Why Comms Culture Matters Even More Than Comms Tech in Live Streaming Ops
Few aspects of live streaming operations are more mission-critical than effective communications within the production team, and as Chris Packard, Head of LinkedIn's Stream Force, LiveX CEO & Co-founder Corey Behnke, and the Streaming Technology Strategist Bhavesh Upadhyaya discuss in this clip from Streaming Media Connect, sound communications skills and culture go even further than state-of-the-art comms tech when it comes to delivering and scaling live productions, on-prem, hybrid, or REMI (remote integration).
Full Communication at All Levels in Real Time
Bhavesh Upadhyaya addresses Corey Behnke, noting that he had previously mentioned the role of communications in feeling prepared and lowering anxiety.
Behnke replies, “Well, I think people like myself that call themselves broadcasters, … the difference between a broadcaster and a filmmaker is communication. And I don’t mean that filmmakers don’t communicate. This is literally a technology layer. So in film, typically you’ve got a walkie-talkie. … Well, in live, if I can communicate with every single person on my staff at multiple levels in real time, that usually matters more than technology, especially when it comes to failure and especially when it comes to live.” He’ll notice company proposals that have everything they could need for broadcast, but “then they don’t have effective communication.”
Behnke elaborates on the conversation he had with Upadhyaya: “The thing I was telling [him] earlier was, if I have communication with me and someone like Chris [Packard] and people that I trust that I’ve worked with for a long time, … as long as we can talk to each other, we can do amazing things together and we can make amazing things happen. And it’s one of those things that’s just critical. Whether you’re using a Unity system or a Clear-Com or a Riedel, it doesn’t really matter, but connecting everybody to let them see what’s happening” is important.
When Communication Is Most Necessary
There’s a tip Behnke shares with his staff: “So you’re doing music, you go to the venue. It’s usually [the case that] a lighting designer and an audio guy are the same guy, depending on how big of a show you’re doing. Give the lighting designer a monitor. I always say, if you give the lighting designer a monitor, they will never make your show look bad. But you know how many times most people never do that one thing? And that’s a form of communication. I’m communicating to the lighting designer the look that he is putting out to the world. And if he doesn’t want the singer to look dark, he can see it right there, and then get that key light on.” (He quickly corrects himself to note that the lighting designer could be a woman.)
Another time communication is crucial is during a failure, Behnke says. “So, many times something fails, and it’s you and your TD or it’s you and your encoding engineer as the producer, and you’re just like, okay, what’s happening?” He discourages panicking; let everyone know what’s happening, what you’re going to do to fix it, and when it’s going to come back online, he says. “That has so much impact.” Behnke references the lessons he’s learned doing hundreds of live shows a year: “[I]t’s going to mess up at some point. It’s how you deal with it that sets you apart from everyone else.”
Good Communications Culture
Upadhyaya summarizes, “I think what you’re really emphasizing is, communications is not good communications technology, it’s good communications culture. You’re building a team of people who know that communications is part of their day-to-day life and what they do and communicate from there.” He turns to Packard. “It’s got to be a bit harder for you because what [Behnke’s] talking about is one big production organization.” He asks, “How do you build that escalation path when people who are solving the problem aren’t in the same company?”
Packard heads a group of about 20 people on a production team, “both on the live video production side of it and the streaming side of it. So we are all kind of cohesive.” He points to a special approach LinkedIn has: “[W]e have a global all-hands every two weeks. And I don’t think any other company does it at this cadence and at this elaborate of a production.” For example, Packard points to “a full live production from Bangalore, India, which is where our APAC headquarters is on the engineering side. And this was a full REMI, fully bringing it back to Mountain View where about 10 or 15 folks in our control rooms there brought the feeds back, cut the show, and put it out to Microsoft Viva Engage Teams live event, which is our internal platform.”
Bridging the Communication Gap
Packard continues, “We’re usually talking about big external-facing streams, but this is so important to our culture at LinkedIn.” The meeting every 2 weeks is engaging: “[T]he chat is always on fire and our corp comms team is amazing and they’re working with folks in real time and we take questions from around the world in real time. So that’s really cool.”
Packard says the reason he wanted to share this approach is because of the escalation path allowing him access to the CEO and CTO and others. “It’s production event support chats on Teams, but it’s a small group of people. So if there are any issues that come up, I’m the kind of point person to let them know, ‘Hey, we’re dealing with X, Y, Z. I’ll let you know time to resolve.’ They can also point out some stuff too, which is like, ‘Hey, audio and in-room is a little bit low.’ And I’m like, ‘Yep, got it.’ And there are producers in chat. So I think my role has broadened to be more of that kind of C-suite-facing. So it’s been a growth area for me, … because [Behnke] and I work in a really highly technical area where some of those folks don’t have those same communication skillsets. So I feel like I’m able to bridge that gap.”
Join us November 9–11, 2026 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect 2026! Registration is open!
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