The Influence Création Gala is a must-attend event celebrating Quebec content creators. For this edition, SWD had the privilege of recording and webcasting the evening, bringing together 25,000 online viewers as well as a live audience. A large-scale project that required advanced technical solutions to guarantee a smooth and immersive broadcast.
In this article, we uncover two major challenges encountered during this event and how our team addressed them effectively.
Challenge 1: Cover the event dynamically with 11 cameras
The Influence Création Gala is not a simple awards ceremony. Between the performances, speeches and behind-the-scenes interactions, it was essential to offer a dynamic and immersive recording, that would live up to the prestige of the event.
The difficulty
With 11 cameras spread over the entire venue, there was a double challenge:
- Ensure smooth coordination between different camera angles to capture every key moment without interruption.
- Offer a quality television production, alternating between wide shots, close-ups of the winners and the reactions of the audience.
The SWD solution
To guarantee complete and immersive coverage, we have set up an optimised mobile control room, synchronizing:
- Fixed and mobile cameras to capture the general atmosphere and spontaneous interactions.
- Remotely controlled PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras, allowing great flexibility without disturbing the audience.
- A real-time communication system between cameramen, directors and technicians, ensuring smooth transitions between different angles.
With this approach, we were able to make the visual experience as immersive online as it was for the in-person audience.
Challenge 2: Broadcast a stable signal for 25,000 simultaneous viewers
A live event is always a technical challenge, but when 25,000 spectators are connecting simultaneously, signal stability becomes a top priority.
The difficulty
With such a large audience, several technical risks had to be anticipated:
- Cuts or slowdowns due to network saturation.
- Excessive latency affecting the real-time experience.
- Degraded video quality on some connections.
The SWD solution
To ensure a smooth and uninterrupted broadcast, we rolled out a robust delivery infrastructure including:
- A high-performance video encoder, optimizing the stream in real-time to ensure stable Full HD quality.
- A dual Internet connection with network aggregation, combining the venue’s optical fiber with an LTE backup system, ready to take over in case of a problem.
- A high-performance CDN (Content Delivery Network), allowing traffic to be distributed over several servers to avoid any overload and ensure smooth broadcasting to the 25,000 connected viewers.
Thanks to this infrastructure, we were able to broadcast the gala without interruption, with optimal image and sound quality for all viewers, regardless of their Internet connection.
Expertise at the service of large-scale events
The Influence Création Gala is a perfect example of SWD’s ability to meet the technical challenges of an ambitious webcast. Thanks to our expertise, we have been able to offer:
- A dynamic and immersive capture, with 11 cameras covering all the key angles of the event.
- A stable and smooth broadcast, allowing 25,000 online viewers to live the experience in real time, without interruption.
Whether it’s for a gala, a conference or a sporting event, SWD implements tailor-made solutions to guarantee a high-quality webcast, adapted to the technical challenges and expectations of the audience.
