Finding Inspiration for your stream

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 Finding Inspiration for your stream


In streaming and content creation, you must draw inspiration from multiple sources to grow. What is inspiration? Psychologists define inspiration as motivation from an external source that causes a person to have an idea or to produce something creatively. Inspiration can be found everywhere around you, and I am willing to wager that you are not taking advantage of every piece of potential inspiration for your stream. 


Do you watch other streamers or YouTube videos? Do you watch TV or read books, or watch movies and listen to podcasts? Do you work or go to school? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are quite literally surrounded by content, information, and potential inspiration that could help you improve your stream. Whether something is entertaining or educational, it contains lessons that you could be learning.  In short, to improve your channel, you need to get inspired by everything.


Inspiration comes in many forms, and it won’t be the same for everyone because we all have different interests. Let’s go over sine categories that have inspired me over the years and that maybe just help you on your streaming journey. 


Other streamers/content creators


One of the biggest sources of inspiration for me is other streamers and content creators. As newer streamers, we often gravitate toward other channels that are close to our existing style. For example, Fortnite streamers will often watch other Fortnite content creators. It is understandable because we want to watch, endorse and chat with creators making content that resonates with us. One flaw with this is that if you only watch other Fortnite streamers there won’t be a lot of inspiration to draw from and your streams will likely resemble the thousand of other Fortnite streams and be indistinguishable from the rest. 


It is important to ask yourself what else in the world of streaming interests you, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be something you are interested in streaming yourself.  Personally, I’ve watched art streamers, role players, speed runners, and more, and although I don’t have an interest in streaming in those categories I have enjoyed watching them, and I’ve drawn inspiration from those streams. Seeing their chat commands, graphic layouts, alerts, sound effects, on-camera personas, and community interactions has sparked ideas for my own streams.  Only watching channels that do the same thing you do doesn’t allow you the opportunity to come up with concepts that feel unique to your own niche/brand. 


From your profession


Inspiration can come from many different sources and don’t think that only stream-related wisdom can help you on your journey. It is important to keep an open mind and allow other aspects of your life to filter into your streams. 


What do you do for work? Just because it doesn’t involve streaming doesn’t mean you can’t apply the things you have learned to your channel. Do you have a list of tasks you have to complete at your job? You can adapt that to create a pre-stream checklist that will help you organize and get your stream started on the right foot. Things on this list will include but are not limited to your going live tweet, setting up your camera, changing your stream title, and checking your audio settings.  As a manager, I regularly manage employees with different personalities and I can apply some of my training to the different viewer types that come through chat. It doesn’t matter how unrelated to streaming something might feel, you should be a sponge and soak up knowledge and skills available to you, and not just the things you learn around streaming. 


Leisure Activities


When you are not working or learning, you are likely spending time watching TV, doing things on your computer, or going outside. These activities can teach lessons and provide you with the knowledge you can implement on your channel. A reality TV show might give you ideas about how to host your channel or an anime show can inspire your graphic choices. How you organize files on your computer can help you restructure your OBS scene layouts.  Maybe you have a love of photography and that knowledge will help you to pick the best camera angle and lighting for your stream. The possibilities here are endless.


Final thoughts


To truly achieve innovation, you have to look for inspiration outside your specific field. The lessons you learn from other streamers are a great resource but to bring out your greatness you need to take inspiration from areas where no one else has thought to look.  Don’t be afraid to allow knowledge to find you. You will be surprised how much you can learn from everyday activities if you simply open your mind to it. I’d suggest writing every idea that comes to mind even if it seems silly. You can go back and sift through those ideas later and see which ones you can incorporate into your streams.


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