A channel can go live. The stream appears at the top of the channel for every subscriber, anybody can watch, and nobody can speak unless you invite them onto the stage.
That asymmetry is the point. A group call is a conversation; a channel stream is a broadcast, and almost everything worth knowing follows from treating it as one.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Start a live stream from a channel you run.
- check_circle Bring a guest or a subscriber onto the stage and take them off again.
- check_circle Stream from broadcasting software rather than a phone camera.
- check_circle Leave something behind for the people who missed it.
Starting it is the same menu as a voice chat. What differs is who the room lets talk.
cell_tower One voice, many listeners
In a channel, subscribers arrive as an audience. They can watch and listen; they cannot turn a microphone on. An admin can raise somebody to the stage and lower them again, which makes an interview or a question from a subscriber possible without the room becoming a free-for-all.
The stream shows a viewer count, so you know whether anybody is there. That number is worth watching for a different reason than vanity: it tells you when people arrived, which is usually several minutes after you started.
You are not limited to a phone camera. A stream key can be given to broadcasting software, which is how you get slides, multiple cameras, prepared clips and titles rather than a face in a room.
Four decisions for a broadcast
Two are about production, one is about the audience, and one is about afterwards.
videocam How the picture gets there
pan_tool Guests and questions
forum The audience needs somewhere
folder Most of your audience missed it
Schedule it, record it, and give the audience somewhere to talk. The live hour is the smallest part of the work.
settings Starting the stream
- Schedule it from the channel a day or two ahead The countdown does more than an announcement message.
- Decide on phone or broadcasting software And if software, fetch the stream key from the channel's live stream settings.
- Open the room early with your guests only Check every microphone before the audience arrives.
- Start recording if you want it to outlive the hour And say that you are.
- Take raised hands one at a time Lowering each person afterwards.
- Post the recording and a summary To the channel, the same day.
This page is broadcasting into a channel. The curriculum step is the channel itself: public against private, how people find it, what a public handle commits you to, and the structure a broadcast audience sits inside.
At a glance
- 1Go live
Start a live stream from your channel's menu.
- 2Guests
Invite someone to speak and remove them afterwards.
- 3Leave a recording
Record it for people who missed it.
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