Presenter Ingest
Run a Presenter Ingest booking from Companion: see which presenters are on their page, switch their links on and off, and send banners, countdowns and cues to their presenter pages. With Call in Q&A on the booking, open the audience queue, bring guests on air and cue them too.
Set up
- On presenteringest.com, open the booking and go to Bitfocus Companion. Press Connect Companion and copy the key. It's shown once.
- Add this connection in Companion and paste the key into Companion key. Leave Site address as
https://presenteringest.com.
- The connection turns green, and the presets fill in with the booking's seats.
Each key works for one booking only, until the booking ends. Make a new key or press Disconnect on the booking page to stop an old one straight away. Anyone with the key can control that booking's presenter pages, so treat it like a password. Companion keeps it in its secrets store, not with the other settings.
Actions
- Seat: switch link on / off (on, off or toggle). An open presenter page follows within seconds.
- Cue: send to a presenter (or to every presenter), including a custom message, and Cue: clear. Pressing a cue button again clears that cue (untick Pressing again clears it to send it every time).
- Banner: show to every presenter (with an optional "back at" time) and Banner: clear. Pressing a banner button again clears that banner (untick Pressing again clears it to send it every time).
- Countdown: set, ready to start gets a countdown ready without presenters seeing it: adjust it with add or take away time or a dial, then start it by pressing the countdown or with Countdown: start the set time. It is kept in Companion only, and Countdown: clear forgets it.
- Countdown: start (for a number of minutes, or to a time of day, with an optional label and overtime), pause / resume, add or take away time, nudge (for a dial) and clear. Nudges from quick turns are added up and sent together, and the countdown in Companion moves straight away.
- Call in Q&A: open / close the queue (open, closed or toggle). While it's closed, guests can open their page but can't join the queue.
- Call in Q&A: bring in the next guest puts the first guest in the queue who has their page open into a guest slot (the first free one, or a slot you choose), and their page connects to that slot's vMix call. The slot needs a studio connection on the booking page.
- Call in Q&A: end a guest's call frees the slot for the next guest.
- Call in Q&A: cue a guest (including a custom message) and clear a guest's cue. Pressing a cue button again clears that cue.
- Refresh now.
Feedbacks
- Seat: presenter is on their page (green by default).
- Seat: link is switched off.
- Seat: has a cue (any, or a particular one). With Every presenter, lit when they all have it.
- Banner: showing.
- Countdown: state (set and ready to start, running, paused, overtime, finished, not set) and running with little time left.
- Call in Q&A: queue is open, guests waiting (at least a number you choose), guest on air in a slot (red by default), guest on air has closed their page (amber) and guest has a cue.
- Connection: talking to Presenter Ingest.
Variables
booking_title, booking_state, presenters_connected, seats_on, banner, timer (e.g. 4:05, or +0:30 in overtime), timer_seconds, timer_label, timer_state, timer_set (a countdown set but not started), and for each seat seat_N_name, seat_N_online, seat_N_enabled and seat_N_cue.
Call in Q&A: callin_open, callin_waiting, callin_next_name, callin_next_org and callin_next_question (the guest Bring in takes next), and for each guest slot callin_slot_N_name, callin_slot_N_org, callin_slot_N_label (name and organisation, for a lower third), callin_slot_N_question, callin_slot_N_on_air (time on air, e.g. 2:05), callin_slot_N_online and callin_slot_N_cue. They're blank while the slot is free.
Presets
- Seats: one button per seat, showing the presenter's name. Green while they're on their page, grey when the link is off. Tap to switch the link on; hold for a second to switch it off, so a stray press can't cut a presenter off. (You can change the hold time on the button's long-press group.)
- Cues: Stand by, Next, Live, Wrap up, Time's up, Thanks and Clear for each seat, plus Stand by and Clear for everyone. A cue button lights blue while that cue is showing; press it again to clear it.
- Countdown: the time (press to pause; on a dial such as a Stream Deck + or Loupedeck, turn it for ±15 seconds a click), start 1 to 30 minutes, ±1 minute, pause and clear. Set 1 to 30 minutes gets a countdown ready without starting it: the countdown button turns blue and shows it, ±1 minute or the dial adjusts it, and pressing the countdown (or Start) starts it for every presenter. Change the seconds per click in the button's rotate actions.
- Banners: each banner, and clear. A banner button lights blue while that banner is showing; press it again to clear it.
- Call in Q&A: the queue (green while open, with the number waiting; press to open or close it), Bring in (amber while someone is waiting, with the next guest's name), one button per guest slot (red while a guest is on air, with their name and time on air, amber if they close their page; hold for a second to end the call), and Wrap up, Time's up and Thanks for each slot. Before you connect, the presets show guest slots 1 and 2.
Which seats get buttons. By default, only the seats on your booking get Seat and Cue buttons, so a 4-seat booking shows buttons for seats 1 to 4. Before you connect, the presets show seats 1 to 8 as examples.
To build buttons for a set number of seats, choose it under Preset seats in this connection's settings (1 to 24). The buttons are there whether or not you're connected, so you can build your pages offline, or before moving to a bigger package. Buttons for seats your booking doesn't have stay dark until it does.
Presenter names. Buttons, variables and seat lists show each presenter's name from the booking. If other people can see your Companion screen or Stream Deck, untick Show presenter names in this connection's settings: everything then just says Seat 1, Seat 2 and so on, and the names aren't kept in Companion. Call in Q&A guests then just show as Guest, without their organisation or question.
Notes
- The module checks the booking every 3 seconds (change it under Check every). The countdown keeps counting in Companion in between, and a button press checks straight away, so buttons still update at once. Presenter Ingest allows about 10 requests a second per booking.
- Changes need the booking to be running (links open). Seats can be switched on and off before then too.
- The module only talks to the site address over https, never follows redirects, and never writes the key to the log. When the site offers a lighter address for its checks, the module uses it, only as a page on the same site, and goes back to the usual one if it ever fails.
