Category — Points of Interest

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Joe at onlinemeetingrooms.com, and after more than a decade of doing this, I’ll confess I’m still amused with how small the world can be for realtime communication (Joe’s in Dublin, Ireland).

As always, I’d encourage you to check out any vendor directly, but here are a few things I liked:

No downloads
This isn’t critical for everybody, but given that Macs have had resurgent market share, Windows users are mixed in their usage of operating systems, the erosion of dominance in the browser wars, and the increasing number of organizations that secure their desktops, Flash has become the most-common denominator in terms of reaching people.

Low bandwidth requirements
If you want/need to use video, onlinemeetingrooms.com is with the pack of vendors who note that video doesn’t have to be hoggish to be useful.  Why is this important?  If video is important to you, know that live video for synchronous communication is a radically different thing than the nice clean experience you have with YouTube.  On demand video can “buffer” so your experience is good, whereas when you want it to be live, a choppy or latent experience is annoying at best, denigrating and distracting at worst.  And you can’t control a critical part of the end-user’s experience…their own internet connectivity and computing environment.  Onlinemeetingrooms.com gives the host the chance to control the quality of video streams to allow more control over the experience.

Most of the bases covered
Before you think I’m saying onlinemeetingrooms.com is incomplete, let me assure you I’d probably not hand out a perfect score in this category to anyone.  Why?  There’s no such thing as the perfect software solution – there’s only what is best for YOU.  Most users expect to have chat, whiteboards, polls, etc., and onlinemeetingrooms.com has you covered.

Think about how you buy a vehicle… you assume many features, right?  It’s how it works for you that is important.  As the market evolves, many times it’s not that a feature exists in a web conferencing solution, it’s a question of preference, usability, and style.

There are many reasons to choose a provider, and I’d argue many have nothing to do with technology.  Sure, it has to get the job done, but for many it may be more that they value a reasonable price, or a vendor with commitment to technological excellence, or a European locale, or… you get the idea.  For many, onlinemeetingrooms.com just might be a vendor to investigate.

A VFAQ (VERY frequently asked question) I get is “what’s the difference between web conferencing, webinars, and webcasts?”

The short answer, these days, is “not very much and a whole bunch.”

Seriously, the lines have blurred from the days that “webcasting” was akin to broadcasting (using streaming media) with virtually no interactivity, whereas web conferencing was (and remains) live, totally realtime (you don’t want any delay when you’re talking on a phone conference, right? In many use cases, you don’t on the web either).  Webinar is simply a portmanteau of web seminar – arguably a use case rather than a technology.  That is brief, but it’s as deep as I’m going as I introduce IVT and their enterprise video communications.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mitch, Hugh, Jim, and Ryan, all at the same time.  In addition to the knowledge and passion and history (Hugh’s a fellow ex-Microsoftie with some common connections), what I’m most enthused by is their clarity of mission.

Hello software

First, IVT’s a software company.  You can host the software, but for reasons I’ll not get into, you want to take advantage of the fact that they host the software for you.  What’s interesting here isn’t a “right or wrong,” it’s a commitment to a business model.  Many (if not most) companies who have solutions for webcasting also provide professional production/event management services.  IVT is committed to their robust partner community who deliver value-added services atop the IVT platform.  Again, this isn’t a right or wrong, but you have to appreciate focus.

Hello production tools

It’s hard to tell you how important the backend of a product is.  It’s what economists call an “experience good” …you have to have been there to get it and appreciate it.  As it just so happens I spent many years running organizations in the production business, let me say the two words that will bring any accountants to their needs and get the producers all excited:  labor and labor.  Labor is expensive.  Technology, especially over time, often gets less expensive.  If you’ve ever produced an event, let alone a bunch of them, you know that the project management time can create a big sucking sound in your budget.  This is where producers get excited… not only will they find the flexibility on the back end of IVT’s platform a joy when meeting numerous and disparate client/stakeholder needs, but it’ll save them time.

Hello customization

Okay, so many different solutions offer degrees of customization, but far fewer have down-to-the-pixel capabilities.  When clients demand that, you’ve got to deliver.  Further, there’s customization of user experiences, such as different tools you might make available to a presenter versus what the marketing department sees when they need to pull down a report.  And then there are web services for the data integration geeks (I say that with love, mind you).

Hello remote presenters – but wait, there’s more

A point of differentiation here is multiple presenters, each with different camera types. One can have a webcam in Sydney, one can be standing in front of a hi-def broadcast camera at a conference in a New York hotel…you get the idea.  Need to switch back and forth like a television newscast?  Can do.

As is my style, my goal isn’t a vendor-by-vendor shootout, to talk about price, or make a recommendation.  I’m excited and privileged to be independent, talk to great people with their own angle on the market, and share with you my own spin on it.  It sounds like IVT has a solution if you need to reasonably reach 100 people and the horsepower to reach 20K if you need.  If you need flexibility and reach and a commitment to knowing their core biz, IVT (or one of their partners) might be someone to add to your must-investigate list.

eLearning is a beast unto itself.

First, it’s a broad subject.  Arguably, the “e” should be removed.  Learning is learning, and trainers have long been hip to thinking about how to adapt learning to various media for optimum impact.

Second, did I mention it’s a broad subject?  For instance, I focus exclusively on synchronous communication skills (adapted into a remote audio/visual environment), but “elearning” covers writing, instructional design, presentation and facilitation and collaboration skills, testing/surveying/statistics, understanding of intergenerational learning styles, group learning dynamics, systems thinking, and on and on.  In other words, it’s hard to be broadly expert.

In light of this, I found my recent conversation with Jennifer De Vries, President and Chief Solutions Architect at BlueStreak Learning a refreshing chat.  As an ex-analyst-turned-hands-on-strategist, Jennifer clearly gets the big picture and what it takes to get things done with her small-but-highly-qualified team.

A few things of note:

Custom course development
Jennifer mentioned that a good chunk of her business come from custom course development.  Given a huge need in the market, this isn’t surprising.  From what I see, many (if not most) organizational learning programs underutilize their resources and opportunities.  Outside pairs of eyes and hands can be pure gold.

Outsourcing
It might be a bad word to a lot of people, but not to me (it was my life from Envoy Global to Microsoft to Corvent).  In my own market studies, organizations outsource because they 1) don’t have the expertise internally or 2) do have the expertise, but need additional expert assistance.  Or both.  BlueStreak can develop, implement, and manage the planning, programs, and assessment on behalf of clients.  (Note:  1080 Group does NOT deliver outsourced services – we’re in the ‘teach a person to fish’ business – and it’s part of why we share resources such as BlueStreak Learning with you.)

Web/audio conferencing
While not their mainstay, BlueStreak offers a solid web/audio conferencing service that completes their ability to provide a complete synchronous/asynchronous  solution to their clients.  This is important – no communication strategy should be all of one or the other.

A large number of organizations simply do not have the time to scope, design, and implement projects as important as supporting the knowledge and skills of their teams.  This often isn’t a literacy issue, very often it’s an allocation-of-scarce-resources issue, and it’s laudable to know and stay focused on your core competencies, which is why an organization like BlueStreak Learning might just be one you need to add to your investigation list.

With a conferencing background in full-services, I appreciate those who tackle all the details.  Now that I’m in the teaching business rather than the web event production business, it was with amusement and glee that I finally connected with Dan Roche, Vice President of Marketing at TalkPoint and learned more about their business.

Dan’s a fellow industry veteran who’s seen the world of web seminars evolve quite a lot.  I appreciate his passion for helping customers execute flawless web events (and the experience to know all of the little things that have to be attended to!).

A few things of note:

Full service
Companies tend to outsource for one of three reasons:  they don’t have the expertise, they don’t want to mess with something that’s not part of their core competency, or it’s less expensive.  Sometimes it’s all three.  Talkpoint has a staff dedicated to ensuring web event success for those who’d rather focus on content than production.

Ecommerce
Content that’s of value deserves a price tag, but often the pain of figuring out how to take a credit card or get different systems talking to each other.  Talkpoint has you covered.

Video
If you read my stuff, you know that I have a love/hate relationship with video.  Mostly it’s from talking to marketplace folks who 1) like the idea because “it’s hot” but really don’t know what they would do with it or 2) want high quality production values AND have it be simple as posting last night’s party video to YouTube (live video is a different beast).  This does NOT mean you shouldn’t use video, but it might mean you talk to someone with direct experience and a service team to assist.

Experience
2009 has seen a veritable explosion of self-proclaimed “webinar pundits” (I even predicted it), and I’d encourage you to dig a little deeper.  Your brand depends on it.  For instance, I saw a recent post where the presenter claimed “more than 20 webinars” as experience.

One of biggest challenges, Dan agreed, is that service is an experience good.  Differentiation between the real players and the wannabes is hard to put on a data sheet.  What’s important to you is unique, and so what’s important to you in conferencing service provider is likely unique.  And you might find that TalkPoint is right for you.

As a businessman and husband/father, I’m eternally grateful to clients who trust 1080 Group enough to hire us.  But there’s a particular pleasure that happens when the work is considered noteworthy and shareable.

Today I get one of those double-the-pleasure-double-the-fun moments as I’ve discovered that a recent research brief I did was republished in Training Australia Magazine, my second appearance there in 2009.

You can grab a copy of the brief here:  T&D_Dec09

And be sure, here and everywhere, to thank those who make it possible for you to get good stuff for free.

Short.  8-minute on-demand mini-webinar.

Here.

Would love your feedback.  Thx!

I just completed moderating a webinar for a European audience, and as promised, here’s a PDF of Rich’s presentation.

ToolsTechForCoachingYourSupportTeam_pptx

Remember, too, that you can get two free chapters of Rich’s book at www.howtotellanyoneanything.com.

As a supplement to my email signature, below is a (growing) list of non-public speaking appearances.

Publication
eLearningGuild – Getting Started with Webinars (three-part article series – free membership required) http://bit.ly/XzHW3
Training Australia Magazine – How to Avoid the Seven Deadly Sins of Presenting Online (subscription required) http://bit.ly/2BbqmR
Training Australia Magazine – results of 1080 Group research T&D_Dec09
The Virtual Presenter’s Handbook http://bit.ly/kNH8a
Engage!  How to Avoid the Seven Deadly Sins of Presenting Online http://bit.ly/4s0wjO
Five Keys to Moving Training Online (Best Download of 2008) http://bit.ly/2JUKWS
Plannerwire – The Webinar:  An Enhancement, Not a Threat http://bit.ly/3hiAO3

Guest Blog Posts and Mentions
Workshifting http://bit.ly/2Ccpzs
Speaking About Presenting http://bit.ly/B6JEb
BrainShark http://bit.ly/8mrOxP

Interviews
IT Business Edge http://bit.ly/4HPOn
Warrior-Preneur Radio Show http://bit.ly/2fjht2
Plannerwire http://bit.ly/yXOI5
Trainers Talk Tech http://bit.ly/180i3m
#SmallBizChat http://bit.ly/3iPchj

Recent Media Mentions
IT BusinessEdge http://bit.ly/6lVvoP
Home Health News http://bit.ly/6zk1gI

See my style?
Here are a few presentations to give you an idea of how I roll.

Many thanks to a live, interactive European audience in this morning/afternoon’s webinar, Incorporate Live Webinars into Blended Learning.

As promised, here’s the presentation handout.  _WebinarsInBlendedLearning_WebinarHandout_1080Group

Too, please join us for a continued conversation in The Blended Learning Group at TrainingZone.co.uk.

Over a decade in the virtual events business I’ve been part of numerous blended meeting experiences using both face-to-face and virtual components.  And I’ve had the chance to speak to many traditional meeting planners as a result. 

So what’s better or right?

The question isn’t one of ‘right or wrong.’

But the puzzle IS changing, and there’s new stuff to figure out.

As I note in this recent interview for meeting planners for PlannerWire (@plannerwire), the TV industry didn’t put movies out of business.  More recently, Napster didn’t put record companies out of business either.

Lesson learned:  get ahead of it or get left behind.

Movie studios are now releasing movies on DVD or on cable nearly synonymously with theater release.  After spending years fighting it, they’re actually capitalizing on it.  Record companies weren’t so smart, and now you own an iPod and iPod owns the market.

If you’re a meeting planner and reading this, please take this as encouragement, not a flogging.  It’s an opportunity, not a threat.  Shift happens, as they say, and I sincerely think you can extend your value as trusted advisor.

While you’re at it, you might check out Jeff Hurt’s blog (@jeffhurt)… he’s a forward-thinker that might just be a key part of your successful navigation of new waters.