Arranging videos or podcasts for events

Information and advice about video, audio, webcasts and more

Public Lecture Programme (PLP) events

Contact the Events team well in advance of your event. They will book the recording, organise recording / filming permission, and add your event to the weekly list of podcast and video requests sent to the Film and Audio Team.

Important: if powerpoint slides will be used at your event and you request a video recording, please ensure that you ask for the slides to be included in the video as we often receive negative user feedback when slides aren't visible.

Please note that there is an additional charge for adding the slides to the video and you will need to provide a copy of the Powerpoint slides file to the video production company (Dida Media).

The Film and Audio Team will produce your podcast and publish it on LSE Player, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and MixCloud. Podcasts are also made available in most other podcast apps and via an RSS feed.

Videos are also published on the LSE YouTube channel. Podcasts are published one to two working days after the event (usually the next working day), videos one to five working days after the event.

You will be notified by the events office when the podcast or video is published.

Non-public-lecture programme (non-PLP) events

For a quick overview of the process see this flowchart or for more detailed instructions follow the step-by-step guide below.

Audio is recorded using the lecture capture system, it is free of charge and must be booked in advance via AV Services. 

Video is usually supplied by DIDA Media, this is a chargeable service and must be booked in advance, please see below for their current rates. If you prefer you can use an alternative supplier. 

Advice for recording public events

Scheduling

Lecture capture recordings are automated so they will begin and end exactly at the time you have requested. Events and seminars often overrun by a few minutes. To ensure that your event is recorded in its entirety please ensure you allow for this when you book your recording with AV Services.

Ensuring good audio quality

Teaching rooms are equipped with a single microphone located on the lectern. In order to capture a good quality sound recording all presenters including the chairperson of the event must stand directly behind the microphone when addressing the audience. When presenters don’t stand behind the microphone the audio signal is weak and recordings are often unusable.

If you’re planning a panel discussion with multiple presenters it may be possible to install additional microphones, and if you have a presenter who does not want to be restricted to delivering their talk form behind the lectern it may be possible to use a wireless lapel microphone – please discuss your requirements with AV Services well in advance of your event.

Handling audience participation

Questions from the audience will not be audible on the recording unless you request roving wireless microphones from AV Services and you have stewards on hand to pass the microphones to members of the audience. There are some teaching rooms where roving microphones cannot be used in which case please ask the chairperson to repeat questions for the benefit of podcast listeners.

Permission and intellectual property

You must have written permission to record your event from all the presenters / speakers, especially if you plan to make the recording available online. Please copy/paste the text from this permission form into an email, consent by return email is sufficient. The onus is on event organisers to seek permission and keep a record in case it is needed in the future in a place that is known and accessible to your departmental colleagues.

At the start of your event please make members of the audience aware that it is being recorded.

Publishing

To make a public lecture or event recording available on your departmental web page or blog please follow the step-by-step guide below or email comms.filmandaudio@lse.ac.uk for further advice.

Non-PLP audio podcasts step-by-step

1. Read the advice above on recording public events - this contains very important advice please read before continuing.

2. Request a lecture capture recording from AV Services by completing the lecture capture request form well in advance of your event. If you have any queries please email dts.teaching.support@lse.ac.uk.

3. After the event login to echo360  and find the recording in your library (it can take a few hours to process).

4. Edit your recording in the echo360 lecture capture system using these instructions. Typically you will need to edit out the extraneous material from the beginning and end. Then publish your recording to the course DPT_Event and email the details of your event to Comms.FilmAndAudio@lse.ac.uk asking them to publish online.

Alternatively if you would like to perform additional post-production on your recording e.g., adjusting the audio levels or adding mp3 tags, download the audio file from echo360, edit it using audio editing software e.g., Audacity which is installed on all school PCs, and supply the audio file to the comms.filmandaudio@lse.ac.uk using Dropbox or a similar file sharing service. 

5. The Film and Audio Team team will upload the podcast file to the media server and provide you with a media URL which you can use to publish the podcast on your departmental website/blog or social media.

When publishing or sharing the media please copy and paste the URL directly from the email from the Film and Audio team and not from a web browser address bar. The URL should always begin with https://richmedia.lse.ac.uk/lse_  if it does not viewing statistics for your media will not be recorded.

Non-PLP videos step-by-step

1. If you arrange a video recording please ensure that you also request an audio podcast recording (see above). This is so that the event can be made available in both media formats (audio is much more popular than video for long-form content such as public events) and there is a backup audio track for your video.

2. Contact Frank Huang at Dida Media to arrange filming of your event on frank@didamedia.com and cc Comms.FilmAndAudio@lse.ac.uk to make the Film and Audio Team aware of your request.

Important: we often receive negative user feedback when Powerpoint slides are not visible on the video. If Powerpoint slides will be used at your event please ensure that you request that the slides are incorporated into the video. There is an additional charge for this - see rate card below. You will also need to supply a copy of the Powerpoint slides file to Dida Media. 

Dida Media filming and editing is charged at the rate of £150 for a 60 minute lecture, or £225 for a 90 minute lecture, including VAT. Filming and editing with Powerpoint slides is charged at the rate of £246 for a 60 minute lecture, or £369 for a 90 minute lecture, including VAT. Dida Media will send an invoice to you on completion of the job. These prices are correct as at September 2017. 

3. When it is ready Dida Media will send you a link to download the edited video file. When you have received the link from Dida Media and you're happy for it to be published online forward it to Comms.FilmAndAudio@lse.ac.uk along with the details of the event or a link to a page about the event. If the link you received from Dida Media has expired you can send the file using a file sharing service such as Dropbox or similar. 

4. The Film and Audio Team team will upload the video file to the media server and provide you with a media URL which you can use to publish the video on your departmental website/blog or social media. Non-PLP event videos are not routinely uploaded to the LSE YouTube channel but if can be done on request if the content is suitable and recorded to a good standard.

When publishing or sharing the media please copy and paste the URL directly from the email from the Film and Audio team and not from a web browser address bar. The URL should always begin with https://richmedia.lse.ac.uk/lse_  If it does not viewing statistics for your media will not be recorded.

Live webcasts

The Events Office choose a small selection of PLP events each term to be webcast live on the LSE YouTube channel. The service is provided by the Events Office and Film and Audio Team in partnership with AV Services.

Live webcasts are not provided for non-PLP events. It should be noted that on-demand audio podcasts made available after the event are much more popular than live webcasts. This is because people generally prefer to watch/listen at a time of their choosing especially if they live in a different time zone.

The audience for live webcasts is relatively small but if it's something that you would like to pursue for a non-PLP event, the Film and Audio team can put you in touch with external providers who would usually charge somewhere between £1,000 and £3,000 depending on your requirements.

Podcast and video statistics

If you require podcast or video usage statistics, please contact the Film and Audio Team on Comms.FilmAndAudio@lse.ac.uk.

Using podcasts and videos in the CMS and Wordpress blogs

Contact the Digital Team comms.digital@lse.ac.uk for the user guide.