Both a professional streamer and a beginner have faced various challenges in search of their personal streaming style. In episode 18 of the Live Better show, our fantastic guest Ian Anderson Gray would define the main challenging points and share his experience of overcoming them. 

Timestamps for the episode:

5:50 – Hi Ian!

8:05 – Ian’s first steps in the world of live broadcasts

Ian studied as a professional classical singer in college, sang around the UK as a professional singer, and then started a blog. All the social media world turned out to be pretty interesting for Ian. 

In 2016 with Facebook live, it was challenging for people to go live, as it needed a highly complex software, OBS studio. Ian wanted to find a way to make it easier; he wrote a blog post that boomed, and then people started asking him to talk about live video. 

Even though Ian had a great experience of stage performing, in the beginning, he was afraid to give talks about live streaming, but the more experience you obtain, the less fear you have. Today, Ian goes live 2-3 times a week. It still makes him a little nervous, but he uses this in a positive way. 

11:30 – Top three barriers people face when they livestream

1. Fear of being in front of the camera
2. Tech and gear 
3. Content marketing market

15:00 – Tips to overcome those barriers

• First of all, you should understand the reasons why you are doing your streams and understand the audience that would follow them. 
• Plan the show.
• Schedule your live shows; in this case, there is no excuse for you not to do it. 

You probably won’t be good at it when you just start your way as a live streamer, but all the problematic issues will go away with time and practice. 

25:50 – How to overcome the fear of sharing your opinion?

First, you should be willing to be wrong; we need to express our views to learn and think. 

Sometimes show hosts learn from their guests and watchers even more than they do. If other people disagree with your opinion, try to get it as a positive thing. They are engaging with you, and having a conversation about it is excellent.

27:30 – How to stop doubting the value of the information you share?

Often there is a negative voice in your head saying, “give up, there is no value in it, it’s just a waste of time,” but indeed, as soon as you have at least one viewer, there is value. 

Whenever the voice becomes more assertive, discuss it with your friends or industry peers; they will give you feedback and cheer you up. 

33:45 – How to manage a broadcast on your own?

Indeed it is a challenging thing. In the old days, you should have had the whole team of producers, moderators, etc., but it is a lot easier today. With tools like Wave.video, you can do everything yourself. At first, it still would be challenging, but it takes a little practice to get used to it. 

Planing the episode in advance helps a lot; it brings structure. Break the episode into several parts, define periods when you will engage with the audience, and come up with some questions. 

But it would help if you also thought of your future audience. If you upload your live video recording after the broadcast is over, there will be people who watch it. Think of tactics to convert them into a live audience. They are watching it on their own, so try to make them feel that they are also a part of the moment. 

Ask your watcher to drop some lines in the comments answering your question. 

40:10 – What to do if there are just a few followers?

At first, there would be a few people, but over time audience would grow. Friends and family are not a bad idea, to begin with. 

5 Ps process from Ian:

• Plan
• Pre-promotion
• Produce
• Post promotion
• rePurposing

44:20 – How to overcome tech and gear fear?

People tend to overcomplicate it. If you are afraid of pro tech, start with something you are familiar with, and use your phone. As soon as you feel confident, change it to the inbuilt computer cam, and then go further. 

Choose the tool you like; there is no need to add extra graphics if you don’t enjoy it. 

If you want to go ahead with pro gear, consider buying a good microphone first.

People cannot deal with bad audio, but they can deal with bad video. 

48:30 – Deal with the content marketing sphere

In general, content marketing is not as frightening as it seems to beginners. There are three golden rules that help Ian to handle it seamlessly:

• Go Live regularly
• Define the show theme
• Know your audience