In this episode, we talk to Alessandro Grande and Robert Wolff, who run the Arm Innovation Coffee livestream on YouTube (which you can check out here). They tell the story about how they joined forces about a year ago to create a weekly interview video series during the pandemic.

Alessandro and Robert use StreamYard to help manage the livestream, including green (waiting) rooms for guests, overlays, and live comment pop-ups. They also use Open Broadcaster Software Studio (OBS Studio) to stream their own personal feeds into StreamYard to manage multiple cameras and other overlays.

Livestreams are great for making connections with audiences where people can chat and ask live questions. They offer a different form of engagement rather than a video or podcast where audience members are expected to passively watch/listen to the presenters. This helps humanize a brand by allowing customers (or potential customers) to interact directly with the presenters and each other.

Developer evangelists (advocates, etc.) should consider adding livestreaming to their toolbox as a way to interact with customers and audiences.

The new form of voice-only hangouts (e.g. Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces) offers something similar to livestreaming, but seems to lack many feedback features available on other platforms, such as the ability for audience members to type something into a chatbox.

Robert talks about how to measure success with livestreams, which can be different than many common business metrics. These measurements include brand awareness and engagement compared to the amount of time to prepare and create the livestream (i.e. the return on investment). Alessandro mentions that a livestream should offer something to the audience to keep them engaged.

Sponsor

We want to thank Twilio for sponsoring this episode! Twilio is a cloud platform that helps developers automate phone calls, text messages, and other communications through their web API. Check out twilio.com/go/helloblink for more information about using Twilio for automated messaging and IOT applications.

List of Resources
Arm Innovation Coffee Livestream

StreamYard
Open Broadcaster Software Studio (OBS Studio)

Guest Information

At the time of this episode’s release, Alessandro Grande has left Arm and taken a new position as Director of Technology at Edge Impulse.

Robert Wolff is an Ecosystem Developer Evangelist Manager at Arm.

Guest Contact Information

LinkedIn - Alessandro Grande

LinkedIn - Robert Wolff

Twitter - Alessandro Grande

Twitter - Robert Wolff

Host Contact Information

shawnhymel.com

kennyconsultinggroup.com

LinkedIn - Shawn Hymel

LinkedIn - Harris Kenny

Twitter - Shawn Hymel

Twitter - Harris Kenny

License Information

“Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0