It was the occasion of my daughter’s first birthday and we had planned a huge party for our family and friends. All relatives from my home town as well as my wife’s hometown came to Mumbai to attend the function.

My real elder brother and his family, who stay in the US could not make it for the function. But I really wanted their blessings for my daughter so I decided that we will webcast the event for them.

I read many websites for self webcasting. The technology sounded easy and self manageable. So I decided to do it myself, and save on some money as well. I got everything installed and as the day of the event approached, I became more and more confident that I will be able to do it. I even tested the connection and tried the software once before the event, everything worked fine.

On the evening of my daughter’s birthday function, I was all geared up. And there on the other side of the globe, my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids were in front of the computer screen to watch the event. Well, initially everything went fine, till the guests started coming.

Now, since I had my friends and colleagues, I had to entertain them as well, so I could not focus on the camera much. I started receiving calls from my brother that the stream was frequently broken and the quality of sound was also not at par. Also I did not realize the significance of prior camera positions, and so the main places where the camera should have focused went unattended.

All in all I completely screwed up the entire event. At one end I got a big scolding from my brother, and on the other, I had hoped that the captured video will act as a video of my daughter’s first birthday, but as that did not happen, my wife also got upset with me. I felt really terrible after that. Just to save myself the hassle of finding a good webcasting company, I ended up spoiling the party – my daughter’s first birthday where she look like a sweet little angel.

I don’t know what caused this but I definitely understood one thing, it is better to hire a professional webcaster instead of doing something yourself that is not your forte. A good webcasting company who knows their job and will provide you with memories that you can keep and cherish for life.

There are so many times that we buy a product but we are not really aware of its features… For example, microwave can be used for preparing a meal. Many people use it for preparing their meals, but there are so many others who use it only for warming their food… this is because they don’t know how use it otherwise…

Taking another example of cell phones, we spend so much to buy the latest technology cell phone, but use it only for talking, not knowing the various features it has in offering.

Similarly, companies make products with numerous features for the convenience of their target audience, and it is really important that the usage of these features are communicated to them, so that people can use them the way it is meant to be.

The product manual does help… but not every one reads them fully. Some companies even send product demo executives to houses to demonstrate the usage of the products. But customers hardly capture anything… and sometimes it is just a formality from both parties.

The streaming technology or the webcasting technology provides an excellent solution to marketers to communicate the product features. Today companies are using varies facets of webcasting to reach out to their customers keeping in mind their convenience and availability.

Many companies even provide product demo CDs along with the product. The CD contains live demo of the product being used by a model. A video is better than a million words – written or spoken – and this is what the companies have in mind while producing the video and providing it to customers along with the product. Again snippets from these videos can be put on websites, which give your product more ranking on search engines and help you get found.

Sometimes companies organize webinars and live demos to demonstrate the various features of their products. They also organize fashion shows, product launch events and press conferences, which are not just limited to the audiences present at the venue. These events are webcasted publicly for virtual viewing by people sitting anywhere in the world. And then these events can be put on company websites and other websites like youtube so even larger and unrestricted viewing.

Webcasting has become very common among companies and has immensely helped them to reach out to wider audiences, even globally. And it is cost effective too.

You may like to read:

• Impact of Live Streaming on Indian Businesses
• Webcasting the Product Launch – Things to do
• Virtual Events – A Practical & Convenient Alternative

Yes we did it again for Samsung!!! This time in a much larger way…

LiveStreamPro again on November 2, 2011 undertook to webcast the live launch of Samsung Galaxy Note in India. The event took place at Hotel Taj Mahal in New Delhi from 2 pm to 3 pm and was webcasted publicly from there for the entire world to watch. The event turned out to be a huge success.

The page www.livestreampro.com/samsung/galaxynote where the webcast was shared had been put up eight days before the event date. The first look of the phone was covered with coloured chits. Each day five chits opened automatically showing the phone features as well as some parts of the new phone. And just a day before the launch day, with all the chits removed, the first look of the phone was revealed. This coupled with an Online Quiz generated a lot of interest from the public even before the launch.

November 2, 2011, the actual event day had many people glued to their computer screens to view the product launch of the much awaited Galaxy Note. Stunning Gul Panag as the guest celebrity also added sparkle to the whole event.

Some pictures below will give you the feel of the event.

Celebrity Guest Gul Panag with Samsung Team launching Galaxy Note

Samsung Team addressing the Media

Media Members at the Virtual Event

Samsung Galaxy Note Displayed at the Venue

LiveStreamPro Team webcasting the event

To view more photos of the event, please visit LiveStreamPro Facebook Page