Tree-Based Architecture for Enabling Live Interaction in Massive Online Events

Massive online and hybrid events have become important during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. These events aim to replicate live experiences by maintaining interaction between the speakers and the audience. However, existing streaming and videoconferencing solutions fail to provide sufficient scalability and real-time interactions. Streaming technologies lack support for live interaction, whereas videoconferencing technologies scale enough. Events such as panel debates, conference presentations, and sessions with live interpretation require both the ability to support a large number of participants and real-time voice interactions. In this paper, we propose a new tree-based architecture that meets both requirements using videoconferencing technologies. This approach combines the scalability of streaming architectures with the low latency of videoconferencing technologies. The objective was to increase the maximum number of participants that videoconference providers can accept while maintaining live interactions. A prototype implementation of the proposed architecture was developed to test and validate it. Finally, this study provides valuable information for implementing and adapting the proposed architecture to various production environments.