Performances, conferences, speeches and training sessions in 2020 transformed quickly to digital, online sessions – an upsurge of live video sessions as everyone adapted to the new world. While live sessions have their benefits, some events may benefit better from pre-recorded. Virtual events have a great level of flexibility in how they are presented and organised, which is why it’s important to look at what options suit your needs. AVisual discusses the pros and cons of both.
Live sessions
Pros
- Engage with your audience: When you record live you can interact with your audience, so you know whether they’re engaged or not. This is great if you have activities or want to have group discussions.
- Timeliness and relevance: A live recording will always be relevant. Speakers will be up to date with any news and any trends which could impact the discussion.
- Cheap options: There are plenty of cheaper options for live sessions, like Zoom and Facebook. So, if you are budgeting a live stream will add to huge savings.
- Minimal planning prior: You’ll always want to prepare the content you’re discussing, but a live video comes with authentic conversations, so you won’t need to ensure a perfect script.
Cons
- More room for technical issues: If you have an allocated time slot you need to be ready because any speakers heading off topic may slow down any events and lead to the audience disengaging.
- Post-production: If you want your live stream to be viewed after or archived post-production may be a bit tedious. You will need to ensure content is recorded, before editing the video after recording.
- Unpredictable: You don’t know what’s going to happen when you live stream. You may go off-script, or have multiple interruptions or questions you don’t expect.
Suited for
– Q&A events
-Interactive educational content or tutorials
-Behind the scenes events or sneak previews
Pre-recorded
Pros
- Prevent technical issues: If you aren’t live streaming you don’t have to worry about the unexpected, conversations being diverted or unexpected questions, it lets you have more control over your session.
- Less post-production: You set up, edit and upload your content prior, so there’s effectively no post-production.
Cons
- You can’t see your audience: Because they are pre-recorded you won’t be able to tell how people are engaging with the content, and it is easy for people to switch off. You will want to be fairly confident with the content you’ve created if you are looking to prerecord.
- Upfront work: Planning, recording, scripting, editing and posting, upfront work will be a lot.
- Can seem inauthentic: Without the flow of informal and interactive conversation, pre-recorded events can seem jarring and inauthentic, so if you’re trying to build your brand or establish connection, then you might want to go with a live video.
Suited for
-Education sessions with large amounts of information
-Guides and how-to events
-Hybrid events (a mix live and pre-recorded)
Hosting a virtual event?
The team at AVisual can help you host the perfect event, virtual or otherwise. Call us on 1300 AVISUAL for a consultation with our experienced team.
