Deciding to do a live event instead of creating stored content is often a difficult decision. There are many factors and costs to weigh, and each situation is unique.

Weigh the Costs and Benefits

There are some advantages to doing a live Webcast of an event:

  • It brings a sense of urgency to the user to tune into your Web site at a specific time.
  • Content creation is immediate, since you can use NetShow both to Webcast live and to create stored NetShow content at the same time.
  • Once you learn how, it's a fairly straightforward process that can easily be duplicated time and time again.

However, there are some disadvantages to doing a live Webcast:

  • You will need a crew at the event location to staff an encoder PC station to convert the live feed to a compressed digital signal that is sent to the server. This can be expensive, although there are companies that specialize in producing NetShow events and can help you produce a live event.
  • You will need a communications line between the event location and your server to carry the compressed signal to the NetShow server. Sometimes ISDN or T-1 lines are simply not available at certain venues, or must be ordered months in advance.
  • Just as live television broadcasts are risky due to unforeseen problems, so are live Webcasts. We've heard of many unusual things going wrong, from being moved 5 minutes before "airtime," to camera people be skiied over, to communications lines going dead during a Webcast due to a phone company's unannounced tests.
  • Creating stored NetShow content after the event can allow you time to finesse the audio or video, or create illustrated audio or interactive applications with the content. For example, you could take still images, audio, and HTML pages to create a complete children's story book like Mr. Stemwinder Finds The Time.

How Timely Is It?

It's always disappointing to put together a first-class Webcast with dazzling subjects and impressive technology, only to have very few viewers actually watch or listen during showtime. Be sure that your live event is in fact timely, and that you do all you can to make your event known to your audience well in advance with a reminder a day before the event.

For more information on how to put on a successful live event with NetShow 2.0, check out the The Guide to Live Webcasting Using Microsoft NetShow 2.0.

© 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Legal Notices