Clear Skies Virtual Event Producers » web conferencing

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro Mobile

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:39:57 +0000

We knew it was coming and didn’t know who would be first to develop it – the webinar app is here! Check it out. Way to go Adobe.

Copied from Adobe’s blog: See orginal post

By Steve Adler on February 25, 2010 8:03 AM

The Acrobat Family just got a little bigger today with the announcement of a new mobile version of the popular communication tool; Acrobat Connect Pro.

Many schools and universities already use Connect Pro for online meetings and virtual classrooms to bring eLearning to any desktop. With the release of the new mobile version, users of the iPhone and iPod touch now have access to their virtual classroom from anywhere.

Mobile users will be able to view presentations, PDF documents, videos, and screen sharing provided by the meeting organizer. They can rotate, pan, and zoom to choose the ‘best view’ of shared content. In addition users can:

Attend Connect Pro Meetings with integrated conference call or Voice over IP audio.
If your meeting host is using integrated conferencing, you can let the meeting call you, and avoid entering cumbersome dialing codes.
See who has joined the meeting, and their role (host, presenter, or attendee)
View web camera broadcasts from unlimited live camera feeds provided in the meeting
Participate in chat conversations throughout the meeting.
Join meetings attended by users on virtually any computer system: Mac, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. Plus other mobile attendees on iPhone and iPod touch.

This is a great way to communicate and collaborate with students and colleagues. All that is needed is a meeting room address. Below are some snapshots of the Connect Pro Interface..

First previewed at MAX 2009, Connect Pro Mobile version 1.0 is now available for FREE on iTunes. Just go to http://itunes.com/apps/AdobeAcrobatConnectProMobile to download it now.

Connect Pro Mobile was built using a pre-release of the next version of Adobe Flash Pro and was published as a native iPhone application. This is first publicly available Adobe-authored application that uses the Packager for iPhone technology. Because Connect Pro Mobile was created using Flash, Adobe will also be able to use the same code to deliver this application on other mobile devices when AIR for mobile devices becomes available. We anticipate iPad users will be able to take advantage of Connect Pro Mobile as well. For more information on iPad applications with Flash, go to http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplatform/2010/01/building_ipad_apps.html

To learn more about this application, please view the Connect Pro Mobile overview video.

Connect Pro Mobile lets you join meetings run by anyone with an Acrobat Connect Pro account. If you want to try hosting meetings for others to join on their iPhone or iPod touch, sign up for a FREE 30 DAY TRIAL here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/trial/

Webinar Comparison Website

Aaron — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:55:29 +0000

In our routine travels on the web, we came across one of the best webinar platform comparison tools that we’ve seen: http://www.webconferencing-test.com/en/webconference_home.html . As you have probably discovered, finding a tool that offers an unbiased comparison of webinar technologies can be hard to find. Most of the time, webinar comparison charts are little more than a display ad for a particular platform, and almost all comparisons are sponsored by a specific vendor. Even worse, we’ve seen some comparisons which purposely exclude platforms that deserve to be ranked and tested – therefore leaving us to question the validity and usefulness of the comparison even more.

This comparison website has been assembled by a company named Publicare, an online marketing agency based out of Frankfurt Germany. Publicare has taken 22 web conferencing platforms and ranked them on a scale of 1-10, on various categories: User friendliness, Number and scope of features, Pricing/cost transparency, etc. In addition to a numbered ranking, Publicare posts comments about their testing of the product and provides links to the vendor website, or free trial. Publicare’s efforts have yielded a comprehensive, informed and useful comparison of platforms that can be of great benefit. First time users of Webinar technology will admire the overall ranking system to quickly identify various costs and strengths of platforms, while seasoned webinar jockeys can dig deeper to uncover specific features that may help determine future purchasing decisions.

We should point out that this comparison is aimed at the collaboration use-case of webinars – smaller, less structured environments where collaboration is key (note WebEx MeetMeNow 2.3 is tested, not WebEx Event Center; no distinction is called out between Live Meeting Standard or Professional for example). Our use of webinar technology – the “One to Many” model – therefore is not discussed or ranked. Furthermore, we feel it’s this focus on collaborative environments that has lead Publicare to not include some of the streaming platform providers who are doing business in the “One to Many” world, like ON24, Stream57 or TalkPoint. Finally, the creation and maintenance of this website is funded by affiliate partnerships – if a visitor visits one of the ranked platforms and happens to purchase the software, Publicare receives a small finders fee. Publicare is quick to stress that this financial support does not affect their rankings, but is simply a means to recover some of the cost.

Overall, this is a great comparison tool, and we are grateful to Publicare for their time and efforts. While the comparisons are not an exact match to our business model, they none the less provide valuable information and insight into an otherwise cluttered, and noisy marketplace. Take a look, enjoy, and let us know what you think.

Webinar Techniques – “You had me at Hello…”

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:31:02 +0000

I attended a free Adobe eSeminar the other day and learned some good techniques to use when presenting a seminar on a web-conferencing platform.

Some good techniques included using:

Anticipation is created with phrases such as “At last…”, “Imagine…”, “…new…”, or offer and award at the end.
Incongruity with a question and a off the wall answer, or surprising facts.
Participation by asking questions, getting attendee involved in polls, unique answers.
Visuals are understood faster by the brain then words, thus saving time. Visuals are more memorable and keep attendees focused. Select graphics that have a lot of details, are abstract, and show contrast.
Vocal Variety by changing melody and pitch at adjectives and adverbs. Use different presenters. Use different emotions.

Bad techniques include:

Starting an introduction about yourself seems self-indulgent (have someone else introduce you, or put the focus on the attendees)
Bulleted slides
Monotone Voice