How the University of Neuchâtel used Pearl™ to expand its viewership and deliver a prestigious live event to viewers across the globe.
Every year, students of the FIFA Master program gather at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland to present their cutting-edge dissertation research to a large body of family members, alumni and influential professionals within the global sports management industry.
Endorsed by FIFA and organized by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), the FIFA Master is a highly prestigious executive-level program, named as the top postgraduate sports management course in the world by SportBusiness International magazine in their 2014 rankings.
Students and educational organizations alike benefit from the FIFA Master’s recognized graduate employability, expansive alumni networks, quality of teaching and international appeal.
Bringing the conference to a global audience
While the event organizers always prefer to maximize in-house attendance for the FIFA Master dissertation conference, this year they also wanted to expand their reach even further by offering a live stream viewing option for those who were not able to attend in person.
Audiovisual specialist from the University of Neuchâtel, Claude Wacker, was tasked with finding a live streaming solution to deliver the conference to a global audience.
The solution needed to be relatively simple to use, needed to accept inputs from multiple sources such as cameras and computers, and required custom layouts to display brand images (FIFA, CIES, and University of Neuchâtel) and supplementary on-screen text during student presentations.
The physical limitations of the conference venue did not allow for live stream control within the presentation hall itself, so it was essential that the solution be portable and versatile – a device that Claude could operate with ease from a remote location in a technical AV room behind the conference hall.
The ideal live event setup
Luckily, the University of Neuchâtel is no stranger to the power of Epiphan Pearl. With 4 Pearl systems currently in use on campus already, Claude was confident that Pearl’s simplicity, versatility and live streaming and recording prowess made it the perfect choice for bringing the FIFA Master conference to an international audience.
“Pearl is an impressive little device packed with loads of powerful features that are perfect for live event streaming and recording.”
Before the FIFA Master conference, Claude took the time to create his speaker layouts (with overlay text and branding images) and connect two Panasonic PTZ cameras and a presentation computer to Pearl as HDMI and SDI video sources. Claude also connected a separate microphone TRS audio input to capture presentation audio.
A flawless live stream
The FIFA Master conference live stream ran smoothly from start to finish. Claude was able to use Pearl to stream the conference to an international audience via YouTube using visually engaging multi-source custom layouts with branding, images and overlay text to maintain viewer interest.
Best of all, Claude was able to do all this from a comfortable remote location using the easy-to-use operator-friendly control panel, Epiphan Live – a popular feature added in Pearl’s most recent firmware upgrade.
“As an all-in-one live production device, Pearl is becoming more and more valuable for AV pros with its ongoing, feature-packed firmware releases.”
Unbeatable results
With the help from Pearl, the FIFA Master presentation of dissertations reached a total of almost 1,000 remote viewers from over 56 different countries all over the world.
Students enrolled in the program got the chance to share their accomplishments with family members from home and benefitted from the valuable opportunity to reach a vast network of international sports management professionals, thereby enhancing future networking opportunities and boosting employability in the industry.
At the same time, Pearl’s live stream of the conference offered the FIFA Master increased global visibility with the ability to reach prospective students across the world – perfect for an executive-level management program that values and promotes a dynamic, international learning environment for its students.
Thank you, Claude Wacker, for sharing your story of Pro AV excellence on behalf of the University of Neuchâtel! We look forward to hearing more about how Pearl is being put to good use capturing, streaming and recording at your prestigious university.