The Webinar Blog

Adobe Announces New Version Of Connect

Today Adobe announced release 10.5 of their Adobe Connect web conferencing software. It will probably be available to customers within the next few months. I got a sneak peek of the current beta test version from Alistair Lee (Senior Enablement Manager for Adobe Connect) and Peter Ryce (Adobe Connect Product Evangelist).

In many ways, this upgrade will be transparent to long-time end users. That's by design. The goal is not to introduce major changes in functionality or the user interface. Instead, Adobe wants to reproduce the extensive functionality and flexibility already present in Adobe Connect, but with far less reliance on Flash. The entire product needs to be Flash-free by the announced end-of-life for that platform at the end of 2020.

Flash offered spectacular power for developers, with universal access to all kinds of communication and display interfaces across different hardware and software implementations. Adobe Connect always took more advantage of that power than just about any other web conferencing product. But the very power built into Flash made it vulnerable to misuse by malicious hackers, and vendors have been scrambling to move to alternate technologies. The most popular choice is HTML5, and that's the route Adobe is pursuing as well.

Release 10 of Adobe Connect had introduced an HTML5 attendee interface, but presentation content was limited to screen sharing. That would have put Connect on a competitive footing with products much more limited in scope (and lower in price!) than wanted for Adobe's target use cases and customer profiles. Release 10.5 expands the functionality that can be achieved in the attendee console to get very close to the previous Flash capabilities, but without the security concerns.

Presenters can once again upload PowerPoint files to enable direct access to individual slides and speaker notes inside the conferencing console. PDF documents and other multimedia content formats are also supported as pieces of library content that can be stored online, ready for use in different conference sessions. Hyperlinks embedded in PowerPoint slides are once again active for participants to click and visit from within a conference (something that screen share cannot provide). And advanced learning course authors can still upload and run fully interactive courses created in Adobe Captivate.

One of the most powerful features in Adobe Connect has always been its ability to support custom-written applications that extend the vendor's own native functionality in the product. Adobe's programming toolkit allowed developers to write some impressive extensions in Flash. This new release offers developers a similar programming toolkit in Javascript, allowing the same kind of extensibility. Alistair and Peter told me that their customers and partners have been able to make quick conversions of many extension "pods" to keep things working properly. Alistair showed off his own custom-written countdown timer that can be added to a conference by loading the application inside a Connect pod.

As before, hosts can create a variety of layout configurations that are reproduced on attendee screens, with the ability to switch back and forth between layouts as the presenter desires. I watched a very stable, high quality video clip play in our demo session, with fully synchronized playback so that the presenter could pause it and know that I was looking at the same frame on my computer. The presenter can even add annotation drawings on top of the video to highlight things in the picture.

Although HTML5 conversion was the primary point of the release, Adobe managed to slip in some operational improvements to Connect as well. My favorite was integration between browser zoom settings and web conference content. In other words, if you zoom your browser to 150%, it doesn't just expand the entire image, pushing the edges of windows off the screen… Instead, it expands the text within each pod to 150% of the base font size. Very snazzy.

Other improvements will only be visible to account administrators and hosts working behind the scenes. There are new options for account branding and color selections, new usage reports, and improvements to data searches within an account. At the current time, presenters still need to use the downloaded and installed client software for Adobe Connect… Moving the presentation environment to an HTML5 browser implementation will be coming in a future release.

I don't envy Adobe's task in trying to recapture in HTML5 all the things they had spent years developing in Flash. Release 10.5 reassures me that it can actually be done… something I wouldn't have bet the farm on in the past!

Technorati Tags: Adobe Connect,web conference,web conferencing,webcasting,webcast,webinar,web seminar,web meeting,web collaboration,online collaboration,online meeting

What Is A Screenless Webinar?

Joe Hyland of ON24 recently wrote an article about "The Screenless Internet." He focused on meeting marketing challenges as the public begins to untether themselves from looking at computer screens and rely more upon mobile voice-activated and voice-response systems.

What he didn't address was how that's going to affect webinar and webcast practices and platforms, which is a big part of ON24's business. That's a question I'm willing to have a go at.

First we need to examine Mr. Hyland's premise. I don't know of any scientific studies, but my personal anecdotal impressions align with his. I hardly ever manage a client webinar now where I don't get a question from an attendee asking how they can just dial in and listen by phone, as they are traveling or out of reach of good internet service. It's certainly early days in this trend, but I predict it will continue to grow. Just look at the explosive growth in the popularity of audio-only podcasts and automated voice assistants as a bellwether.

Meanwhile, webinar software vendors are largely going in the opposite direction. Their messaging tends to be "all video, all the time." The last Webex interface design change was very obviously designed to facilitate the use of full-screen video for participants. Zoom has become a darling of the investment community with its concentration on video collaboration. And so on, right down the line.

The Technical Factors

Two technical factors are important to understand in this discussion: Products that used to rely exclusively on a locally-installed program (examples include Webex and GoToWebinar) now offer and prioritize no-download web access to meetings. And the adoption of HTML5 and WebRTC as an audio/video communication backbone has imposed a buffered lag time on the A/V stream. In other words, participants may see and hear presenters 10-30 seconds after the presenter has spoken. In both cases, it becomes ever more difficult to coordinate visual imagery on a computer screen with telephone-connected audio. I know of several vendors who now mandate that participants must present and listen via computer audio, with no option for phone access.

And although most webinar platforms now offer a mobile app for smartphone connection, these have inevitable limitations due to smaller screen sizes. Visual information may be difficult to see. Interactive functionality such as polling and chat usually replaces the content display. And in most cases, presenting from a mobile device is still prohibited or discouraged by the webinar vendor.

Now, I am no luddite. I'm all for the option to employ high-tech videoconferencing when desired. Dedicated videoconference rooms with installed hardware can be amazing. And using video-enabled web conferencing solutions can be an excellent ad hoc, low cost way to achieve similar collaboration between individuals or teams. The videophone promise is finally being realized, a mere 140 years after it was proposed and 80 years after its first public implementation.

The Human Factors

We have to acknowledge the harsh realities of the practical world. Video eats up a ton of bandwidth. And broadband, hardwired internet connections are vanishing faster than the endangered black-footed ferret. I work with guest presenters every week of the year. No matter how hard I emphasize the importance of a good stable setup for a video presentation, they show up with a laptop computer and wonder why they don't look and sound very good using the internal microphone and built-in webcam transmitting over a shared Wi-Fi internet connection hosting dozens or hundreds of other simultaneous users. They sit in front of bright windows with their faces in shadow, shot from a desk with the camera staring into their nostrils. They read their scripts, not maintaining eye contact with the audience.

Creating a professional business video image is hard. It's damned hard! If you want to be respected as an expert speaker, representing yourself and your company properly on video takes serious thought, effort, and practice. Attendees are less tolerant when listening to a formal presentation than they are in a more casual collaborative video session. They notice your clothing, your background, your lighting, your audio quality, your behavior on camera… And they make snap judgments that spill over into their impression of your content in a mostly unconscious halo effect. As the conundrum is sometimes summarized, humans have a bias towards "What is beautiful is good."

Changing Our Approach

Given all these contributing factors, should we be looking for ways to reduce reliance on video and visual elements in our presentation-oriented webinars? Not in all such webinars, certainly… There are always good and valid reasons to make use of visual elements. But in many cases, we can make life easier for our entire population of potential audience members by examining whether the visual element is actively improving the content and consumability of our message.

Is your "talking head" fixed-frame webcam image helping or hurting the impression you make on attendees? Are your slides providing support for your talk, or is your talk just a reiteration of text-heavy slides that would work better as a handout document?

Is your webinar perhaps a candidate for a different approach?

• Distribute a document to registrants ahead of time with facts, graphs, supporting details, and key points you want to make. Tell registrants that the webinar will not restate the document, but will be their opportunity to clarify points and answer their questions.
  
  
• Prioritize the discussion aspect of your webinar. Look for more opportunities to poll attendee opinions, priorities, understanding, and agreement. Encourage group sharing of ideas or engage with more audience questions typed in "private mode."
  
  
• Use slides as a dynamic agenda, organizing the discussion into clear topic areas, introducing key topic points, and showing a sense of progress towards a shared goal. A simple image and single title or text box is usually enough to communicate a framework for that part of the discussion. If someone is in audio-only mode, they can still follow the presentation without seeing the slides.

Advantages Of Audio Orientation

Organizing a webinar that is less dependent on visual content has other advantages as well:

• Cleaning up and editing the recording gets much easier. The editor does not need to try to maintain audio and video synchronization with full-motion video of presenters. You can make more detailed small edits to remove little pauses, stutters, and vocal inconsistencies. Video edits are always more obvious to casual viewers than audio edits.
  
  
• The content becomes easier to translate for multilingual repurposing. A graphic slide with one line of text is a snap for translation agencies to deal with. Transcripts of the vocal presentation become more self-explanatory as well, since they rely much less on "as you can see here" kinds of visual references. A translated transcription becomes easier to repurpose for expanded multicultural reach.
  
  
• Compliance with disability access becomes easier. Non-sighted individuals have less penalty for not seeing busy slides and non-hearing individuals can review transcripts that are more self-sufficient in terms of content and context.
  
  
• Simpler visual content automatically transfers the "expert" role back on the presenter rather than on the materials.

How Vendors Can Help

Vendors can help to make this kind of webinar easier to deliver. There are several features that would better integrate telephone and computer integration to facilitate audio-oriented webinars (Most of these are available as standalone options in one product or another, but I don't know of any vendor who has attempted to combine them all for a complete audio-oriented solution strategy):

• Better native phone integration - Options for presenters to be on phone or computer mikes if not using webcam. No lag between phone and computer audio channels. Provide local access numbers from as many countries as possible. Options for all attendees to listen via their choice of phone or computer. Options for hosts to allow toll-free access. Use of individual telephone PINs so the host and presenters can tell who is on the phone on each call-in line. 
  
  
• Better management of phone attendees - An online console that allows a moderator to see and toggle functions for each call-in attendee: hand raise, hand lower, open mike, close mike, volume controls.
  
  
• Phone polling options for single-choice polls - Allow dial-in attendees to participate in polls by punching in a number corresponding to their choice. Integrate the phone responses with computer responses to display complete audience response metrics.
  
  
• Smartphone interaction for phone listeners - Allow attendees who call in and listen by phone to use a simultaneous smartphone login to answer in-session polls and to type questions or chat messages.
  
  
• Podcast creation - Provide an mp3 format audio recording of a webinar session to allow easy podcast repurposing.
  
  
• Audio transcription - Provide automated speech-to-text transcription as part of the standard webinar reports delivered after a session. Or partner with a professional transcription company to provide a low cost transcription service option for webinar recordings at a set cost per minute of recording time. Automate the delivery of the audio recording to the service and delivery of the transcription back to the host's account so that the host doesn't have to manage the process.

A Final Note

I want to close by reiterating that every webinar has its own sweet spot in terms of what materials are optimal to facilitate engagement, interaction, and understanding. The approaches I outline here should not be taken as the way to run every webinar. But vendors and users should both spend time thinking about whether offering audio-oriented webinar options would be a useful option.

Technorati Tags: webinar,web seminar,online seminar,webcasting,webcast,web conference,web conferencing,web collaboration,online collaboration

$500 Landing Page Handbook Is Now Free!

Nearly twelve years ago I wrote an effusive post urging my readers to immediately go out and spend $500 to order the Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa. For a long time afterwards, I referenced the guide as one of the best resources available on the subject. It featured objective studies and analyses backing up best practices for creating promotional landing pages and online registration forms.

But MarketingSherpa had newer studies to promote, and sales of the handbook may not have had a long tail at that price. Eventually they removed it from their online store. I looked around for newer, better guides but I never found a more comprehensive and credible collection of tips.

So last month I wrote to MECLABS Institute (the research company that acquired MarketingSherpa) and asked if there was any chance of them selling the handbook again. In my email I said I thought it remained the best resource on the topic of landing pages and registration forms that I had ever seen, and that even though the publishing date was old in Internet years, the recommendations were still valid. More people should have access to the information!

I got a reply from Daniel Burstein, the Senior Director of Content and Marketing. He said that there was little to no chance of printing more hardcopy versions and putting them up for sale on the store. But to my surprise, he said he would dig up the PDF version and make it available for free download.

Folks, this is the deal of the century! Whether you market and promote upcoming webinars, on-demand recordings, training courses, products, or physical events, the tips and case studies in this handbook can improve the performance of your web pages and forms.

I see that Daniel wrote a new cover letter for the handbook, with links to newer studies and online articles and guides. That's great, and you should definitely keep following the latest research. But the venerable old handbook, now completely free, is the best starting point you could want.

Download the handbook today at https://www.marketingsherpa.com/freestuff/marketingsherpa-landing-page-handbook

By the way, I should mention that although Daniel elected to use my request as a pull-quote in their marketing (see the value of real-world testimonials on pages 22, 52, 80, 144), I have no business relationship with MECLAB or MarketingSherpa. I just really like the book!

I'll end with the same footnote I wrote in 2007… Except for a very few vendor exception cases, built-in registration form and landing form generators in web conferencing products are overwhelmingly inflexible, insufficiently customizable, and violate almost every best practice mentioned in the handbook. Vendors really need to get on the ball and stop acting as barriers to their customers' success in getting webinar registrations.

Technorati Tags: MECLAB,MarketingSherpa,landing page,registration,marketing,webinar,web seminar,webcast,webcasting,web conferencing

What Am I Using For Webcast Audio These Days?

I own more microphones, headsets, and earpieces than is healthy for any normal human being. Every so often I get a question about what I use for my webinars and webcasts. The answer is trickier than I would like, as I use different equipment in different circumstances, and the lineup changes over time. Here's a rundown on the current state of my audio equipment preferences. None of this hardware may necessarily be right for your needs and your setup. But from now on I'll be able to direct people to this blog post instead of writing it out every time I'm asked!

At the outset, I should mention my preference for wired devices. Wireless introduces more possibilities for things to go wrong. Interference, loss of power, dropouts, buffering… you just never know what might happen. I always use a hardwired device if I can. The same goes for my internet connection. Webinar or webcast presenters are just asking for trouble if they rely on wi-fi internet to carry their audio and video signals.

My daily all-around workhorse is the Sennheiser HME 280i headset. It's expensive, big, heavy, and ugly. It's also surprisingly comfortable. The big circumaural (around the ear) foam earcups isolate outside noises and are soft enough to put no pressure on my eyeglass frames. The wide headband is adjustable and fits my head perfectly. The microphone stays right where I position it. The listening quality is fantastic… Sennheiser is known for high end audio earphones and I can hear details on a webinar that most people never notice. The microphone is very good as well.

The HME 280i designation is a variant of their HMD 280 PRO basic unit. The HMD has an unterminated cable that professionals can wire to their choice of connector, but the HME comes with a cable that is terminated in Sennheiser's proprietary EasyDisconnect system. By choosing one of the (overpriced) Sennheiser CCEL connection ends, I can plug the headset into my desk phone or my computer as needed. 

I use the Sennheiser any time the other party can't see me. It's my product of choice for telephone calls or audio-only webinars. But it's simply overwhelming when I appear on camera.

For voiceover and prerecorded narration, I usually go with my Audio-Technica AT2020USB desk microphone. It connects straight into a USB slot on the computer and is one of the two most used consumer desk microphones on the market. Choosing the AT or the equivalent Blue Yeti is a toss-up, with defenders in both camps. I put my mike in an AT8458 shock mount to reduce any vibration coming up through the desk and mike stand. Make sure to slap a simple pop filter in front of it… There's not much quality difference from one to the next, and they're cheap.

I keep auditioning low-profile gear for use when appearing on camera. I tried a couple of USB-connected lavaliere mikes and I wasn't satisfied with the sound quality. I don't like to use a desk microphone, as it's hard to reach around it to do keyboard inputs if necessary, and it tends to pick up nearby keyboard noises.

I eventually bought an upgraded input chain that gave me more flexibility and control over the sound coming in and the types of devices I could use. This is where it starts getting very complex, nerdy, and unjustifiable for the average user.

I installed an ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card in my desktop computer. That gave me higher quality connections and digital processing, along with a 1/4" input jack.

The next item in the chain is a Behringer MiniMIC MIC800 microphone preamp that allows me to connect XLR-style microphones that require 48V phantom power. It's no longer marketed, and I'd probably go with a Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC100 these days to get equivalent functionality.

For a while I was hooking up an AT875R shotgun microphone and pointing it at my mouth, just out of camera frame. It gave acceptable, but not great, sound. It was hard to get a good input volume while keeping clarity.

I recently tried a new tack, and it's been working well so far. I bought a JK MIC-J 071S earhook microphone. It is very thin, lightweight, and unobtrusive against my skin color. The microphone at the end of the boom is extremely tiny, and it makes very little impression on camera. I have found the input gain and sound quality to be very good.

The problem is that these types of thin earhook microphones are designed for use with wireless belt packs that deliver 1-10V bias power. If you try to feed a phantom power supply to them, you fry the mike. It took some searching, but I finally found the magic interface gadget…

The Rode VXLR+ transforming adapter. It acts as a bridge between the two types of connectors and steps down the phantom power supply to the small voltage the microphone needs.

So that gave me a microphone that moved with me and didn't distract my audience while on camera. The next challenge was to find an unobtrusive way to hear other people on the webcast. I'm not a fan of just leaving my desk speakers on, as the microphone can pick up the sound and create an echo or feedback loop. I wanted an earpiece that didn't stand out. This was where I relaxed my anti-wireless stubbornness.

I decided I wanted earbuds that used APTX Low Latency technology. This gives the least possible lag time in transmission so that you have a better chance of keeping a video image synchronized with the sound being broadcast to your earpiece. It's still rare in consumer products. The APTX website lists all certified equipment.

I ended up with Optoma NuForce BE Free8 wireless earbuds out of necessity rather than choice. They are the only APTX LL wireless earbuds available. They do the job, but I would search for another option if I could find one. I find the sound quality merely acceptable, they aren't comfortable in my ear, and they have an annoying way of losing their pairing to my Bluetooth transmitter (which also needs to be certified for APTX LL, but there are plenty of options for that).

Whenever I use my wireless earbuds, I make sure to keep my good old wired earbuds nearby to plug in as a backup in case the wireless option stops working.

I can't believe you're still reading this, but as a little bonus, I'll do a rundown of a few other audio products in my collection with quick impressions:

• ProofPronto.com USB shotgun microphone - This has the advantage of running off battery power instead of needing XLR phantom power, but it never had enough input gain to be usable. Not recommended.
  
  
• Mpow 071 USB headset - Cheap and convenient, and the sound quality isn't bad. But it's flimsy and both the cable and the microphone boom make noise if you move them the slightest amount. Logitech is a better choice in the same price range.
  
  
• M-Audio Compact Desktop Speakers - I love these little suckers! I have the older AV30, but I'm sure the current AV32 is just as good. For the money, (less than $90?!), I don't see how you can do better. They fit easily on your desk, have good quality for the size and cost, and have front panel jacks for audio in and headphone out. Highly recommended budget speakers.

Technorati Tags: webinar,webcasting,webcast,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,online collaboration,web collaboration,computer audio

Technorati Tags: webinar,webcasting,webcast,web conference,web conferencing,web seminar,online collaboration,web collaboration,computer audio