Proven ways to streamline your livestreaming process
If it hasn’t already, the practice of livestreaming publicly held meetings will be coming to your boardroom soon. Some states and municipalities are mandating livestreaming for meetings held in public. With governance trends moving toward accountability, transparency and access, other states and municipalities are sure to follow with similar regulations and mandates.
Even without the mandate, your board or council will want to consider adopting it. The benefits of livestreaming meetings are many, including increased community participation and support for board decisions. To take advantage of those benefits, it’s important that livestreaming be easy for the public to access and as free of technical problems as it can be.
It also must be easy for the board secretary or clerk, who is usually responsible for the preparation and management of livestreaming meetings. Often, administrators may be concerned that they don’t have the necessary technical expertise or the time to successfully prepare and manage the livestreaming process.
The right technology partner is essential
A technology platform developed with the needs of public boards can help solve these issues and get you and your staff on the right track.
Illinois’ Glenbrook High School District 225 board wanted to increase public participation at their meetings. Staff had been struggling to livestream meetings through platforms such as YouTube and Zoom, which was difficult and time-consuming for them. Those platforms did not offer closed captioning, and it was hard for parents and other member of the public to follow along during the meeting without an agenda or supporting documents.
The district turned to Diligent Community, using its Livestream Manager for high-quality streaming, providing multi-camera views and quality audio without any additional capital expenditure. Since working with the livestreaming solution, Glenbrook has seen an increase of engagement and participation from community members, according to Deputy Superintendent R.J. Gravel.
Gravel says, “Diligent Community provides that single pane of glass we have in one screen, we have our video, we have our agenda, and we have our supporting information all in one package.”
This is a good example of how a using an integrated software solution like Diligent Community can make livestreaming easier for staff and more accessible to the public.
Tips for preparing to livestream
One of the most common issues in livestreaming board meetings is the setup process, which often involves different video streaming services, manual configurations and additional software. Using software that integrates all these processes will ease these potential problems, allowing staff members to focus on the meeting agenda preparations and other items.
Check with IT staff to ensure that ample internet bandwidth is available during meetings for high-quality video and audio. Those are key to a good user experience during livestreaming. Other technical issues to pay attention to that could mar user experience include low lighting and poor audio quality.
Give notice to the community about livestreaming, including the meeting and broadcast details so they can access alongside the meeting agenda. Include information on how they can participate in the public comment portion of the meeting. Also, provide details on how they can search and access an archive of past meeting transcripts and recordings.
With Diligent Community’s Livestream Manager, you can embed livestreaming directly into your board management workflow. This integrated approach means that board administrators no longer need to toggle between various tools or worry about technical setup — saving time and reducing stress.
Managing the livestream: key responsibilities
During a livestream, board clerks should ensure the process runs smoothly and effectively. Making sure the meeting starts on time and stays on schedule following the agenda is important for both the in-person audience and the livestream viewers.
Make sure that the board president or the superintendent announces at the start of the meeting that it is being livestreamed. This is a good reminder for board members and for in-person attendees that their actions and words are being broadcast to the community.
Allowing public comments, written and verbal, during the meeting allows for livestreaming viewers to participate on an equal level to those who attend in person. To make this function work, board clerks or other staff members should keep track of who has signed up to speak during the public comment time. Someone should also monitor written comments and questions, making sure those comments are part of the meeting record.
The person assigned to take notes should also document key discussions, motions and decisions with a timestamp to help with post-meeting documentation and archiving.
An IT staff member should monitor audio and video quality during the meeting, so they can solve any technical issues or interruptions to minimize disruption and mitigate frustration for virtual attendees.
Post-meeting procedures: archive, document and get feedback
After a board meeting, there are additional steps required to archive or review livestream footage, generate minutes and transcripts, and update records. The right technology can automate many of these tasks.
With a platform like Diligent Community, livestreams can be recorded and automatically stored for easy access. This makes it simpler to comply with record-keeping regulations and ensures that community members can review meetings as needed.
Timestamped minutes can be added alongside the recording, and closed captions are discoverable through the software’s search feature, making it easy for community members to find the information they are interested in.
After each meeting, it’s good practice to get feedback from community members and meeting participants about their experiences during the meeting. In addition to gathering feedback, look at audience engagement metrics such as viewership numbers and submissions for Request to Speak.
Diligent Community supports effective and efficient livestreaming
Diligent Community is a cloud-based software solution that is specifically designed for publicly elected boards. It is a powerful tool that can help them be efficient and effective, providing a centralized platform that enhances administrative processes, streamlines communication and improves overall efficiency.
Diligent Community, the next-generation governance solution for public and elected boards, has partnered with dedicated streaming platform Boxcast to provide our Livestream Manager service, tailored specifically to the needs of public meetings.
With Diligent Community, Boxcast integrates seamlessly with your public website, and the livestreamed meeting appears directly beside the published agenda, so your community can follow along at home. They can also search the archive of past meetings along with supporting minutes and key documents for full transparency.
Request a demo today and see how Diligent Community can support your board as you prepare for livestreaming your publicly held meetings.
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