Watch Parties: Technical guidance

This page contains technical guidance and considerations for groups planning to host an official ANH Academy Week Watch Party.

Any additional feedback or ideas are very welcome, please send to [email protected].

During the watch parties, attendees will be encouraged to pose questions or comments to the speakers at each conference session held online on Zoom. Watch party organisers can decide how they would like to manage audience questions. In general, we recommend you make a clear plan for how participation and Q&A on Zoom will be managed.
- One idea is that attendees could write their questions on sticky notes and pass them to a member of the hosting team who will collate them and then either ask them aloud via Zoom, or type them into the Zoom chatbox.
- Another idea is that when attendees at your watch party raise their hands to ask a question, the watch party hosts can pass them a microphone so they can ask their question aloud.
The ANH Academy team will be on hand on Zoom to help unmute your watch party room as needed and make sure the questions are posed.
Both live and online audience members can introduce themselves by stating their names, institution and area of interest before asking their question/comment.
Please ensure that the Q&A also adheres to the time given in the program.

For good internet connection, stream directly using a wired Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi, if possible. This connection type is less likely to experience bandwidth fluctuations than shared networks or Wi-Fi.
A good benchmark is to ensure that you have twice the upload speed available (10 Mbp+ upload speed)
Test if your microphone is working by clicking the arrow next to the “Mute” button, clicking “Test Microphone & Speaker” and then following the Zoom instructions.
Test if your webcam is working by clicking the arrow next to the “Stop/Start Video” button and clicking “Video Settings”.
Optimise how your video feed looks:
- Lighting should be bright and even and preferably come from in front of you. Lighting should never be behind you, to avoid casting shadows on your face.
- Your background should not be distracting.
- Try to look at your camera instead of a screen or paper. This will give the effect of eye contact and visual engagement. Use the gestures and mannerisms that you would typically use in person.

The size of production will dictate the amount of power required and if other components such as lights, audio and encoders are on the same circuit, the probability of power failure is very likely.
To prevent a circuit overload, ensure that the lights, audio and encoders are on different circuits. This will ensure that you have sufficient power to live stream without power failure.
Plan to have UPS power (uninterruptible power supply) as a back-up in-case power goes down. This would ensure that your live stream would not fail completely if one of the circuits fails.
Plan to have extra power cables to be used for all miscellaneous electronic items. This is just in case most power outlets will be in use for production.