On this episode of Living Live with Ross Video, host Tyler Kern was joined by Jenn Jarvis, Ross Video Product Manager for Editorial Workflows to discuss a familiar topic for anyone in the live production industry – adapting to abrupt changes and challenges.

It’s a mainstay for live productions of all kinds – when obstacles present themselves, there’s no time to panic. Instead, efficient, agile live productions adapt, moving forward and finding a solution.

But that’s easier said than done.

“I think most broadcasters have emergency plans in place, but most of the time those are specific to things they’ve experience before,” Jarvis said. “So, perhaps a natural disaster. … At least in our lifetime, we haven’t experienced something of this nature. So, it is exposing some weaknesses in some of the plans that we had previously built.

“What I think it’s really teaching everyone is that a lot of the plan that they’ve built to allow people to work outside the station or operate outside of a physical broadcast facility were really around their live talent.”

Instead of focusing in on that live talent, Jarvis said the contingency plans of the future will need to account for a way for everyone with a role in the news workflow to work remotely – and likely for a much longer period of time.

Best practices for ensuring that kind of preparation happens, Jarvis said, include special attention to efficient, future-proof and scalable workflows during normal operation that are more resilient, developing innovative communication strategies, shoring up remote accessibility, and more.