Virtual Stake Conference with everyone at home

Our stake has requested to do a virtual stake conference with all participants joining from home. The plan as I understand it is to use an interactive session (Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc.) for those with a speaking part in the conference and then have a non-interactive link for those in listen-only mode. Has anyone set this up? I know a regional training was recently conducted this way that HQ ran. Is this something HQ supports? Has anyone done this? Any help/guidance is appreciated.
Thanks,
-Sam

Sounds cool, but I don't know the answer. What are the interactive features for, in this case? Is it for moderation?

If it's permissible for stake conference, you could optionally alternatively have all the speakers record their talks, and send them to you, and then you could review them and stream them (on YouTube, maybe) in the correct order for everyone to view at the appointed meeting time. This would have the added benefit of speakers being able to listen to the whole conference without their nerves being overwhelmed about their upcoming talks.

If streaming from YouTube is an issue, you can always just upload the video, and delete it after the meeting time is over.

It's been talked about. Essentially, you need a paid Zoom account and run an interactive meeting with all the participants. Zoom has a feature where you can output a RMTP stream to feed the Church Webcast or YouTube for the audience.

If you've got a visiting general authority, I think it's likely you'll hear from Church Headquarters to help set this up.

You could get a photo of the chapel pulpit that the speakers could use as a virtual backdrop, and it would look like they're all speaking from the chapel.

russellhltn wrote:It's been talked about. Essentially, you need a paid Zoom account and run an interactive meeting with all the participants. Zoom has a feature where you can output a RMTP stream to feed the Church Webcast or YouTube for the audience.

If you've got a visiting general authority, I think it's likely you'll hear from Church Headquarters to help set this up.

I'll have to look at the advanced features of Zoom. Thanks for the pointer.

sbradshaw wrote:You could get a photo of the chapel pulpit that the speakers could use as a virtual backdrop, and it would look like they're all speaking from the chapel.

Great suggestion!

I've been playing around with OBS software (open source, free to download and use). I use my computer (laptop) as the video encoder and can stream to the Webcast portal. I do have to use a different URL for each even, but the members always use the same link to view the webcast. The software allows me to include many different audio and video feeds. So I can take a pre-recorded talk and put it into the live stream. I can also use a DSLR camera or a camcorder to stream the event. it does require more hands-on than the standard webcast (using the Teradek) so I don't use it for sacrament meetings, but I think we'll use it for Stake Conference.

Along with nrsoren1, I'm using OBS for our Virtual Stake Conference. Since limited use the building is acceptable we are only have the speakers in the building, along with the STS (me) to handle the stream. I agree, OBS does take a little more hands on, but once you get it setup, its not bad. For quality, I haven't found zoom to be the best in the building, and I did a small test today with Skype, which looked really good. Plus if you are more technical (like I am) you can use some software called NDI that works with OBS and Skype, and bring each participant in the meeting into their own feed so they can be treated as individual cameras... its basically the same way TV shows do it.

We just finished our stake conference and it went well. Let me map it out for you. OBS studio running on a computer is the core. It sends a RTMP stream to the church webcasting solution. With the NuTek NDI tools the OBS output can stream in real time to monitors in the chapel. This is for the local audience and SP to see the GA. In OBS studio you can define a virtual camera that can provide the broadcast feed to Zoom for the GA to view. When the GA goes live then I switch the zoom camera to the native camera feed (USB) from the video switcher. This is to prevent the hall of mirrors effect as he sees himself see himself. This let's him see the local audience instead of himself. With me so far... Ok now to the audio. There are fancy ways to do thing but for us in an effort to have very low latency I chose to have multiple sound cards all feeding a mixer I borrowed from the Stake Youth dance system. (I don't think we are going to have any dances any time soon.) The choir on the second screen using windows media player has it's audio output using one of the sound cards. This audio goes to tape input on the mixer. Zoom audio output from the PC (sound card 2) goes to one of the line inputs on the mixer. This let's me rapidly control the volume of the zoom, GA, session. The mixer has a monitor output. This goes to the PC/Zoom (sound card 2) input to provide the GA with audio of the program. This gives me hardware based full control of the audio into in out of zoom. Now getting program audio into OBS studio. In our case the mixer had a USB audio output. If we didn't have this we could have used a third sound card for the line output from the mixer. I know a bit over the top but linking sound cards to each other just adds latency. The computers built in sound card was used for the monitor from OBS studio to let me monitor the mix. For the program audio from the chapel we ran a wire from the podium mic and brought it all the way back to the mixer. The mixer generates the 48 volt phantom power to run the microphone. For this channel (1) we set the pan to fully left. This was for the English channel. Left master output fed a crab box that then sent audio back to the chapel for injection into the chapel sound system. For channel 2 I connected the wireless receiver for a wireless microphone and set the pan to fully right. The interpreter sat in the back of the chapel and translated into the right channel. The right master output from the mixer was then used to feed the mic input of a second computer running OBS Studio to provide the translated version of Stake Conference. The video feed for that computer was the NDI feed from the master computer. I hope this all makes sense. The key here is that much is possible with computers, software, and a few odd bits of hardware.

I did one a month or so ago here is a video of my setup. https://youtu.be/HZsjD1HypsQ

davidry wrote:here is a video of my setup

Which is private and cannot be viewed without sign in credentials. [sigh]

Deleted Account wrote:This is a bit of a late reply, and solutions may have been found already. But, for the "All Virtual Stake Conference", meaning everybody is remote, and nobody is in the chapel, a Zoom Webinar would this quite well.

I think the webinar has a limit to the number of viewer - 500 if I remember right. That may be too limiting for a stake conference.

Another way to do it is by connecting all the presenters via Zoom and feeding an RTMP link to the church webcast system for the general membership.

I believe you are able to run the conference as a webinar and still stream the Zoom output through the Church servers for the rest of the membership.

Has anyone done a completely virtual stake conference with two languages? We have both English and Spanish wards in our stake and normally just do translation to headsets in the stake center, just trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this where the program will originate entirely on zoom. Any suggestions are welcome - please!!

However, the Zoom webinar is limited to 500 connections. I know I've seen about 525 active connections (not total/history) in my last stake conference.

It's possible to set up multiple meetings in the Church Webcast system, but so far, I've not seen a good way to create the translated language stream.

It's possible you could set up a second computer on the Zoom meeting used to produce the conference to send a RTMP stream and have that set to the translated language.

michaelbuhrley wrote:Has anyone done a completely virtual stake conference with two languages? We have both English and Spanish wards in our stake and normally just do translation to headsets in the stake center, just trying to figure out the best way to accomplish this where the program will originate entirely on zoom. Any suggestions are welcome - please!!

Zoom has the ability to do language interpretation, but I've not used it. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articl ... d-webinars

It doesn't look like this feature costs extra, but they do note that you may need to contact support to enable it; no idea how that would work with the Church provided Zoom accounts.

Also, there's not documentation on streaming the interpretation to another service. If you're wanting to send the stream via the Webcaster - or others - you'll likely need to set up a secondary encoding PC that's rebroadcasting just the interpreted meeting.

Hope these help!

Our Stake Conference is upcoming (in 3 weeks). I have been working with the Church's ICS Broadcast Planning & Event Support group on the streaming and H/W setup. Our Stake has 3 languages, English, Spanish, & Cambodian. I initially discussed with ICS the streaming options. We decided on Zoom with YouTube steaming because most of our Wards are already using this for their 100% virtual Sacrament meeting and most members are familiar with it. Also because the Church Webcast seems to be more complicated to setup. We are starting from scratch having to purchase a lot of hardware: a camera, adapters, cables, etc.

Our conference will be a hybrid with a remote GA, speakers (only) in the Chapel, music videos, and translators on Zoom. The translators will use ALS headsets to hear the English speakers and each has a computer with USB microphone to translate into. I plan for them to each use Ward clerk's office computer. There will be 1 YouTube video channel with 3 audio streams. Each language will have its own YouTube link. ICS will be running OBS and managing the Spanish and Cambodian audio steams. I will be the Zoom host. ICS will also be providing a higher-end Zoom license that will support many more connections and more than audio streams. The -Church provided Zoom license only allows a maximum of 500 sessions (attendees) and 2 concurrent connections.

BTW: I tried to convince them we should be 100% virtual, but the GA wants the speakers in the Chapel. Probably because our Stake Presidency will be changing.

I'm a bit stressed hoping it all goes well.

hooo boy. So basically I have 6 weeks to purchase a TV studio and learn how to operate it so that we can have a Stake Conference. I don't suppose there are any consultants hiring out their services for stuff like this?

tkendall1 wrote:hooo boy. So basically I have 6 weeks to purchase a TV studio and learn how to operate it so that we can have a Stake Conference.

It's not that bad. If all the participants are at home, you'll need laptops with webcams. You'll also need a machine for creating the RTMP to feed the Church webcast system if you're expecting to exceed more than 500 streams.

Don't let the fact that some stakes have fancy operations make you think you have to do the same. You may wan to grow into that, but it's not something you have to do the very first time.

tkendall1 wrote:hooo boy. So basically I have 6 weeks to purchase a TV studio and learn how to operate it so that we can have a Stake Conference. I don't suppose there are any consultants hiring out their services for stuff like this?

Does your stake technology specialist have experience and/or equipment to support webcasting a stake conference?

tkendall1 wrote:hooo boy. So basically I have 6 weeks to purchase a TV studio and learn how to operate it so that we can have a Stake Conference. I don't suppose there are any consultants hiring out their services for stuff like this?

Not at all. We had our stake conference a couple weeks ago. Everyone was at home except the stake presidency, 3 other speakers and 2 who offered the prayers who were all in the chapel. We used a $70 webcam mounted on a tripod in front of the podium and connected to a laptop. We used Zoom Webinar and the host (Stake Tech Specialist) ran the meeting from his home. We used pre-recorded hymns with video. We had simultaneous Spanish translation (also from her home) and an overflow stream to YouTube, in case we exceeded the 500 device limit. It went very smoothly, quality was more than acceptable and we would do it exactly the same way again. The positive response from the members was far beyond our expectation. I know many stakes have set up elaborate broadcast studios, but in the current COVID environment, a quality stake conference broadcast on a limited budget is quite easy.

tkendall1 wrote:hooo boy. So basically I have 6 weeks to purchase a TV studio and learn how to operate it so that we can have a Stake Conference.

Substitute "Zoom" for TV studio and you'll be a lot closer. The stake should have a Zoom login, so you don't need to buy that. But you will want to learn how to operate Zoom.

You'll probably want to do a practice run complete with translators (if appropriate) so everyone knows their part.

I'd dig though the posts here to take notes on what others have done so as to ease the learning curve.

We had our first virtual stake conference with a General Authority Seventy presiding last Sunday. Like the bad guy in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," I chose poorly and decided to use the church's webcast system because I wanted to avoid running into 500 connection limit. Apparently, it was having significant issues last Sunday, so our members had to try repeatedly to connect and were prompted for an access code that we didn't expect them to need and thus didn't distribute in advance. It was a generally bad experience even for those who were able to connect. If I get to do another one, given our stake's small size, I'll definitely stick with a Zoom webinar or YouTube live stream which have worked well for other events. Now, I'm on my virtual apology tour and getting "feedback" from members of the stake who couldn't participate. Learn from me.

Dave

superdave98 wrote:...and were prompted for an access code that we didn't expect them to need and thus didn't distribute in advance.

Is it possible the link the membership was given to view the conference was slightly off? That would trigger mywebcast.churchofjesuschrist.org to prompt them for an event code.

"Slightly off" as in a cut & paste that dropped the last bit? I'm always having to watch for that.

Thanks, guys. We were using the stake fixed URL. I tried cutting off the last letter of "stake" and while it did ask me for a code, it wasn't the page our users were seeing on Sunday. It seemed like the system was having a bad day on Sunday like I was.

Dave

Wow Davidry...wished we in our Stake had the equipment you have just shown in your Youtube clip. Ive got to run a SC in another couple of weeks and we are going basic. Thanks for the upload of your video. Very very informative and Im green with envy. Blaine from New Zealand (STS)

I have a solution if anyone is interested?

The system I built in PHP allows for reports, knowing who watched, link to be added from YouTube, creation of broadcast, historian and ward, stake reports, and other items.

I am looking for ideas and help to upgrade the system.

jsfriedman wrote: Sun Jan 03, 2021 4:39 pm Our Stake Conference is upcoming (in 3 weeks). I have been working with the Church's ICS Broadcast Planning & Event Support group on the streaming and H/W setup. Our Stake has 3 languages, English, Spanish, & Cambodian. I initially discussed with ICS the streaming options. We decided on Zoom with YouTube steaming because most of our Wards are already using this for their 100% virtual Sacrament meeting and most members are familiar with it. Also because the Church Webcast seems to be more complicated to setup. We are starting from scratch having to purchase a lot of hardware: a camera, adapters, cables, etc.

Our conference will be a hybrid with a remote GA, speakers (only) in the Chapel, music videos, and translators on Zoom. The translators will use ALS headsets to hear the English speakers and each has a computer with USB microphone to translate into. I plan for them to each use Ward clerk's office computer. There will be 1 YouTube video channel with 3 audio streams. Each language will have its own YouTube link. ICS will be running OBS and managing the Spanish and Cambodian audio steams. I will be the Zoom host. ICS will also be providing a higher-end Zoom license that will support many more connections and more than audio streams. The -Church provided Zoom license only allows a maximum of 500 sessions (attendees) and 2 concurrent connections.

BTW: I tried to convince them we should be 100% virtual, but the GA wants the speakers in the Chapel. Probably because our Stake Presidency will be changing.

I'm a bit stressed hoping it all goes well.

How were you able to get multiple languages to Youtube? Were you streaming from 1 computer 3 times or 3 computers?

jnpetersen wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:02 pm How were you able to get multiple languages to Youtube? Were you streaming from 1 computer 3 times or 3 computers?

I'm not sure what jsfriedman did, but what many do is use Zoom Webinar to originate the webcast and send the English viewers to the YouTube overflow (which is fed by Zoom's servers). For other languages, they connect to the Zoom webinar which supports translation. As long as you don't bump into Zoom's limit (500 streams?) , that should work fine.

Translation could be done from anywhere, such as the translator's home. So, only one computer and one upload stream is required from the stake center.

russellhltn wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:28 pm

jnpetersen wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:02 pm How were you able to get multiple languages to Youtube? Were you streaming from 1 computer 3 times or 3 computers?

I'm not sure what jsfriedman did, but what many do is use Zoom Webinar to originate the webcast and send the English viewers to the YouTube overflow (which is fed by Zoom's servers). For other languages, they connect to the Zoom webinar which supports translation. As long as you don't bump into Zoom's limit (500 streams?) , that should work fine.

Translation could be done from anywhere, such as the translator's home. So, only one computer and one upload stream is required from the stake center.

Thanks russellhltn, That's exactly how we have been doing it, but we are trying to figure out a path to take as we are back in our buildings and we looking at best ways to provide other languages in our building, without having to put a laptop in every room for that language. I'm working on a way to try and get the video to multiple live streams on Youtube so that we can then use the Smart TV's we have in some of our rooms that have YouTube on them so we can just bring up the meeting that way.

The reason I want to go the Youtube route is because Zoom is limited to 720p, which is still great (I have tried methods of sending it as HD Video, but it appears zoom is only doing 720 at most) but I can get 1080p on Youtube and the quality is just so much better. Not only that, but our congregation who are viewing remotely, including other languages would be able to view from a TV versus a laptop.

jnpetersen wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:53 am … we are back in our buildings and we looking at best ways to provide other languages in our building, without having to put a laptop in every room for that language. …

For those who are in the building, it seems like it would be simplest to use headphones with Bluetooth receivers, rather than separating people into different rooms and having to transmit both audio and video.

sbradshaw wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 12:14 pm

jnpetersen wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:53 am … we are back in our buildings and we looking at best ways to provide other languages in our building, without having to put a laptop in every room for that language. …

For those who are in the building, it seems like it would be simplest to use headphones with Bluetooth receivers, rather than separating people into different rooms and having to transmit both audio and video.

During the pandemic even when we returned to the building, we had our Spanish Branch meet at their building and join the zoom meeting from that building, while we had the translator translate to the room and that audio was also being sent back into zoom as an interpreter. It has worked, but has required that specific congregation to meet at a different building. We are trying to allow everyone to come to our Stake building, but in the past with our video distribution system we just hooked up a TV to the system and then the room had a XLR to hook up a mic and have audio specifically in that room. The interpreter had one of the headset we would provide to our hard of hearing members, so he can hear it in english and then translate in the room. All of this would have been great if we kept to that old, SD setup, but the camera we had used just wasn't working anymore, so we upgraded to a PTZ camera which has NDI, so we are looking at other routes.

I did come across a piece of software called ProPresenter, it is used by other churches, but I found that I can create multiple NDI feeds with different audio sources, but the license is $399 and I'm not sure I can convince my Stake to make that purchase.

It would be great if the church provided tools like these so we can make our Stake Conferences more "professional" looking. I know its not needed, but we have had a great response to having lower thirds, or a pre-roll of some footage of our building I took, as it makes watching it more visual, like General Conference has.

jnpetersen wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:00 pm We are trying to allow everyone to come to our Stake building, but in the past with our video distribution system we just hooked up a TV to the system and then the room had a XLR to hook up a mic and have audio specifically in that room. The interpreter had one of the headset we would provide to our hard of hearing members, so he can hear it in english and then translate in the room. All of this would have been great if we kept to that old, SD setup, but the camera we had used just wasn't working anymore, so we upgraded to a PTZ camera which has NDI, so we are looking at other routes.

I'm not understanding how the change in camera impacts this. You have a different way of distributing the video, but that doesn't change the audio at all. What am I missing?

I think you can use OBS to the same effect as pro presenter in this case.

We use OBS and use the "NDI Output" function to bring the stream into a second computer running OBS with headphones/microphones to dub the audio for our Spanish language stream. We split the microphone so that it goes into both the stream as well as into the headset transmitter. We also have a filter applied so that when the interpreter speaks, the volume of the stream is decreased automatically. When they stop speaking, the stream audio returns. That makes it easy to get music, etc. into the stream.

tmarks wrote: Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:08 am We use OBS and use the "NDI Output" function to bring the stream into a second computer running OBS with headphones/microphones to dub the audio for our Spanish language stream. We split the microphone so that it goes into both the stream as well as into the headset transmitter. We also have a filter applied so that when the interpreter speaks, the volume of the stream is decreased automatically. When they stop speaking, the stream audio returns. That makes it easy to get music, etc. into the stream.

I had the same idea, but I'm trying to limit the amount of computers needed at the building. We are utilizing zoom webinar with multiple languages and having translators either translate from home, or in another room in the building to zoom and for this Stake Conference, I'll be using a computer in the room we are going to use for Spanish and just have it play that specific feed. Zoom has it setup to use "ducking" when it comes to lowering the audio of the actual stream for the translators voice and then bringing audio back up when they are done.

The reason I like ProPresenter is because you can have as many NDI feeds as the hardware of the machine can handle, so it doesn't require multiple computers. I will look into seeing if it has a ducking feature for audio, because that would make it that much better if it did. It's great because you can create different feeds for different purposes, including a different feed for the stream, if lets say you wanted to put hymn lyrics on screen for streaming, but not for overflow monitors, you could can have it separate. You could also have a different view up on the rostrum for them to see whatever you would like, or to even push a message to just those screens if there is something that needs to be told to them. It free version is full featured just with a watermark, so I'm going to play with it more, and if I can get everything I need figured out, then its a great way to justify needing it. If not, I may purchase it myself and use it for my own personal use and for Stake Conference.

I do want to say, I'm pretty proud of what I've been able to set up for our upcoming Stake Conference.

We have the old composite/coax video system, and since we upgraded to these cameras, we are trying to figure out ways to avoid having to downgrade the feed to use on that system. I found a network capable video distribution system, which allows me to have 1 transmitter and multiple receivers (I believe its up to 32 per transmitter) and they aren't badly priced (about $65 for a transmitter and receiver combo, and then $35 per receiver). This is until the company of the NDI PTZ cameras we got release their NDI viewer device, then we'll just purchase those as we'll be able to pull the NDI feed directly, and if we have ProPresenter handling multiple languages, that would be better.

With the units above, I'm able to send a feed up to the rostrum to give them a view of what is being seen, but also gives me the ability to control the videos they want played at the leadership session and adult session right from my setup, so I don't have to run into the room to make sure everything works, they just have to power on the projector and I can start playing.

i'm also utilizing OBS with the NDI output as the final "Program" feed so I can place that in the NDI Studio Monitor and have that playing over those units, so lower thirds, videos, etc all show up around the building.

All of the things I have ready to go would normally take a few people to do, but I have a Elgato Stream Deck I setup so that I have full control of camera presets, lower thirds, and various scene adjustments, all within reach.

now take a look at the website I have built for our stake.

I use OBS, YouTube, and put in the link into the website, so that I do not have to send hundreds of emails out every time the link breaks. Since the domain name never changes, therefore when we advertise it in Facebook, we simply make it an announcement, and everyone knows the link.

They go into the website and they choose their ward, the stream they want to watch, and I am also adding in a future update baptism, funeral.

There is also a section that allows the social media specialists to add in the sacrament program, announcements, etc.

It makes reports for clerks, and we even know who is watching, as they put in their name, how many are watching etc.

The bishop also has to decide who watches, or they do not get access to that individual stream.

https://magnautahstake.com

(feedback welcomed).

Thanks for sharing. We tried what you have there, and if yours is successful, fantastic, but we had a negative response from people that they had to go to a website to get their link. I've taken ours offline currently and until the Stake Presidency changes our process, every Ward has a dedicated Zoom link they use, so everyone typically has it bookmarked in their phone or computer.

jnpetersen wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:03 pm Thanks for sharing. We tried what you have there, and if yours is successful, fantastic, but we had a negative response from people that they had to go to a website to get their link. I've taken ours offline currently and until the Stake Presidency changes our process, every Ward has a dedicated Zoom link they use, so everyone typically has it bookmarked in their phone or computer.

We do not give out a zoom, YouTube or other link for the actual stream.

They visit the website and watch inside the website itself. The website url never changes.

simph1 wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:22 pm

jnpetersen wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:03 pm Thanks for sharing. We tried what you have there, and if yours is successful, fantastic, but we had a negative response from people that they had to go to a website to get their link. I've taken ours offline currently and until the Stake Presidency changes our process, every Ward has a dedicated Zoom link they use, so everyone typically has it bookmarked in their phone or computer.

We do not give out a zoom, YouTube or other link for the actual stream.

They visit the website and watch inside the website itself. The website url never changes.

Which can be a benefit for those members using a traditional computer and browser to view the broadcast.
As we quickly found out, about 70% of our members use a Phone or smart TV which makes the experience more tricky for navigating websites optimised for desktops.

You can't please everyone!

simph1 wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:22 pm

jnpetersen wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 2:03 pm Thanks for sharing. We tried what you have there, and if yours is successful, fantastic, but we had a negative response from people that they had to go to a website to get their link. I've taken ours offline currently and until the Stake Presidency changes our process, every Ward has a dedicated Zoom link they use, so everyone typically has it bookmarked in their phone or computer.

We do not give out a zoom, YouTube or other link for the actual stream.

They visit the website and watch inside the website itself. The website url never changes.

That is why I use code that is optimized for phones, tablets and all kinds of devices.

In fact the Bishops of our stake love using it on their phones on the pulpit for those who request the broadcast and they were late, so that they can be granted by the Bishops in real time.