Streaming a meeting to a remote audience

According to the Local Government Act 1972, a meeting deemed "open to the public" requires that members of the public be allowed to attend in person at the location where the meeting takes place. Historically, this has necessitated organizing seating and security, and often, due to space limitations, renting an external venue at considerable expense to accommodate all attendees.

Since the COVID pandemic, we've all become accustomed to the benefits of video conferencing. As a result, its easy for event organizers to use web streaming to open meetings up to remote audiences.

Three Camera Control

At a recent public enquiry at Sheffield Town Hall we provided streaming equipment for a planning meeting.

There was a U-shaped table 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 mainly used by support staff.

Microphones for each delegate

We installed a microphone for every seat for delegates to talk into, and we discretely installed three remote controlled cameras with pan, tilt and zoom control, so we could cover all areas with a suitable camera shot.

We mixed the cameras and sound using vMix broadcaster software, so we could create a live

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 live. This is far more than could have comfortably fitted in the room where the meeting was held.

In this particular case Sheffield City Council wanted the stream to be kept on their YouTube channel as a matter of public record, and an additional 80 people have watched the video since it was streamed live.

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