World of Webcast

Few more speaking and award opportunities for the training, higher education, health and educational technology crowd:

• The deadline has been extended to Monday, March 15 for 2010 Campus Technology Innovators Awards. The University of Tennessee
  College of Veterinary Medicine was a past winner for their use of Mediasite. Read more about that project here and here.
• Alliance for CME (Continuing Medical Education) is looking for educational abstracts for their 36th Annual Conference. Deadline Friday March 19, 5:00 pm CDT. You can also get the PDF with all the info here. The conference is January 26-29, 2011 at the San Francisco Marriott and it is the largest gather of CME professionals in the world.
• The American Society for Training and Development is looking for nominations for the ASTD BEST Awards, due March 31.
• Streaming Media Magazine opened the call for speakers for Streaming Media Europe, due April 9. The conference will be October 13-15 at the Novotel London West in London.
• The League for Innovation in the Community College is accepting proposals for their first annual STEMtech conference which will be October 31 - November 3, 2010 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, FL. This new conference replaces the fall Conference on Information Technology, and now has a strong focus on STEM disciplines - science, technology, engineering, mathematics. Deadline for submissions is April 16.
• The Sloan Consortium has opened their call for proposals for the 16th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning. Proposals are due by May 3, 2010 and the conference is November 3-5, 2010 in Orlando, FL.
• And last but not least, University Business is looking for higher education bloggers who write about technology to blog EduComm 2010, June 7-9 at the Mirage Las Vegas. Tweet @educomm to get in the mix.

Want to double, even triple the number of attendee leads from your next conference? Webcasting your speakers and putting their presentations online can achieve just that, and RTC Group has the stats to prove it.

On Tuesday, March 2 at 1pm CST (convert to your time zone here) Sandra Sillion, Event Logistics Manager at RTC Group, will present “Webcasting Yields More Leads: Proving the Value of Taking Your Conference Online.” It’s a great case study about how to get quick results - and build more buy-in - for webcasting your conference to an online, on-demand audience. And it’s free! Just register here before we go live.

This past fall, in response to the ongoing budget and travel constraints of their attendees, RTC Group introduced on-demand webcasting for their ARM techcon3 conference. Their decision resulted in doubling the demand generated for their conference partners and exhibitors in just one month after the event. Plus, the Virtual Classroom they created is now a 24/7 marketing machine for the conference, bringing the presenters and their presentations to new audiences in both the United States and, for the first time, internationally.

Find out how you can steal this model and reap the results as Sandra walks you through a case study of this successful lead generation program:

• How their company, based on a foundation of print media and face-to-face meetings, overcame its concerns about embracing hybrid events, including fears about the impact of webcasting on conference attendance
• What decisions they had to make beyond the technology: what sessions to webcast, what to make publicly available, when to share the Virtual Classroom content with attendees
• Where they got the funding to webcast, and why they chose Sonic Foundry Event Services, given a less aggressive marketing budget in this downturn economy
• And why they have already decided to include webcasts for ARM techcon3 2010

Here’s that registration link again.

Back by popular demand, Bob Hillhouse (a favorite at conferences like Chronicle of Higher Education Executive Forum as well as our very own Mediasite User Group meetings), Associate Chief Information Officer at the University of Tenneessee, will present “Benefits of System-Wide Lecture Capture: How the University of Tennessee Saved Time, Cut Costs and Increased Service” on Tuesday, March 2 at 11:00 CST (convert to your time zone here). As always, this webinar is free. Simply go here to register before the event.

Many colleges and universities contemplate and execute classroom streaming strategies at a departmental or college-wide level. But the University of Tennessee Engineering Services department was among the first to attack academic streaming at a university system-wide level from the start. The challenge of providing webcasting services for five campuses, 250 smart classrooms, board meetings and countless sporting events across the entire state was an initiative that required strong research, planning, and breakthrough educational technology choices like Mediasite to be successful.

Join UT’s Associate CIO, Bob Hillhouse, as he shares a reproducible roadmap of how the UT System has combined multiple technologies including Mediasite into a single, faculty-friendly application that resulted in a seamless, system-wide streaming service.

As is usual this time of year in Madison, we woke up to about 4 or 5 inches of fresh snow. After I quickly cleared the driveway and sidewalk with my ancient-but-reliable Ariens, I was able to get out to the XC ski trails to do a few loops before my kids were even awake. As I was focusing on my technique, I got to thinking about Mediasite. (No, seriously!) Let me explain.

Birkie photo via flickr, the cc license of BarryD - thanks

You see, I’m training for the Birkie – a 50k XC ski race. As with any endurance race, you spend a lot of time trying to minimize the amount of effort while maximizing the results of that effort – you’re in it for the long haul, so to speak. Besides your general level of health and fitness, two critical components combine to allow you the best possible results for your efforts:

1. Your technique
2. Your tools

It’s like that with webcasting too. Solid webcasting techniques can make a huge impact on the quality of your presentations. (You can brush up on your techniques with our webcast on how to create a high quality multimedia presentation). But technique alone will not necessarily get you the results you need.

When you ski a long race, you want to minimize the amount of energy you need for every move otherwise you may not be able to finish the race. It’s the same with large scale webcasting. The more presentations you capture, the more events you stream, the more rooms you configure for rich media, the more you want to minimize the amount of effort required.

My friend worked at a ski shop. Last year he set me up with the best set of skis I could afford. And every time I hit the trails for a race or a longer training session, my body thanks me. The combination of good technique (I won’t say “great” just yet) and excellent tools makes (most) every session a joy. I don’t even have to think about my poles, my boots, or my skis – they are doing everything they are supposed to – almost going unnoticed.

Again, that’s what Mediasite does. Quietly performs all the tasks you need without forcing you to be overly involved. The ease-of-use of the recorders, the automation of scheduling, the straightforward workflows supported by the management side, the convenience of monitoring rooms from a central location – all of these combine to enable the delivery of exceptional results without exceptional effort.

For those of you considering lecture capture or streaming multimedia presentations, one of the first questions you may want to ask about potential solutions is this:

Will this tool get me to the finish line…over and over again?

Mediasite will.

Last summer at InfoComm 2009 in Orlando, we were delighted to be a part of the informal awards ceremony for the 2^nd Annual PROAV Spotlight Awards.

The editors of PRO AV and ARCHITECT, in partnership with InfoComm International, created the program to recognize the industry’s best professional audiovisual installations.

Acentech, one of our AV partners, received the 2009 PRO AV Spotlight Award for Best Education AV Project, which included the integration of the Mediasite lecture capture platform into Alter Hall at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

Here’s a quick 2-minute interview with both Brad Grimes, editor of PRO AV, and Larry Philbrick, supervisory consultant at Acentech.

“Alter Hall exemplifies cutting edge smart technology for higher education, giving students access to advanced educational technology and new learning tools. Acentech is proud to have been a part of the integrated design team. We are honored to be recognized with the PRO AV Spotlight award alongside the Fox School of Business, as well as Sonic Foundry, the leaders in lecture capture.”

Larry Philbrick
Supervisory Consultant, Acentech

And here’s more info about lecture capture at Fox School of Business, PRO AV’s write up “Blueprint for University AV” featuring Temple’s Alter Hall, and a list of all 15 of the 2009 winners. “They employ the latest AV technology, be it HD-SDI video distribution or capacitive touch navigation. They’re the result of successful coordination among AV integrator, consultant, architect, end user, and other parties. And they demonstrably enhance the lives, businesses, education, spirituality, and enjoyment of the winners’ clients and their clients’ clients,” wrote PRO AV Editor Brad Grimes. Hear hear.

The call for entries for the 2010 PRO AV Spotlight Awards is now open - entry deadline is March 1, 2010 and you can apply online (and note the same is true for our very own Rich Media Impact Awards, due the same day - if you dig the PRO AV awards you might be right for our Facility Design category).

As Mediasite continues to evolve, it can be hard to keep up with all the things Mediasite can do for you to make your life easier. I stumbled onto one such example in a conversation with a customer, who was delighted to learn of it. What is it? It has to do with the ability to link player graphics.

In our Mediasite Players, you can link player graphics to the URL of your choice. So, if you want to link the banner graphic to a URL, you can do that. If you want to link the “This presentation has ended” graphic to a URL, you can. In fact, you can replace default graphics with your own graphics. You might change that “presentation has ended” graphic to read, “Thanks for watching! Click on this slide to help us improve by answering a brief, two-minute survey” Or you might send them to take a test in your LMS.

I thought a short conversation with Shane Tracy, our Director of Training and Events, would help you understand this feature better, as well as the steps to follow. See the brief, two-minute presentation below.

Note: The Silverlight player treats some of the graphics differently, so not all graphics are as linkable as those in the Classic Mediasite Player.

Finally, if you are on an earlier version of Mediasite (e.g., still on 4.3) and looking for other features or reasons to upgrade, check out our upcoming webcast this Friday called, Upgrading from Mediasite 4.x to 5.3: Why Make the Move Now?

Hope you can make it!

Russell Beard, Director of Information and Communication Services at Big Bend Community College, will present on this topic Tuesday, January 26 at 11:00 a.m. Central. Like all our webinars, it is free. Just register before we go live.

How is one of the smallest community colleges in the state of Washington with one of the largest service districts - 4,000 students across 4,500 square miles - finding the money, time and political will to launch new programs at a time like this?

Russell Beard of Big Bend Community College will show you how.

After twelve years investing deeply in videoconferencing, the college found it was still a struggle to maintain a stable environment over the course of an 11 week quarter. They’d lose a connection, a mic would go out or they weren’t able to capture the visual aids from multiple devices.

Then when the economic crisis hit, they had to take a hard look at their education technology infrastructure, soon realizing they were spending a 6-figure sum to generate maybe 6 FTE credits.

That’s when they decided to move entirely to webcasting via Mediasite.

Beard will present how Big Bend Community College:

• Launched new programs in the face of budget cuts through executive buy in and grant writing
• Moved from having to beg, borrow and threaten faculty to use their technology-enabled classrooms to having a line of faculty waiting to get in
• Determined webcasting with Mediasite to be the most cost effective approach for reaching every one of their constituents with a decent internet connection
• Created best of breed hybrid class offerings with virtual classrooms, lectures and office hours both synchronous and asynchronous
• Leverages Mediasite for creative uses outside of lecture capture in the classroom, including Small Business Administration courses, board of trustee meetings and their State of the College address

About the presenter
Russell Beard is the Director of Information and Communication Services at Big Bend Community College (BBCC). He has served in this capacity at the college for over nine years. BBCC has worked to be an innovator in distant education for over twenty years having one of the largest service districts in the state of Washington. Russell has served on numerous state commissions and councils providing a vision for technology and its use in the classroom not only for BBCC but for all of the Community and Technical Colleges in the state.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity for the live Q&A - register now.

Two speakers from Memphis City Schools - Jeff Baxter, Department of Communications, and Scott Holcomb, Department of Instructional Technology - will present “5 Reasons K-12 Desperately Needs Webcasts, Webinars and On-Demand Video” tomorrow, January 26, at 9:30 a.m. Central. As always, it’s free. Just register before we go live.

• “We will never be able to afford that kind of technology.”
• “Who’s going to learn to run this technology?”
• “How do we get started?”
• “People need to get into the same room together for them to really understand this info.”
• “We can just get on the phone and send the PPT around.”
• “Once they get my presentation in a webcast, I’ll be replaced.”
• “Right now we have to find new ways to bring in revenue from outside the district.”

Sound familiar? Memphis City Schools thought so. But that didn’t stop them from getting the buy-in to start doing webcasts, webinars and on-demand online video. In just 4 years, they’ve recorded over 500 videos for their district alone. And it all revolved around three simple letters- ROI.

Find out why the 23rd largest K-12 school system in the US is using technology that has traditionally been in the hands of corporate America and higher ed institutions, and learn how you can use webinars to drive professional development, communication and instruction for your school district.

Our presenters will be on a mission to convince you:

• There are ways to get the green light to buy high-quality technology right now
• Teachers can absolutely run this technology, and it doesn’t require a huge infrastructure of people, time or money to maintain
• Creating your own webcasts and webinars is more effective than the way you are doing professional development and district communications right now
• The same tools you use for your continuing education should be good enough for our district’s students and teachers
• While it is tempting to think you could do this on your own with a video camera, there are important keys to success you’ll miss
• Accountability and flexibility - there is an ROI in this mix!

About the presenters
We’re just teachers (but really cool ones!).

Jeff Baxter, Department of Communications, Memphis City Schools
As a Special Projects Coordinator, Jeff works on the district’s website and administers the Mediasite webcasting platform throughout the District. Jeff received his B.S. from the University of Memphis in Human Learning and Development and has worked as a classroom teacher, instructional facilitator, technology coordinator and technology specialist.

Scott Holcomb, Department of Instructional Technology, Memphis City Schools
In 1998 Scott began his teaching career as an elementary school teacher and school based Technology Coordinator for students in Memphis City Schools. Taking time off from the traditional classroom in 2004, he joined a small group of nerdy and dedicated teachers who made up the Instructional Technology Department for the district, serving as an Instructional Technology Specialist. He works hands on with fellow educators in better integrating technology into the classroom as well as pushing open the envelope of instructional technology via Mediasite at the district level. Scott has a Master’s in Education from Auburn University as well as just having obtained his administrative license in the state of Tennessee. http://www.edtechteachers.com/

Here’s the link again to register.

Philip G. Forte, President of Blue Sky Broadcast, will present “What Every Association Should Know About Online Education - Before You Do Your First Webcast” tomorrow, January 26, at 1:00 p.m. As always, this webinar is free. Simply register before the event.

Feel like you should be doing more online education but not sure how to fit it into your existing day to day?

You aren’t alone.

Budget and time constraints have made it harder for members to travel for continuing education and professional development, while digital venues have grown exponentially. From listservs to forums to social media - people have never had more opportunities to learn from each other online.

Yet, many associations continue to wrestle with how to create their own online education initiative: How do we integrate it into our plan? How do we price it if we do? How do we deliver CEUs online?

In this webinar, Phil will share his roadmap, including case studies, for how to introduce online learning - like live webcasts and on-demand webinars - into your membership offering.

He’s worked with over 200 nonprofit associations whose primary mission is member education, helping them navigate:

• How to deliver more membership value with webcasting, from taking live meetings to a broader audience to populating your education portal with live and on-demand webcasts
• Where online education fits in your mission on the spectrum of public information to revenue generation
• What are the most common business models, and what types of presentations make for the best online learning content
• When to move from just offering on-demand presentations to streaming live
• Why some online education initiatives become lasting endeavors and others fail

Here’s that registration link again.

Live webcast of the Doomsday Clock announcement in New York

Last week, for the first time ever, people around the world were able to tune in live to watch the announcement by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists as they made a change to the Doomsday Clock.

Created in 1947, the clock has become an universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and emerging technologies in the life sciences. This event was the first time the clock has moved since 2007.

Sonic Foundry Event Services was onsite in New York to webcast the announcement to nearly 6,000 live viewers. The panel took questions from reporters in the room and people watching at home via the Mediasite Player and Twitter.

In the last week alone, an additional 6,000 people have tuned in to watch the on-demand webcast.

You can see the announcement and the Climate and Nuclear Security panel discussions here: http://www.turnbacktheclock.org/.