• Online Facilitation

    What You Need to Know About Adobe Connect Pro Mobile

    September 10, 2010 /

    Adobe offers one of the most sophisticated web conferencing tools in the industry, Adobe Connect Pro, so it’s not surprising that they were one of the first vendors to release an app to allow iPhone and iTouch users to participate in a web conference:  Adobe Connect Pro Mobile.  You probably know that Adobe Connect Pro runs on Flash, and Flash doesn’t display on an iPhone or iTouch.  If you’d like to know how Adobe worked around this barrier, read this article.

    I held a web conference using Adobe Connect with participants who logged into my session via iPhone users last week.  Below is a summary of how Connect works on an iPhone.

    • What’s Visible: iPhone users can see the share pod, chat pod, attendee list and camera pod (requires 4G).  The share pod and camera pod appear on different screens, while the chat pod and attendee list appear together.
    • Share pod: iPhone users can watch your slides, but they cannot see annotation tools such as the pointer or any tools in the white board overlay.  Because of this limitation with the white board overlay, it means that mobile participants will not see white board interaction. iPhone users cannot see any flash content in a share pod, such as Captivate or Presenter.  When you switch to application sharing mode, mobile participants can see the screens that you share.  Keep in mind that their screen is much smaller, but you can let them know that the pinch-zoom feature will work.
    • Chat pod: iPhone users can see one chat pod, along with the attendee list.  This feature works best if you hold the phone horizontally to make the attendee list and chat pod to appear side by side.  Connect allows the host to display multiple chat pods, however, users can only see one chat pod.
    • Limitations: iPhone users cannot see poll pods, file share pods, web links pods nor use instant feedback features (raise hand, agree, disagree, etc.).

    Mobile web conferencing is still in its infancy, and I expect the tools and the market for these products to grow.  It would certainly help for Apple to allow Flash content on Apple devices.  Just think how fun mobile web conferencing will be when participants are on tablets, like an iPad!

    For more info from the Connect User Community, check out this video and quick guide and this article from PC World.

    Since iPhones don’t display Flash, now the heated fight that is boiling over between Adobe who develops Flash and Apple, whose products don’t run flash is another story and all I can say is that I hope the two can learn to play in the sandbox together.

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  • Online Facilitation

    Maximizing the Application Sharing Feature in a Web Conference

    September 10, 2010 /

    Web conferencing tools like Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx and Zoom and others allow the host to share his/her screen with the audience. When the host shares his screen it means that participants in the web conference view the host’s screen as he navigates the web or to an application such as Excel.  The host retains control of the screen and participants watch as he performs a specific task.

    Here are a few ideas to make the most of the application sharing feature in a web conference:

    • Log into an extra computer as a participant: Since the instructor view and participant view are usually different in application sharing mode, it helps to have an extra computer next to you.  Log into the extra computer as a participant so that you can glance at the participant view and make sure everything is ok.
    • Optimize your screen: Test the application sharing feature before using it in a live session and make a few changes to optimize your screen.  By optimize I mean make the screen as clear as possible for your viewers.  If you will be showing websites while in application sharing mode, remove all toolbars you don’t need.  Does the audience really need to see your bookmarks toolbar?  Better to remove all the unnecessary toolbars in your Internet browser for a cleaner look.   Also, experiment with the text size and zoom options in your browser or in the application you are sharing and see if you can make any adjustments to improve the clarity of the screen.  Check the extra computer next to you to see how the screen changes as you make adjustments.
    • Avoid ‘Antsy Mouse Syndrome’: Keep in mind that while you are sharing your screen with participants, they can see your mouse moving on the screen. A presenter suffering from antsy mouse syndrome constantly moves his mouse as he speaks which is very distracting.
    • Practice: Practice the steps you will follow when you are in application sharing mode so that they are fluid.  You want to avoid clicking around needlessly which will confuse participants.  For example, if you plan to navigate to a section of a web site that you will demonstrate, note the path you will click through in your speaker notes or leader guide.

    The application sharing feature is a powerful feature, and when used properly it can greatly enhance your web conference.

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  • Online Facilitation

    Masie’s Missed Opportunity

    March 23, 2009 /

    This week the Institute for Corporate Productivity teamed up with Elliot Masie of the MASIE Center Learning Lab and Think Tank to deliver a webinar on Informal & Social Learning. While the content of the webinar was interesting (a summary of findings of research conducted by i4cp with commentary/interpretation by Masie), the delivery was a missed opportunity by Masie to model best practices for utilizing web conferencing software. A few observations:

    1. The first three minutes: My first post on this blog was based on an article by Masie about the importance of the first three minutes of learning, which set the tone for the rest of an event. In this case the first three minutes consisted of an overview of findings as the audience viewed a title slide (not even a slide with key findings). A much more compelling opening would have been to turn some of the more interesting findings into questions for the audience such as, “What was the #1 practice correlated with the occurrence of informal learning?” (answer: sharing best practices).

    2. Duration of each slide: About halfway into the webinar, one slide remained on the screen for 9 minutes as the speakers talked, and the final content slide stayed up for a whopping 12 minutes! Keeping your audience engaged and attentive is an art not a science, but in this case the delivery team could have easily included a few more interesting slides to support their commentary.

    3. Q & A: The last ten minutes of the session were dedicated to Q & A. A good delivery team can weave the questions and answers throughout the web conference. If questions are collected throughout the session, the producer needs to be on the lookout for questions that map to a particular piece of content and get the speaker to incorporate questions from the audience during the entire session.

    Every time we use learning technology, even for a presentation that is not meant to be a true learning event, we have the opportunity to practice what we preach about adult learning. Masie’s content was intriguing, as always, but the delivery needed more polishing.

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  • Virtual Training Design

    Putting on Your Marketing Hat

    March 5, 2009 /

    Last week I attended a webinar hosted by Ken Molay of Webinar Success on the “Secrets of Lead-Generation Webinars.” While the webinar had a marketing slant, several of his ideas were applicable to a variety of web conferencing events, including learning events. Let’s face it, we all need to put on a marketing hat. A couple of notable tips from Molay are:

    “Get the audience to have a stake in the webinar – ask them to send questions before the event.”

    I like to send a pre-course survey before a web conference to get a sense of the learners’ experience level, needs and of course to see if they have specific questions they would like to address during the course.

    “Reminders: send the day before and again 1-3 hours before the event. In the reminder email, remind people of the value proposition so they remember why they signed up for your event. ”

    The timing of email reminders is critical, and I agree with Molay’s suggestion. Also make sure the reminder is coming from an email address that the learner expects. Ideally, all communications about your event should come from the same email address.

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