Streaming an 'open to the public' meeting

A meeting that falls under the Local Government Act 1972 to be "open to the public" means that members of public must be admitted in person to the place where the meeting is being held. In the past, this has involved making arrangements for seating and security, and often due to capacity, required the hiring of an external venue at significant cost in order to to accommodate everyone.

Post COVID of course, we have all got used to the wonders of video conferencing, and so the organisers of events that must be held in public, can now turn to web streaming to fulfil their obligations to the public.

Working for a local council, we provided streaming equipment for a recent public enquiry.

There was a U-shaped table set up for up to 30 participants, and a top table at the front of the room for up to 3 chair persons.

There were some seats set out in a 'public area' at the back of the room, as it was still possible to attend in person, but in reality no one needed to, and it was used by support staff who were not in the formal part of the meeting.

Installing a push to talk delegate microphone for every seat covered the sound, and we discretely installed three remote controlled cameras with pan, tilt and zoom control, so we could cover all seats with a suitable camera shot.

We mixed the cameras and sound using vMix broadcaster software, where we could create an audio and video stream to send to the councils public YouTube channel. Once we went live, anyone with a computer could watch proceedings remotely, and we know from YouTube viewing analytics that around 70 people viewed the meetings. This is far more than could have comfortably fitted in the room where the meeting was held.

For Information on streaming your public meeting, contact us at hello@confidence-digital.com