Ecamm × Gathering of Nations · Case Study

How One Mac Streamed the Biggest powwow in North America.

When PowWows.com streamed the final Gathering of Nations - the largest powwow in North America - they ran a 34-hour, two-platform broadcast on Ecamm without any downtime. Here's how.

Use code POWWOWS for 15% off Ecamm
245K
In attendance
4,500+
Dancers
34 hrs
Streamed live
0
Downtime
Ecamm × Gathering of Nations · Case Study

How One Mac Streamed the Biggest Powwow in North America.

When powwows.com streamed the final Gathering of Nations - the largest powwow in North America - they ran a 34-hour, two-platform broadcast on Ecamm without any interruptions or downtime. Here's how.

Use code POWWOWS for 15% off Ecamm
245K
In attendance
4,500+
Dancers
34 hrs
Streamed live
0
Crashes

THE SUPERBOWL OF POWWOWS

The largest powwow in North America. Broadcast to the world.

Gathering of Nations is the powwow people travel across the continent for - a four-to-five-day event packed into two, with 245,000 people in attendance and over 4,500 dancers competing in the arena.

PowWows.com has live-streamed Native culture since 2004 - today running 25-30 powwows a year with three teams across North America.

For Gathering's final year, they were the live-streaming provider. The mission: make everyone watching at home feel the scale of the room.

Every contest captured and recorded - drum, song, and dance, frame for frame.

245K
People in attendance
4,500
Dancers in contest
34 hrs
Streamed across 2 days
0
No interruptions
245K
People in attendance
4,500
Dancers in contest
34 hrs
Streamed across 2 days
0
No interruptions
Watch the story

Paul Gowder on streaming Gathering of Nations

In Paul's words

Why Ecamm earned a spot at the biggest powwow in North America.

"It made it so easy for us to just run through a simple software interface - we were able to insert our graphics, insert commercials, audio and video clips as we needed. It's reliable."

"There aren't many software programs out there that can handle that kind of load for that amount of time. A production like this would have been completely prohibitive."

"We used our Stream Deck that integrates right into Ecamm - one click, boom, a video rolls. That kind of simplicity, under this much pressure, makes it so much more accessible."

"We lost internet, we lost power before the powwow started - those things always happen in person. But Ecamm was the tool we knew was reliable. We didn't have to worry."

"With Dual Mode we record a vertical and horizontal version of every single clip - long clips to YouTube, vertical straight to TikTok and Instagram. It worked perfectly."

"I've been able to teach all of our crew to use it pretty easily - it's intuitive. You want to simplify your production as much as possible, and Ecamm is one of those tools that does."

- Paul Gowder, Founder, PowWows.com
In Paul's words

Why Ecamm earned a spot at the biggest powwow in North America.

"It made it so easy for us to just run through a simple software interface - we were able to insert our graphics, insert commercials, audio and video clips as we needed. It's reliable."

"There isn't many software programs out there that can handle that kind of load for that amount of time. A production like this would have been completely prohibitive."

"We used our Stream Deck that integrates right into Ecamm - one click, boom, a video rolls. That kind of simplicity, under this much pressure, makes it so much more accessible."

"We lost internet, we lost power before the powwow started - those things always happen in person. But Ecamm was the tool we knew was reliable. We didn't have to worry."

"With Dual Mode we record a vertical and horizontal version of every single clip - long clips to YouTube, vertical straight to TikTok and Instagram. It worked perfectly."

"I've been able to teach all of our crew to use it pretty easily - it's intuitive. You want to simplify your production as much as possible, and Ecamm is one of those tools that does."

- Paul Gowder, Founder, Powwows.com
See it in action

Watch the Ecamm broadcast, exactly as fans saw it.

Real footage from the Gathering of Nations live stream - graphics, sponsor spots, and the arena feed, all switched live through Ecamm.

See it in action

Watch the Ecamm broadcast, exactly as fans saw it.

Real footage from the Gathering of Nations live stream - graphics, sponsor spots, and the arena feed, all switched live through Ecamm.

How it worked

A clean feed in. A polished broadcast out.

Gathering runs its own 15-20 person production crew - camera operators, PTZ controllers, and a producer calling every shot. They handed PowWows.com a single clean feed of the powwow and the music festival. Everything after that ran through one simple interface.

01

Graphics on demand

Every dance style needed its own lower-third. Ecamm made it seamless to pull each graphic in, display it, and switch - almost invisibly to the viewer.

02

One-click rolls

Pre-recorded commercials and clips were programmed straight into a Stream Deck. One click, boom - a video rolls. Simplicity that matters under pressure.

03

Two platforms at once

Ecamm handled distribution to both the Facebook pages and the YouTube channel simultaneously - no extra hardware, no juggling.

How it worked

A clean feed in. A polished broadcast out.

Gathering runs its own 15-20 person production crew - camera operators, PTZ controllers, and a producer calling every shot. They handed powwows.com a single clean feed of the powwow and the music festival. Everything after that ran through one simple interface.

01

Graphics on demand

Every dance style needed its own lower-third. Ecamm made it seamless to pull each graphic in, display it, and switch - almost invisibly to the viewer.

02

One-click rolls

Pre-recorded commercials and clips were programmed straight into a Stream Deck. One click, boom - a video rolls. Simplicity that matters under pressure.

03

Two platforms at once

Ecamm handled distribution to both the Facebook pages and the YouTube channel simultaneously - no extra hardware, no juggling.

ON THE LIVESTREAM

Branded, sponsored, and
seamless - in real time.

Sponsor spots ran split-screen alongside the live arena feed, wrapped in the

PowWows.com and Gathering branding — broadcast live through Ecamm.

This is the actual broadcast viewers saw at home.

Live output — a sponsor ad running split-screen with the arena feed during "The Last Dance."

A graphic for every contest. Dozens of sponsor banners and dance-style lower-thirds, loaded and one tap away on the overlay iPad.

Commercials ready to roll. Pre-built scenes and a tidy commercial reel — Visit ABQ, US Bank, and more — fired with a single click.

Reliability under load

34 hours on air. 0 interruptions vs downtime.

15-16 hrs
Friday, streamed straight through - no downtime or glitches. The software ran continuously the whole time.
18+ hrs
Saturday. No issues, no glitches no downtime. "There isn't many software programs out there that can handle that kind of load for that long."

"We lost internet before the powwow started. We lost power before the powwow started. Those things will always happen with an in-person production - but Ecamm was the tool we knew was just reliable. We didn't have to worry."

Paul Gowder · Founder, PowWows.com

"We wanted the people at home to still get that feeling - to see just how grand this was."

Reach beyond the arena

One event. Every platform. Every screen size.

The live stream is only the start. PowWows.com records every contest - and this year they used Ecamm's Dual Mode to capture each clip vertical and horizontal at the same time.

Long horizontal clips go straight to YouTube. Vertical cuts go straight to TikTok and Instagram. That one engine drives all of their social - and keeps the event reaching new viewers long after the arena empties. Even someone 5,900 miles away.

YouTube · horizontal TikTok · vertical Instagram · vertical
Simple enough to share

One person can run the whole stream.

15-to-18-hour days are brutal. With a 4-person crew, the difference between burnout and a clean broadcast was being able to work in shifts - knowing one person could sit and run the stream while everyone else grabbed a break, shot photos, or monitored the chat.

"I've been able to teach all of our crew to use it pretty easily. It's intuitive. You want to simplify your production as much as possible - Ecamm is one of those tools that makes it simple."

The powwows.com crew · 4 roles
01
Dedicated to monitoring the stream, start to finish
02
On comments & chat across social platforms
03
Photographer & videographer working the floor
04
Producer filling every gap in between
Simple enough to share

One person can run the whole stream.

15-to-18-hour days are brutal. With a 4-person crew, the difference between burnout and a clean broadcast was being able to work in shifts - knowing one person could sit and run the stream while everyone else grabbed a break, shot photos, or monitored the chat.

"I've been able to teach all of our crew to use it pretty easily. It's intuitive. You want to simplify your production as much as possible - Ecamm is one of those tools that makes it simple."

The powwows.com crew · 4 roles
01
Dedicated to monitoring the stream, start to finish
02
On comments & chat across social platforms
03
Photographer & videographer working the floor
04
Producer filling every gap in between
The kit · 30-45 minute setup

A broadcast studio in a backpack.

No production truck. No racks of hardware. The full Gathering setup - Mac, monitors, network - was up and tested in well under an hour. And on their other powwows, SDI cable to black box convert directly into Ecamm replaced the heavy kit the teams used to haul to site on planes.

Compute
Mac Studio M2 Max
64GB RAM, running Ecamm continuously
Displays
USB monitor + iPad
Sidecar iPad held every overlay, one tap away
Control
Stream Deck
Commercials & clips, integrated into Ecamm
Signal
SDI over Cat 6
Lighter cable, longer runs, better camera placement
The kit · 30-45 minute setup

A broadcast studio in a backpack.

No production truck. No racks of hardware. The full Gathering setup - Mac, monitors, network - was up and tested in well under an hour. And on their other powwows, SDI cable to black box convert directly into Ecamm replaced the heavy kit the teams used to haul to site on planes.

Compute
Mac Studio M2 Max
64GB RAM, running Ecamm continuously
Displays
USB monitor + iPad
Sidecar iPad held every overlay, one tap away
Control
Stream Deck
Commercials & clips, integrated into Ecamm
Signal
SDI over Cat 6
Lighter cable, longer runs, better camera placement
"

In a live environment there are so many variables you can't control. It's important to control the ones you can - with tools you trust.

Paul Gowder · Founder, PowWows.com
"

In a live environment there are so many variables you can't control. It's important to control the ones you can - with tools you trust.

Paul Gowder · Founder, PowWows.com

Bring your event to the world.

Whether it's a conference, a service, a convention, or the largest powwow in North America - reliable live streaming starts with software you can trust.

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