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Four things you need to know before setting up an event

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 Contents

Overview

In this document we will review the top four things you need to know before setting up an event in Goldcast. Please note that this document is meant to provide a high-level overview of the setup process. For a more in-depth review, please see our guide to setting up your Goldcast event.

Does Your Setup Meet the System Requirements?

Before you can even begin setting up your event, you will need to make sure that your computer setup is compatible with the Goldcast platform. The following requirements must be satisfied in order to set up and test your event:

  • A computer running on a Mac OS or Windows operating system.
  • An internet browser to run the application. Goldcast works best in Chrome or Safari however, Firefox, Edge, or Internet Explorer can be used if needed.
  • Camera and microphone permissions enabled for the Goldcast platform. Information on enabling these settings can be found here.

When is Your Event?

The Details page is the first page you will see when you create a new event. Here, you will be asked to provide the following:

  • The name of your event
  • When it's taking place
  • A brief description of what is happening

Having this information handy ahead of time will allow you to add it quickly as well as prevent you from having to go back and make changes later in the setup process.

How Are You Registering Guests?

The Goldcast platform provides several options for processing event registrations. While more than one method can be used for an event, you should familiarize yourself with each options and identify the one you will be using the most.

Use the Goldcast Registration Page

Every Goldcast event has its own Registration page that can be managed in the Registration section. If you choose to collect registrations using Goldcast's registration page, you will select which fields you want your registrants to fill out and what content you want to appear on the page. 

Manually Register Your Guests

You can add registrants to your event in the "Register Manually" tab of the Registration section in your event. You can add registrants one at a time using the single registration option, or you can add a group of registrants at once by uploading a csv file. 

External Registration Integrations

If you'd like to collect event registrations using an external platform, you can pass those registrations to your Goldcast event directly using a  form post or webhook. This will allow you to import registrations created in another platform to your Goldcast org. Goldcast currently supports form and webhook registrations for Salesforce, Hubspot, Marketo, and Zapier. 

Click here for additional information on registrations.

What's on the Schedule?

Knowing what's on the schedule for your event is crucial, as it will impact how you structure the agenda for it.

Here are some questions to keep in mind before setting up your event space:

  • What live and/or prerecorded broadcasts will take place during the event?
  • Will there be any broadcasts taking place at the same time?
  • What (if any) discussion rooms and booths will be available to attendees?
  • Will breaks be included in the agenda?

Agendas are set up in the Space page and ultimately determine the experience of attendees at your event. While there are many components to building an agenda that should be taken into consideration, here are the three we feel are most important:

Tracks

Tracks allow you to host multiple agenda items at the same time. If your event at any point has multiple agenda items occurring at the same time, then you should create multiple tracks; however, if your event does not at any point have multiple agenda items happening at the same time, then you should only make one track and assign all agenda items in that event to that solo track.

Because agenda items are always assigned to a track, tracks must be setup before agenda items can be added to your event.

Agenda Items

Once your tracks have been created, you will be ready to start adding items to your agenda.

  • Stage Agenda items appear on the "main stage" of your event and can be used for live broadcasting, prerecorded videos, or a mixture of both. Add this item to your agenda for panels, keynote speakers, and other similar program events.
  • Go to Rooms and Booths agenda items will inform your guests that you have allotted time for them to visit sponsor booths or engage in conversation in networking rooms. Learn more about booths and networking rooms.
  • If your event lasts for several hours, we suggest adding a Break Period to your agenda to allow your guests to pause and regroup.

Broadcast Types

When you create a new Stage Agenda item, you will be presented with four broadcast type options:

Live Broadcast

This is what we typically think of when it comes to online events. This broadcast type allows users to stream live videos and communicate with audiences in realtime. It also allows speakers to interact with audiences through polls and Q&A sessions. 

Learn more

Simulive Broadcast

Simulive broadcasts are made up entirely of prerecorded content and do not allow for live video or audience interaction. The advantage to this broadcast type is that it allows you to upload and schedule when content is played during your event, creating the illusion of a live event without you actually having to be present for it. 

Learn more

Hybrid Broadcast

Hybrid Broadcasts are a marriage between Live and Simulive broadcasts. They allow for both live and prerecorded video content as well as audience participation during events.

Learn more

Streaming into Goldcast from another platform

RTMP streaming should be used if your event is being hosted somewhere other than the Goldcast platform (i.e. Facebook, YouTube, OBS, Streamyard, Restream, in-person) but you would still like to provide virtual attendees with an interactive experience. Some examples of when you might want to use RTMP streams include: 

  1. Including lower thirds and graphic overlays on live video via a streaming software such as re-stream
  2. Doing online-offline hybrid events and streaming from a physical location

Learn more

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