The Webex Events Production Studio is our built-in and fully integrated live streaming studio on the Webex Events platform. This article shows how to enable Webex Events Production Studio, and it covers all the amazing tools available to help you successfully produce a professional quality live stream.
💡 Keep in mind, Webex Events Production Studio is included with a Webex Events Streaming credit. Webex Events Streaming is an additional cost add-on feature, so reach out to your Webex Events contact for pricing.
Contents
Enable Webex Events Production Studio
First, add a Live Stream feature or enable live stream for an Agenda session in your Event App. Edit the feature or Session and select Webex Events Production Studio from the Live Stream drop-down. For Agenda sessions, you must first expand the Live Stream section and toggle 'Enable Live Stream' to Yes.
The first time you select Webex Events Production Studio for a Live Stream feature or Agenda session in your Event App, a modal appears with a prompt to confirm using a Webex Events Streaming credit. A single credit is good for an entire Event, whether you have one live stream or a hundred! Click Activate to continue.
💡 Keep in mind, if the button in the bottom right corner of the modal says 'Purchase' instead of 'Activate', click Manage Teams to manage the credits assigned to each team you're a part of. If necessary, transfer credits between teams. To start a chat with our support team and add credits, click Purchase.
Click Save when you're done making changes. 💾
Invite speakers 🗣️
Inviting speakers is easy! You simply share a link that they use to join the Studio on a computer or mobile device before your live stream.
💡 Keep in mind, speakers can join the Studio using a mobile device. If they join on an Android or a computer, they should use the most up-to-date version of Google Chrome. If they join on an iOS device, they should use the most up-to-date version of Safari.
Edit the Live Stream feature or Agenda session where you enabled Webex Events Production Studio earlier. The 'Invite Speakers' link is now available. Copy the link and send it to your speakers or presenters joining the stream.
💡 Keep in mind, you can also copy the 'Invite Speakers' link when you're inside the Webex Events Production Studio. We'll show you how later in this article.
We highly recommend sharing our Webex Events Production Studio Speaker Instructions article with your speakers to help set them up for success.
💡 Keep in mind, up to 13 people can join the Studio at a time. Anyone with the link can join and no login of any kind is required. If you have more than 13 people joining your stream, you'll receive a notification in the Production Studio informing you that someone is trying to join the Studio while it's full. You can choose to have a "waiting room" in another meeting tool or use another streaming studio with the Webex Events RTMP Player if your live stream requires more than 13 people at a time.
Launch Webex Events Production Studio
In the same Edit modal where you copied the 'Invite Speakers' link, click Launch Studio to open the Studio in a new tab.
💡 Keep in mind, the 'Launch Studio' button is only for you as the producer or moderator, and you shouldn't share it with other speakers. The 'Launch Studio' link changes every 24 hours to keep your Studio secure. Give speakers the 'Invite Speakers' link we mentioned earlier, or have them log in to the Webex Events platform and click the 'Launch Studio' button if you want them to control the layouts, banners, and more! 👆
After launching, your browser prompts you to grant the Studio access to your mic and camera. Click Allow to enter the Studio "green room".
💡 Keep in mind, Webex Events Production Studio works best on a computer with the most up-to-date version of Google Chrome. Hosts must always join the Studio from a computer.
Now it's time for the fun to truly begin! Before you're fully in the Studio, use the Studio "green room" to check your audio, video, and light and dark mode settings. Upload your profile image and edit your name if necessary. Click Enter Studio when you're ready.
Studio overview
Now, let's take a tour of the Studio. Be sure to give yourself and your speakers plenty of time to play around and get familiar with the Studio before you go live.
Each numbered section below corresponds to the numbers in this image:
1. Live stream preview
This is your live stream "stage" as it appears to attendees in the Event App.
2. Live stream layouts
There are six layout options under the live stream preview. You can change the layout to highlight what you want users to focus on before and during the live stream.
💡 Keep in mind, the layout selection doesn’t affect which speakers are on stage. It simply affects how they’re arranged and displayed in your live stream.
Solo - This layout shows only one speaker on stage. If you add multiple speakers to the stage and then switch to the Solo layout, the speaker card in the first position appears on stage.
Grid - This layout shows all the speakers you've added to the stage. As you add more people to the stage, the Grid layout adjusts the speaker card size to fit them all on the screen.
Spotlight - This layout shows one speaker card in a large format, and other speaker cards on stage appear to the right of the large speaker card.
Content Spotlight - Similar to the Spotlight layout, this one shows the screen share content of one screen share card in a large format, and other cards on stage appear to the left of the screen share.
Picture in Picture - This layout shows the screen share card in the background, and speaker cards added to the stage appear overlaid toward the bottom of the stage.
Cinema - This layout shows only one screen share card and no speaker cards.
If you select a layout and haven't yet added the required screen share or speakers to the stage, the Studio keeps the layout in a queue and a message appears with layout requirements. Once you add the needed screen share or speakers to the stage, they appear on stage in the queued layout. For example, the Grid layout requires at least two speakers on stage. If you choose this layout while one speaker is on stage, it remains queued until you add another speaker to the stage.
3. Speaker and screen share cards
Webex Events Production Studio has two types of "cards" – speaker cards and screen share cards. You and each person inside the Studio have a speaker card that appears below the stream preview, along with screen share cards for any shared screens. Let's explore the functionality of each card.
Speaker cards
Click the Mic icon on your card to mute or unmute yourself, and mute or request to unmute a speaker on their speaker card.
Click the Add to Stream button to add yourself and speakers to the stage. When a speaker card is on stage, the button says 'Remove from Stream'.
Click the Solo icon to show that speaker on stage in Solo layout. If other speakers were on stage before you clicked the 'Solo' icon, they’ll remain on stage yet won’t be visible. Click the Solo icon again to return to the previously selected layout.
Check the network strength for you and the speakers in the Studio.
Click the three-dot icon on your card to edit your name. On speaker cards, the three-dot icon lets you edit their name, remove them from the Studio, or start a direct chat.
Screen share cards
Click the Mic icon to mute or unmute screen share card content. This is especially useful if a speaker is sharing a slide deck that contains video content.
Click Add to Stream to add the screen share card to the stage area. When a screen share card is on stage, the button says 'Remove from Stream'.
Click the Screen Share icon to show only one screen share card on stage. Click the icon again to return to the previously selected layout.
4. Control bar
The control bar is located at the bottom of the Studio.
The network indicator keeps you informed about the quality of your network. If the network strength or CPU usage changes, a message appears above the network indicator so you can take appropriate action if needed.
Mute or unmute your mic and turn your camera on or off.
Share your screen using your browser's screen share functionality. A shared screen appears as a screen share card next to your speaker card.
Click the Invite button to copy the Studio speaker link you'll use to invite speakers.
Click the Question (?) icon to start a chat with the Webex Events Support team.
Click the X button to leave the Studio entirely.
5. Settings
General - Only producers can access the General tab in the Settings modal, and anything you set in this tab only affects your Studio. Control broadcast quality and decide whether to display the attendee viewer count, show speaker names on speaker cards on stage, and how speaker cards appear relative to banners and the background. You'll learn more about backgrounds and banners later!
Personal information - Edit your name and upload a profile image.
Camera - Adjust your video input device and camera resolution.
Audio - Adjust your audio input and output devices, noise suppression, and echo cancellation settings.
Appearance - Select either light mode or dark mode for the Studio's appearance.
6. Studio Chat
The Studio Chat tab lets you send messages only visible to people in the Studio. Message everyone using Group chat, or use Direct chat to privately message specific speakers.
7. Brands
Webex Events Production Studio has brand folders that keep your assets organized and accessible for producers running your live streams. Use the Brands tab to create brand folders, choose a primary brand color, and add custom logos and backgrounds to make sure your stream matches your Event App and style! 💃 You can use these brand folders across multiple streams, and multiple streams occurring simultaneously can use the same brand assets.
Click the brand folder drop-down to create a new brand folder or switch between existing ones.
The brand color appears on banners, tickers, speaker card names, and chat and Q&A added to the stage.. By default, the brand color is the same color you chose for your Event, and you can customize this color per brand folder.
Theme is where you choose how banners, tickers, chat comments, and speaker names appear on the live stream.
A logo appears in the top-left or top-right corner of your stream.
Logos can be a maximum size of 10 MB.
Logos can be JPG, JPEG, or PNG files.
The recommended size for logos is 512 x 512 px.
Backgrounds always appear behind everything else in the Studio.
Backgrounds can be a maximum size of 10 MB.
Backgrounds can be JPG, JPEG, or PNG files.
The recommended size for backgrounds is 1920 x 1080 px.
💡 Keep in mind, when you change elements of a brand folder, such as the theme or color, or you add a logo or background to the stage, these changes also affect other Studios using the same brand folder. For example, if you add a logo to the stage in one live stream, that logo also appears in other live streams in your Event App that are using the same brand folder. If you have multiple concurrent live streams and you don't want them all to display the same logo, producers can create and use different brand folders in their Studios.
Upload and manage logos and backgrounds
To upload logos and backgrounds, simply click the plus sign (+) icon under the appropriate heading and upload up to 10 assets at once to the Gallery. The Background Gallery comes with several sample background images.
Click the three-dot icon on an uploaded logo to display it in the top-left or top-right corner of the live stream. Click Remove to remove it from the brand folder. Click the three-dot icon on an uploaded background to rename it or remove it from the brand folder.
Hover over an uploaded asset and click Show to display it in your live stream. To stop displaying an asset in your live stream, hover over it and click Hide.
8. Media
Use the Media tab to upload videos and images to show in your live stream. Add videos such as pre-recorded speaker content, countdowns, and sponsor reels, and add images, like welcome or goodbye messages, transitions, or frames to display on top of your live stream content. Content you upload to the Media tab and add to the live stream only appears in your streaming Studio. Anything you do in this tab won't affect other Studios in your Event App.
Images always appear on top of everything else in the stream. Click the plus sign (+) next to 'Add Image' to upload custom frames, information banners, or transitional graphics.
Images can be a maximum size of 10 MB.
Images can be JPG, JPEG, or PNG files.
The recommended size for images is 1920 x 1080 px.
To upload pre-recorded videos to your studio, click the plus sign (+) next to 'Add Video'. You can show a video in your live stream at any time. The video plays automatically when you show it on stage, and you can't pause videos or control their volume.
Videos can be a maximum of 8 GB.
Acceptable video formats are MP4, AVI, FLV, MPG, MPEG, and MOV.
The recommended size for videos is 1920 x 1080 px.
💡 Keep in mind, videos appear on a 10-15 second delay to live stream attendees. When Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations is enabled, this delay is about 40-45 seconds.
9. Banners and tickers
Banners and tickers are a great way to highlight information you'd like to display on your live stream.
Add a 'Lower Third' type caption to the stream to show a static banner with additional context, quotes, or calls-to-action. Use a ticker for an eye-catching banner that moves across the bottom of the screen.
You can add up to 50 banners and tickers to the Studio. Create these pre-stream and simply select them at the right moments, or create them during the stream as you need them.
Add and manage banners and tickers
To show a banner on stage, hover over it and click Show. When you hover over a banner, you can also duplicate, edit, and remove it from the Studio.
💡 Keep in mind, you can display one banner and one ticker on stage at a time.
To remove a banner from the stage, hover over it and click Hide.
To add a new banner, click the New Banner button, enter the text, toggle the 'Ticker' setting on if you want it to be a ticker, and click Save Banner.
To change an existing banner to a ticker, simply hover over the banner, click the Edit icon, then toggle the Ticker setting on. To change a ticker to a banner, simply toggle the Ticker setting off. Don't forget to save your changes!
💡 Keep in mind, banners have a 200 character limit, and tickers have a 1000 character limit. If a ticker is over 200 characters, you can't change it to a banner.
10. Audience
This tab shows attendee chat, Q&A, polls, and a Custom Tab, if they're enabled for your live stream session. Copy and star chat and Q&A items, and show polls, chat, and Q&A in your live stream. Starring chats and Q&A items lets you organize them in a separate list so that they're easy to access when it's time to show them in your stream.
Chat - If chat is activated for your Live Stream feature or Agenda session, any chats from viewers will appear in the Chat tab. Click on a message to display it on stage during your live stream.
Q&A - If Q&A is activated for your Live Stream feature or Agenda session, then Q&A appears here. Click on a question to display it on stage during your live stream.
Polling - If polling is activated for your Live Stream feature or session, then polls and real-time results appear here. Click on a live poll to display it on stage as answers come in, or show results after a poll closes. Refer to our Polling feature guide to learn how to activate and deactivate polls.
Custom Tab - If you've added a Custom Tab to your Live Stream feature or Agenda session, the tab appears here, too. Refer to our article about Custom Tabs to learn more about all the neat ways to use them!
11. 'Go Live' and 'Recordings' buttons
When you're ready to stream to your Event App, click Go Live! You can continue to add or remove speakers from the stream, manage brands, media, layouts, and more.
While you're live, the 'Go Live' button becomes the 'End Broadcast' button. After you end your first live stream, a 'Recordings' button appears. Clicking this button opens the 'Download recordings' modal, which contains recordings to download and shows the progress for recordings that are currently processing.
That was a long article! Have some ice cream. 🍨 Now, top it off with some pro tips. 🔽
😎 Pro Tips!
For the best results, use the Webex Events Production Studio with the latest version of Google Chrome. If a speaker is using an iOS device, the latest version of Safari works best with the Studio.
If your speakers are sharing pre-recorded video as part of their presentations, ask them to send it to you ahead of time so you can upload them to the Studio’s Media tab before you go live!
Screen sharing works best when you have two monitors so you can click from slide to slide while still viewing the Studio on the other monitor.
Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations is a fantastic enhancement for your live stream. It uses machine learning to provide closed captioning and written translations at no additional cost! We also support human closed captioning and audio captioning through third-party closed caption vendors.
If you’re serious about streaming (and we hope you are), we recommend investing in a high quality mic and webcam. A pair of wired headphones is also a good idea because it reduces the potential for echo if you're bringing on guests.
Although streaming requires a lot of data, most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should work fine. Review our Internet Best Practices article for information and recommendations about internet setup and speed.
For the best streaming quality, we highly recommend disabling VPN during your live stream.
Refer to our Webex Events Production Studio FAQs article for even more great tips and tricks.
Questions? Chat with us or email support@socio.events