Five Olympic champions, a World champion hockey star, a top supermodel, a world-class soprano, a globally revered conductor, children and ‘Zorbs’ – giant spheres like snow globes, maneuvered by performers inside – took centre stage in a packed BC Place Olympic stadium on Sunday night, as part of a spectacular show to mark the Olympic Flag handover to Sochi – the host city of the next Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

(ABC)

As part of Sochi 2014′s commitment to innovation, for the first time in an Olympic handover ceremony digital technologies connected the audience in Vancouver to Sochi and the Russian capital, Moscow, sharing the celebratory atmosphere across time and space. If you didn’t get a chance to see it live, check out the video link above, it’s quite spectacular.

(ABC)

Sochi’s progressiveness in technology allowed us to view an orchestra in Russia conducted from British Columbia. An impressive feat if you ask me. . . and one that set me thinking. I know it’s not a new concept, but one I don’t believe has been readily embraced by couples. We all have friend and family who are out of the country, or perhaps in ill health that prevents them from attending our big day. Well . . . why not introduce them to Ido Stream and broadcast your wedding Live!

Ido Stream was developed out of necessity as the developer, Phillip Ly, was in a predicament himself when he got married. Having grown up abroad, many of his friends and family were in Germany and Sweden and could not attend his nuptials. So to make them a part of the occasion he created a way to broadcast his wedding and make them a part.

Another great resource for broadcasting is Live Wedding Broadcast. They’ve taken the technology a bit further to allow guest to send you video wishes from wherever they are. LiveWeddingBroadcast.TV enables the couple to customize the viewing screen for their guest.

Both vendors allow couples to do the broadcasting themselves, or connect with a professional of their choice or suggestion to connect your distant friends and family into the heart of your day.

Are you ready to be broadcast?

While contemplating the idea, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Paid vs. Free Webcasting

Many free live webcasting sites deliberately lower the quality of the video stream in order to accommodate for the thousands of live webcasts that are occurring simultaneously on their site.  The reliability also suffers because of this.  In addition, we fully monitor every live broadcast and will respond to all technical support requests.

We’ve had many videographers who have used the free sites switch to us because they could not reliably provide a live webcast using a free webcasting site.

Broadcasting Location

You can successfully broadcast both indoor and outdoor weddings. For indoor wedding venues, such as hotels, access to broadband or higher internet speeds is not difficult to acquire. You will need to speak to the technical team at the venue to ensure the connection is not prohibited by any firewalls. For outdoor locations or churches which may not have internet access readily available, there are several options. You can use a wireless broadband air card offered by wireless services providers such as Verizon or Sprint connected to a laptop. The connection upload speed at 700kbps will ensure a strong broadcast.

The broadcaster may also rent a package that includes all the equipment you’ll need to quickly setup and easily broadcast live.

Necessary Equipment

1. Camecorder that has a Firewall (IEEE 1394) or DV output
   
2. Laptop with a Firewall (IEEE 1394) input
   
3. Wi-Fi or wired internet connection at the location
   

Or a local Videographer who can do everything for you – your choice.

Alright, Ms Right “Are you ready for your close up?”