The Streamer Framework

  Your Elevator Pitch Every streamer has heard the following questions  “What is your channel/stream about?”. When you are just starting out, you might not have an answer to that question and that is ok. This article was written to help you come up with a concise and interesting way to describe your channel to newcomers, raiders, and anyone else who might be curious enough to inquire about your channel.  If you have been streaming for a little bit, you have a slight idea about your style, you have noticed some trends in your channel, and know more about where you want to take your stream. Anything that you are doing can be summed up to its most basic level in one sentence, no matter if you are an art streamer, focusing on one game or playing through your entire game library. For example, for my channel, I can say “I play Fortnite with the occasional Valorant thrown in”. It is certainly an answer, but it does not make me or my channel stand out from the thousands upon thou...

  Talking when no one is watching It can be very discouraging to talk on stream when you know nobody is watching. I often struggle with this and work very hard to be conscious of how often I am speaking on stream. You might think “I’ll start talking when someone shows up”, but that mindset can and will hurt you in the long run because you never know when someone will show up. If you aren’t talking, viewers will simply move on. On the other hand, if you are talking and someone happens to stop by your stream, they might relate to what you are saying and might be enticed to respond, giving you the opportunity to chat with them and build a connection. Streaming is undoubtedly a lot more fun when people are chatting.  It gives you something to respond to and build on, rather than always trying to come up with talking points.  You might start thinking of ideas for community involvement and viewer engagement to build that communication, however, it can be a double edge sword. I ...

  Mindset - Don’t tell just do This next topic might seem counter-intuitive but hear me out, and it will all make sense when I’m done. If you are like me or at least how I was, you believe that announcing your goals on social media or telling all your friends about your new project will increase the likelihood that you will succeed and motivate you to achieve something. The reality, however, is that the opposite is true. I haven’t made a New Year's resolution public in years, and I’m learning not to tell people about my big ideas or hint that something big is coming. Making these declarations of goals does not increase your chances of success instead it’s been proven that the more you tell people the less likely you are to succeed.  This holds true to all things in life, but you might be wondering how this can help you with streaming. Everywhere online, and in my experience on Twitter, in particular, you’ll find posts about different stream goals. I see posts where someone has...

  Where to stream Now that you have planned your stream, you’ve set up your equipment, and you are ready to go live, you have one more decision to make and that is where to stream. In 2022, there is no shortage of streaming platforms and the choice is a personal one. For the purposes of this article, we will look at what I consider to be the 3 titans of live-streaming, Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming.  Throughout my journey, I have streamed on multiple platforms before choosing Twitch. As many others, I started on Twitch, but my growth was slow, so I thought changing platforms might help.  I tried Facebook Gaming and then moved over to Mixer until I eventually made my way back to Twitch just before mixer announced they were shutting down operations. I did stream on YouTube, but it was not long enough to give it a fair assessment. I often debate whether I should stream on YouTube, especially with all the recent changes they have made, but for now, my home is on Twitch...

Ready to try Streaming Livestreaming is one of the most popular forms of online content today.  From its inception in the 1990s, where we saw niche webcasts that few people watched, to the multibillion-dollar industry it is today, it has come a long way. You’ve undoubtedly watched some of your favorite streamers and thought I could do that! Now you want to throw your hat in the ring and start your own streaming channel. Your first thoughts about streaming could be very daunting however, I'm here to share some insights and tips that I’ve learned throughout my journey to get you started on yours. Preparing for streaming When I started streaming, I thought like many others that you can simply download OBS, load into a game, go live and people will find you. I quickly realized that with no real plan streaming would never be more than a hobby.  If I ever want to grow this hobby into more and a possible revenue-generating venture, I needed a plan. In all honesty, I have yet to compl...