Schedule and produce a Viva Engage live event that uses an external app or device

Step 1: Schedule your live event that uses an external app or device

1. In Viva Engage, go to the Community in which you want to host the live event and select Events.

2. On the Events tab, select Create live event.

   Note: If the option Create live event isn't present, the minimum requirements haven't been met (either through your network, account, or Community). For details, see Organize a live event in Viva Engage. Contact your IT admin for help.

3. In Create a new event, enter the following information and select Next:

• Event name (required)

• Presenters – Include anyone who might produce, present or moderate the live event

• Producers – see Presenters above

• Start date, End date, From (start time) and To (end time).

• Description

• Select Yes or No for whether this is a test event.
  
  A test event won't be promoted in the Community or Home feeds.

• Select whether to Enable Q&A and comments for attendees. This is disabled by default.

4.  In Ready to set up your live event?, select Microsoft Teams external app or device, and then select Create to go to your Viva Engage live event.

Step 2: Share your live event with invitees

1. From within the live event page in Viva Engage, select Share.

2. In Share the event, select Copy to copy the Viva Engage attendee link.

3. Share the link to Viva Engage, Teams, Stream, calendar invites, and Outlook—wherever people in your organization are likely to see it.
   
   Consider sending out reminders with the links right before the event.

Step 3: Produce your live event

1. When you're ready to produce your live event, and have your external encoder set up, return to the event page.

2. In the Viva Engage community, go to the Events tab, and click the link for the event.

3. Select Start setup on the video player and wait for setup to finish.

   1. When you see a Ready to connect message, copy the necessary information to connect your encoder to send the live encoder feed to Microsoft Stream.

      Server ingest URL	In your encoder, this may be called URL or Address. Microsoft Stream doesn't require a stream key or name, so you can fill this in with any non-empty value such as MicrosoftStream.
      Secondary server ingest URL	This setting outputs a redundant stream from your encoder, which means it requires double bandwidth. If your encoder and bandwidth capacity supports this, use this URL to double push, thereby improving durability and resiliency.
      Secure Connection (SSL) toggle	Use this to switch between RMTP or RTMPS protocols for the ingest URLs. Note that to use RTMPS, your encoder must support it.

4. Start streaming from the encoder to the server ingest point.

   You'll see the producer preview update in Viva Engage.

   Note: Attendees won't see the preview stream. They'll see an automatically generated slate.

5. After you're satisfied with your setup and can see the preview, select Start event.

   • After the event starts, audience members can see the event.

   • If you're just testing before the event, select Disconnect instead.

1. Moderate the event from the event page.

   For more information about this step, see the Roles section below.

2. To end your event, select End event on the producer controls.
   
   This ends the event and makes the content immediately available for video-on-demand.

   Important: 

   • Be sure to end the event before you stop your encoder.

   • If you end your event after you stop your encoder, event attendees will see an error

Step 4: Follow up afterwards

People may go to your live event page in Viva Engage after the live event is done.

• Be sure to monitor the discussion and answer all questions you promised you'd answer.

• Review the automated transcript created for the video; edit it if needed.

• Share links to the event so that anyone who missed it can watch the video.

Roles in Viva Engage live events that use an external app or device

There are three roles in Viva Engage, each with different permissions. In addition, there are functional roles in your organization that should be assigned as needed.

Live event roles in Viva Engage

Keep your team organized

• For a large team, it can be helpful to have a private Viva Engage community or Teams group to communicate about the event before, during, and after it.

• Be sure to have a conversation in advance about who does what, including who handles problems that may occur such as a presenter talking too long or inappropriate posts.

For more information about how to organize your event for best engagement, see the Viva Engage live event step-by-step playbook.

Recommended encoder settings

Ingest protocols

• Single bitrate RTMPS or RTMP

Video format

• Codec: H.264

• Profile: High (Level 4.0)

• Bitrate: Up to 5Mbps (5000 kbps)

• Strict Constant Bitrate (CBR)

• Keyframe/GOP: 2 seconds

  • There must be an IDR frame at the beginning of each GOP.

  • Frame Rate: 29.97 or 30fps

  • Resolution: 1280 x 720 (720P)

  • Interlace Mode: Progressive

• Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR): Square

Audio format

• Codec: AAC (LC)

• Bitrate: 192 kbps

• Sample Rate: 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz (recommend 48 kHz)

Playback requirements

• Both an audio and video stream must be present in order to play back content in Microsoft Stream.

Configuration tips

• Whenever possible, use a hardwired internet connection.

• A good rule of thumb when determining bandwidth requirements is to double the streaming bitrates. While this is not a mandatory requirement, it will help mitigate the impact of network congestion.

• When using software-based encoders, close any unnecessary programs.

• Don't change your encoder configuration after it's started pushing. It has negative effects on the event and can cause the event to be unstable. If you want to do this before the event has started, you must disconnect using the producer controls in Microsoft Stream and start setup again.

• If the encoder is disconnected during the live event, reconnect it keeping the same timestamps of continuing process. Note that any discontinuity may cause audio or video issues on certain browsers and devices.

• Give yourself ample time to set up your event. For high-scale events, we recommend starting the setup an hour before your event.