Total Webcasting, Inc.: An Introduction

For our inaugural post, we hope to introduce readers to Total Webcasting and the qualities that make us unique in a rapidly growing and continuously evolving industry. These insights will help frame future posts while also chronicling Total Webcasting’s journey through a complex and competitive market.

Since its founding in 2007, Total Webcasting has been focused on technology and services for the delivery of online video and content management. Based in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York, Total Webcasting has provided its premier products and services to organizations all across the country for over a decade.

Early on as a start-up business, we sought to develop core technologies and establish relationships with initial customers. Over the years, those core technologies evolved and advanced through several renditions as the company fostered numerous enduring relationships. Thus, Total Webcasting has emerged as a company with a reputation for accepting challenges head-on and delivering high quality solutions.

Technology continues to develop at breakneck speeds. Because webcasting—the process of broadcasting audio and video transmissions over the internet—requires those in the industry to stay ahead of the curve, we are constantly revising and improving our equipment, hardware, solutions, and on-site strategies. Oftentimes, these upgrades are smaller in scale: more durable and lightweight cabling, more efficient power sources, tripods that fold more compactly. But we’re also always looking for the best cameras and video encoders and sound mixers, improving whenever we can. No matter how big or small the change, however, all new equipment is thoroughly vetted and tested before being deployed on a job.

Strong client relationships have also been paramount to the success of Total Webcasting. We are committed to addressing every need our customers express, and will do everything within our power to provide a solution, even if it’s something we’ve never done before. Every aspect of the webcasting process, from inception to final distribution, is included in our services, and content can be streamed to the screen of any device—from desktop computers and laptops to tablets and smartphones, lending credence to our Glass-to-Glass Solution. From the glass of our camera lens to the glass of the viewer’s screen, Total Webcasting has you covered.

Need closed captions for your audience? No problem; we have offered that service since 2007. Want to embed our live webcast feed into your own website? We can do that. Customizable registration options? That has been available since 2009 when we released Total Asset Manager (TAM^TM), a Software as a Service (SaaS) product. Pay-per-view? Check. Do you have a lengthy program and wish viewers could simply click on a section of the transcription to skip to that moment in the video? We’ve had you covered since 2014 when Total Webcasting introduced its Total Transcript Integration. And unlike many of our competitors, Total Webcasting has no cap on attendees viewing a webcast, no matter where they are in the world. We are aware of many of the emerging demands in the webcasting industry, but customers are always welcome to inquire if we may have a solution to their unique needs.

In closing, I would like to share a personal story that highlights some of the joys inherent in working in this business. As a technician, it was my job to webcast the two-day commencement ceremony of the State University of New York at New Paltz, the very institution that granted me my master’s degree. The weather was not very cooperative that weekend, rainy, breezy, and even in the best of times overcast and cool, but it was nice to be back on campus nonetheless.

The speeches were good, even memorable. There were no technical difficulties (and even though our technicians are equipped with plenty of redundant systems that allow them to operate without issue, it’s always a good day when they don’t need to resort to them). Plenty of coffee was consumed. Ostensibly, it was not a remarkable webcast.

However, near the end of the second day of the ceremonies, out of curiosity I accessed our live analytics report, which tallies unique IP addresses and sorts them by geographical location. I smiled at what I saw, and what the statistics implied. Then I looked at the numbers from the first day of graduation.

To date, nearly 3,000 unique IP addresses have accessed either the live webcast or the archived video. Obviously, this data cannot even begin to suggest how many individuals might have been huddled around a single screen in any one location, or how many repeated viewings there may have been. But the raw data was satisfying enough. At minimum, thousands of people across the globe had tuned in to watch their son or daughter, niece or nephew, grandson or granddaughter, best friend or godchild accept their college degree. There were viewers in France, Germany, Japan, China, Kenya, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Turkey, Egypt, Puerto Rico, Russia, Taiwan, Jamaica, Spain, and dozens of locations across the United States, to name a few.

Perhaps those who could not attend in person lived too far away or were too elderly, were ill or could not afford a distant trip. Maybe they had to work, or simply wanted to watch it all over again after the ceremony. Whatever the reason, it felt good to offer folks the opportunity to watch such a momentous occasion live (or later, on demand). It felt good to make a difference.