A webcast is an interactive, online audio/visual presentation (live or recorded) with audio and a synchronized slide show. Viewers can also ask questions and vote on relevant issues. BrightTALK webcasts deliver the audio through the viewers computer, rather than requiring them to listen over a phone line.
BrightTALK takes the complexity out of managing an ongoing series of live and pre-recorded webcasts by consolidating them all into a single destination ‘channel’. It’s where you create webcasts and where your audience goes to see them.
All active channels are hosted in the BrightTALK website; however, you can and should embed your channel in your own website or blog. This can help boost your subscribers and webcast audiences.
They are viewers who have joined BrightTALK and subscribed to your channel to see your webcasts. They either came directly from the BrightTALK network or subscribed after being invited to attend by your marketing efforts? Please note, only the BrightTALK ™ Premium Channel owners can access detailed information from their subscriber list.
No. Webcasts need to be created within a channel.
It’s entirely up to you! Some presentations lend themselves to particular structures. The look, feel, and approach adopted by channel owners vary enormously.
For owners of the BrightTALK™ Starter Channel, webcasts can be up to 30 minutes long. Premium Channel webcasts can be up to 90 minutes long.
After you establish a channel, click the 'Schedule a Webcast' button. Then fill in the fields (help is available by clicking the ‘?’ icons). Once saved, the webcast is immediately scheduled. It’s that simple!
You or your presenters have until 15 minutes before the webcast goes live to upload slides or add polls. From your channel account, simply click ‘manage’ (located next to the listed webcast). The next screen will prompt you to add votes and slides.
You are responsible for the management of your channel and the webcasts that run on it. If you aren’t the presenter, you must ensure that your presenters have the information (which we give to you) that they need to dial in and present. You are their contact.
You should brief the speakers on the deadlines for uploading their PowerPoint slides and adding any polls they wish to use during the presentation. When you schedule a webcast within your channel, the system will generate presenter instructions. It is your responsibility to email these instructions and to make sure the presenter has received and understood them.
Either can, but you need to co-ordinate these activities. Only one slide deck can be added for each webcast. So, for webcasts with a single presenter, slides can be added by the presenter. But if there are multiple presenters, you will need to combine all the decks and upload this ‘master deck’. If you need to replace slides, you can do so by uploading a new PowerPoint presentation - but you cannot replace individual slides.
Absolutely! You can present directly from within your channel account.
Speakers can present from wherever there is a telephone and good Internet access. They do not need to be in the same physical location. There is, however, a limit of two dial-in telephone lines per live webcast, which can be shared by multiple speakers.
Yes. Simply schedule a normal webcast, but call it a practice. Since you won’t be promoting it in your channel listings (or via the email service), there will be no external audience. This is a great way to get presenters used to the process and to demonstrate the power of webcasts to colleagues.
We have built our system to accommodate extremely large webcast audiences and have run some with thousands of viewers. While we do not place restrictions on viewing numbers, please advise us if you are expecting over 2,000 live attendees.
Absolutely! Simply create additional channels from the Create Webcasts link at the top of every page. You can only have one Starter Channel, but you can add as many Premium Channels as you like.
Yes. Live webcasts are archived automatically shortly after their conclusion.
As a channel owner you can edit the start and stop points of the webcast and the timing of slide changes. You can also un-publish a webcast so it is no longer available for viewing.
Cancelled webcasts are displayed on your channel as ‘canceled’ until the original start time has passed. This is for the benefit of subscribers who had planned to attend.
Yes. Just go back into the webcast listing and change the start date and/or time.
There's no getting away from it, you will need to put some effort into telling people about it! However, your channel account has a ‘Promotion’ tab with features to help build your subscribers and webcast audiences, including:
1. Embed: It is very important to embed your channel prominently on your website or blog. We’ve made it easy, and doing so means you will naturally drive BrightTALK visitors onto your channel. This exciting, interactive feature increases traffic and enhances your site.
2. BrightTALK email service: Email is an essential tool for attracting a live webcast audience. To reduce the complexity of sending well-timed reminder emails, each channel has a free and fully automatic email service. We encourage you to use the email service by keeping it active in the ‘Promote’ section of your channel. See below for details on what kinds of emails are typically sent.
3. brighttalk.com: All Premium Channels (and all Starter Channels that have reached a certain number of minutes viewed) will be promoted in our BrightTALK portal. This means that notice of your upcoming, live, and recorded webcasts will reach a wide base of BrightTALK members who may decide to subscribe to your channel, if they’re attracted to the content.
The BrightTALK email service includes the following types of emails:
- Subscription confirmations sent to each of your new subscribers
- Weekly updates emailed to your subscribers, which include a list of your recent or upcoming webcasts
- 24-hour reminders emailed to attendees 24 hours before the webcast is scheduled to start
- ‘Starting now’ reminders emailed to webcast attendees about 15-20 minutes before the start time
- Recorded webcast notifications emailed to registered subscribers who had planned to attend an upcoming webcast but didn’t make it
Please note that these emails are only sent to BrightTALK users that have agreed to receive them. If you don't want your channel to benefit from the email service, simply deselect it on your ‘Promotion’ tab.
Yes. In fact, we strongly encourage you to. All forms of marketing will help you build the number of subscribers who attend your upcoming webcasts. Once an attendee has registered, the BrightTALK email service automatically does the reminder emailing.
Embedding your channel prominently on your webpage is a powerful way to attract viewers. The process of embedding is simple: we provide a short snippet of ‘embed code’ that you pass to your webmaster for inclusion in one of your own web pages. This is a one-time activity and changes to your channel will automatically be reflected on your page without further action needed from your web developers. Your ‘embed code’ is available from the ‘Promotion’ tab in your channel account.
There are dozens of ways to run a successful channel—one with its own style and approach. Here are just a few:
Promote: Attracting the right people to your channel is essential. Embed your channel prominently on your website. Be sure that you keep the email service switched on. Promote new upcoming webcasts in your own marketing activities.
Maintain a healthy calendar of upcoming webcasts: It’s good to have a schedule of upcoming webcasts in your channel. If you have a few listed, you have a better chance of a visitor finding something of interest and you will be perceived as an active channel worth subscribing to.
Schedule events on a regular basis: Regular events makes it easier for your audience to get into the habit of participating in your webcasts—be they daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly. Also, try to stick with the same time slot. And book well in advance so you don’t have any problems securing your preferred times.
Avoid cancelling webcasts: Cancelling makes earning repeat viewers much less likely. Even if you don't think your audience will be very large, run the webcast anyway because you will generate a valuable recording for the archive. Also, cancelling a webcast will negatively affect your channel rating—a key factor when subscribers are deciding whether to visit a new channel.
Add topic tags to webcasts: When you schedule a new webcast, fill out the ‘Tags’ field by adding specific and relevant keywords about the webcast. Specific keywords make your webcast easier to find within brighttalk.com or using popular search engines.
Describe your channel: What kinds of topics do you discuss? What is your particular approach? Who runs the channel? Who should attend your webcasts? What industries do they cover? How often will you be running webcasts? All these questions should be answered in the channel description so prospective subscribers can make informed decisions about attending your webcasts.
Your webcast audience and presenter experience is not affected by the level of the channel. The key differences between a starter account and premium account are:
Number of webcasts per month: With a Starter Channel you can run three webcasts during the first month, and then one per month thereafter. With a Premium Channel you can run unlimited webcasts, but just one at a time.
Webcast duration: Starter Channel webcasts can run for up to 30 minutes. Premium Channel webcasts can run up to 90 minutes.
Archiving: Starter Channels can only archive six recorded webcasts for on-demand viewing. Premium Channels archive all of your recorded webcasts.
Reports: Starter Channel owners receive limited reporting on channel subscribers, webcast viewings, and audience interactions. Premium Channels include access to comprehensive subscriber activity reports, including individual webcast viewings, questions asked, votes cast in polls, and feedback provided. Please read the next section for information on access to subscriber data.
For a full breakdown of specific features and benefits, please visit the various channel types listed at the bottom of the page.
Subscribers to your channel who signed up as a result of your website traffic and marketing efforts are identified in your reports. Subscribers who signed up as a result of discovering your channel via the BrightTALK website or its partners and syndicators are not identified in your reports without prior agreement with BrightTALK.
This means that your subscriber lists will only include subscribers who came to your channel from:
1. Your website (where you have embedded your channel)
2. A ‘direct’ link onto your channel page from www.brighttalk.com (e.g. via an email or web promotion)
Access to your subscriber lists will NOT extend to those subscribers who originally found your channel by navigating to it from another brighttalk.com page or another channel.
So, to maximize the number of subscribers that are identified in your reports, make sure you:
1. Embed the channel in a prominent place on your website
2. Link directly to your BrightTALK Channel page in your promotional activities
