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My aim is to run a livestream to promote my music, helping me to gain fans ahead of releasing anything officially.

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A secondary aim is to get session work from anyone who wants to hire a professional guitarist.

The aim for the attendees is different - this will be to improve guitar skills and to be entertained by means of guitar performances.

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I will be collaborating on this project with one other person, Gavin Bushell. We will be taking a 50/50 partnership on hosting and running the event. We met virtually on Saturday 8th June for our weekly MS Teams meeting 🤝 🤳 to discuss a proposed timeline for the necessary research to undertake prior to event day. We spoke of our strengths and planned would take the lead on each task.

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What: Digitally livestreamed guitar workshop and performance

Where: Online livestreaming platform (possibly YouTube and/or Twitch)

Who: Our target market is people wanting to improve their guitar technique. Our target market will be adults (mid-teens and older) of any gender. They are fans of music, likely interested in rock music as a broad genre as they are interested in guitar. Some of my audience may be current fans but will market further afield. The target audience is based mainly in the UK but will be suitable for multiple time zones. The event is online, so isn't restricted by location. There is no fee to enter the livestream, so open to those of all economic backgrounds.

When: Saturday 20th July at 18:00 BST (being a weekend date allows the possibility of greater attendance due to fewer work commitments. Being 6pm makes it possible for American audiences to attend without being too late in the day for a UK audience. No major events are taking place on this day (the Euro 2024 football championship will have concluded a few days prior and it will take place before the Olympics).

Why: To promote our music to increase streams and sales.

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S:

I want to accomplish running a successful live-streamed guitar workshop.

This goal is important because it will help me gain fans (and, in turn, streams and sales).

M:

My Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the number of stream viewers (concurrent and total), the number of chat comments, the upward change in social media/Spotify following, the number of post-stream enquiries for either guitar advice or session clients. I would like to get a minimum of 10 concurrent viewers, 5 chat messages and 5 Instagram followers from the event. I will also aim for 10 YouTube subscribers. It would also be nice to get a session client, although this isn't necessarily the target audience. Further to this, I'd like to gain experience and confidence as a livestreamer.

A:

I can accomplish this goal by engaging with the course content regularly, researching similar events, meeting with my collaborator each week, not overcomplicating the event itself.

This goal is achievable despite not having run a livestream before because we will test the format thoroughly beforehand and learn from any mistakes.

R:

My goal is relevant because it allows me to advertise myself and my what I do.

It is worthwhile because it will allow a good opportunity to gain fans and session clients.

It is the right time because there are no other major events taking place on the event day and I'm ready to take my career to the next level.

It matches my other efforts/needs because my main instruments are guitar and bass, which is what the stream will focus on.

I'm the right person to reach this goal because I'm diligent in detail and have the necessary skills to excel as a session guitarist.

It is applicable in the current socio-economic environment because the event is free!.

T:

My goal will be achieved on Saturday 20th July

I can get this started by engaging with the WBO2023 content in Canvas and completing tasks. I can also regularly update the Event Development Log every week.

By the formative hand-in, I will be able to explain all aims and goals of the event, all roles and responsibilities in the team, the event format, who is performing, how to access the event, who will be able to access it, and the budget. I will also communicate the 5 Ws and SMART target in the formative and link this Event Development Log up until that point. I will also present a Gantt chart.

In the 3-week lead-up to the event, all marketing activities will be in place, or scheduled for release at intervals. We will also be prepared for all the technical aspects of live-streaming, including the testing of hardware and software.

In the 1-week lead-up to the event, I will test all equipment necessary, communicate with the team about what may be required on the day, discuss last-minute marketing. We will film the necessary performance videos one week ahead of time.

After the event has happened, I will analyse the chat messages, email and social media for any enquiries related to hiring a session player, or from guitarists about technique or writing. I may also plan a similar follow-up event if our KPIs were met successfully.

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The key tasks are now displayed in a Gannt chart to keep track of progression and guide next steps.

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Week 1 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (01/06/24)

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Week 1 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (01/06/24)

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After having looked at Gavin Bushell's videos and music during the induction, I messaged him to ask if he'd like to collaborate on an event as our ability and business goals are very similar. In our first meeting, we discussed event ideas. I suggested launching a Zoom guitar workshop to discuss techniques for the modern guitarist. Gav was interested and added the possibility of incorporating track performances from both of us to break them down to explain what we're doing on the guitar. We came to the conclusion that this could work quite well as a livestream as this would help maximise our audience potential.

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Week 2 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (08/06/24)

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Week 2 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (08/06/24)

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In our meeting today, we discussed our timeline for the key milestones towards our event. We expressed that it was important that we take our preparation a day at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed during the final week prior to the event. We decided on our event title, which will be "Dane & Gav's Guitar Chop Shop". Gav suggested this name and then I put forward that this may also be useful as a pun on "chip shop", which could influence our promotion designs.

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To keep my files organised and minimise the time needing to search for files during this assignment, I've created a file in OneDrive in order to keep everything in one place. As part of our collaboration, some relevant files are also shared to Gav with edit access (such as possible event day itinerary and event timeline). This way, we can share notes back and forth easily without fear of forgetting or losing something.

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In addition to our weekly meeting, Gav and I are in constant contact using MS Teams to discuss ideas and share files (conveniently, this is also linked directly to One Drive).

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During a lecture Chris Herstad-Carney, he mentioned that we must learn to understand our audience because will lay the groundwork for how to market our event. Although we'd like the livestream to be seen by as many people as possible, we know that we're targeting mainly guitarists. According to the 2023 Musician's Census, the majority of these are also likely to be male. Both presenters are also male and may not be able to relate as much to a female audience, so this increases the likelihood of a male audience. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6398a2cf26f9de4e45e94dd7/t/6603e1657146410e882a30b2/1711530351239/MC23+Womens+Insight+Report+0224+FA.pdf

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Week 4 Event Planning Meeting with Gav and Jason Kristenson about OBS (19/06/2024)

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Week 4 Event Planning Meeting with Gav and Jason Kristenson about OBS (19/06/2024)

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This week, Gav and I had a meeting with Jacob Kristenson to discuss OBS and how to best navigate it for our livestream. Jason advised that we incorporate overlays to give our stream a more slick appearance. He also recommended that we use a multi-camera setup when recording guitar videos in order for the learning musician to see the guitar from their own perspective, as well as from the front. I will try this when recording my performance videos because it will allow more movement in the visual elements, which is necessary for audience attention, resulting in an increased retention. According to Biteable.com, "We’re collectively getting better at short, intense bursts of attention." - https://biteable.com/blog/video-scene-length/

For this reason, I'll insert the edited cuts often to help prevent viewers from clicking away.

Some of the content from the interview was a little more advanced and would be less appropriate for our first few livestreams, such as animations. As we get accustomed to streaming in general, we will likely add new elements to OBS for each time we go live.

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Week 3 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (16/06/24)

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Week 3 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (16/06/24)

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Gav and I discussed the tracks we plan to present at our event. We have decided on 4 contrasting tracks that showcase different styles. Gav has a jazz rock fusion track, and a progressive metal track, whereas I will be performing a disco rock and a desert funk track. Having such a broad range of styles is highly likely to appeal to as many musicians as possible, instead of sticking just to one. It may also inspire other guitarists to try different styles.

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Prior to my Formative submission, I focused on the priorities for my event at this stage. Before going into the technical details of livestreaming, it's important that we begin marketing our event well ahead of time to increase the likelihood of it being well attended. I created a vertical promo video today to post on Instagram and TikTok explaining the main details of the event. This should help build hype for the event. If the Reel/TikTok doesn't perform well, I'll increase the budget for a paid promotion up to £30. The promo video is linked above.

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Making Things Happen  -  Event Timeline (1)

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Week 4 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (23/06/24)

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Week 4 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (23/06/24)

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Today, Gav and I met to try out the OBS software together and do some problem-solving. The software itself seems quite intuitive, which will help in a high-pressure situation. Gav also presented a possible promo video (linked above). This contains snippets of both of our tracks.

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The budget for my event is £1000 which includes reusable assets and event advertising. This will be edited retrospectively as spending continues. Invoices in appendix

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Week 5 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (28/06/24) - YouTube Livestream Schedule Created

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Week 5 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (28/06/24) - YouTube Livestream Schedule Created

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Gav and I met up to create the scheduled stream in YouTube prior to posting our promo videos, so we have a destination for our social media followers. We will also inform them they can hit the "notify me" button so that they get a gentle reminder on the day.

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Gav and I also spoke about what we should write in our social media posts to try and grab the attention of our target market. We will post videos on all our available platforms on Saturday 29th June (a good day for engagement as fewer people are at work).

We wrote separate posts to make it more personal to us. Here is what I wrote for tomorrow's post:

"Looking to take your guitar skills to the next level? Dane & Gav’s Guitar Chop Shop is going live on YouTube next month! Join us on Saturday 20th July at 6pm (BST) to hear performances of some of my new tracks, along with stellar pieces from the fantastic @Gav Bushell. We’ll break down the guitar techniques and theory used in a way that’s easy to understand, which can be incorporated into your own playing.

Hit the YouTube link in the bio and click on “notify me” to get a reminder for the stream.

See you there!

https://www.youtube.com/live/VhvZ-BEnvHU?si=OaLUmoEwXEALqHjQ"

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Most likely risks outlined here.

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Risk reduction strategies outlined here.

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I tested audio to balance the sound between both presenters in OBS. The output gain was reduced for both of us so that we could be around the same volume level. Gav's audio is mapped to OBS via video ninja. I ensured my audio was in mono because I noticed that guitar was only audible in the right and vocal microphone in the left. Ticking "mono" solved this issue and simplified the audio setup.

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OBS scenes and audio for the livestream are also controllable directly on the Stream Deck.

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The event is not in a physical location but I've plotted my room to present the area of filming and show how cables have been laid to minimise risk of injury by tripping.

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This image represents what the viewers will see in the livestream. Gav and I will use a pre-designed background image in a 16x9" ratio (which is YouTube standard), with Gav's video feed on the left and mine on the right. We tested what it would look like with a stretched image for us both but the guitars were then cut off, so we opted for the horizontal style with a background image.

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The day sheet for the event states the running order, itinerary and rough timings for the event. Gav and I discussed that we would like it to last around an hour but there is no issue with overrunning slightly if it happens naturally.

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Not all issues can be resolved but the impact of some problems can be reduced.

In the event of the wired broadband and/or WiFi cutting out during the event, I will attempt to resolve this by connecting via my phone's 4G hotspot. The speed would not be as good, but it will be fine as a backup.

In the event of a microphone/mic cable cutting out, I will connect a spare mic/cable. If the issue is with the mixer channel, I will connect the cable to a different channel.

If there are any technical issues that will cause the stream to begin late, I will inform all the attendees waiting in the live chat (the chat is active before scheduled streams go live).

In the event of my collaborator Gavin being sick at the scheduled time, I would run the event solo and adapt on the fly as best as I can. I would still play Gavin's performance videos and do attempt to explain what is happening from a technique perspective.

If the livestreaming platform YouTube goes down, we will reschedule the event as our marketing for the event is directing people to this one platform. Our line of communication to attendees is through YouTube chat, so we wouldn't be able to direct people to another platform if YouTube is down. In future events we will discuss putting together a mailing list to have an extra line of communication.

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We will listen to feedback given by stream viewers to adapt future versions of the event. If they would like us to speak about a certain guitar topic, we would be happy to oblige in future. We will also take feedback on livestream timing.

We may find that the stream doesn't need to be live and we can make edits to improve the flow in future.

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In the event that someone in chat is being abusive to the presenters or another chatter, we will remove them ourselves. Gavin's wife also offered to remove them if she got to it first. We will then apologise if any offence was caused.

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Prior to the event, Gavin and I will consider marketing and try to pre-empt how many viewers there will be. On 18th July, there is currently one in the queue waiting for the stream, but this is not a measure of how many there will be on the day; it's only how many people have chosen to be notified.

I posted about the event in a large guitar-based Facebook group (251.8k members at this time) called Guitar Addicts. This is a US-based group, so I thought it could possibly help to increase the number of viewers based in North America.

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As the event ran as planned, it has been evaluated on its effectiveness. PDF available in Summative submission.

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As part of our planning for the event, Gavin and I discussed in Microsoft Teams some theory in the performance tracks. Music theory is not my strong point so Gavin helped me pre-empt theory-related questions based on my tracks. He specifically noticed I used the dorian mode during my first performance track Badlands. I will remember this if it comes up in the stream.

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As Gav is not with me in the same location, we had to use intermediary software to allow him to appear in OBS. Gavin found VDO Ninja, which broadcasts to an online "room". This room's URL is then pasted into OBS to allow his audio and video feed to be broadcast to YouTube with my feed.

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We reused the same assets in the promo videos for a poster. Gavin inserted a QR code that takes people directly to the stream page. We will publish this poster on social media platforms (Facebook groups, Instagram Stories, etc.)

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Regarding the reach in the event's Instragram post, it did very well, and better than any other in the previous 30 days

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It also was played 597 times and liked 48 times. This indicates that the Reel was likely replayed by some people. This is promising to see so many people engaging with the event.

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I took out an ad to be displayed across multiple Meta platforms. The event was promoted for £40 total in the UK and US (our target markets). The event was also targeted towards guitarists.

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Week 6 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (08/07/2024)

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Week 6 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (08/07/2024)

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In our meeting today, Gavin and I tested streaming on a different account. We were trying to avoid any viewers at this time, so I created a dummy account on YouTube called LiveStreamTest. We will used this account for multiple tests prior to the event.

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We went live on YouTube to try and determine what issues we may come across. It went quite smoothly but I had a microphone issue from my guitar amp - it was very crackly. After some testing, I eventually determined it was my audio interface (and not the mic or cable). I immediately purchased a new interface so that we would have it ready for the event day.

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Gav and I started meeting directly in VDO Ninja (instead of MS Teams conferencing). This was to allow us more practice using the platform. I had an issue where I couldn't see myself, but Gavin noticed a button at the bottom of the screen that stated to "enable director's microphone and video"). Clicking this solved the issue.

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Week 7 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (12/07/2024)

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Week 7 Event Planning Meeting with Gav (12/07/2024)

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Gav and I met through VDO Ninja and continued our meeting while live on YouTube (in our dummy account). This is the first time we used our backdrop image in OBS to give the stream a more professional look. We discussed the performance recordings and when we will get them ready for adding to OBS scenes. I recorded one of my tracks Go The Distance today and plan to record the other track Badlands on Monday next week. I will then edit them on Tuesday, well ahead of the Saturday livestream.

Gavin will send his prepared videos next week.

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I recorded the performance video using two cameras to get alternate angles. This also made it easier to get a more seamless edit of the performance (if a tracking mistake is made, switching to the other camera at this time maintains a professional image as the song part is patched in in the DAW (Logic Pro).

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Gavin send the folder that contains his performance videos on 18/07/24. I immediately added this to the scenes in OBS so that they are ready for the event day and would not have to search for them.

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The event ran 3 minutes late at 18:03 on Saturday 20th July. The late start was due to me closing an essential tab for the event (VDO Ninja). I then had to restart the system. While restarting, I informed any waiting viewers of the issue in the YouTube chat. I don't think this will have caused anyone to leave as 3 minutes is an acceptable time frame, but we'll never know for sure.

I'm happy with the event overall; the breakdown can be found in the evaluation PDF. The full YouTube video is linked above and the 5-minute montage video is available in Canvas Studio and linked here https://waterbear.instructuremedia.com/embed/486cdfac-c77b-4a9b-b422-8db5a9ab0270

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Level Up Your Lead | Guitar Chop Shop #1

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The Critical Path Analysis (CPA) shows the projected total time needed and path of progression for key points in our event timeline.