See how Pack’s 254 and 383 each ran incredible (but unique) Virtual Pinewood Derbies! Pack 254’s Assistant Cubmaster Laura Nelson and Pack 383’s Ray Collette gives us their tips and tricks and answer all of your questions!
Watch the Webinar
Listen to the Webinar
Key Tips & Takeaways
For a live broadcast:
- Make sure the venue has good wifi! (We tested ours a week ahead of time)
- Used Streamlabs OBS, a free broadcasting software that allowed me to switch between “scenes”
- Do a test run at home with all the cameras and your software to make sure it doesn’t crash your system.
- Keeping the chat bar lively was important.
- Great time for a fundraising pitch!
- 30% of our views came in the 48 hours AFTER the live broadcast, so families appreciated the option
Things we wish we’d done differently:
- Highlighted each Scout and their cars.
- Had a better “broadcast booth” setup with background, trophies and medals.
- Had a better plan for the awards ceremony.
- Been more consistent with announcing the winners of each heat
For a Pre-Recorded Pinewood Derby
Benefits to doing a pre-recorded event
- Can skip over technical / procedural delays, keeps the kids more engaged.
- Significantly reduces stress on the Race / Production Crew
- Race can happen when the crew has time available, no need to sync with the Pack meeting
- Don’t assume that everything about your track works as it did last time.
- Extra screws/bolts
- Timer electrical connections / gate mechanics
- Always test your full computer / technology setup.
- Verify computer to track connections / test.
- Are your cables long enough?
- Audio is really important, use Microphones for each speaker, ideally a directional or lapel mic.
- Lighting is important for good image quality, needs to be bright but without hot spots. (sun beams)
- Consider what the camera sees in the background.
- Plan enough time for setup, then double it.
- We used DerbyNet software for a few years now and I love it.
- Feed your crew!
- Keep in mind that this is FOR THE KIDS
- Pack used our catering / facility rental budget to distribute food to the families
