Getting started with Webcasting

Webcasting your funeral as a funeral director couldn't be easier with absentFriends.com.

Now that you have purchased your Business Tools membership you can begin Webcasting.  The Memorial pages found on our Public Site create the "Face" for your clients to view the Webcasting.


PHASE ONE

1. After you have logged in, click on “My Account” on the Trade Site, as shown below.
 



2. Click on "Create New Online Memorial" button in the top right corner of your page.
 
 


3. Complete all required fields on the “Create a Memorial Site” page. (Note: the more information you provide, the better the Memorial site will look when completed).




4.  Tick the "Include Webcast" check box which will open up funeral Service Timing and payment forms for the funeral service.  See image below.

(A Business Tools Member can create as many memorial sites as required, however funeral webcasting is extra and requires payment per funeral).

 


5. Service Timing Steps -
Complete the required fields (those with asterix) – as shown below.  e.g. Event Type, Date, Time, etc. 
This is the funeral timing information that will appear on the memorial site. 
   
•   Complete the “Time Zone” where the funeral will be held (city & country). 
•   “From Time” – the time your service will start.
•   “To Time” – give an approximate anticipated end time.  See image below.

NOTE: This is a 24 hour clock.  Also, please use colon (:) to separate hours/mins.



Click “Next”.

6.  Credit Card Payment – At this stage, you will be asked to enter your payment details. 
     Fill out the form (shown below) and click “Next”.




7.  Select design choices for your memorial site on the next steps.  These will include THEME, COLOUR SCHEME, BACKGROUND, FONTS.  The image below shows the first step to “Choose a theme”.
Click on the “Select” button to make your choice (see arrow below).


 

8. Choose a Colour Scheme (see below).

 


9. Choose a Background (see below).
 



10. Choose a Font (see below).

 


Then click "Next" as shown below.

 


11. Now you will be on the "Content" page (below).  Here you may add images, an epitaph, a video etc if you wish.  In the "Funeral Events" area, you may wish to enter address details of where the funeral will be held.  This information will then show on the homepage of the memorial.

However, this page can be returned to at any time to add content.  So you can simply skip this page for now if you wish, and click "Next" at the bottom. 




12. You will now see a “Required Information” form (See image below). 

The Memorial Title will appear (this will be the name of the deceased). 
The Memorial URL will also appear (this will be the first and last names of the deceased separated by a hyphen).

Select one of the following:

• Private - This will be for just one viewer that is given the URL
• Invite Only - This will bring up a box where you can place the email addresses of desired viewers.
• Public - This will allow unlimited number of viewers.

If you have chosen “Private Only” or “Public” viewing, move to step 13 (below).

If you have chosen “Invite Only",  in the "Passcode" box, enter a code of your choice - maximum 8 characters. 
Enter email addresses of those you will invite to view.  Place a (;) between each address.
Enter a message for your viewers.  (See image below). 

Click “Send”.

 


13. Add your thumbnail image at this stage.  This is the image that will show on our MEMORIAL page along with all other memorials.  Click   button.  Then click “Publish”.

Congratulations!  You have now created an online Memorial. 

Click in the yellow box now showing on your screen to view your memorial (see below). 

 

Your Memorial page will open.  Minimize this page for now.
(This page can also be viewed in "Memorials" on the absentFriends.com public site. Click here to view.

An example Memorial page is shown below.


 

You have now completed PHASE ONE of the Webcast Setup!


PHASE TWO

14. Check your email inbox.  Open the message from absentFriends.com that says "Webcasting Payment", as shown below.  As the funeral director, you will have received an email with confirmation of the login details required to broadcast your funeral.

NOTE: If you are unable to find this email, check your spam or junk mailboxes.

Click the word “upload” in your email (see below).  This will open a page from our video portal.

 
 

15.  Transfer the password (provided in the email from absentFriends.com) to the “Password Protected Channel" box.  Click “OK”  (see image below).

 

 
16.  A small white box will appear which is requesting access to your camera and microphone.  Click on "Allow", as shown below.  




17. You will now see an active viewing screen (see example below) but the funeral will only be broadcast to viewers from the time you click the button "START BROADCAST".

If you also wish to record your webcast session to enable later viewing , you must also click "START RECORD".

Lastly, tick the two boxes at left "Video Broadcast" and "Audio Broadcast" (see arrow below). 




18.  To view your LIVE webcasting AS THE PUBLIC WILL SEE IT, go back to the Memorial Page that you minimised earlier (or you can go to our Home page and click on the Online Memorial tab, as shown below).


 


19. Click on the 'Funeral' tab within the memorial site.  See example below.

 


20. A default page will appear before the funeral starts (example below). When the service is ready to begin, an arrow will appear on the screen, as shown below.  Click this arrow.

 

Well done!  You are now streaming LIVE on absentFriends.com. 

PLEASE NOTE: the archived video will be available to view about 4 - 5 hours AFTER the broadcast is completed.   Just click on the "Funeral" tab in the memorial and if the archive is processed, an arrow will show on the page - similar to the image above.  Click on the arrow to view the archived footage.

We really hope you enjoy using this service.
Should you have any enquiries, please email us at admin@absentfriends.com or phone 021 414 828 or
09 427 8121.

The absentFriends Team