Wondering what to do about video streaming high school graduation live? Yes, it is that time of year when superintendents are frantic. At that point, they turn to to their technology staff to ask a simple question.
“Help! We need to stream graduation this year! Can you get it done?”
At this time of year, there is little budget to get the job done. You must make do with left-over funding. The pressure is on!
Getting Started
Some school districts rely on an iPad with a Makayama Movie Mount kit. For others, a Macbook Pro laptop angled at the appropriate angle, hooked up to Google Hangouts. For some, using camera-equipped drones to capture graduations, is acceptable. Most solutions offer free live streaming. Free services are ad-supported. You can pay to remove ads and obtain more views.
Reminder: Have you asked for permission to video/audio-record or photograph students?
One question is, “Have you obtained student or parent permission to stream video and post it online?”. A media release in the student handbook may save you a lawsuit. Some districts have policies that are opt-out for photos and video.
Approaches to Streaming
Approach #1 – uStream.tv Gold Plan ($499 for 1 month)
“UStream is our choice for streaming any video content out of the district. Works great. Can be embedded into a school blog or website. Can turn off the chat by embedding. It has other benefits. Anything we do adds to the network utilization. We streamed 15 separate UStream sessions last year all day long. There were no issues for the several hundred folks. Success.”
