Live streaming events: how to manage remote guests

This blog looks at five platforms for live streaming events with remote guests: StreamYard, vMix, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Teams + Epiphan Connect, as well as the pros and cons for each.

 Live streaming has proven an excellent way for brands of any size to connect with and grow their audience. But even the best, most charismatic live streamers must continually introduce new ideas to keep things fresh. You need to live stream with guests to maximise the medium and give your audience a reason to keep coming back for new perspectives and insights. 

 Of course, live-streaming events with guests is easier said than done. Booking guests can feel like a full-time job. Managing remote guests, even after they’re confirmed, can be challenging. 

In a recent poll conducted during the Epiphan Connect Launch party, 67% of respondents said that managing remote guests was the biggest challenge of hosting a hybrid event – beating out “Poor audio quality” and “Network issues” by a massive margin.

Live stream together on StreamYard

If you’re new to live streaming, StreamYard is a great way to test whether this medium suits you and your brand. 

The robust free version gives you the option of 6 on-screen participants, banners, brand colours, screen sharing, and the ability to stream on all major platforms – an excellent opportunity to test whether your streams get more traction on Facebook, Twitch, or YouTube. And to do all this, you only need an internet connection and a web browser. 

As a bonus, adding a guest to a StreamYard stream is simple. Click “Invite” at the bottom of the screen, giving you a link you can copy and send to whomever you’ve invited to join via email or text. Once that’s done, sit back, wait for them to click the link, and you’re ready to go live. 

What we like: 

• Simplicity – clean, straightforward UI
• Budget-friendly – doesn’t require additional investment in production hardware or software.

Challenges you should know:

• You must upgrade to Basic or Professional plans to remove the StreamYard watermark, increase branding customisation options, and unlock full HD resolution.
• Latency can be an issue if your guest has unstable internet.
• Design options for layouts are limited.
• The video quality is mediocre.

 Ideal for:

• People, brands, and businesses new to streaming want to test how it fits into their content strategy.

Join a stream with vMix Call

vMix is a production software enabling users to switch inputs, mix audio, record outputs, and live stream. It’s a powerful tool that adds production value and professionalism to live streams.

You will need to purchase at least the HD lifetime license ($350 USD) to unlock the vMix Call feature to host a single caller. To host four callers, you’ll need the 4K lifetime license ($700 USD). Without vMix Call, you won’t be able to add guests to your live stream.

Once you’ve chosen the vMix license that best suits your needs, go to the bottom left-hand corner of the app, and click “Add Input.” This will open the Input Select menu. At the bottom of the left-hand column, select “Video Call.” Select the green “Host a Call” button. Copy the link generated and send it to your guest via email or text.

After you’ve sent your guest the link, wait for them to join the call and stream the show to YouTube, Twitch, or Facebook, with the ability to switch and mix on the fly. 

What we like:

• All-in-one solution – Total control over everything, including multiple overlay channels, graphics, virtual sets, templates, and audio mixing.
• Good quality video and audio.

Challenges you should know:

• Windows-only software
• Certain firewalls can block vMix Call. Test in advance and contact the network administrator for support if your guest cannot join.
• The software can eat up a lot of CPU bandwidth. Close any apps you don’t need and set return feed outputs to “Low” or “Mobile” to save on space and mitigate the chance of crashes or freezes.
• Works best with hard-wired guests. Guests joining from weak Wi-Fi networks may be dropped suddenly.
• No screen-sharing options. 

Ideal for:

• Experienced vMix producers who manage complex setups will love this, but it’s a steep learning curve for first-timers. 

Adding guests via Zoom isolated full screens

If you’ve ever been on a Zoom call and thought, “Can’t I just live stream this?” You’re on to something, but it’s a little bit more complicated to execute with a level of professionalism.

 To make an ordinary Zoom call look like a professional live stream requires access to multiple computers, an encoder, and – ideally – an experienced producer. 

First, have the producer set up separate computers for each speaker joining the live stream. For example, a stream with two guests and a host will require three computers. Send the invite to all participants like you would for any standard Zoom call. 

The producer must fullscreen and pin each speaker’s individual feed on each device. Once every speaker is pinned, the producer must run each computer into a hardware encoder or streaming software. The individual computers have essentially been converted into video sources that can now be cropped and laid out for the optimal viewing experience. Once all graphics and layouts have been set up, stream to the CDN of your choice. 

What we like:

• Puts guests at ease. Remote guests joining your live stream in a familiar, comfortable environment tends to help them perform better when the show begins.

Challenges you should know:

• Cumbersome. Depending on the number of guests you want to stream, having space to monitor each device will be an issue.
• Points of failure. Each device is susceptible to its crashes and freezes. Getting the signal back may be difficult when it’s not centralised.
• Inflexible. If a guest confirms last minute or, in the middle of the stream, a guest wants to share their screen can send producers into a frenzy to improvise a solution. 
• Picture quality. Scaling up the native, low-resolution, compressed video won’t look as good as other alternatives.
• Unwanted UI elements may get captured in the process.
• No isolated audio. If guests talk over each other, it may be inaudible or messy.

Ideal for:

• Experienced producers who are already comfortable with this complex method

Live stream with guests with Microsoft Teams NDI-out

Using Microsoft Teams as the foundation for your live stream is always a good idea. This familiar app most guests already use daily instantly puts them at ease. 

While Microsoft Teams makes it very simple for guests to join your live stream, you still need to do a few things if you’re going the NDI route. 

Before the Microsoft Teams meeting begins, ensure you – or the MS Teams administrator – have enabled NDI streaming in the admin centre. When your guests join the Teams meeting, you should see a purple button on the bottom left that reads, “Broadcast over NDI.” Click this to generate a primary speaker stream, a local stream, individual user streams, and a screen-sharing stream.

Select the streams you need for the live show and place them in your production tool, enjoying each guest's high-quality, clean video. 

What we like:

• Clean video feed. No need to worry about cropping out UI elements, giving you more options to design the scene.
• Low latency. There’s almost no delay when making switches.

Challenges you should know:

• Local networks. NDI was initially developed as an alternative to SDI and HDMI cabling. Meaning it works best when everything is hosted on the same network.
• Network demands. Not only is NDI bound to hardware on a local network, but that local network needs to be backed by a lot of horsepower to deal with the stress it can put on bandwidth.
• The limited number of guests. An individual 1080p NDI stream requires 100 mbps for optimal performance. Four guests ups that figure to 400 mbps, which will be a lot of stress on most networks. The stream’s quality and stability will be affected without a surplus network bandwidth.

Ideal for:

• Experienced producers with access to high bandwidth, hardwired networks.
  
  

Live stream with guests on Microsoft Teams and Epiphan Connect

Finally, the application bridges familiarity and comfort for guests with reliability and creative control for producers. 

Epiphan Connect turns any ordinary Microsoft Teams meeting into a virtual studio in a few simple clicks. 

 Schedule a Microsoft Teams meeting as usual, inviting the guests you plan on featuring on the stream. Then paste the meeting URL into Epiphan Connect.

When the meeting begins, the Epiphan Connect bot will join the call and isolate each participant’s video and audio. Collect the isolated feeds from the Epiphan Connect dashboard and place them into your production tool of choice.  

To see it in action, watch how Microsoft Corp was able to leverage Epiphan Connect to elevate its global all-hands event into an engaging video experience without the costs and complexity of typical event productions.

What we like:

• Stable and reliable. Because it’s cloud-based, Connect ensures the streams remain consistent even if guests have weak Wi-Fi connections.
• Comprehensive control. Epiphan Connect subscribers can adjust the latency, extract resolutions up to 1080p, and mix the individual audio to give their stream a professional feel, even if guests only have a smartphone to work with.
• Unparalleled convenience. Guests join a Microsoft Teams meeting just as they do every day from any device or MTR (Microsoft Teams Room). They’re in a familiar environment, eliminating technical distractions and boosting confidence.
• Sleek solution. Producers don’t have to rely on an elaborate web of workarounds to get all the tools to work together. They can use virtually any production that can ingest SRT signals and easily monitor the fidelity from anywhere.

Challenges you should know:

• Microsoft Teams administration. Epiphan Connect requires your Teams administrator to grant access to the Connect application to join your meetings.

Ideal for:

• Anyone producing a stream where they want remote guests to be on their a-game.

Live streams are better with guests

Live streaming helps brands of all sizes and reaches connect with their audience authentically. It can be a powerful, cost-effective way to nurture leads into loyal customers, particularly when you can offer some interesting new insight by bringing guests to the live stream. 

Start flipping through your contacts, send emails and DMs, and book whomever you think can spark a great conversation. Once you start bringing guests into your live stream, expect to see more eyes and ears gravitating to your content. 

*This blog is extracted from Epiphan. 

About Epiphan Video

Epiphan Video provides award-winning, purpose-built hardware solutions that help your business create impactful video content. 

The Epiphan Pearl range of hardware encoders is the ultimate system for maximum versatility with multi-encoding, multi-streaming, recording, custom layouts, switching, and more. Ideal for use in live event production, enterprise communication or lecture capture in higher education.

AP Tech is the authorised Australian distributor of Epiphan Video products. Every Epiphan solution from AP Tech is backed by local warranty and support.