We wanted to try something different this year to promote our team. So instead of bringing our photobooth we created TechBrick TV. In order to make it seem 'professional' we made the standard items we associated with sports broadcasts.
View our posts on FaceBook to see what we did:
https://www.facebook.com/techbrick
Click "Read More" for Details
Make a Table Banner
We designed a six foot table banner and had it made at e-signs. We ordered the 28x72" version. See them here: https://www.esigns.com/table-banners for $44. The we bought a "Lifetime 25011 Fold In Half Commercial Table, 6 Feet" from Amazon [ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LUHGO0 ] and mounted the sign with a 6-foot metal bar and bolts through the table.
Get Microphone Signs
We purchased Foxnovo Square Cube Shaped Interview Mic Microphone Logo Flags from Amazon. See them here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U0TTK1G for $8 each. Then we made wrap arounds with our logo.
We Bought Embroidered Shirts with Large Logos
To make the reporters look professional we bought embroidered shirts from Queensboro. [ https://www.queensboro.com ]. We used the Port Authority Silk Touch Pique Polo for about $21 each [ https://www.queensboro.com/style/1140/c/polos/port-authority-silk-touch-pique-polo ]. Note that embroidery process can take up to 4 weeks so plan ahead.
Get some microphones and small mixer.
We use the Tascam DR-60D MKII Portable Recorder for DSLR. See it here: https://www.adorama.com/tsdr60mkii.html. You most likely have other equipment at your school including cables and microphones. Bottom line: Find a solution that fits your budget. But remember, FIRST events are SUPER loud and must you hand held mics in close proximity. There are also a number of cell phone mic mixers. You can do the research.
Use a DLSR if you can for better quality.
Cell phones are great. But you'll get much better quality from a DLSR with video (see live streaming discussion below). And you have real lenses that let shoot a more tv-like view.
Editing and Prepping
We have found that doing on-site quick edits and rendering before posting is better than live broadcasts. Why? First, you need pristine bandwidth to do live streaming. This is almost never the case. Second, even the best 'live' broadcast may have restarts or bad starts and ends. Editing let's you clean this up and add titles. You can use any video editor. We use Adobe Premier Elements [ http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere-elements.html ]. Also important is rendering at a useful resolution. Even with great bandwidth you cannot upload videos that are 100's of MB. Rendering lets you make the video just the right size for Facebook or YouTube. You may also want to buy the Movavi Video Suite [ https://www.movavi.com/suite/ ] which will let you convert video to highly optimized sizes.
Bandwidth Issues
Just don't count on having internet access. Every FIRST event I have attended has so saturated the WIFI and cell networks that you basically have little or no access. This will not change any time soon. So, if you are going to try this ask the organizer for a hard wired Ethernet connection for your editing laptop. That way your film crew can bring back cards for downloading and head back out while your editing team does a quick edit and render. Remember, videos are HUGE so only pristine bandwidth for 3+ bar 4G data will get them uploaded.
Ask Great Questions
Make it professional. Introduce the show, introduce your guests. Ask the relevant questions about their work. Remember: Never ask a yes or no question. Ever. We'll let you come up with the questions.