Event Streaming Best Practices

A livestream lets families, alumni, sponsors, and teams who couldn’t travel watch an event as it happens, and it gives teams match video to review afterward. This article describes how to put together a reliable stream for a FIRST Tech Challenge event without hiring an A/V company or assigning a volunteer to run it full time.

Who This Is For

This article is written for an Event Director or Technical Director who is comfortable with computers but has never produced a broadcast. It covers everything from a single-field qualifier up to a championship, using the same building blocks at every level. If you are streaming your first event, start with the Bronze tier.

The goal is a stream that runs on its own during matches. Once it is set up, the Technical Director should only need to keep an eye on it, and step in for alliance selection and the awards ceremony.

This article covers the equipment and setup needed to get a stream on the air. It does not cover show production, such as scripting the emcee or planning the run of show.

How the Tiers Work

Each topic in this article is split into three tiers. Each tier matches a level of event, and each one costs more and takes more work to set up than the one before it.

Bronze: Qualifiers

The minimum setup that produces a watchable stream: one camera on the field, audio from the venue’s sound system, and OBS Studio running on a computer the event already has. If you have to buy everything, expect to spend about $200 per field.

Silver: Larger and Multi-Division Events

Adds a second camera for awards and interviews, plus your own microphone and USB audio interface so the stream no longer depends on the venue’s sound system. One dedicated streaming computer handles the whole event, separate from scoring. Usually adds a few hundred dollars to Bronze.

Gold: Regional Championships, Premier Events, and the FIRST Championship

Several pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, a mixer with wireless microphones, and software that uses information from FTC Live to switch scenes and record each match automatically. This much equipment is usually collected over several seasons, and much of it often belongs to individual volunteers.

Use the event levels as a starting point. If a qualifier can borrow a volunteer’s PTZ cameras, it should use them. You can also mix tiers; adding a Silver microphone to an otherwise Bronze qualifier is a common first upgrade.

Borrow Before You Buy

Most events can borrow a good part of what they need. Before spending money, ask:

  • Does the host school have an A/V club, a media class, or a theater program with cameras, microphones, mixers, or cables?

  • Does the venue have a projector and screen, and can a laptop connect to it?

  • Does the venue’s sound system have a spare output you can connect to?

  • Does a nearby team, league, or volunteer already own streaming equipment?

Buy equipment you’ll keep using season after season, such as IP cameras and PoE switches. Borrow anything you would use once and then store. For a first stream, try to keep the event’s own spending under about $500.