# Best theme/setup for Virtual Event
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [June 25, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565 "2023-06-25T18:25:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sami\_Syed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sami_Syed)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/1 "2023-06-25T18:25:43Z")
I am looking to host a virtual event inside of discourse.
I will be using Restream to embed the live stream into Discourse topics.
My question is:
- How can I display the video in a better UI?
- What themes/components or plugins would you guys recommend for this.
Here is an example of how I’d want to display the video
I guess it’s just a matter of adding a background image behind the video. Other UI/UX suggestions would be greatly appreciated
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### Author:  [@Samantha\_O](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Samantha_O)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/2 "2023-08-29T18:31:35Z")
Did you end up hosting the event in your Community? How did it go? Any lessons learned to share or aha moments?
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/3 "2023-08-29T22:41:05Z")
@Samantha_O if you don’t get a response back, I’m hosting events in my Discourse community just like this (sans that example). My first event is in about two weeks, but you can checkout how I have it setup here:
> **[Dev Live Stream - September](https://developer.sailpoint.com/discuss/t/dev-live-stream-september/14113)**
>
> This month, we’ll be hearing from @philip-ellis as he teaches us what SaaS Connectivity is, when to use it, and walks us through getting started with building our first connector! Let us know about any questions you have in advance, or after the...
I can let you know how it goes afterwards if you set your own reminder to follow-up with me 😃
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### Author:  [@Sami\_Syed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sami_Syed)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/4 "2023-08-30T13:56:55Z")
No I did not, because we are expecting a large audience (10k) and our Discourse Hosting would need to scale our servers.
Everything else is doable, the only problem is that hosting is like $5k+ even then there are uncertainties.
I think it’s great for smaller events. Just use something like Stream Yard to embed the stream and the different event-related plugins to get people to RSVP and you should be good.
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### Author:  [@Samantha\_O](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Samantha_O)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/5 "2023-08-30T14:40:54Z")
I’ll set a reminder to ask how it goes after. I also signed up so if I remember I can try to see what it is like from a participant’s view as well. 🙂
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/6 "2023-08-30T14:58:50Z")
> [@Samantha\_O](#):
>
> I also signed up so if I remember I can try to see what it is like from a participant’s view as well.
Good idea! FYI for the stream window, we are using a tool called StreamYard.
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### Author:  [@Samantha\_O](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Samantha_O)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/7 "2023-09-15T12:26:31Z")
@jordan-violet - wanted to check in to see how things went from your end during the event itself. It appeared to run very well.
From a participant’s view, it seemed to go really well. The one thing I noticed: when links were shared via StreamYard (like regular video chat), it could be an area of opportunity/enhancement for participants, as watching via the Community, you can’t click on those links/see that chat. It’s an easy thing to workaround, though, by sharing in chat & on the Community thread.
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/8 "2023-09-15T12:54:56Z")
I was just thinking about responding to you today!
Yeah we had quite a few first-timer mistakes, but overall we were actually surprised at how well it went. We just engaged Discourse for some theme improvements for topics in the events category that will make it feel much more like a live stream event page.
The stream video you saw was from a tool called Streamyard, and we had a few issues that were isolated to that as well. I think we’re going to eventually switch from Streamyard to something else as well.
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### Author:  [@Samantha\_O](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Samantha_O)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/9 "2023-09-15T13:48:46Z")
All in all, sounds like a very productive and successful pilot/test! Congrats 🎉
I’m intrigued by what theme improvements you are working with Discourse on to make it feel more like a live stream event page. Are these just visuals - i.e. bigger display area for the video, or are you looking at other enhancements?
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/10 "2023-09-15T16:12:39Z")
The biggest thing, yes, is a reconfiguration of the UI for a topic to be more like a live stream. Think Twitch: bigger stream window, chat bigger and more visible on the side.
We also want to improve the registration and attendance process as well, though.
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### Author:  [@Sami\_Syed](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sami_Syed)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/11 "2023-09-17T19:59:33Z")
How many attendees did you have? any server issues?
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/12 "2023-09-17T20:22:11Z")
We used a tool called Streamyard for the stream hosting and our Discourse is hosted by CDCK (enterprise), so no we didn’t have any issues and I didn’t expect any either, honestly.
We had about 130 people attend.
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### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2023, 4:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/13 "2023-09-18T04:38:03Z")
Have you taken a look at this?
> [@Discourse as a Conference App (in person, virtual, or hybrid)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-as-a-virtual-conference-platform/151583):
>
> I recently spent some time discussing with a Discourse client in the UK how they might run a Virtual Conference using Discourse. As we discussed what they needed it became apparent how well Discourse can do this, but you need a confident and knowledgeable Discourse team to get all the right features in place. Here are some of the ideas we came up with, which I thought I would share here, since there actually isn’t any other topic on Virtual Conferences yet (which surprised me actually!) Visua…
It is hypothetical, but good food for thought. Also, being able to use it as an in-person or hybrid app would be very helpful.
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### Author:  [@denvergeeks](https://meta.discourse.org/u/denvergeeks)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/best-theme-setup-for-virtual-event/269565/14 "2023-09-18T05:11:56Z")
> [@nathank](#):
>
> Also, being able to use it as an in-person or hybrid app
I’ve been testing this plugin for live event reporting because it provides the creation of multiple dedicated “blogs” for individual “reporters” to post an ongoing journal throughout an event that are also accessible right within the forum itself (instead of separate outside blogs).
[https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-journal](https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-journal)
By further adding this embedded audio recording plugin to enable recording audio directly from within the Composer, one could record and post audio interviews, or podcast (and other live event reporting) in their Discourse blog space instantaneously using just their cell phone.
> [@Discourse Audio Message](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-audio-message/270432):
>
> information_sourceSummary Discourse Audio Message allows users to directly record and attach audio messages to their posts.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/pbenkoe/discourse-audio-message](https://github.com/pbenkoe/discourse-audio-message)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157) This plugin was developed with the help of ChatGPT, as my background in backend/javascript development is limited. The implementation is very basic, but I hope it will help some people and maybe it can ser…