by Louise Tincher
This STC-sponsored webinar was held on September 26, 2007 at 11:00 p.m. EST. Jane Smith was the featured presenter.
Presenter Background
Jane Smith is Past Manager of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) Instructional Design and Learning (IDL) Special Interest Group (SIG). Jane has been an instructional designer for over 20 years. She has taught at the high school and community college levels, as well as presented workshops and conference sessions.
Seminar Summary
This live seminar covered steps, tips and tricks for putting on a successful live web seminar, including the planning steps and stages for developing and publicizing an effective training webinar. The presenter also demonstrated how to use the functions of the Genesys web casting tool to engage attendees in interactive learning.
Software Tool
Genesys Meeting Center by Genesys Conferencing (www.genesys.com). Genesys has been a leading provider of converged collaboration and communication services for 20 years to thousands of organizations worldwide, including more than 200 of the Fortune Global 500. Genesys Conferencing offers the industry’s most advanced and comprehensive portfolio of virtual communication and collaboration services.
Tool Functionality
Web casting functions include on screen polling, testing, desktop applications, presentations, chat, audio and recording. Web casting can be used for training, meetings between individuals at remote sites and recording presentations/meetings for future use.
- Pop-up polling allows the presenter to take quick surveys of participants. Polling was used to establish the background experience of the attendees (e.g. previous web cast attendance) and goals. It could also be used for votes, or to guide an instructor.
- Pop-up quizzes allowed only binary responses (e.g. yes/no) and did not work well in this demonstration.
- Desktop applications appear live on screen, allowing real time demonstrations and updates. The presenter can pass control to a participant, although there were some issues with this function. Updating embedded objects – in this instance an Excel chart in a PowerPoint file – was a problem.
- Presentations, such as PowerPoint are straightforward. Animations were not used; bandwidth constraints may slow animations and limit their usefulness.
- Live chat appeared in a separate panel along the right-hand side of the screen, allowing interactive exchanges between the participants and presenter during the entire session. Participants can scroll through the entire session chat, as well as toggle the panel off/on.
- Audio can be two-way (presenter and participants), or the presenter/moderator can mute the participants. When audio is muted, participants can signal the presenter via their key pads, the presenter can then unmute the individual and/or the group.
- Recording and/or accessing a recorded session was not demonstrated. Participants can listen in via computer audio and/or dial-in teleconferencing.
Administrative Information
Lloyd Tucker, STC Director of Education explained the details of using Genesys Meeting Center through STC. The tool will handle up to 125 users at $.05 per minute per user/site. The chapter president must email Lloyd with contact information for the session moderator. Lloyd will then respond with an account number and PIN. Genesys will bill Lloyd and he will forward the bill to the registered user/chapter (this was not clear).
Lessons Learned
Web casting looks like a terrific cost-effective tool for remote meetings and training. It is critical to plan and rehearse your web cast in advance to ensure that the presentation goes as planned.