5 Tips: How I Got 10,000 People To Watch My Periscope
Like many of you, I’ve followed the trend of live video with fascination — from Meerkat to Periscope. I started to watch live video whenever news was breaking around the world. I truly believe this will eventually change how we consume news.
As the business head of 7SBio, makers of the first push-button blood collection device (here), I attended the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) event in Philadelphia last week. And like most people there, I was excited to hear from Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos. My video was well-watched with almost 10,000 views!
Here’s what I learned from my first Periscope broadcast:
Be ready to hold your phone for a long time
As I filmed her talk for a total time of 1 hour, 47 minutes (or roughly my fastest half marathon), I had to switch hands every 5–10 minutes. It’s tiring. It made me wonder why someone hasn’t made some sort of contraption yet to make this easy. Even shorter videos of 15 or 20 minutes would still be challenging. Make sure you prepare for this.
Bring an additional phone or tablet
Luckily, I was able to get tons of people watching my video given the enormous interest in what she had to say. So, all of a sudden, I had lots of journalists, writers, scientists, and others tweeting at me! But, if I can’t use my phone now that the broadcast started, how can I engage with everyone?
I found out quickly that you can’t exit the app to multi-task — it ends the broadcast!
So, instead, I pulled out my laptop and started to tweet with one hand and hold my phone with the other. I must have looked a bit odd to the audience around me. I wish I had thought to ask the guy next to me to take my picture.
Leverage your network and alert those with larger followings
I hadn’t considered this, but how would people find my broadcast? I realize you can search the app to see who is broadcasting live, but even with the industry appeal of Holmes’s talk, I didn’t know what to expect. So, I tweeted about it. And I tweeted it using the AACC hashtag. And I tweeted it to a few folks that may help me spread the word. And it worked — I was able to get thousands of views quickly.
I also tweeted about it several more times during the talk too. I didn’t know if this was a bit over the top, but decided this may also alert more people.
Through these efforts, I was able to get leading industry publications and journalists (and even Periscope themselves!) to share my broadcast on Twitter.
Find content worth broadcasting
The AACC conference is huge, but often obscure to those outside the industry. However, the Holmes event was like a rock concert. Lines formed over 1 hour before it began!
Find extremely interesting content to share and, if possible, content that typically isn’t shared live. Higher chance you’ll get viewers!
Make sure you have plenty of battery life
I figured live video would zap my battery , so I made sure my Mophie Juice Pack was fully charged. As expected, about halfway into her talk I got a notice that my phone was <20%. All I had to do was switch on the extra battery and I was good to go for the rest of the talk. At worst, I would have also had my MacBook Air, though probably would have made my viewers dizzy as I figured out how to plug it in as I was streaming video.
Now go Periscope!
Periscope is really changing how we consume live events — congrats Kayvon Beykpour. Until you have actually done your first broadcast, though, it’s hard to really know best practices.
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