The baseline for all Showtime pages with streamed content, both live and pre-recorded, is the track. You must create a track to add your event’s agenda and according features. This guide will walk you through creating the track, an overview of the different session types you can use, and creating your specific agenda items.
Terminology
1. Pipeline: pipelines are data channels that connect and transform the input point (external production feed) with the output (player on the page) for events using a live stream. Pipelines can be managed by admins with the required permission from the Organization Management section of the CMS.
2. Track: a linear progression of sessions that an attendee can view. A track typically consists of one stream, but it also could consist of one main stream with separate streams if the event is using on-platform breakouts and custom access. If there is a live stream element, tracks are tied to one specific live stream pipeline. The general rule of thumb is that one pipeline = one track.
3. Track category: a feature for arranging sessions in thematic categories instead of a linear, chronological progression. Categories work within the track, not across multiple tracks, which means a category cannot combine sessions from multiple tracks.
You must create a category in the designated section of the CMS before you can assign sessions to track categories.
4. Session: the defined programming segments that are part of an event. A session can be a panel, a Q&A, a presentation etc. Essentially, a session is anything broadcast live or pre-recorded involving the event’s talent with a start and end time. Sessions appear on the page chronologically as “cards” or “tiles” within their assigned track.
5. Session type: the defining characteristic of your session that influences the behavior of the player on the event page. Examples include: normal session, breakout session, off-platform breakout session, etc… We’ll dive into what each of these mean below.
6. Video-on-Demand (VoD): you’ll often see video-on-demand referred to as VoD throughout the Showtime guides. After an event stream is over you can add video recordings to the agenda cards, and the platform will transform the agenda card on the attendee-facing Showtime page into a clickable video playbox.