NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–More than 30,000 total live views of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting were recorded June 15-16 by www.sbc.net, the convention’s website and source of live streaming video during the event.
“The streaming video was a great success,” said Chris Chapman, director of information systems for the SBC’s Executive Committee. “We were very pleased with the number of people who were able to view the annual meeting and the pastor’s conference via webcast. It was our hope that the spirit of the inspirational messages and music as well as the business portions of the convention would be easily accessible and clearly communicated, and I think we accomplished that goal.”
Chapman said he has received multiple e-mails thanking sbc.net for making the webcast available.
Chapman said the average viewing time for the live convention webcast was 34 minutes, with the highest viewing occurring Tuesday afternoon when President Bush addressed the messengers via satellite from the White House.
The pastor’s conference, which preceded the annual meeting, was also available in streaming video as it happened, and a total of 8,023 live views were logged.
“Our viewing audience might have been even larger if the Internet service supplier had not experienced some technical difficulties, but we were extremely pleased to have set new records for viewers despite the infrastructure challenges we had to overcome,” Chapman told Baptist Press.
Some churches showed the streaming video on a large screen during the convention so that those who did not travel to Indianapolis or had no computer of their own were able to keep up with the meeting.
Both the pastor’s conference and gavel to gavel coverage of the annual meeting are archived for viewing by broadband or dialup connections at sbc.net. Click on the red 2004 SBC Annual Meeting link in the top right corner of the page, and then choose “Watch the 2004 annual meeting broadcast archives.”
Archived video for previous annual meetings also is available at the same site.
The webcast of the pastor’s conference and the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting each year is a cooperative effort of the SBC’s Executive Committee and the North American Mission Board.
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