Why Your Next Event Should Include Live TV Coverage
Your corporate event is not the Oscars—so it’s likely you’ve never considered adding live TV coverage. But this practice is becoming a central feature of events for more and more of our clients.
Why?
Done right, adding a live TV element elevates the entire event experience for both onsite and online audiences. With a customized onsite studio, a dynamic camera crew, and an on-camera host or two, live TV coverage makes your at-home audience feel like they are participating in an Oscar-like experience—while also giving in-person attendees something extra to get excited about.
Not convinced? Here are three reasons why your next corporate event should include live TV:
1. Live TV Coverage Provides Exclusive Content Opportunities
By covering your own corporate event like it’s the Oscars, you’re able to produce a ton of additional exclusive content—content that also keeps your remote audience super engaged.
“There are so many things happening onsite at the event that someone joining virtually may not even realize is happening—and providing live TV coverage allows you to showcase these elements and bring the event’s atmosphere and moments to them,” says Jason Kershner, director of video production at Stagedge. “For example, we can do exclusive interviews with executives and key presenters onsite. We can keep the audience informed of daily and session agendas, promote upcoming events and where viewers can tune in or find on-demand content after the show, and really present the overall flavor of the event.”
Here are some more examples of exclusive content provided by TV coverage:
Live interviews with special guests,
“Pre-“ and “post-game” shows provide additional material around speaker sessions and announcements,
Coverage of popular breakout rooms,
Pre-recorded video segments,
Behind-the-scenes footage, and more.
There are so many things happening onsite at the event that someone joining virtually may not even realize is happening—and providing live TV coverage allows you to showcase these elements and bring the event’s atmosphere and moments to them.
Plus, your TV camera crew can film other featured content, like B-roll shots of the venue, expo hall, and host city, as well as specialty digital content incorporating event and company initiatives that can be used throughout the event and beyond.
2. Generate Buzz—For Both Remote and In-Person Attendees
If you’ve watched the Olympics, you may have noticed that the live broadcasting helps you, the viewer, transition from one event to the next. Similarly, an onsite live TV studio keeps at-home audiences engaged during transition periods throughout the event. Imagine: instead of viewers seeing a still-graphic image or watching attendees slowly trickle into a ballroom for 20 minutes before a speech, they get to see a TV host interviewing a featured speaker. Or maybe they are treated to behind-the-scenes footage of the event’s main stage—an experience even onsite attendees can’t experience. Keeping audiences engaged through these key transition moments helps event teams reduce attendance drop-offs throughout the event.
A live TV element can inspire onsite audiences, too. “For one particular event, the studio was located at the top of the escalators and just outside of the main presentation room,” recalls Kershner. “When people showed up and saw the bright lights and cameras, it generated an atmospheric buzz. They gathered around and became engaged with the event on a higher level. When our special guests came by to be interviewed, they started taking their phones out and taking pictures. They got excited, seeing the studio and what the interview was going to look like. Many of them also fed off and referenced the live, surrounding audience watching and listening in.”
A live TV component helps the onsite and online experience build energy off one other, sustaining excitement throughout the event.
3. Reach Audiences Way Beyond the Event Itself
Incorporating live TV in your event creates multiple opportunities to maximize audience reach across multiple platforms, throughout the event, and beyond. For instance, Kershner recalls how the executives featured in the live coverage at one client event shared their TV studio interview on social media, popularizing the event. “Executives often have big internal and external followings,” notes Kershner. “They're well known and industry experts, so when they're happy to promote an exciting aspect of their event coverage, it's a powerful thing.”
Executives often have big internal and external followings. They're well-known and industry experts, so when they're happy to promote an exciting aspect of their event coverage, it's a powerful thing.
Likewise, event and marketing teams can use their live TV coverage to announce new initiatives or tease upcoming developments for their stakeholders—communicating directly to audiences outside the event space. Before disassembling its onsite event studio, one company even used the setup to film future marketing and communication segments for other corporate initiatives.
--
“Packaged TV Shows” To Use All Year Long
The most powerful reason to add live TV coverage to your event might be ROI. With a camera crew recording throughout the entire event, you can maximize your event’s reach and give yourself content to use all year long.
“We’re essentially creating packaged TV shows for our clients,” says Kershner. “This boosts the event’s ROI far beyond the run-of-show.”
Rather than being a one-and-done experience, that means marketing teams continue to get value out of their event with on-demand content, including footage for social media clips, soundbites, sizzle reels, and more.
Get Started With Live TV at Your Event
If live TV coverage is something you’re interested in, having the right team is imperative. You need a team that has event and broadcast experience, producers who understand how to film live TV events, and a separate team to run the studio as a separate sub-event. Learn how Stagedge used an onsite studio to take one global life science company’s virtual event to the next level. Or read this story about how Stagedge used a live TV element to help one leading security company launch a memorable rebrand event.
Stagedge: Creating Immersive Experiences for nearly 50 years!