Meeting in Cyberspace

Adobe Connect Introduces Some Cool New Features

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Anyone who talks to me about web conferencing knows I am a big fan of Adobe Connect Pro. No, I am not on their payroll. I just find the interface incredibly elegant and unlike anything else out there. So it was with great anticipation that I attended a webinar yesterday announcing their new release, 7.5. As the webinar host noted, while a "dot" release, it still provides some pretty good bang for the buck.

Now I must first offer the caveat that I haven't yet tested the new functionality but I think you'll agree with me that it is mouth watering.

The first concept introduced was "Universal Voice". Prior to 7.5, you could use "integrated voice" with Connect provided you maintained a separate account with an approved provider such as Premiere Conferencing. With integrated voice, the moderator can maintain software control over the teleconference aspect of the webinar. If you didn't subscribe to one of the approved vendors, not only could you not exercise software control, you could also not record the audio portion of your webinar. (The recording work-around involved hardware that bridges your phone to your PC sound card.)

With universal voice, you can now "train" Connect to dial into any toll free provider of your choice and the audio of your webinar will be recorded in sync with the visuals. You still will not get software control of the audio but I don't find that too big a hit. What's more, you can have Connect dial into your teleconference, and then broadcast what Connect "hears" over IP. As a result, you can instruct your audience to use their PC speakers for the audio portion of your webinar, while you provide a reliable phone based audio feed. I have always found phone fed audio more reliable than VOIP so you get a quality boost here and you get cost savings by not having everyone dialing up your teleconference provider. Overall, a great enhancement. And for those who prefer the integrated audio provided for the select set of vendors, that's still there. In fact, they've added InterCall to the list for integrated voice.

Another big announcement with 7.5 is the introduction of the Webcast function. This function utilizes a slightly limited variation on the typical Connect user interface but extends Connect's capacity to 80,000 users. It is a separate offering with its own pricing structure. I personally found the pricing quoted on the webinar a bit daunting, starting at $5,000.00 for a 600 attendee webcast, with the price increasing in 100 attendee increments to a limit of 80,000 attendees. The $5,000.00 includes the services of event specialists who guide you through the hurdles of an event in much the same way I do (gotta get a plug in there somehow!). When I say the user interface is limited, one example is that you cannot dynamically change the screen layout during a webcast the way you can with a typical Connect webinar. Whether or not the Webcast offering is right for the small business owner remains to be seen.

With 7.5 we also see a security enhancement. In earlier releases, you could centrally restrict access to desktop sharing on an enterprise wide basis. Now, the security is more granular in that you can white-list certain applications eligible for desktop sharing such that everyone across the enterprise can share those applications (such as Visio for example) but not share any others. A nice enhancement for security minded IT shops.

PDF's get the PPT treatment for the first time in 7.5. In other words, when you share a PDF document in a share pod, it now gets translated into Flash, making the visual fidelity near perfect and allowing full PDF control (page advance, magnification, etc.) by either the host in synchronized mode or by the individual attendee. When the host gives attendees control of the displayed PDF, they also get the option to download it to local storage. Pretty cool stuff. The demo that was done demonstrated how magnification of the document did not result in the pixilation that was prevalent in the prior release when the PDF was translated to an image file.

There were other enhancements and bug fixes discussed but I'll leave you with one more goody. They're planning an iPhone client for webinar participants. This depends on the release of an iPhone friendly version of Flash which should be ready by year-end.

If you want to attend the webinar that explains all this, they've got the recording here.

I think there were some who might have been afraid that when Adobe took over the Macromedia Breeze product that it would collect dust. On the contrary, Adobe shows a full commitment to this product, reincarnated as Connect, and I think it's paying off.

The Only Legitimate Opt-in

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:43:00 +0000

Although webinar production is my bread and butter, I have a strong interest in social media. A few weeks ago, I saw the following "tweet" on Twitter:

"Convert Twitter followers to an email list automatically."

This was followed by an URL. The tweet bugged me from the moment I saw it but I only today got around to clicking the link to confirm my suspicions. Although I am tempted to tell you the URL simply to discredit them, I won't because it would perversely bring them more traffic, and perhaps more sales.

Their pitch starts with "Is it immoral to make money this easy?" In a word, yes.

The product scrapes email addresses from Twitter and builds a contact list for you from that scrape. It purports to make buying a car, a house or anything else you desire just a click away using their software.

Now, these scams are nothing new but there is a very specific ethical issue here that deserves highlighting.

There is only ONE legitimate way to build a contact list and that is by telling people who fill out a form on your web site (often called a "squeeze page") that when they supply their email address to you, they are opting into your mailing list. This disclosure needs to be obvious, not in tiny print at the bottom of your page.

When someone joins Twitter, even if they follow you on Twitter, they are not authorizing you to start e-mailing them on a regular basis. The same goes for any other social network venue. A page that I am comfortable with from an ethics perspective is the page I use on my own web site http://www.vellgroup.com/Meeting_in_Cyberspace.html. You'll notice that I offer access to a free course and I tell folks that when they request access, they will hear from me in the future. I use an email marketing software that makes it easy for anyone to opt-out of future communication from me.

If you want to maintain a good reputation on the web and in business in general, don't fall for the easy solutions. There is no turn-key method to success. It takes hard work and solid ethics.

Web Conferencing in an Economic Crunch Time

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:51:00 +0000

There are a few topics that I love to talk about. Politics, music, TV and .... web conferencing and webinars!

I had the great privilege recently to be invited to speak on a panel discussion of web conferencing's emergence as a solution for economically strapped companies. My co-panelist, Lauri Elliott, is an expert in organizational behavior and dynamics. She proved to be the perfect yin to my yang as I focused on implementation issues and she articulated the business issues that arise with web conferencing.

Our moderator, Josh Gingold, was the perfect foil to get the best information out of us. If you weren't able to attend the live webinar, here is a link to the replay. I guarantee you'll get a lot out of it!

Another Cautionary Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:06:00 +0000

I would estimate 95% of the webinars I attend go off without a hitch. Of those 95%, the webinar rises or falls on the quality of the content. Sadly, in the other 5% the content is forgotten completely because of a major glitch and more often than not these glitches could have been mitigated somehow.

Such was the case yesterday when I attended a professional development webinar. This webinar was high stakes for two reasons. First, it was not free. Second, the webinar was being taken by folks wanting to earn credit toward professional certification.

I'm going to present the cause and effect in reverse order. The effect: Webinar kept crashing. Some folks could see slides. Some folks could not. Some folks who could see slides were told to leave the webinar and re-enter anyway, at which point they could no longer see the slides. This went on for 25 minutes worth of what was supposed to only be an hour long webinar. The featured speaker finally told the moderator (amid the strong support of the audience) that the webinar would need to be rescheduled since there was no way he could present 60 minutes of material in 30 minutes.

The non-profit giving this webinar is now faced with a rescheduling nightmare since they must accommodate everyone who paid for the webinar or grant refunds (which this organization seldom does). Of course, they also have a major credibility hit and at least a small ding to their reputation.

The sad fact is this disaster could easily have been averted. The cause: The webinar moderator was running the webinar from a laptop connected wirelessly to a LAN in a corporate conference room. The wireless connection kept dropping. Now, in defense of the non-profit, they are a volunteer organization and the moderator was a volunteer, not a professional webinar moderator. My heart sunk for him as he told the audience "please wait while I get reconnected. This has never happened to me before."

When the webinar was over, I promptly jotted a note off to the organization's leadership with the following two key pieces of advice:

1. Never (and I mean never) run a webinar from a wireless device. First, wireless connections almost never offer the same throughput that a wired connection does. Second, wireless connections are notorious for encountering interference or going down altogether.

2. Just because you are wired, does not mean you are home free. If at all possible, have a backup computer logged into the webinar (or ready to be logged in) so you can make a quick switch if your primary device fails for any reason. Be sure to have the presentation materials on that backup computer in case you need to upload them again to the webinar space. Failing that, see if you can have a backup moderator logged into the conference with moderator permissions, to whom you can throw control should a catastrophic event occur.

Some folks, particularly when they hear advice item 2, say "wow, isn't that a bit overboard? How likely is it I'll have a complete computer meltdown?" Well sadly in the case of the non-profit's moderator, his odds for failure were 100% and the failure was devastating.

Don't let it happen to you.

Webinars as Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:13:00 +0000

When I say the phrase "social media" to you, what is the first thing you think of? Probably Twitter or Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn. What if I added "webinars" to the list?

What?

Think about it a minute. During a webinar we do all the things that are achieved in social media. We impart information (often for free). We build relationships. We obtain valuable feedback from customers and prospects. In fact, to the extent that our webinars don't do this, we have somewhat failed, haven't we?

Why don't we typically think of webinars as social media? Corporations have been using web conferencing software for ages now to facilitate internal communications. When the software began to be used externally, it was likely viewed as simple advertising. It was likely viewed as one-to-many communication which really violates the tenets of social media. Since that is the root history of webinars, I think people have been slow to change their view of them.

Now, as web conferencing software has grown in sophistication, implementing chat rooms, polling features, breakout rooms, and interactive white boards the one-to-many paradigm has been broken. Even webinars with large audiences have become two-way communication events. Webinars have become a way for you to get to know your audience and for them to get to know you. It has become a relationship builder, the essential element of any social media.

As you implement a social media strategy for your business, do not overlook webinars as a key component!

Webinar Public Chat -- Be Careful What You Ask For

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:59:00 +0000

I just finished attending a webinar that at least by certain measures was an unmitigated disaster. Let's put aside for the moment that the attendance information did not arrive in my inbox until an hour before the webinar was to begin (I registered early yesterday) and I only found it in my inbox 10 minutes after the webinar had started!

Once the three minute process to "retrieve the client" software was finished, I entered the webinar to find a major distraction. The webinar moderator had enabled public chat and in this case, there seemed to be more chat than webinar. The chat session had taken on a life of its own.

There are of course benefits to public chat within a webinar.

Attendees can learn from each other during the webinar.
Webinar hosts, moderators and producers can obtain valuable feedback.

The problem arises when the public chat goes into overdrive and folks are exclusively chatting or the feedback is abundantly negative. Both were the case on today's webinar. First, the attendees were given a poll on what social media venues they used most often. Here is just a sample of what was said (chat names redacted to preserve privacy):

linked in
twitter,
A and C
none
FB, Blog
none
Facebook and MySpace are worthless
a, b, c
none
All of the above
none
Answer using the feedback box please
Linked In, Twitter, Faceb ook
Twitter, LinkedIn
all the above
All but MySpace
thinking about YouTube
I cannot choose more than one ...
b,c
a,b,c I could only select one answer
and the question?
A,B,C, & D
The feedback box is only allowing one choice (radio buttons vs checkboxes)
This polling is SO cumbersome!

As you might be able to infer, the polling mechanism was not intuitive so people resorted to typing their choices in chat instead of clicking on the poll. I've bold-faced some of the more telling comments. Folks who wanted to choose more than one poll answer could not but also didn't understand the poll asked for the "most often used" which really only requires one answer. To make matters worse, the poll had no words in it ... just choices A, B, and C so some audience members forgot what A, B and C corresponded to.

While having the public chat open allowed the audience to vent, it was a major distraction from the pitch that was in progress.

The public chat then degenerated into a gripe session about poor audio on the webinar (one of the speakers was on her cell phone ... a MAJOR no-no in a webinar but supposedly unavoidable on this one). This then segued to a discussion of the pros and cons of various webinar platforms.
Mind you, the webinar was about using social media but the chat session was about anything but! The audio debate culminated with this comment:

Very dispointing that audio is so bad, and it clear that there a lack of planning for the webinar. I would have enjoy this if you didn't have a such a time rush and if we could hear most of the words.

As the webinar came to a close one of the attendees wanted to collect the names of all the companies that presented so that he could warn people AWAY from them on Twitter.

The bottom line here is that you take a VERY calculated risk when you enable public chat in your webinar. Even a minor glitch can go from molehill to mountain once it becomes fodder for the chat session. Then, instead of your presentation, the chat session becomes the main event.

Why Social Media and Inbound Marketing Make Sense

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Do you remember back when you graduated from high school or college and you were looking for that first job? What did you hear more often than not?

What experience do you have?

It was frustrating wasn't it? If you're lucky, at that point maybe you had a few part time jobs you could point to. Bottom line, you were looking to get your foot in the door, to get that first big opportunity.

Well when you think about it, how is that any different from the way you relate to potential customers? When you were looking for that first employer, they wanted to know what they were getting before they brought you on. Similarly, your potential clients are no longer satisfied to see empty braggadocio in the form of your advertisements and press releases. Your potential clients want to see what you can do, concretely, before they invest in you.

Using social media as an inbound marketing method achieves this purpose. Using Twitter, potential customers get to know you. They can judge you by how you interact on a minute to minute basis.

When you put that "squeeze page" on your web site, you're not simply collecting an email list to send empty advertisements. Hopefully, you are offering something of value. An appetizer, so to speak, that shows your potential paying client what you can do. Now they can vet you much the same way an employer wants to vet a potential employee.

It may be hard for you to break out of the mold of the old advertising paradigms. You have to understand that consumers are more sophisticated nowadays and your ad, which is really just an opportunity to brag about yourself without proving anything, isn't going to pull people in as it once might have.

View your courtship with each potential client as a job interview where you have to provide concrete evidence that you've got "the right stuff". Social media is a key ingredient in making that happen.

The Power of Web Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:07:00 +0000

By now most folks know the broad reach of the Internet. No where is that more evident than in the realm of social activism. People who once had no voice now have a platform to share their views with millions of others. Even people with wide access such as television journalists can now use the web to break down more doors.

One such case is that of CNN journalist Veronica De La Cruz whose 27 year old brother Eric will soon die if he does not get a heart transplant. Veronica has taken her case of hopeless government red tape to Twitter where a growing legion of "Tweeple" are getting the word out. She hopes to raise money (since Eric's insurance company is pulling the old "pre-existing condition" scam on him) and attention from Nevada government officials to get Eric on a transplant list.

You can read more about the Twitter phenomenon here.

You can read more about Veronica's situation and help her here.

What does chess have to do with imagination anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:40:00 +0000

This article departs from my usual subject matter. When it comes to web communication techniques one must not be afraid to try new things. You have to have some imagination. You may have a blog but never thought of giving webinars. You may have a web site but never thought of using Twitter. It's important to keep your mind open to new possibilities.

One of my friends on Twitter, Laura Sherman, is convinced that one of the best ways to train young minds to be imaginative is through chess. Yes, you heard me, that 64 square board game with the rooks, kings, queens and bishops. So, I offer you today her thoughts on chess and how the game connects to imagination building.

What does chess have to do with imagination anyway?
By Laura Sherman

Artists, leaders, educators and pretty much anyone in any field can enhance our world through creativity and imagination. So what does this have to do with chess? Everything!

Chess helps a child develop his or her imagination. After all we’re just looking at a board with 64 squares and a bunch of pieces that can move around in different ways until the players breathe life into their games. As the pieces take their place on the battlefield, positions form and opportunities open up, but only if you can see them in your mind’s eye.

As a person improves, each position communicates more and more to him or her. One starts recognizing patterns and becomes able to plan future attacks. The way to win a game of chess is to plan out a strategy and follow through with it. You must be able to imagine your goal and then take the necessary steps to carry it out.

Apply this to any aspect of your life and you will do well. Decide what you want to accomplish, set the goal and then do what is needed to make that happen. Maybe you have a new business idea. Maybe you want a buy a home or you want to write a novel. The possibilities are endless and are under your control.

If we can teach our children early that it is okay to dream and that those dreams can come true, we might just be looking at an unstoppable next generation!

Laura Sherman founded Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

Informal Mentorship

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:17:00 +0000

In the last ten to fifteen years many corporations have embraced formal mentoring programs as a career development method. This works fine for corporate employees but what do you do if you work solo? What if you're an entrepreneur?

Over the past few weeks, I've given some thought to folks who have influenced me since I started my own business. It finally occurred to me that these folks are mentors and what's more I didn't need to enlist them in a formal mentoring program. I didn't need to force them to make a time commitment. In fact, none of them probably even know that I consider them mentors.

Three examples come to mind. When I first started my company, I looked around for folks similarly engaged and rather than view my find as "competition", I viewed him as someone from whom I could learn a lot. To this day, if I find out that Ken Molay of Webinar Success is giving an instructional webinar, I'll try to attend it. Ken and I have corresponded a few times over the past couple of years but I seriously doubt Ken would consider himself my mentor. Regardless, he is.

Two other more recent examples are Mike Wesely and Shama Hyder. I'm currently in the process of expanding my consultant practice from strictly web conferencing to the broader web communications space, including social media (a fact you will soon see reflected on my web site and here in this blog). It was really by just pure good fortune that I stumbled upon these folks.

Mike Wesely hosts an almost daily web broadcast Twittalk.tv which teaches folks how to use Twitter to enhance their brand. I feel that Mike's approach and the people I've met through him have greatly improved my use of Twitter.

Shama Hyder is a social media, online marketing guru. Her can-do style and sheer energy resonated with me immediately. I spend at least a part of every week watching Shama's videos on Shama.TV and reading her posts.

Now if you asked either Mike or Shama if they are my mentor, they'd say no. I make no time demands on either of them but I still get just about everything one needs from a mentor by reading their posts or attending their sessions. What's more, I know that if I ever needed concrete advice from either of them I'd get it (within reason of course .... there is a boundary between free advice and paying for their time that must be respected).

The bottom line here is don't think that because you work solo that you're shut out of the mentoring loop. Interestingly, the current social media paradigm dictates that we share ourselves with our business partners and prospective and current clients. As a result, there are experts out there who are really giving of themselves such that you don't need to set up weekly meetings with them in order to get a sense of who they really are. Find yourself two or three experts in your field. See if their approach resonates with you and then actively follow them. You'll learn loads and if you have the courage to reach out to them with questions (or even advice FOR them), you may find you have a new colleague, friend, and mentor!

With a Little Sacrifice We Can Make It

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I subscribe to a number of discussion groups and one post today called to my attention an article in the Boston Globe about the CEO of a hospital who made the following proposition to his staff:

"I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.

"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.

via Beth Israel workers agree to go without to save jobs - The Boston Globe

Now I know that normally I cover web communications issues on this blog, but I just could not resist sharing this with you. Isn't it better that we all sacrifice a bit so that everyone can keep their jobs and pay their mortgages? If every company followed CEO Paul Levy's example, we would have substantially fewer layoffs in this country right now. It's a matter of putting aside selfishness for the good of us all until we get through this rough spot in the economy.

What are your thoughts?

How NOT to Attend a Second Life Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:50:00 +0000

I guess I should have known I was in for trouble from the very start when I registered for a meeting today in Second Life and had only guessed at the topic. All I really had to go on was the speaker bio and I used that to read between the lines as to what the seminar would be about.

I've got Second Life installed on two computers, my full blown Dell PC and my Lenovo laptop. SL runs slow on the Lenovo but I used it anyway. Things got off to a smooth start as I clicked on the SLURL and was teleported to the right place. That's when things started to go down hill.

The last time I was "in world" (I think that's the jargon for one's existence within Second Life), I had a glass of champagne and as a result when I arrived at this new meeting, I was still holding the glass of champagne. Not wanting to appear the lush, I right clicked on what I thought was my champagne glass and selected "remove". Within seconds, I had taken my pants off.

So there I was standing in front of a bunch of virtual strangers holding a glass of champagne and wearing no pants. Fortunately, I have a generic no-frills avatar so in world I lack any discernible gender related body parts. This slightly decreased my embarrassment.

I quickly put my pants back on and successfully relinquished the champagne glass. One would think my troubles ended there but alas things got worse. I chose an empty seat in which to sit but apparently my computer lag time prevented me from realizing that the seat was not empty. By the time my "sit" command registered, the seat was already occupied and I was now sitting on top of the occupant.

During this session I had my speakers turned on and I could hear those participants who had enabled voice. I soon heard a very polite British fellow say, "Matty is sitting on my face. I sure hope he is wearing clean underwear." Mortified, I quickly right-clicked on another empty seat and after issuing the "sit" command I was now properly seated. I then sent a text message saying "sorry for the face sit". Little did I know that the room I was in was configured to display all text messages on a white board at the front of the room. So there was my priceless quote "sorry for the face sit" up on the white board for all to see with my name next to it.

I figured things could not get any worse at this point until the moderator said, "OK we're all going to go into break out rooms to discuss bla-bla". It was at that moment that I realized that I totally misunderstood the topic of the meeting. Not knowing a darn thing about bla-bla (I say bla-bla because I don't even remember what the topic was ... totally Greek to me), I panicked and closed my Second Life application window. That is the equivalent of getting up from a meeting and running out the door without saying a word to anyone. Rude, but I was at my wit's end.

I suppose the moral of the story is to attend Second Life meetings on a computer that will run SL reasonably fast and of course, NEVER attend a meeting if you're not 100% sure what the topic is!

For those interested in learning more about Second Life, go here.

Twitter for e-learning?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Hey folks, I found an interesting article on how Twitter (the free social networking site) could be used in an e-learning environment. It's as simple as an instructor setting up a Twitter account and having his students "follow" him. Then he can communicate with all students at once using tweets.

This is probably just the tip of the iceberg in using social media for instructional purposes.

You can read more about this here.

eLearning Predictions for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:16:00 +0000

The editor-in-chief of eLearn Magazine, Lisa Neal Gualtieri, has rounded up 31 authorities (including me) on e-learning and e-learning technologies to give their opinions on where e-learning is headed in 2009.

The overriding sentiment is that e-learning may be the silver lining on the cloud that is our current economic state in the world.

You can read more here! And thanks to Lisa for including me among such thought leaders.

Have You Considered Adding Gaming to Your eLearning Arsenal?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:47:00 +0000

I attended a webinar today about the role of gaming in distance learning.

A few key points:

The folks who learn "the old way" (mostly baby boomers) are all going to be retiring within the next ten years. They will be replaced with a generation of workers who use Xbox, Wii and other gaming technologies.
The way to engage this new generation of worker, from a training perspective, is to present them with a learning experience that engages their mind actively.
A recent survey showed that an engaging e-learning experience resulted in over 40% retention after six weeks, compared with 4% retention with traditional forms (lecture, simple reading).

The technology demonstrated in today's webinar from Qube Learning showed how books can be made interactive and comprehension testing can be framed in the format of a game. Qube has what they call QBooks which are like PDF books on steroids. The books contain all sorts of rich content from talking avatars to embedded video.

On the gaming front, they offer QGames which test comprehension using a gaming paradigm. The demonstrated game today was Hangman minus the doomed stick figure. It was essentially a timed fill in the blanks exercise. To enable the idea of an "open book test", with one click you could go from the question to the page in the corresponding QBook where the answer could be found. To add to the gaming aspect, there was a ranking of "gamers" so you could compete against peers to get high scores.

It was a real eye-opener to see the lengths to which some companies are going to make learning more enjoyable. Of course, the distributed distance learning platform also adds to the appeal as it cuts down on cost intensive travel.

Whether you investigate Qube, or give some other product a try, keep finding ways to make your e-learning experience engaging for your students or customers!

Give Your Eyes a Rest

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:54:00 +0000

I'm pleased to report that I've implemented Odiogo's text to speech solution on my blog. For those of you who have any sort of visual impairment, just click on the "listen now" button and the post will be read to you by a computer generated voice. (We're hoping Odiogo will implement human sounding voices in the near future.)

Also, if you'd like to listen to this blog on the go, just click on the odiogo button on the right panel of my blog under Subscribe to Podcast and it will be added to your favorite podcast player.

I hope you enjoy this latest update!

Screen Sharing a Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Most web conferencing products allow you to upload a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation which is then translated by the product so that you can then navigate through the presentation and your audience sees the presentation without your having to share your computer screen with them. One of the key benefits of this approach is that screen sharing can be bandwidth intensive. If anyone in your audience is not using a high speed Internet connection, then screen sharing a pitch can cause undesirable latency, i.e. delay between when you advance slides and when your audience member sees the slide.

So, the question is, should I never use screen sharing to show a PPT presentation? I have seen one instance in which sharing the PPT pitch via screen sharing enhanced the conference. Some web conferencing products have considerable latency while switching from presentation display mode to screen sharing mode. Hence, if you know that you will need to share some resource via screen sharing and you don't want to jump back and forth between screen sharing and presentation display, you might be better off to just conduct the entire conference in screen sharing mode.

I have seen this done once recently, and the the transition between sharing the PPT file and a web page from the presenters computer, was smooth as silk. It went off without a hitch and it might actually have been made worse had the presenter used two different modes (display of an uploaded pitch plus screen sharing the web page).

Something to consider when you're planning your webinar. Rehearse your webinar in advance and try a couple of different approaches to see which one works best for you.

Web Conferencing Not Just For Corporations Anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:06:00 +0000

Lots of companies have caught on to the idea of web conferencing as a cost saver and contributor to green initiatives. The word is spreading outside the business world.

Last week I attended a web conference for a local group promoting a Presidential candidate (to keep business and politics separate, I'll keep the identity of the candidate to myself). The group chose GoToMeeting for their web conference in combination with a toll-call phone conferencing service. This approach was very typical of the tech-savvy profile of this particular campaign.

I've corresponded with other non-profits about web conferencing and many of them just can't get past the paradigm of "meeting in person." With the economy in free fall and an ever increasing focus on our ecology, I'm hoping more and more non-business entities will consider web conferencing as an alternative to travel and time consuming meetings.

Ecademy Update

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:59:00 +0000

A week or so ago I wrote about my disappointment with some restrictions that the social network ecademy.com had placed on its membership.

I'm happy to report that ecademy has changed the way members connect to other members. The old system of connecting by sending a message has been abandoned and now there is a special "connect" function which is open to all members, paid or not.

Free members still cannot initiate messages (although they can reply to them) but now at least free members can grow their network, which is as I said in my last post, the whole point of a social networking system.

Kudos to ecademy for seeing the light!

Extortion at Ecademy

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Usually, this blog is limited to the topics of web conferencing, webinars and e-learning. However, since social networking is a critical form of communication and an excellent venue for making business contacts, I decided to stretch the bounds of my blog for this one entry.

Ecademy.com is a social networking site with a noticeably global reach. When I first joined, the site behaved very much like others in this space, LinkedIn, Xing, Plaxo, etc. About a month or so into my free membership, I was informed of a change in policy. Free members would no longer be able to send messages to other members. They could only reply to messages they received (ostensibly from paid members). This was implemented to curb the increasing trend of spam advertising that was harrassing many members of the ecademy community.

Unfortunately, the only way to make connections to members of the ecademy community is by messaging them. Hence, the disabling of messaging for free members makes it impossible for free members to increase their network (unless they are messaged by a paid member). What good is a social network site if you are unable to network? While I understand this policy was implemented to curb abuses, what it amounts to in the final analysis is a method to force members to pay for privileges they can get for free on LinkedIn and Xing. Hence the word "extortion" in this entry's title.

I wrote the CEO of ecademy, Thomas Power, and was told that ecademy was simply following the lead of LinkedIn and Xing. I informed him that he was mistaken. LinkedIn and Xing do not make you pay a monthly subscription to simply add people to your network. I further advised him that free members could not even message people already in their network. He indicated this was not so but when I brought the issue to ecademy technical support, I was reminded of their "no free messaging" policy.

The message you receive when you try to contact any ecademy member is "As a free member, you can only reply to messages you receive."

My email exchange with Mr. Power was disappointing to the say the least. Ecademy offers many of the features of other social networks and seems to have a particularly European and Asian membership which is excellent for those Americans looking to make contacts abroad. My only warning to prospective members is that you will have to pay for the most basic functionality on the site, functionality that is free on most if not all of ecademy's competitors.

As I wrote to Mr. Power, I hope that ecademy can find more imaginative ways to curb member abuse while allowing free access to interested and responsible customers.

Marketing Your Webinar

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:53:00 +0000

I got a pretty informative e-mail today from Web Digest for Marketers. It pointed to an article by Larry Chase on some tips for marketing your webinars. Among the items covered:

1. Proper lead time for announcing your webinar.
2. Number of registrants does NOT equal number of attendees.
3. Follow up with attendees.

The article can be found here:

http://www.wdfm.com/marketing-tips/webinar-leads.php

Happy reading!

Web Conference Cosmetics

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:23:00 +0000

One thing that strikes me as I look at different web conferencing products is cosmetics. How are frames within the main console arranged? Where are buttons located? Do some frames (or pods) detach from the main web conferencing console for placement anywhere on my desktop?

I thought about this topic today during a Microsoft Live Meeting web conference. I used the web based interface (as opposed to the downloadable client) and I was quite impressed with the way I could place the list of attendees anywhere on my desktop. The same went for the meeting's notepad feature. WebEx also features detachable frames.

Another interesting cosmetic feature can be found in Adobe Acrobat Connect. In this product, frames (or pods as Adobe calls them) can be dynamically re-arranged within the main console by the presenter. As a result, if during one phase of a webinar, the presenter wants the attendee list, presentation space, and a notepad pod visible, he can do that and then later in the webinar, dynamically eliminate the attendee list, expand the presentation pod and perhaps add a polling pod. What the user sees is a very slick, smooth transition from one console scheme to another. I find it an elegant way to keep your attendees awake.

Of course, functionality (vs price) is probably the key criterion in choosing a web conferencing platform but how much does cosmetics matter to you? Give me your thoughts!

September Webinars Ready for Registration

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Vell Group has posted its September Tuesday webinars. For more information and to register, surf to http://learningportal.eventbrite.com

Webinar Quality -- Do Your Homework

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:36:00 +0000

I attended a webinar yesterday given by a company that will remain nameless for their own protection. Two problems severely effected the event.

The first problem was really the fault of the audience members. Several people complained they could not log in but the software was not the problem. The webinar had two layers of security. There was a username and password required for entry into the webinar environment and then another "meeting id" and a separate password for entry into the particular meeting. There was also a minor software download required. The meeting invitation advised all attendees, especially if they had never attended a meeting of this type, to login to a sample meeting so their browsers would be ready and they would understand the protocol for getting in. It was obvious that the users who encountered difficulty had not followed this advice. As a webinar attendee, you do yourself and your host a great disservice when you're not technically prepared to attend the webinar. If the host is patient, your avoidable technical problems delay his meeting. If the host is not patient, he goes ahead without you and you have to play catchup. So, make sure your computer is set up for a webinar in advance and that you understand the login protocol.

The second problem was entirely the fault of the webinar host. In his invitation to the webinar, he sent the wrong teleconference number! A good 15 minutes went by before anyone advised the attendees of the mistake via the chat window in the webinar. During that 15 minutes, slides were being shown without narration. The correction was communicated without apology.

The funny part is that this webinar was being given by a consultant to discuss learning management systems (LMS), learning content management systems (LCMS) and talent management systems (TMS). The unstated subtext of the webinar, of course, was to sell the platform that was hosting the webinar. While the wrong callin number really had nothing to do with the quality of the software, it so totally sabatoged the event that one could not come away with a positive feeling for the underlying product.

The message here for both webinar hosts and attendees is do your homework! Not doing the proper planning in advance can totally ruin the experience.

eLearningZoom Webinar

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Bovell) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +0000

While Vell Group advises on a number of web conferencing/webinar platforms, we have a special relationship with eLearningZoom.com.

eLearningZoom is an entry level platform that combines web conferencing and an LMS (learning management system) at an affordable price.

The folks at eLearningZoom and Vell Group each offer introductory webinars on the product. Our next one will be Tuesday, August 26 at noon EDT. To learn more about the webinar and to register, please click here!