Use StreamText for realtime event captions

This article describes how organizers configure StreamText closed captioning in Bevy Virtual Conference

Overview

In Bevy Virtual Conference, event organizers can set up real-time closed captioning for both main stage and live/pre-recorded sessions through the Conference agenda. 

There are two main steps to configure closed captioning for a conference:

1. Create an event on StreamText.net.

2. Map it to a Bevy stage or session.

 The following section describes the broader workflow that includes these steps.

Workflow

Before the event

1. Schedule your event: schedule an event and decide which sessions you want to caption.
2. Hire a company to caption: engage a broadcast services company, such as Aberdeen or Caption Pros, to provide you with a captioner for the event. 
   

   These professionals provide live captioning by transcribing spoken words in real-time. We don't rely on speech-to-text technology for this feature.

3. Provide the captioner with stage or session names: main stage and session names are located in the Main Stage and Sessions tabs on Conference Agendas.
   • The main stage contains multiple sessions; they will all use one StreamText name associated with the stage.
   • For sessions, each will use a unique StreamText name. That is, every agenda item under the Sessions tab should have a different StreamText name.
4. The captioner creates a StreamText event: the captioner creates an event on StreamText.net and creates a StreamText name based on the name of the stage or session that you provided.
   

   The StreamText name must be one word with no spaces. Learn more in the StreamText Help Center. The captioner provides you with the StreamText name.

5. Add the StreamText name to your agenda in Bevy:
   • In the agenda, click the Main Stage or Sessions tab to link the StreamText name to your main stage or sessions.
   • Save the settings to finalize the process.

Adding your captioning service to your organizational team allows them to directly insert the StreamText name into the agenda. This also enables them to test the main stage and sessions as soon as you make them live.

Day of the event

The captioner tests closed captioning for the event: It is imperative that the captioner does a test before the start of the event. If the captioner does not have organizer access, then they can test the stage or stage sessions up to one hour before the event begins, and they can test the regular sessions 15 minutes before the event begins.

When the captioner accesses the StreamText event associated with your Bevy event and starts typing, the StreamText interface is displayed at the bottom of your event window. (Provided you've enabled closed captioning in Bevy by selecting CC in the lower-right corner of the main stage.)

Work with the broadcast service company to ensure that overlapping and back-to-back sessions have different captions. (Often, sessions do not end on time.)

In the meantime...

If you're not ready to engage a broadcast services company, Google Chrome can caption live video on any media played on it. Each attendee would need to enable live captioning Chrome, so it's not a holistic solution. To learn more, see Google Chrome Help Center.