One thing that differentiates Slipmat from many other platforms is the warmup period before starting the events. This is an important feature for the listener experience as you can join early to the chat and get everything ready and say hello to friends before the action starts.
The current implementation is not optimal, however, as many DJs don’t have stream prepared 30 minutes before the show starts and they don’t want to display a broken video to the listeners. What many DJs do is to start the event like 2 minutes before the scheduled time and just push it immediately live. This is bad in two levels: the listener notifications of starting events are now sent way too late, no one gets a chance to join in time, and on the other hand the DJ has an extra step of clicking through the warmup phase just to get to the event. So we need to fix this.
Starting in about 1-2 weeks time all scheduled events will start automatically in warmup 30 minutes before the scheduled time. This means that all event notifications will automatically be sent 30 minutes before the start time and everyone has a chance to join the event early. The event video will be hidden behind the event image, but audio will play if there is a live feed.
Additionally, if the DJ is not online on Slipmat 30 minutes before their event starts, they will get a notification to join the event. And if the event is not started within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, it will automatically be closed.
Lastly, we’ll be adding a cooldown phase for all events. Currently if you don’t redirect your listeners to another stream when ending your event, you effectively kick them to the street. The user experience is just horrible. Most DJs therefore keep the event open for a while but again then you either need to keep the video running as well or display a broken video. And, you also have to be there to eventually stop the event. So to fix this, we’ll add a cooldown period that starts automatically when you end the event. During the cooldown no one can join the event but everyone in the chat can just keep chatting. The video shuts off and the page displays a message that the event has ended, but your listeners can stay in the chat as long as they like. (Well, maybe we’ll put a some kind of limit. Not to pick on anyone but the drunken Finns are known to be a problem…)
These changes will hopefully make the listener experience on Slipmat even better and also make the usability for DJs better as well
As always, all comments and discussion is welcome, nothing about these changes is fixed in stone.
Just to clarify: does the event start in warmup even if you’re not streaming anything? And should that closing timeline be like 10 minutes? For some users that might be confusing to see a running event but show starts later. Still, I like the idea that event starts automatically. And that cooldown phase is nice idea.
Yes. All scheduled events will automatically go into warmup 30 minutes before the scheduled time. There will be a countdown clock + clear notification for listeners that the event is not yet started but in warmup mode. If there is no active stream, the event image will be used as a poster instead.
You mean the cutoff from scheduled start time to actual start time? That’s not super important as that is by definition already an exception where something unusual has happened (either the DJ has forgotten the event or has some technical problems and can’t start). We just want to clear the event from the homepage.
All these times and schedules are flexible, we’ll see how it goes and adjust based on user feedback.
First of all, no need to worry beforehand, there will be documentation + plenty of time to prepare for any changes that will be made to this process
The new start procedure will work something like this:
All scheduled events will automatically go to warmup 30 minutes before scheduled time
Event can be started -30 min / +15 min from the scheduled time
Video stream must be available when the event is started, but doesn’t need to be available during warmup (a static image or a pre-defined video roll + a warmup countdown timer will be shown instead)
Automatic Frankie Pro video/audio recorder will start when the event is started
So, a concrete artist procedure would go something like:
T-30 min: event goes to warmup;
start notifications are send to all subscribers
the event can be joined and is shown as starting on the Slipmat homepage
T-25 min: the artist gets online and shouts “hello!” to the chat to welcome the audience and let them know they are there
T-2 min: the artist gets video stream ready and live (for example. presses “start streaming” from OBS)
the event start button is now enabled
T-0 min: artist presses the event start button;
Frankie Pro recording starts
the event status changes from warmup to live
the event timer and all statistics calculation scripts are started
How a couple of most common challengers and errors during event start are solved with these new procedures:
Artist starts streaming only minutes before the scheduled time
The event starts in warmup 30 minutes before scheduled time, audience has 30 minutes to join and prepare
Listeners see a warmup screen until the artist has the stream ready
Artist forgets the event / has technical problems starting
The event goes to warmup normally
If the artist is not online on Slipmat, they will be notified by email 15 minutes before the event starts
If they manage to get online and streaming within the next 30 minutes, the event may start normally.
If they are online but have got problems starting the stream, the warmup screen can be extended some time to allow listeners to see that the DJ is actually online and around but there is a delay with the stream itself. (Maybe allow something like 60 minutes past original scheduled time?) The event can be manually stopped or started during this time or it can be automatically ended if the stream will never be present.
If they are not online and streaming 15 minutes past the scheduled time, the event will automatically be ended and hidden from the Slipmat homepage.
I hope this explains the basic idea behind the intended changes. Basically we want to
give the audience familiar and best possible experience for each starting event
give the artist as much freedom and space they need to prepare their start as they see fit
gracefully handle exceptions in a way that the audience is also notified
