Edited Video from a PR News Live Event Published in Near Real-Time: How We Did It

Posted on Jun 26, 2012 in Critical Now | Comments Off

Critical Mention provided live HD video streaming from the conferences Taste of Tech and Social Media Summit, and used the platform to edit, title, tag, publish and share clips from the event for blogs and social networks.

When flashes of lightning and claps of thunder accentuated a crisis communications clinic run by Burson-Marsteller’s Dallas Lawrence, it was broadcast live.

When digital PR analyst Brian Solis told brands they needed to engage in “transmedia storytelling,” a video segment had been edited and tweeted while Solis was still on stage.

The PR News conferences Taste of Tech and Social Media Summit streamed HD video live and provided online audiences with curated content within minutes through a partnership with Critical Mention.

A playlist of videos from the conferences is available here.

Through our Syndicaster platform, which is used by a third of U.S. network television affiliates and 200 newspapers, clips from the conference were edited, titled, tagged, published and shared through social networks by our trusty community manager, Robert Cabral, working on his desktop.

Critical Mention’s community manager, and conference video editor, Robert Cabral

“Robert kept an eye on the live stream and jumped into action when speakers shared newsworthy or instructive nuggets,” said Critical Mention President Dave Armon, who spoke at the conference and was in contact with Cabral through live Gmail chat throughout the two days. “Our objective was to demonstrate to attendees that their organizations and clients could generate a steady stream of credible content, in video, without a heavy technical, monetary or personnel investment.”

One feature of Syndicaster is speech-to-text software that converts a speaker’s remarks into a searchable, SEO-friendly text file in real-time. This allowed Cabral to locate relevant content without having to review long segments of video.

In the spirit of full transparency, neither PR News nor Critical Mention invested in a professional camera crew. The room at the Sentry Centers was on the 17th floor of a Manhattan office tower, with sunlight gleaming in on three sides, including behind the stage. Had we used professional gear, rather than relying on a consumer-grade HD camera mounted on a tripod in the rear of the room, the viewing experience would have been improved. Lesson learned.

So that’s how video from last week’s PR and social media conferences ended up in the Internet even before speakers had left the stage.