Office Hours: The media and digital event community
Office Hours is a daily conversation on streaming events, technology and the future of media. It is currently streamed on YouTube, but you’ll have a better experience on Zoom. Sign up to get the Zoom link.
Office Hours was started by Alex Lindsay in March 2020. He currently takes part nearly every day.
Every day between 15:00 and 16:00 UTC/GMT (7am PT, 10am ET, 16:00 CET) you can ask your questions about building online events of any size – from your community group to keynotes for millions of people to experience at the same time.
Questions range from technology to design to planning the flow of events. Including
- Audio and video hardware – microphones, cameras, switchers, playout devices etc.
- Software and services – such as OBS, Dante, AWS, MixEffect Pro, Unreal, Apple Motion 5 and Final Cut Pro
- Structuring events
- Onboarding interviewees, hosts and panellists to live events and to video productions
- Working with clients
…most topics relevant to anyone making digital media of all kinds.
Instead of using YouTube or Zoom for chat and asking questions, Office Hours uses Mukana – a custom web application. If you register, you’ll be sent your link to Mukana, where you can catch up on the current conversation or vote on other people’s questions.
Once you’ve got used to asking questions, if you have good sound and video, you are welcome to join the panel and answer other people’s questions. The daily Zoom meeting starts one hour before the Q&A hour with general conversation.
If you want to join the panel to answer questions, put up your digital hand in Zoom before 14:40 UTC/GMT (6:40am PT, 9:40am ET, 15:40 CET). If you do, you’ll be able to access a Mukana view designed for panelists and be part of the Office Hours microphone check – to make sure that all the panellist audio quality and levels are good enough to stream and record.
Note that you might hear those who are attending who aren’t on the panel as being referred to as producers. This is because their questions drive Office Hours. So, if you are in the panel in the hour before the questions and answers begin and you don’t want to answer questions, moving out of the panel is referred to as “being promoted to being a producer.”
As a panellist you can also volunteer to read out audience questions or switch the show for YouTube using a web interface.
Second hours
On weekdays, the Q&A hour is followed by second hour when a specific topic is gone into in more detail. Starting at 16:00 UTC/GMT (8am PT, 11am ET, 17:00 CET).
Usually ‘second hours’ include guests who are able to kick off the conversation. Recent topics:
- How to build a streaming studio with a budget of $5,000
- Audio plugins
- LumaFusion – featuring its co-creator Terri Morgan
- Isadora – with founder Mark Coniglio
- Building Metahumans
- PlayoutBee with creator (and regular Office Hours panelist) Jonas Dautel
- Camera Matching with LUTs
- Streamweaver Lite
- Frame.io with Michael Cioni & Paul Saccone
- FilMiC Pro with product manager Eliot Fizroy
Both the Q&A hours and second hours on Office Hours are live streamed on YouTube.
Weekends
Office Hours happens every day, but the weekend experience is different.
On Saturdays the Q&A hour is followed by an education two hours where people working in education at all levels can have a conversation about how technology can support the current practice and future of learning. So that conversation can flow more freely, these two hours are not streamed on YouTube or recorded.
On Saturdays and Sundays there are also a variety of Office Hour events – currently Saturday includes ‘The Belfast Method’ at 20:00 UTC/GMT (Noon PT, 3pm ET, 19:00 CET) – where OH attendees have the opportunity to control and run a live event from anywhere in the world.
On Sundays the Q&A hour is followed by a general discussion hour – for more informal conversation, so these two hours are not streamed on YouTube or recorded.
Beyond the Office Hours streamed conversation
To get the full experience…
Join the Office Hours Discord – the link is posted in Mukana (the OH chat and questions system) at 14:40 UTC/GMT (6:40am PT, 9:40am ET, 15:40 CET) – it will work for 30 minutes after it is posted.
Spend time in After Hours – a Zoom meeting that lasts for the other 21 hours of every day when Office Hours isn’t on. Here is where registered Office Hours users can ask questions of who happens to be around and other can share their screen or cameras as they work on solving problems. You’ll be sent joining instructions for After Hours when you register for Office Hours.
Find out more about Office Hours at officehours.global