What should a live streaming brief include?

A good live streaming brief answers eight questions: who's watching, where, on what, for how long, from how many locations, in which languages, what happens if something fails, and what you want afterwards. Get those down and any serious production company can quote properly. Leave them out and you'll get a quote for the wrong event.

Here's what each one means in practice.

1. Who is watching, and how many?

Fifty colleagues on an internal call and five thousand customers on a public launch need very different setups. Give a realistic number, and say whether viewers need to register, log in or be kept to a private audience.

2. Where are they?

One country or ten? If your audience spans time zones, someone will be watching at 3am, or not at all. Say whether you need scheduled replays, on demand sessions or a second live run for another region.

3. What will they watch it on?

A public platform like YouTube or LinkedIn Live, your company's own streaming system, or a private link. Corporate systems often have security rules that need sorting weeks in advance, so mention them early.

4. How long is it, and what's the running order?

A draft running order, even a rough one, tells a production company more than any other document. How many speakers, how many changeovers, any video, any live Q&A, any remote guests.

5. How many locations?

One stage, or several cities linked into one programme? Every extra location adds crew, connectivity and testing, so it's the biggest single factor in cost.

6. Which languages?

If the audience needs more than one language, say so at the start. Live interpretation, parallel language feeds and subtitles each need planning, and they're much cheaper built in than added later.

7. What happens if something fails?

This is the question most briefs forget. Ask for a backup stream, a backup connection and a plan for a speaker who drops off a call. If the event matters, budget for redundancy. It's the part of a broadcast nobody notices until it's missing.

8. What do you want afterwards?

The full recording, edited highlights, individual sessions, social clips, subtitled versions? Every angle can be recorded separately if you ask for it before the day, which turns one live event into months of content.

A one paragraph brief is fine to start

You don't need all eight answered before you call anyone. A good production partner will help you work through them. But the more of them you can answer, the more accurate your quote will be, and the fewer surprises there'll be on the day.

If you've got a date in the diary, tell us what you're planning.

Frequently asked questions

What information do I need to get a live streaming quote? The size and location of the audience, the platform, the length and running order, the number of locations and languages, the level of backup you need, and what you want to keep afterwards.

How far in advance should I book a live streaming company? For a single location event, six to eight weeks gives time to plan and test properly. Multi location or multi language broadcasts need longer, because connectivity, crews and interpretation all need arranging in each place.

Do I need a backup stream? If the event matters, yes. A redundant stream and a backup connection mean that if one path fails, the broadcast carries on and your audience never notices.