Prerequisites
- This service is not available to Express customers.
- For this method of streaming to us, 3Play requires a link or phone number through which our captioner can access your event audio. Our Captioner must be able to access the event audio in order to generate captions. Access to the event audio is dependent on providing valid access information when ordering a Streamless Event.
Captioning delivery methods available with this workflow are the 3Play Embed as well as the 3Play Second Screen Webpage .
| Note: Live Auto Captions, and Live Auto Caption failover are not available with this workflow, as this workflow lacks a stream from which to generate Auto Captions. |
Steps to Schedule Live Captioning Without a Stream
1. Navigate to Live Captioning in your 3Play account
As a first step, click into the Live Captioning module within your 3Play Media project, click “Schedule Captions” and select “Streamless”
Note: Streamless events are not eligible for our automatic captioning service. All streamless events will be captioned using our Human Professional Captioners.
2. Add Event Name
Add in a name for your event that will make it easy for you to find the event when searching for it after scheduling.
3. Select Event Start Time
Click the calendar icon to choose the MM/DD/YYYY and HH:MM:SS of the event. The time will automatically be set to 5 minutes from the current time but can be manually edited within the field.
- Please note: The live event must be scheduled at least 5 minutes in the future and it is editable up until 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.
- Live Professional Captioning event scheduling defaults to US-Eastern time unless a new timezone has been configured at the user level and configured for users outside of the US-Eastern time zone.
4. Add an Estimated Event Duration
Tell us how long you estimate your event to be. Your estimated event length assists with scheduling. 3Play will be ready to provide captions for the entire length of the event
5. Select a Delivery Window for Test Captions
We are able to send test captions to your URL or embed prior to your event starting. Please choose a delivery window to allow for test captions to be sent. We can send test captions up to 20 minutes prior to your event start time.
6. Provide Audio Access Information
This will be a URL or phone number that our captioner can use to join and hear the audio to your event. If your event has login information to access your event audio, please provide all relevant credentials and information for our captioner to access your event.
Is this a recurring event?
If this is a recurring event, you have the option to click "Add Schedule" to add a recurring schedule to your event. For more information on managing Recurrence Schedules, please see the support article linked here.
Keep in mind: you might need to create more than one Live Recurring Event Schedule in order to capture all of the times that an event occurs, e.g. every Tuesday at 9am ET and every other Thursday at 1pm ET should be created as 2 Live Recurring Events (one for Tuesday, and one for Thursdays)
7. Post-Event Transcript Access - Select a File Storage Location
Choose a folder within your 3Play Media account to send your finished live transcript to after your event is over.
If a Recurrence Schedule is created, a folder of the same name is automatically created, and all events within that Recurrence (including all post-event transcripts) will be stored within that folder.
8. Caption Delivery Information
All streamless events will have captions delivered to an external embed or external URL. If you have a reserved static captioning embed or reserved static URL, you can choose to deliver to your static endpoints, or you can choose to use a single-use external URL or web page. If you choose to create a new Static External URL, you will have the option to use that static delivery endpoint for future live events. Please note that if you do not use a static URL, your delivery information will be unique to each event that is not using a static endpoint.
9. Select an Event Type
Tell us more about what captioner may be best for your event by selecting an accurate event type for us to categorize your event under.
Provide an Event Description (optional)
Tell us more about your event with details to help our captioner research anything that they may need prior to your event starting.
Provide a list of Speaker Names or a Wordlist (optional)
Provide us with a list of properly spelled speaker names for our captioners to use when captioning your event ( Live professional captioning ).
Set your Profanity Filter (optional)
Tell us how you'd like profanity in your event to be filtered, if at all.
10. Set your Maximum Possible Event Duration
This tells us the maximum duration that your event could possibly run for. After this time has passed, we will end your event. Please note that this is different from your estimated duration, which may be shorter than the maximum possible duration, and can be used to allow your hosts to go overtime until they reach this maximum.
11. Choose a captioning overtime option
Tell us what you would like to do if your event goes longer than the estimated event duration. This will be the instruction that we follow until your maximum event duration has been reached.
12. Enter Support Contact Information
Please enter contact information for your event host or the person streaming your event to us in the event that 3Play Technical support needs to get in touch.
13. Click "Schedule Captioning"
Click "Schedule Captioning" on the right-hand side of the page to schedule your event once you have provided all of the necessary information.
You now have successfully ordered Live Professional Captions with 3Play.
Upon scheduling completion, You will be redirected to the details page for your live event. To find your caption delivery information, cick the dropdown next to "Quick Start" .
You can also scroll down on this page and your captioning delivery information will be on the lower right-hand side of the page.
Preparing for your event
Ensure your desired captioning delivery method has been shared with your event attendees.
Prior to your event, you will be able to determine the captioner match status which indicates whether or not a captioner has been matched to your event.
- Any events that are not matched to a captioner will be auto captioned at event start time.
- Event Cancellation Policy:
- Any events not matched to a captioner may be canceled without a fee up until the Stream Start Time.
- If your event has been matched to a captioner, you may cancel without charge up to 24 hours in advance of your stream start time
- If your event has been matched to a captioner, and you need to cancel within 24 hours of your stream start time, you will be charged in full for the estimated event duration (inclusive of captioner preparation time).
| Note: Our Captioner must be able to access the event audio in order to generate captions. Access to the event audio is dependent on providing valid access information when ordering a Streamless Event. |
Customer Support
Leading up to your event
You can create a support case from the Actions dropdown associated with the event. From the Actions menu in the Live Captioning Dashboard, select 'Request Customer Support'.
During an event
3Play Media will provide access to real-time chat support for the duration of the event. Customers can access the Chat Support feature from the Event Details page.
Tips and Best Practices