4 Creative Ways To Use ProPresenter When Live Streaming

ProPresenter is used by thousands of organizations to deliver content to live streams. There are so many ways that you could use ProPresenter in your setup! While This list certainly isn’t comprehensive, we wanted to show off some ways that you could use ProPresenter to take your online presence to the next level.

How to Use ProPresenter For Live Streams

Below are a few ways that you could be using ProPresenter in your live stream.

1. As a Content & Video Switcher

Most people think of ProPresenter as presentation software… I mean it’s in the name so that makes sense. But, did you know that you can also use it as a video switcher?

You could be using ProPresenter 7 to be the engine powering all of the content on your live stream. Having all of your content and video inputs in one app may help you stay organized and give you a lot of creative flexibility over your live stream’s look! With this setup, you’d need a separate hardware or software encoder to compress the video feed and deliver it to your online sources.

2. For Showing Lower Thirds

Lower Thirds are the graphics or lyrics that show up within the bottom third of a video output. One example you’ll see of this on tv is when a guest speaker comes on a show and their name is displayed near the bottom of your screen.

ProPresenter makes lower thirds easy. With ProPresenter 7 not only can you send content the main screens in your auditorium, but you can also send lower thirds to another output. Whether you want to do IMAG with live video on the side screens of your room with lyrics over it, or even lyrics in a live stream, ProPresenter 7 makes this easier than ever.

If you use ProPresenter as a video switcher, it’s as simple as creating an audience screen output with your live video and lyrics being sent to that output!

Are you using a hardware video switcher? SDI is a great way to take content from your ProPresenter computer into your switcher. Using a software switcher & encoder like OBS? Syphon (for Mac only) and NDI (for Windows & Mac) are both easy and quality solutions for getting the lower thirds out of ProPresenter and into your video switcher.

Looking for a tutorial on using OBS with ProPresenter? Click the button below.

3. To Send Full-Screen Content

Let’s not forget the full-screen content! Lower-thirds don’t have to be the limit of what you send to your live stream. Even full-screen content can be valuable. Here are some ideas where full-screen content can come in handy in your live stream.

1. Announcements. Leading up to your start time throw up some announcement graphics or videos! Let’s say for example that you plan to start at 3:00 pm. Starting at 2:57 go live, throw up a countdown and some announcement slides so people can stay in the know!
2. Pre-Recorded or Pre-Produced content. Plan to show a video or graphic that you made during the week? You can absolutely play those through ProPresenter into your live stream.
3. Pictures. Plan top reference a picture or story that could benefit from a picture? Show it to your audience during your stream by sending it as a full-screen graphic!

4. To Send Video for a PIP

In our blog post on live stream terminology, we mention PIP. PIP is an acronym for Picture in Picture. This is when a video displayed full screen has another video displaying within that video.

There are a few use cases where a PIP may be a good option for your live stream.

1. Your live stream has a lot going on visually. If your video is crowded with different colors and objects on the screen, it may be difficult to see lower thirds or the text that is on screen in the back of your video. One solution to this is putting a PIP in your video to add text or pictures in a more upfront and obvious way.
2. You want to show a graphic or photo without it being full-screen. Sometimes it’s better to show a picture in a PIP while referencing it so that the content doesn’t become the focus, but is still there for the viewer to see.
3. Your video switcher doesn’t have keying. If your video switcher doesn’t have the ability to show lower thirds through keying, then PIP may be your best option for showing lyrics or other text on your live stream or video output.