event page (the event dashboard) and click Guest Messaging > Sent Text/SMS Messages to Guests. From here, you can send custom text messages to your guests or their My Event links. * Manual texting option is a paid option as it costs our platform to provide these messages.
Guest Page Default Placeholder Content: It is helpful to your guests if, when they first visit their My Event page, that you have something there that lets them know that this is the page they should return to at the time of your live stream and that the video will happen there. You can do this by creating a branded and customized Placeholder. Go to Edit Event > Guest Experience > Show Placeholder and toggle that on. Then insert the words that you would like and any image or logo that you would like to be made visible in the rich text field. Click Save and you will see that on the My Event page. It will be replaced by the video when you toggle the Placeholder off and click Go Live and SAVE.
Create an Instructional Video: Many organizations will start their live stream 5-10 minutes before the start time and play an instructional video for their guests. This video can be an explanation of what the guests will see and experience during the event and also show the icons they'll need to click to (for example) move to the live auction from the silent or to the Fund-A-Need section from the live auction. HERE is a broad strokes example, but creating content that is relevant to your unique fundraiser is always best.
Reach out to BetterUnite Support: One final reminder that BetterUnite is here to help. Email our Support Team at support@betterunite.com with questions or bring our Support Team to your event by choosing to Pro-Up your event HERE.

Have a great event!

Need Additional Help?

We're here to assist you in any way we can. Don't hesitate to reach out to support@betterunite.com

Let's go do some good.