Become a LiveStreamer with Ross Brand

Hi. This is Timothy Kim O'Brien, and this is Kyle Bondo. And you're listening to Pod Rec, where we hope you survive your podcast. and today's episode, we're becoming live streamers with Ross Brand. Alright. Welcome to today's show, where we have special guests, the 1, the only streamyard and livestream universe guru for video. I might be thinking video. Why video? Well, you're about to find out. Let me introduce Ross Brand. Ross is what I would call a livestreaming

guru. This is the kind of that if you need to record something on your camera, go Facebook, go Instagram stories, or go YouTube, or live stream through streamyard, because he does a show on streamyard about streamyard to teach you how to go everywhere at once. The 1 and only Ross Brand is joining us today. How are you doing, Ross? I'm great. Thank you for that introduction, and it's great to be honest with you guys. I've enjoyed your podcasts for a long time. That's awesome. Now

Today, we really wanna talk to the podcasting people who are thinking, oh my god. I need to do this video thing. I I've been sitting in my closet and I have a face for radio, but now I've gotta put on some clothes, maybe a little makeup, and start thinking, I need to record stuff. a lot of times, I'll hear people talk about they wanna do a course or they wanna get on a channel because they wanna start talking about they wanna record their podcasts.

Like, I heard my youngest child say, with with critical role, the Dungeons And Dragons podcast. I was like, what are you watching on your phone? My went. Oh, I'm watching my podcast. I'm with you. I'm sorry. You're what? I'm watching my podcast. Yeah. So even kids think that a podcast is video. So this is a very relevant topic for for the podcaster out there who needs to understand that the medium is changing.

So really kind of just just throwing out kind of the the opening pitch, if I would, for video. what do what do you see in this in this kind of transition? Do you see a lot of podcasters really starting to move this way? Or is this all a myth? our podcasters totally avoiding video,

and they had you know, everyone's been saying, you have to do the video, and that's just something they shouldn't be doing. What do you think? I mean, I think it's mixed. Right? They're they're those people who are podcasting audio purists, and they don't wanna really know about anything else other than the podcast, and that's it. But there's also a lot of people when I go to podcasting events who come up and talk about video or interested in video. Wanna get started doing video.

And a lot more are doing it already, whether that's actually recording their podcast while livestreaming that recording session as a live show to social media or it's using live streaming to promote an episode that's coming out or just came out and build a relationship with their with their audience. That's odd. So so it's cut it's so it's a mixed bag. So people really want there are there's a group of people that should be transitioning to a video slash podcasting.

Should they be doing both? Is this is this thinking about how much work goes into doing podcast. I've spent a lot of hours putting together a lot of my podcast Tim and I work on this podcast on PodDirect all the time and how long it takes to actually produce an episode. And now I'm adding video. What am I asking? What am what am I what pain am I about to cause myself by by suddenly adding video rather than just only video.

Well, I think the easiest way to do it is if you look at a radio show back in the day when they were started to be simulcast on TV. And they would just put a camera up kind of in the corner, and everybody continued doing what they would normally do. Nobody was worried about looking at the camera or switching shots or very much else. Like and you just kinda felt like you were looking in on a radio show being made. That was the vibe that I kinda wanted when I was starting live streaming.

because I had no experience with looking into a camera and and lighting and all that. So I wanted to just do the show and focus on the conversation, learn to engage the chat a little bit, and, you know, the video was sort of an extra. It was like like, talk radio with webcams. So I think that's 1 way to get started. The other way to do it, because if you're using a webcam and has such a light footprint,

is to just put it on top of your computer or on a a small mount that's behind your computer. And

try and try and make eye contact with it from time to time as you're making a point, but also when you're live streaming and especially when you're livestreaming and hosting a podcast, you're gonna have to look at your computer. You're gonna have to check your mixer from time to time and There's a lot that you're doing, and I think that a live audience is very forgiving in general versus an audience for a produced video show, but they're also very forgiving

when you tell them that you're recording a podcast. And it's sort of like okay, we won't disturb you right now. Like, we understand that you might not engage the chat. You might not answer our questions right away. You might not bring our comments in. So that's 1 way to do it is to record your podcast. And and if you're not ready to go live, perhaps just put a webcam up and record it in the computer and have some video

when you're done. And, you know, some people would put the whole episode up on YouTube or on another video platform, and other people might just take a 32nd clip or a minute and put it on social media. But the value of having video is social media is very visual. And video And even more so, I think, live video, but video in general is a bit of a scroll stopper in social media and stands out more than does say, a video file with an audiogram

or some other type of way where you're previewing your podcast. So having some video from it even if you wanna drive people to subscribe and listen on 1 of the podcasting apps, it's still a very effective way, I think, for marketing the podcast. Hey, Ross. 1 1 question that I have is now with podcasting, we've got about 900,000 podcasts that are out there. And of that, you know, less than half, I'm the stats guy here, less than half. Maybe a quarter of them are actually putting out an episode.

So my question to you is, how fast do you think it's gonna be before the market gets saturated with livestream And are we gonna need to start up a new show besides Pod Rec and and called it livestream Rec, you know, to help people not mess up their lives stream. And I'm trademarking that now. Kyle, go get the website now. Right now, Russ is answering this question.

Oh, well, it's a great question. And a lot of people give up on live streaming because I think they're too ambitious when they start. They first, they think, okay. I'm gonna just go live and products are gonna lie off the shelves and business is gonna come to me left and right and there'll be an audience there and it doesn't happen right away. It doesn't even necessarily happen after 6 months or a year. It takes time. It takes consistency. There's a lot that you have to do in order to

be successful at it, and it takes time to learn and get good at it. And as your audience grows and you're consistent, they it sounds very similar to what you need to do with podcasting. Right? You don't -- Mhmm. -- you don't put a podcast up. Hey, I'm on iTunes.

now I'm gonna be I'm gonna be super popular. I'm gonna get a 1,000,000 downloads. No. I mean, it takes time. You have to have realistic goals. The other thing that podcasts tend to be better about as being realistic about the schedule since there's so much production because live streaming can be fairly ephemeral. People will be like, oh, I'm gonna go live every morning. Mhmm. Or I'm gonna go live every afternoon and do xyz.

and it becomes a burden. You see, 5 5 days a week, becomes 3 days a week, becomes 2 days a week, becomes 1 day a week, becomes 1 day a month, becomes I'll go live once or twice a year if I feel like it. Right. Sure. It just becomes they set a schedule that's so ambitious that they can't possibly live up to it, working a job, and having other content that they have to create and everything. So if you're already doing a podcast, you probably

depending on what kind of podcast you're doing. An audio drama may not translate well to a livestream show. Right? But If you're doing an interview talk show style podcast, it probably translates really well to streaming it to Facebook or YouTube or wherever you feel that you may be able to build an audience and get more people involved,

and it gives those folks access to you. They feel like now they can see you. They see you where you broadcast from. They see your mic. They see you know, how you react to 1 another. There's a fascination, I think, about it. And then they also have the chance to ask you questions and get help. from whatever your subject matter expertise is.

And that could be during the show, but it could also be doing a post show afterwards and saying stick around, we're gonna address the chat so that that way, that kind of free flowing q and a doesn't disrupt if you have a tighter format. for your podcast. Gotcha. And you know what? You you you stole my thunder a little bit on my next question here, but that's okay. So You are the expert in this. I am definitely not. Kyle is kind of

but what genres are best suited for livestreaming and all of? Like, you already said, audio drama may maybe not so much, but then what you said towards the end of that, I instantly I'm I'm thinking for Kyle and his audio dramas, hey. Why not have a after show kind of q and a with your audience? Even though you're doing an audio drama, can maybe do that on the podcast side. But on the livestream side, You get to see what Kyle looks like. You get to see what I look like when I'm playing, you know, some character that he dreams up. But what what what what's the genres

that are really hitting it hard right now in live streaming? I mean, live streaming is a lot of talking about podcasts or not talking about necessarily podcasts, just livestreams in general. Mhmm. I think livestreams in general, it's there's obviously a ton of what I call walk and talk livestreams. Right? I grab my phone. I go for a walk. I tell you what I'm up to. I share some secret or some piece of information.

I show you where I live or where I work or whatever, and that's cool. People love that kind of stuff. But for a podcaster that doesn't really move the needle unless unless you start getting an audience that just really is into you beyond, you know, beyond the point of just asking questions after showers, something like that. But I I think Interview shows are very popular as podcasts are very popular as livestreams. People updating

teaching about their industry, about their topic are very popular in livestreams. A lot of livestreamings are very much almost like I got a product or service here, and I'm gonna sell it to you. And I'm gonna tell you about it and you can ask me questions and I'm gonna tell you how great it is and have an offer. And, you know, that's 1 part of it. The other part of it is a lot of people just do them to build relationships.

give some advice, give some talking points, and then and then answer some questions, and they figure if they provide value over the long term, then they'll be top of mind when when somebody needs that product or service because they built that relationship. But people do everything. I mean, I've seen game shows on live streaming. I've seen, you know, sort of like name that tune kinda shows. I've seen -- Sure.

singing and and dancing and and coaching clients on livestream. And then if you really want to expand it, on a platform like Twitch beyond the gaming, which is not even really what I'm focused on. But you have people who will be cooking a meal. We'll be editing video. We'll be, you know so you could take an audio drama and you could put cameras on the different voice actors,

and you could just show the process of recording it I don't know how that works in terms of then people wanting to listen to the podcast and get the follow the story line through voice when they're kinda watch each piece put together. But I like what you suggested about. Maybe you release the podcast at a certain time. And 2 days later, everybody come together for a livestream where we do a live q and a and we talk about the episode or you ask us questions about how it came together. Mhmm. Well and I'm thinking 2 of our current world situation that we're in right now. I have a background in theater, and 1 thing that we used to do in theaters, we used to do stage readings

And people would come see stage readings and see, you know, up our brand new work or work in progress. And now I'm thinking and and if any of my theater people steal this from me, I will sue you. I won't take a hundred bucks from you. I'm gonna sue you. But I'm thinking great ideas here. You are absolutely you can take it. You you you are now known as the Hall of Fame, Ross. We usually save that for Dave Jackson, but Yeah. I think we can toss it on over to you too. Yep.

It's not a crap of ice sealant. No. It's not a crap of you sealant. No. No. You're good to go like that. You got an immunity on that 1. But I I'm thinking, you know, for, you know, my theater people out there that, you know, their their their lights are dark. this is a great opportunity for someone to go ahead and do that play, do it as a stage reading, and

knocking out, do a Patreon to make a little money on the side when this all rolls over and it is done, maybe it's a new way of us extending theater. podcast is not about theater. I know. I'm sorry. I'm gonna get off my theater soapbox here. But I know 1 thing that's talked about a lot with podcasting is, you know, when's the best time to start a podcast? Well, back in 2000 and for is the best time to do it? Or right now,

is it right now the best time to start live streaming, or did we miss the boat about 6 months ago? No. No. I mean, if you look. If you're trying to monetize it, right, you wanna really make money and make a living from your podcast. Not using it as an adjunct to your business, but as this is what I'm gonna do, be professional podcasts or professional live streamer. You really have to be in that upper Echelon. Whatever that is, that top 1%, 5%.

It's a very few people, and you've gotta have there are certain ingredients that make it happen, and they may be different for different shows and different people. And it's almost too complicated to come up with a an easy formula of why somebody is successful and somebody else's show or broadcast isn't. But basically,

that isn't an option for most people. So if you're playing on that level and your content is that good and you built that kind of audience, they'll always be a place for the top tier of people. Right? And then everybody else has to think about who their audience is,

in terms of what their goal is. So if you have a business, you wanna put together a show that works as a show, a podcast that works as a podcast, for people listening for interest, entertainment value, who aren't ready to become customers.

But at the same time, there should be some sort of line of sight back to your business. Mhmm. So that people who are listening to it can can decide, okay, now I need that product or service. this is somebody I trust. I like. I I've spent time with I I I've seen how they react to situations. I like how they think about issues. in my industry. And that that kind of person can succeed,

particularly for the small business owner, the solo manure, That kind of person can succeed in a very noisy environment because it's a matter of getting a few of the right people every quarter. into the fold, getting them to become a client, become a customer,

move a few products. Right? And and if -- Yeah. -- if you're trying to sell more widgets than than Walmart. Good luck on, you know, I'm gonna podcast them tomorrow. You know, I'm gonna have thousands of people. But if you need, like, you know, hey, if I get 2 clients from my business, if you're an accountant and you get 2, you know, substantial local businesses that want you to do their taxes, then then you've probably had a great quarter if you can

walk away with that. Right? And and so it all depends on where you're playing and what your industry is. There's so many factors in it, but I think you can't get discouraged by the amount of content that's out there because Most of it isn't in your niche, a lot of it isn't very good, a lot of it isn't going to last, and only a small, really small number are fighting over

the big dollars and the big opportunities. For everybody else, it's, you know, it's a business card. It's a book. It's a It's a blog. It's another piece of content, 1 that we are more passionate about creating than we may be other kinds of content. But you have to look at it within a realistic frame of what it can do for you and what you needed to do for you, if that makes sense. No. Absolutely. So we're talking to Ross Brand, Ross Brand from livestreamuniverse.com

to give us the insights of going from podcast to video. Now Ross there's a lot of video out there. There's a lot of different platforms. We got Discord, Twitch, YouTube, Periscope, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, just to name a few. Now in podcasting world, be everywhere is the -- Right. -- you'll hear a lot of that be everywhere, which for for podcasting with an RSS feed, not too difficult. I wanna be in in Apple Podcasts, and Stitcher, and tune in, and Iheartradio, and Google. That really doesn't cost me a lot of sweat equity to do those things. Yeah. Sure. There's some some issues. You know, each 1 has got its own, you know, picadilly for which way, though. This 1 does this way, this 1 does that way, etcetera. But really at the end of the day, 5 minutes of my time is really not a lot of sweat off my back. Plus, when I post my podcast, it just goes there. Video, however,

Yep. Coming from coming from a novice point of view. Right? Video however seems to be a little more involved. because I'm thinking to myself. Right? My kids are gamers. They're doing all sorts of stuff, and a lot of times it's Discord, Twitch, and YouTube seem to be their 3 platforms of choice if you would. Is that something that is really realistic for somebody doing a show

in that environment. Or do I have to craft my video for each 1 of these platforms in a little different way? I mean, how much sweat equity goes into actually being everywhere in the video space. I think you have to think about it as you have a primary platform that you're focused on, and then you get everywhere else in order to

expand your chances of reaching new people and growing your audience and giving people an opportunity to listen to where they enjoy listening. So you put your podcast on Apple Podcast Spotify and and Google Podcast to start with. Right? Then you apply for iheart and you get on Stitcher and speaker and some of the other

listening apps. Right? But you you start with the big ones and then you you move out. But be you don't have to tailor your podcast to where people are listening because it's basically the same delivery. It's it's almost identical. the actual content, how it comes across. Now, I I and I don't know how the audience is even breakdown per app. in terms of the demographics and what they like. And I don't even think it matters. Right?

Ultimately, you want people coming to your website, clicking the play button, and then sticking around and searching for more things and, you know, spending some time there. With video, if you are on YouTube, for example, in your live streaming, there are different challenges and implications for your channel when you live stream versus doing recorded videos and Facebook has certain things you need to be aware of. But overall,

if my audience is, say, primarily a Facebook live, secondarily a LinkedIn live, audience, and then I send it to the other platforms. I'm not particularly concerned about what's the culture on that platform. All I'm concerned is hey, if somebody wants to watch this and that's where they hang out, that's where they'll find it. So my focus is

on Facebook live, it's on LinkedIn live, and I if I were only going live on LinkedIn, then I would often approach things slightly differently, but I I do basically a clean show and I do the same thing whether I have 1 person listening or if I you know, had a million people list. Like, I do what I do, what I do, what I do, what I do, I do the best I can. And

so it's it's not something that there's a, you know, a clear cut black and white on, but you wanna be aware. Like, if you're you have an audience on Facebook,

which most people have some audience because if they have some friends and family, they have some built an audience, I always say, like, first go live on your personal profile, and don't talk about your business. Talk about something your passion. about. And then as you get more comfortable after 3 to 5 to 10, livestreams then move over to a business page because then you get the analytics and you get the ability to boost it if you wanna do that, and there's a lot of benefits to that. YouTube, on the other hand, if you don't have an audience there, you don't have an audience on Twitch,

even if you do have an audience on Twitter, per those platforms are much tougher to get traction in the beginning. Mhmm. So should you pick a platform? Should you pick 1 platform and try to optimize for that at the very beginning? Is that really kind of the think I think you probably shouldn't write your first broadcast, multistream it. Right? Pick Mhmm. Mess up on 1 platform, not on Okay. Right?

But but also, like, you you take some getting used to. The unique thing about live streaming and the thing that makes makes it have an advantage over other forms, right, where it shines. Every every medium shine somewhere else. Right? Radio shines in breaking news, you only need to get somebody to a phone. You don't have to get a camera out there. You don't have to worry about background and all that kind of stuff. Right?

Live streaming shines because there's that immediate interaction and feedback with a live audience. Oh, okay. So the chat's a big part of it. So if you're only going live on 1 platform and you're just starting out, your chat should be able to follow along

and engage a little bit with overtime. Right? The first time I went live, I just focused straight on the interview and then, like, 35 minutes in. It was, like, oh, we have a question on the chat. But I I didn't try and engage the chat while I was like, and that can be good anyway because too many people break up a broadcast that's going really well in order to say hi to somebody or address some point in the chat on a totally unrelated

topic, and that that really doesn't play well if you're gonna repurpose as a podcast. Mhmm. That's an excellent point. Now, you mentioned something a little bit earlier there. You talked about you do the same show. regardless if there's no 1 listed and no 1 watching or a million people watching. What is your kind of your when when nobody's watching? What is Do you do you feel that? I mean, do you internalize that and just say, I'm gonna do it anyway. I don't care. Or, you know, everyone starts at 0. But There must be shows where no 1 tunes in, but maybe they tune in at the replay. I mean, what's their mental

strategy for getting past the by watching me. I I have to say that it was 1 time that I went live because I had a scheduled show and Zuckerberg went live on Facebook at the exact time that I was live. And I didn't know that. And the numbers were really low when I was like, you know, leave this person for not showing up and not or, like, where are they? You know, I've been promoting them all the time. They can't show up for too many in my head. But in general,

whether it's I'm just you you just enjoy what you're doing, and it shouldn't really matter how many people show up. Because you have the chance for people to watch on the replay. You have the ability to repurpose it. And if you do a good show, it's there in what I call the online portfolio. Right? It's there forever to be found you can use it to your advantage. So does it really matter if I'm

say I'm interested in in working with you. and I Google you and I find some of your podcasts or you're doing video and I find some of your videos. Am I thinking how many people watch this. No. I'm thinking, let's see what he does. Let's see how he handles

the show. Let's see what he talks about. Maybe I get some clue some cues. clues, cues, clues about what it might be like to to work with him. I I don't care, you know, what your audience or your stats or your numbers are I mean, it's it's irrelevant to

unless I'm looking to sponsor your show, then I'm I'm very concerned, like, is anybody am I gonna get what am I gonna get for my dollar? But if I'm looking to evaluate you in terms of do I wanna do business with you, that that's, you know, your ability to host a show is secondary to to whatever I'm I'm I'm hiring you for. It's about who you are and how you come across, and

what your ideas are and do I think I can work with you or not? That's that's how I I like to think about it. And so if you do a show and nobody listens, it's not a show that that loses all its value because it's there on your website. If you do a blog post with it and people come, and they wanna check you out. They wanna learn about you. That's where they go. That's where they find it. And they that show could be the thing that pushes them over the edge to go, yeah, I'm banned. I wanna work with that person. I like their style. I like the way they come across I could see that hanging out with them could be a good time or whatever metric they're using to judge to judge you by. Well, that is awesome. That is awesome. Yep. So, Ross, I I we've talked about this on our show a a couple of times about, you know, newbie mistakes.

And I am guilty of having the 3 hour interview, and I didn't hit record. And luckily, my interviewee, he he rescheduled with me. He fell asleep. And then we did it again, and I actually got recorded. And and I know a lot of our listeners here, they don't wanna make the brand newbie mistakes. What is the most common

I take top 3 on your list common newbie mistakes besides not turning on the camera because I'm I'm always worried about that. I'm like, I wanna do this livestream. You know, ever since I've been hearing you and and and and and talking with Kyle about this, I'm like, I'm gonna be the idiot that doesn't turn on the camera. So Besides that,

what are 3 common newbie mistakes that you see happening all the time? Don't forget the 1 that I learned on Ross's show, which was, hey, clean your lens. Yeah. Clean your lens, Kyle. Well, I'm putting I put on my lens, and Ross is like, why are you so blurry? And I wipe my lens off and suddenly I wasn't blurry anymore. We were both like,

That that now has been since then, it's been the first thing that comes to mind whenever somebody's saying, like, I think my video quality is kinda blurry. But before I go into, like, the next level, I'm just like, take your lens. You may wanna wipe off your lens. It's quite a little bit of turning it on and off again. Right? Okay. Now we'll we'll look into what upper helps. Might be quite a little bit of turning it on and off again. Right? Yeah. Just gonna say, in real life, Kyle is that blurry. I mean, if you see him in real life, folks, he is that blurry. I just -- Yeah. -- take him out. I get a I give off an email map. That's why. Yeah. That's it.

I think the biggest mistake new people make is they don't trust that they're on live And so there's this hey. I don't know if we're on, but I if we're on, let me know. Maybe we're on. I'm just gonna I'm gonna go on my phone and I'm gonna check out and see if we're on.

I'm seeing. I'm seeing. I'm seeing. Okay. Good. We're we're live. Well, let's just wait about 5 or 10 minutes and see when everybody gets here, then we'll start. We don't wanna give away the good stuff right away. Well, what message are you sending there? Right? You're starting off saying, I'm not very confident about what I'm doing. And I don't really value the people who showed up on time. This show is for the people who show up 10 minutes or 15 minutes in. Mhmm. Good point. Also,

your replay is gonna get far more views than your live show probably will be. And in the replay, everybody starts at the beginning. So you're not helping get replay viewers to stick around when you're not getting into the material. Now, that doesn't mean you have to give your best piece of material in the first 5 minutes.

but you should treat those first 5 minutes like you want people to stick around. So -- Sure. -- even if you're not sure you're on, you can You can still welcome people. You can say your name. You can say what's coming up on the show. Then you find out, oh, we weren't on. Hey. Now we're on. It's Ross Brand. This is livestream universe. We have a great guest coming up. And, you know,

plan what you wanna say your first line and your last line. I think that's something that that new people should do because even after doing this for a long time, it's it's never, like,

perfect than how you're gonna end the a podcast. They're recording or a live streaming or a live show. There's always a little bit of like, okay, do I get out? Now, nice. You know, I talk talk too much in it. So have that first line scripted. So the first thing out of your mouth comes clear and you say what you wanna say, have that last line scripted and Cances are what comes out in between will will probably be pretty good. But get started and and

do what you you see. If you said the show starts at at 10, the show starts at 10. Now 1 trick you can do is you can actually go live at 955 or 950 and put up a countdown card, and then people's notifications will get. You can blast and share it all over. if that's something, if you really wanna give people time to come in, or you could even do a pre show where you sort of like, hey, I'm getting set up. We're gonna go live. you know, with the the actual show in 10 minutes.

Here's our guests. They're coming in here. Check them out, say hello to so and so and, you know, So there's things you can do if you want, but I don't like the idea of starting

saying your your show starts at 10 and really starting at a 10:15 and just treating the people who showed up on time. Like, they don't matter, and the replay people have to sit through that. The good thing on Facebook and YouTube is you can now clip the beginning. So you can go back in on the replay and you can clip it so that it starts where your content actually starts for replay viewers.

Too sweet. Too sweet. Yeah. because I I I've seen a few livestreams. I I I watch a poetry live stream, and the way that that guy does it. I actually had him on my other show. He he starts at, you know, it starts at 5 EST. Boom. It is starting at 5 EST. And I respect that as a person that produces content and that has an audience to respect the audience and be, oh, hey. Listen. I'm starting at 5. You can count on me. That builds brand loyalty.

that builds a a a trust with your audience and and your sell and everybody out there. And I I really appreciate it when people do that. And I know when we do live streaming Kyle take notes. We will do that. We will have a script, and we will be good to go on that. Now, Ross, Usually on the show, I'm the I'm the predictions guy. And we we we sometimes have cookie music with it. It's in our to do list that we will have. There's the cookie music. Thank you, Kyle.

So I'm gonna hand that over I I I'm gonna give you the crystal ball, and I wanna let you look at it here for us in 2020. is this the year of live streaming? Or are we still a little ways from making it more making it more mainstream. My feeling is because of the situation that we're in right now, I think 2020 is the time for it because everyone's on, you know, Webex, Zoom, Teams, their live streaming,

we're sitting here, you know, I I've got a livestream account as well. 1 of the free accounts, I'm like, okay. I gotta get my stuff set up for it. But is 2020 the year, or are we still maybe a year or 2 out from it going? Totally mainstream. Maybe even having a TV show that has a livestream, you know, a character on it. Yeah. We've been hearing, like, since 2013

that this is the year of livestream Right? Wow. Next year will be the year livestream. Mhmm. It depends on what livestreaming's meant to become. Is it meant to become the new TV, the new entertainment, the new destination viewing. I don't know. Is or is it meant to be a supplement something for,

you know, brands we use to promote something else. We, you know, you have your podcast. You go live to promote the show to add a little bonus content, a little bonus engagement, to give people access, show them behind the scenes. What what will it become? And I think that's still out there to be determined. Mhmm. But certainly, this year, a lot of people are finding live video because essentially,

a Zoom conference or Webex or any of these type of meeting platforms Skype that we're using to do business from home. it's really a live video platform. So I have people who, like, swore they would never do this stuff. Right? They are never going on video. I'm never live streaming. And now they've been doing their meetings on Zoom, and they're calling like, you know what? I'm going all in on this. The days of commuting for no reason

are over for me. I wanna get that microphone and that, you know, good camera, and I wanna set up the right kind of workspace so that I can go live and and either conduct my meetings, teach my courses, sell you know, do a sales pitch or even do some thought leadership stuff like going live on LinkedIn or Facebook live, on a business page. So I I think more people are gonna start making it a tool in their arsenal. But will it ever become entertainment?

Right? Will it ever be TV, radio, and live streaming? I I don't know. I don't know what it's exactly gonna become yet. Okay. Fair enough. But I do have a 160 predictions about livestreaming and digital media livestream universe.com. So I got 160 of the smartest people together and I let them have the shot at it and they have some interesting predictions. So Hey. I wanna take a look. That's sad. I'm 1 of them smart people. You are. You are.

Hey. Alright. I like that. We'll definitely put that in the show notes. And -- Mhmm. talking about, like so so Tim thinks that that this is the this is gonna be a big year for livestreaming.

Mhmm. I think that too. I think that there's gonna be a at least a a new found interest in it where before a lot of people were well, that's a a second channel or something maybe I'll do at some point. people are gonna start switching to this being their primary channel. Let's say there is a there's a podcast right there who's just, you know, it podcasting is just not working for them. And they're like, you know what? Forget it. I'm going all in livestream like you were saying. Like, I'm cashing all my chips. I'm not driving that commute anymore. I'm gonna do everything live streaming. What thing and I they're trying to do, like, capacity equipment stuff because we know -- Right. -- you can't run a microphone, all that kind of all the basic stuff you need for bike podcasting. They probably already have all that. Right. What about their environment?

Now with podcasting, I know I gotta be in a quiet space. Yeah. I've got some curtains and some stuff going on here. But, really, you know, there's not a lot of things I really care about inside the space behind me. No one's no one's seen what's behind me because I'm not on a video. Right. To whom I turn that camera on, suddenly, the the Heather Locklear poster behind me or, you know, you name it, some kind of crazy stuff. You know? not taking yourself at all with Yeah. I'm not really

I'm not old at all. I see. You should go over to his house. Rox. It is I've been in this office. I've been in this where he's at right now. Oh, I'm going through therapy. let's just say let's just say I'm a master of the sticky pad. I love my sticky pad. They're all over the place here. But the the thinking about my environment

and not in kind of just an add to that as well as I'm a guy who talks with my hands. And when I start talking, I get really emotional or talking to my hands. I'll start screw scratching my nose a lot and start touching my face. And I'll start looking down and looking away and looking around where where on a microphone, I can get away with that stuff. But now I've camera look at me. What's kinda like my environmental

thought process that I need to put that I need to put in that as a podcaster, I didn't need to care about. But now as of is someone doing live streaming and video, I now have to care about it more than I ever thought I did. So the audio is the most important part of your live video in almost every case. Because if you can see this but you can't hear it, you can't really get most of the value out of any livestream. It's ultimately a talk show. It's you're delivering verbally the value

of what the audience is getting. And the picture is a is an additional element. Maybe you're sharing some graphics. Maybe you're sharing some b roll. maybe you're just giving people a chance to connect with you by seeing you. But the audio is what makes the difference. If the audio is good, The show is good. There's value. Right? My video could black out. And if the audio stays on, you can still get whatever you wanted to get in terms of the value from the show. Okay. So that's the most important thing. If you get nothing else right, get the audio, put the focus on the audio first. the video needs to be good enough that it isn't a distraction,

and the environment needs to be good enough so that it isn't a distraction to start with. That's the first thing. So clean up your background. If you're talking business and you're going live from your bedroom,

don't have the bed in the frame. You know, simple things like that. Oh. And if you have a door behind you and I was blessed to have 2 doors behind keep the doors closed. That becomes a distraction. If the door's open, people like, let me see. What's in that door? You know? What's out there? You know?

So all those kind of things, the the light source, the window should be in front of you, not behind you. Because if it's behind you, you're gonna be get that illocated look, and you you don't look very dark. But if it's in front of you, then you've got nice natural light. Those are some of the basics. neat, tidy. Remember, all it matters is what's on camera. Right? You're creating an illusion to some degree. I mean, it's reality. Right? I'm sitting at my desk, I'm broadcasting,

but then there's the illusion aspect because you don't really know what's outside of the camera frame. So focus on the camera what's in that camera frame, be consistent with it, and then make small changes along the way. I mean, I've been doing this for 4 and a half years. And I finally got to the point, like, in the last week where I can go. Yeah. I kinda am proud of what my presentation looks like

because I'm using now a green screen, and I figured out how I could find a good background to dial it in. But I started out sitting in the dark, and people still watch my stuff and still listen to it. And I I still and then I had a webcam that was really external webcam got better, poorly lit, but it was okay. People still watched. And then step by step, I started adding a couple of elements into my environment, angling things to give it a little more

space behind me. And eventually, I got the green screen and and and here I am. Now I can make it sort of feel like I'm in a studio, and I really love that. But the most important thing is don't let the background distract.

neat, tidy, a few interesting items maybe that relate to what you do if they work, but that that's what I would say about the environment. That's awesome. So not like your environment, Kyle, but more like my environment. because I run a art podcast, and you can see my art in the background here. You know, if I move my head and and my record collection, my LPs yes. LPs can't

Right. Right. I got masterpiece theater, you know, the library, all the blue -- There you go. -- and that's how I obviously, I think I'm going for. So, Ross, I I've got 22 more questions here for you. 1 is a an equipment question. And in in podcasting, you know, the the blue yeti, the blue snowball get a lot of grief because They're good microphones, but you gotta know how to use them. You gotta know, you know, in in in what manner to use them correctly.

For live streaming, now I'm I, you know, I can of course, our audience can't hear this, but or can't see this. They can hear it, which is fine. I've got my little Logitech you know,

camera external camera there is there and I'm not I'm not asking you to do a product placement or anything like that, but is there something that we should steer away from because it's too advanced for a beginner to come in and they shouldn't spend that kind of money. Like, a brand new podcasters should probably not get a high LPR 40

because that's, you know, 3, 400 bucks And if you are not gonna be doing it, that's 400 buck that's a 400 buck, you know, a little paperweight there. Is there something that the beginning live streamer should kind of steer clear of initially and then work their way up to. equipment wise. I I mean, I think getting like a Logitech C920 or C920 2x is a great start.

I actually, for the 1st year and a half, use the built in camera in my laptop. Now, I wouldn't advise people to do that. That was 2015, 2016. This was fairly new at that point. But by, you know, early 2017, I had gotten a the external webcam, and the difference is is huge. It's like the difference between using your built in mic and using an actual microphone or using even earbuds. And so I would say not to do that and for the most part, I would recommend not getting a condenser mic.

They're too sensitive. They're not right for an untreated environment. there's a reason why radio stations which have much more of a studio environment than most people in their homes and yet working 12 years in radio. I'd never seen a condenser mic until I started doing this, and I couldn't understand why they were all being marketed at live streamers and podcasters. they're far too sensitive for a home environment.

I mean, you could be on the 11th floor in New York City, and it'll pick up the traffic. I think You know? Mhmm. You know, so dynamic mic is right for this. The other thing is people wanna not have the mic on the picture. That's a big big mistake. People make So they push the mic out of the picture and then crank the gain up.

So not only are they gonna sound distant from the mic, But now that extra gain is going to pick up their keyboard. It's gonna pick up the moving in their chair. The beauty of these mics these dynamic mics is that they reject noise from from outside the mics sorta sweet spot.

So use that to your advantage, get it off your desk, and put your computer behind it, and then your computer fan goes on and it really doesn't make much noise that's gonna get picked up. And and so I I think that's more important than going, okay. I can't have a mic on camera because they don't have a mic on camera when people are doing TV for the most part. Right. Right. But this is more like radio on TV. and you want if you're doing particularly if you're doing a podcast,

you want you you cannot replicate with a, you know, $100 $200 live mic, the sound of a broadcast mic. So I I would say use the broadcast mic and and sound good right off the bat. And then, you know, 1 day when you you really get there, okay, then you can look at how you can set it up so you could use a lav mic or boom mic and have it not on the screen. But I think that's the something people are like, oh, I can't have a mic on camera.

Yeah. Well, no. You know, you gotta prioritize what's what's more important. Yeah. Absolutely. No. I I I'd rather have an RE 320

on the mic. I'm I'm fine with that. And, you know, for the Patreon sponsors out there, Tim needs a RE 320. This year would be a great year because, you know, live streaming is gonna hit it hard this year. And, you know, you guys go ahead and chip in a little bit more if you want. Please deal. I I think, you know, you should encourage them to go all the way for the RE 20. Just get just get the industry standard and be done with it. I like the way you think, Ross. You can be on the ship anytime.

Anytime. So instant callback right there. if you were giving 20 give 25. If you were giving 30, give 40. You you can do it. You can do it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Veraj, my my last question here for you is, what are you excited about that's coming down the pipe for live streaming? I'm just excited to keep learning and to keep

experimenting with the visual side. Like I said, my my focus out of the for for most of the time has been primarily on having a professional audio sound, having a really good mixer audio interface, having a professional microphone, delivering my content in a way where I get a high quality recording. Now now I'm enjoying playing around with the video and the visuals. side of things. So I've upgraded from the Logitech webcam to Sony mirrorless camera.

And so I'm having a lot of fun with, like, what can I do with the green screen? How can I you know, I'm starting to learn a little bit about lighting and how I can use LED lights to create the right environment. So Eventually, I wanna bring in another camera maybe, and and maybe I wanna take this on the road and do more than just a a phone or a basic laptop broadcast.

So I'm just excited about the possibilities as technology becomes more accessible, and there are now switchers and hardware encoders that you can take with you and you don't even need a computer to go live, it it's pretty amazing that that really, I think going forward, when when we started with livestreaming and podcasting,

there was a big part of it that you needed to be a little bit of a tech person to get into. Right? It it wasn't who had the talent. It was who who had the talent among people who knew enough of the tech to get it on air and to get it online

and so forth. We're getting to the point with a lot of the tools that are out there now, that it's really coming down to what can you create that's of interest to the listener, and it's really leveling the playing field. And if you don't think that so, watch the news and watch these people who've been news reporters for 30 years, Skype in on their earbuds and sound horrible and have a poorly lit

environment where they're broadcasting from because they've never had to do any of the stuff themselves, and they don't really have any idea that it's actually pretty easy. Yeah. Exactly. No. Yeah. You know, you actually, you know, give them the

give them an r e 20 or an r e 320 or sure s m 7 b. Let them have a mic on camera, but let them sound good or give them a good quality sure laugh mike or a sennheiser, boom mike. I mean, I get it because when I worked in radio, I didn't know any of the stuff. Right? I didn't I didn't touch any of the dials. You you you know, that compression and that stuff was handled out at the at the tower or in the room where they had a rack of things that you, you know, you don't touch. Right? You go on air. You press the cough button. That's what you press. If you have the cough, Right? Maybe you maybe you adjust your level, you adjust your gain, or you pot in a commercial, but that's it. You're not you're not engineering anything.

on the audio side. So it's the same with the video, but people who are now doing this from home have more of a skill set coming from from a beginner level then do pros who've always relied on other people and still their their office environment, so to speak, their studios and their stations, haven't necessarily modernized to easier to use tools that are actually

easier to use. if you know what I mean. Like, they actually can be the talent can can actually function on their own with them, and I wonder what's gonna happen because we've talked about a lot. Like, is this gonna be kinda be the new normal where -- Mhmm. -- people to work from home people don't go into a studio or or an office. And, you know, what opportunities will that give to live streamers and podcasters? If newscasters

are are broadcasting from home. Now what training do you need if you can do it better than they can or as good as they can to maybe get more opportunities. So Absolutely. I feel fortunate that I left radio and did something else for a while and then discovered this. because I didn't have that addiction. Like, I gotta have some call letters next to my name to be relevant. And so that's allowed me to just enjoy the process of learning live streaming and podcasting

and and online content creation from home. And I I think it's beautiful what people are able to do. I mean, 10 years, 15 years ago, I would have needed to find studio time to make a demo tape. Now I can do something that's practically broadcast quality with

a a small mixer and and a microphone. It's phenomenal. What we can do now? Well, and and it makes you very versatile in in your regular 9 5 jobs, let's say, that you're working at a federal agency or a regular civilian employer, And now everyone is on telework, but you have to have these meetings, and you're the person I mean, I know in my office, I'm the podcast guy.

And every day we have meetings, and every day I put in our little Microsoft Teams is not a plug for Microsoft Teams because I don't want I don't like them. And I'm gonna be talking to them about hooking up with livestream, but, you know, 30% off would be great. I'm just I'm kidding. But I'm the podcast guy, and they know that, and they appreciate every morning. I come in with a new podcast recommendation, And I'm also the guy that, again, I I preface this whole conversation with I am not

I am not Ross. I'm not Kyle. I'm just getting into this myself, but I know enough from my theater background, from lighting, and from audio that I can kinda

fix stuff for my bosses that are, like, 3 levels above me, and they're like, how do you know this? And I'm like, well, I'm your go to guy. I'm your I'm not your IT guy. I'm your AV guy now. And -- Yeah. -- it's really making a niche for me in my agency where I'm working at I'm the go to guy now. Instead of, you know, somebody that's 3 levels above me, they're like, Tim, can we do this? As a matter of fact, right now, I'm working on a financial wellness webinar series

for my commissioner. That's 4 steps above me, and now they know my name, which is great and scary at the same time. So learning this kind of stuff and hitting getting on the train right now is where people need to be. Absolutely. a 100%. You get access to people you wouldn't get access to, and you get involved on on some projects that are probably more interesting

than what you would otherwise have been assigned. You get to do what you enjoy doing and and get notice for it. And I I noticed that when when HR departments were starting to integrate social media when I was working in HR. Mhmm. And I got on the social media train pretty late in the game, but

I had a media background, and it came really, really easy, kinda natural to me. And it was like 1 minute I would be filing, and the next minute, I'd be in with, like, a CEO going, yes, we can do social recruiting through LinkedIn with, you know, promoting it this way, and we did you know yeah. We did we get it in the website, and then we we do Yeah. And so it's like, all of a sudden, I

I mattered. Right? More than just the functionary who was doing every every day work. And that's why, like, I always try and tell students and most of them don't listen, but I always try and tell them, like, Learn social media how you would use it for business. Learn how you would use it to build your own personal brand. Learn some video. Learn some pod cast thing because that is far more interesting and give you far more access to people in important positions in your company

than what ever you would otherwise be assigned to do in your entry level job. And if you get to be known as the go to person, you're gonna get a lot of opportunities and exposure. and, you know, what you said, hit home what I believe for for a long time. You don't have to be an expert. You just have to be better than everybody else. And that's not too hard because in most environments though we spend our time around people who are into podcasting and livestreaming,

most people don't know all that much about it yet. And so if you have experience with it, you're probably your business or your offices leader in making that happen for your for your organization. That's an excellent point. And speaking along that along those lines, you do Streamyard Connect. Yes. It is. You're the host of Streamyard Connect, which is a show that you put on

for I I I wanna say it's a LinkedIn show because that's where I first saw it. What I think what it is. But you it's not really a LinkedIn show. It's kind of a 1 place and blast it to every place else kind of thing. Kind of explain a little bit what Streamyard Connect that show is and why

you talk about education. You you teach a lot about live streaming in that show. Kinda what is that what is that to you? And what does it really mean to to someone who wants to do that kind of thing? Thanks. So Streamyard Connect sponsored by Streamyard, which is a live streaming app that makes it easy to go live from your web browser. We started it as a LinkedIn live show because Streamyard had just gotten access

to LinkedIn live as 1 of the 1 of their preferred third party tools that could actually stream. you can't go live natively on on LinkedIn live. You need a a third party tool. That's good. And so the idea was to show what can be done with it and a lot of people were intimidated by using some of the higher end premium expensive hard learn big learning curve type products. So it's like, here's this easy to use product.

You can do everything I'm doing because I'm only using this tool and nothing else. And so we started there on on LinkedIn. There was a good response. And then after doing the 1st season, they asked me for the 2nd season if I would be okay with going to their Facebook page and doing other going to other destinations because they now had multi streaming. capability built in, and that was something that they wanted to promote. And as it turned out, once we start going to

Facebook live. We go to 5 different destinations, but Facebook live really it's taken off. I mean, it's really that's where the majority of people are are watching the show and interacting.

And the show's about letting you know what's going on with Streamyard, how you can use some of the features, answering questions about how streamyard works, getting a sense of what people are interested in, also sharing some news about livestreaming and pod casting and content creation that I think is relevant for the audience. And then I've moved it. I used to do where I would feature I would feature an an audience, a user, a string yard user.

But now what I'm doing is I'm bringing on guests who have expertise either in areas that I don't have expertise or come at what I'd like to do in a different direction and are just staying people with, you know, a lot to offer the audience. And now I've made that. It wasn't gonna be a guest driven show, but I I feel like there's just so many interesting voices out there, and I'm interviewing like just people who I feel are the cream of the crop on the show

only. So it's really it's really been a fun and rewarding experience. And every every time I go to a conference, you know, people are asking me about streamyard and they're asking me about, you know, how I use it and how they can do this use this feature, that feature. And it it's really cool. It's a really nice community. They've got their own community group, And I'm a huge fan. I was a huge fan before I started working with them and and doing the show. So how does that connect to to a livestream universe?

Live stream universe is my company, but I'm I'm me. Right? So when I'm when I'm doing my own shows, I'm live stream universe, what I'm doing shows for a brand. If, you know, we're we're branding it with their their name and logo and so forth, then you know, I'm Streamyard when I'm hosting Streamyard Connect. I'm hosting Streamyard Connect. Yeah. What does what does Live Stream U verse didn't do by itself as your company? What is that your We make money.

So what livestream universe does is it does consulting and coach helping people get started with live video, helping them use it on behalf of their business. It's also where you know, it's a website where I house all my a lot of my content, and I have a few different brands underneath that, like different shows,

but livestream universe is kind of my imprint on livestreaming. Yeah. Fantastic. Well, what you've been listening to to Ross Brand from livestream universe, you wanna find him at livestream stream universe.com. So, Ross, where else can we find you? Where's where's a good place to to tune in to what you're doing and what what kind of things do you have coming down the road that you wanna throw some people about. So if you're interested in gear, I have a site called livestreamdeals.com.

And there's a ton of different products and services geared towards podcasters, live streamers, and content creators that have been featured on that show, and you can find that livestreamdeals.com. Every 1 of the products or services featured on the show is on the homepage I also have brand on broadcasting, which is a podcast slash livestream show. So you can check that website out as well. And

the latest thing that I started doing, I started doing a podcast with a friend of mine who's worked in television and acting for about 30 years. Michael Kenny, we're calling it inside video, and the tagline is a podcast about video. So I finally feel like a real podcaster

because I'm not taking a livestream show. I did we did for the first 3 episodes. But then we decided, no. We're not taking we're not doing a livestream show and ripping the audio for the podcast. We're actually gonna do an audio show. And the idea is this would be would would this easy for me to say would be what it's like if you were listening to 2 of the 2 of us talk about what's going on in online video. And so it's like you're listening in on a conversation.

He comes from TV. I come from radio. and we discuss how we we see things from our our perspective. That is awesome. Thank you so much, Ross, for being on the show. I really appreciate it. thanks so much for having me. You guys do an awesome show. You're great people. I love seeing you guys at MapCon, indie podcon. and can't wait to to connect again in person. Awesome. Thanks for being here. Well, thank you for joining us for this episode of Pod Rec.

If you'd like to be a member of our salvage team, please hit us up at podwreck@gmail.com. Let us know what you think. let us know what you liked about the show, what you liked what you learned, or maybe something that you wanna learn. We wanna hear from you. If you're new to the show, please go to podwreck.com.

We have all sorts of links, all sorts of the older the older episodes, the classic episodes that you can listen to for Pod rack. and learn how to survive your podcast through a lot of the other content we've put out there. Plus, you really wanna be a supporter of the show. patreon button is there, and that's key. Because people like Cliff and Matthew, our Patreon subscribers, they're a part of the Real Salvage team. and we want you to be part of that too. Please go to Patreon

and help us help this show because Tim and I, we turn coffee into podcasts and we turn coffee into content and that's where this comes from. And by all means, become a Patreon subscriber and, hey, on the Patreon side, we got some special stuff. There's some bonuses on there. So if you subscribe to Patreon and help us support Pod Rec.

You never know what you might get. There's some special stuff in there for you if you do that. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much to our guest, Ross Brand. It's really awesome. Did you know that was only the 3rd guest we've ever had? Yeah. It's kinda becoming an exclusive little club. So if you wanna be a guest on our show, let us know. podwreck@gmail.com. Maybe maybe YouTube can be part this elite salvage team that we're we're creating.

Until next time, I am Kyle Bondo with my course, my cohost, Tim Brian, and we are really happy that you come here and thank you for listening. Take care. Oh, that. Delicious. Delicious. Oh, that was delicious. And now we're going live to the virtual golf playoffs, Tiger Woods, in California with our announcer Ross Brand. Tiger Woods is approaching the green here at the 9th hole. It's quiet.

as no fans are here because we're social distancing, but we're still talking soft. So you feel like we are at a golf event and tire swings. and he hits a good drive. Wow. And he still turns like around like he's gonna yell at the crowd even though nobody's actually there. and avoid the reporters. And off he goes to the next hole and we're watching Tiger Woods carrying his own bag for the first time in his career. a $100,000,000, and the man carries his bag. It is he's he's not phenomenal.

He's salt of the earth right there, Ross. salt of the earth. Hey. Just a wonderful human being. At the end? That's the end. That's the end. Okay. This podcast is part of the Gagapod network. Find more podcasts like this at gagapod.com.