by John Basile
Staying Productive in Quarantine
How can businesses stay connected and productive during quarantine or isolation brought forth by a crisis?
It wasn’t that long ago that many approached the Wuhan Novel Coronavirus (a.k.a. COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) as nothing more than a more serious version of the flu—or even cold—that we kept an eye on as it overwhelmed health care systems, and forced populations into quarantine in countries far from our local shores.
Jump ahead to today, and COVID-19 now is officially—according to the World Health Organization (WHO)—a global pandemic that not only has taken a toll on human lives, but imposed a major strain on businesses: from houses of worship (HoWs), conferences, and trade shows, to schools, public gatherings and even the carte blanche cancellation of entire sport seasons. In a nutshell, wherever people usually gather, there now are precautions to heed or full cancellations currently in effect.
During Quarantine: The Show Must Go On
Whether you or your community are directly impacted by COVID-19, now is certainly a time to look at the bigger picture. Regardless of what is impacting the community around you, your followers, your investors, or employees; the need for communication is crucial during times of crises. Not only do you have time-critical information to share with your followers, but you also need to keep your business, community or congregation moving forward.
Lose Touch with Your Base = Lose Followers and $
Let me be brutally honest. When you or your organization can’t make a connection with your clients, community, or congregation, people will lose interest. If you are not out delivering a message or keeping a connection with your audience, then they will focus their attention elsewhere—especially during a natural disaster or a pandemic that can hinder people from gathering—keeping a connection and maintaining good communication is highly important.
Making that Connection
Only a few short, years ago, teleconferencing seemed like a herculean task to accomplish. People would often shuffle into a room, sit at a big table, park themselves in front of a robotic camera and look at a screen with an often blurry or frozen image of another group of people doing the same thing. This was videoconferencing. It was convenient, but it never seemed to be fully-baked and certainly not compelling to watch. Luckily, technology has improved and there are better ways to connect.
Don’t Just Teleconference, Produce a Conference
For those of you who follow us at Stream Dudes, you will know that we are firm believers in vMix and have backed their solutions for years. If you are unfamiliar with vMix: it is an easy-to-use, comprehensive, video production solution that allows people to “mix” a variety of video and audio sources. With vMix, not only can you create amazing, live content, but you also can easily live stream to multiple platforms simultaneously.
Just a Little of That Human Touch
We know that vMix has earned its keep among HoWs and with professional content producers, but did you know that businesses can benefit from vMix as well? One of the best features within vMix is vMix Call. With vMix Call, it is possible to easily take up to 8 remote guests into your production. This is a great way to bring together team members or audience who are under quarantine, or located at remote locations, to participate in an important meeting or address a larger audience.
No Computer? No Problem
The magic that exists within vMix Call is the fact that the guest or “caller” does not need to download any software in order to use vMix Call. In fact, the most popular way to leverage the power of this feature is via a web-enabled mobile phone or tablet. This makes vMix Call a convenient solution for people who might be unprepared or need to remotely connect with their audience quickly. This portability makes vMix Call an ideal solution for election coverage or emergency, at-the-scene reporting.
Unleash the Power of vMix, Engage Your Audience
It has been said that “with great power comes great responsibility,” and producing engaging content with vMix requires having the right hardware for optimal performance. Our turnkey, vMix-powered Dude Rack solutions provide you with plenty of power to take in multiple remote guests (and chromakey them as well), in addition to multiple cameras (with PTZ control), PowerPoint slides, images and video clips locally as well. This means that a single operator can run an entire meeting or presentation with ease, with dynamic elements to keep viewer interest.
Helping organizations find the best streaming solution for their needs is the core of our business at Stream Dudes. As the world braces during this coronavirus pandemic, Stream Dudes will do our part to help keep people connecting with each other; therefore, Stream Dudes will work with businesses, municipalities, and houses of worship, and other afflicted organizations during this difficult time by offering free initial consultations to help them stay connected. Streaming is more than a business for us, it is a means connecting one human to another, and we are proud to play out part.