Adobe Connect. Virtual Conferences. Foreword. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures. By:

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1 Adobe Connect s Foreword This whitepaper is based on services EnvolveMEDIA performed with Adobe Connect for the Naval & Environmental Training Safety Center in March of In a matter of weeks, the virtual conference was organized to the satisfaction of more than 92 percent of the 2,019 attending participants from as far as Germany and Guam, and $1.5 million in travel expenses were reduced to less than $100,000 in operational expenses. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures By: "The technology is there to do it, we can bring the conference to individuals with existing technology " said CDR Gregory W. Cook, Commanding Officer for the Naval Safety & Environmental Training Center. "The key to being successful is you've got to connect participants to make them feel like they are really part of a conference. I don't think it's the solution for every conference, but for conferences like ours that are primarily around training, I think it works very well." Konkel, Frank. Could virtual meetings replace conferences in sequestration age? FCW, The Business of Federal Technology Media Group. April 2013.

2 HIGH LEVEL INFORMATION Who: U.S. Naval Safety & Environmental Training Center, Norfolk, VA What: The 21 st Annual Joint Safety Conference transitioned from an in-person event in San Diego to a live event over the Internet. This included service-specific and Echelon II breakout meeting rooms, the general session, and over 50 seminars. Why: Budget cuts and travel restrictions canceled a conference that for over 20 years provided tremendous value. The show must go on and the online format stayed within approved budgets and resulted in significant cost benefit ratios. How: This 5-day event used Adobe Connect version 9 conferencing. Participants attended online from their offices, homes, ships underway, etc. and joined in panel discussions, large meetings, and smaller breakout focus groups. CONNECT CONFERENCE CAPABILITIES Support virtually any conference scenario, from 1500 person General Sessions, to Panel Discussions, to many concurrent person breakout sessions. Rapidly develop and host registration pages to market and manage invites, approvals, and follow-ups. Leverage a broad set of rich, collaboration capabilities such as video, presentations, attendee management, desktop sharing, notes, whiteboard, polls, Q&A, and more. Tracking and Reporting for attendance, polling, and measured engagement for Continuing Education Credits / CEUs. Record and edit session to make them available for distribution or on-demand viewing. Formatting Note: PRO-TIP: This symbol is used throughout the document to draw attention to key tips and suggestions by EnvolveMEDIA LLC Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 2

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Connect Conference Capabilities... 2 Components of a... 4 Step 1: Marketing... 5 Step 2: Registration... 6 Template Customizations... 7 Step 3: Session Information and Access... 9 Interactive Agenda Step 4: Online Sessions General Session /Keynote Connect Seminars Conference Sessions Connect Meetings Meeting Templates Session Moderators Step 5: Analytics / Engagement Metrics Polls Value Beyond the Metrics EnvolveMEDIA Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 3

4 COMPONENTS OF A VIRTUAL CONFERENCE As seen in Figure 1, a is much more than simply an online meeting. Although Adobe Connect has long been used for just that, meeting online, version 9 also provides functionality to address the entire solution. With it you can: 1. Develop and deploy web-based conference registration pages 2. Setup advanced workflow for approval process 3. Create session / learning track catalogs 4. Deploy custom interactive catalogs 5. Track and report on more attendee interaction Figure 1: Components of a The following sections review the different stages that should be considered with a virtual conference. Each stage considers the out of the box functionality offered by Adobe Connect. It then presents the flexibility found with the product to allow for customizations; customizations that EnvolveMEDIA has found to be very useful from past experiences. Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 4

5 STEP 1: MARKETING Conference organizers first need to consider getting the word out about the online event. This usually begins with blasts. Adobe Connect 9 allows for the upload of massive lists to begin the invite process. It also allows for the development of HTML-based s which are branded specific to the event. Figure 2: Event Pages / Microsite The s include links that direct attendees to a conference micro-site. This site is easily assembled in Adobe Connect through a series of templates. No HTML programming is required. Event Managers simply need to upload conference specifics, graphics, general information, and speaker information. This creates a mini web site specifically for the event. It provides detailed information on the conference, the speakers, and even the overall agenda. Figure 2 illustrates a standard template. Adobe Connect ships with a couple standard templates. However, a content management and web development tool, called CQ5, is also available for customers to design their own templates and conference micro-sites. PRO-TIP: EnvolveMEDIA develops custom templates for organizations to send invites through internal channels instead of through Adobe Connect. (This is typically a better option for military solutions.) We also encourage organizations to post information about the event on their web site, Facebook site, portal, twitter, or any other channel where the target audience can be reached. Adobe Connect can keep track of registration by channel. Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 5

6 STEP 2: REGISTRATION If the marketing effort is successful, users will review the event s micro-site and proceed to registration. Standard registration data (Figure 3) such as address, first name, and last name are default. Based on your organization s PII regulations, you can configure the registration screen to gather much more data. These custom fields can take the form of drop down lists (multiple choice) or open text fields. Figure 3: Standard Registration Fields Figure 4 to the left show the ability to add drop down list where registrants are asked an optional question to select their service branch. In this way it is possible to ask many questions before a person can register. Figure 4: Custom Registration Fields Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 6

7 TEMPLATE CUSTOMIZATIONS CQ5 Template Editor comes with Adobe Connect v9 when the Events Module is purchased. Adobe Connect 9 incorporates a very powerful and flexible web development environment for the customization of templates. Templates for both the conference web pages and conference s can be created, modified, or deleted. The standard templates provide a good deal of functionality and allow you to create entire registration solutions in under an hour. For more custom efforts, a great deal of creativity can be inserted to build your own templates. Here you can change the layouts and add extra items to the pages: Images, Tables, Text, Hyperlinks, Charts, Files Downloads, Flash Content, etc. Figure 5: CQ5 Template Editor (Microsite & ) PRO-TIP: EnvolveMEDIA leverages the CQ5 tool to customize the landing page, speaker page, registration page, and the catalog page to suit the specific requirements of each conference. Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 7

8 Figure 6: Custom Template for Registration As seen in Figure 6 above, the CQ5 Editor was used to create a custom micro-site for registration. A conference agenda was offered via PDF download, high level conference information was given, and minimal information was required by attendees to join. An address, first name, and last name was considered to not be a PII concern. Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 8

9 STEP 3: SESSION INFORMATION AND ACCESS Once attendees have been approved, s are sent to provide access to the conference sessions. Attendees can be directed to a conference catalog depicted in Figure 7 below. The catalog is setup to provide a listing of all sessions. To help attendees find and review session information, search tags can be assigned to help describe the session. A basic tag could be the day or time. PRO-TIP: Tags provided out of the box include featured events, live events, and recorded events. EnvolveMEDIA has seen customers tag event session with custom tags such as day / date, speaker name, session track, etc. These search tags can be very powerful if used right since they allow attendees to quickly find the desired session. Figure 7: Adobe Connect Events Catalog Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 9

10 INTERACTIVE AGENDA EnvolveMEDIA used Adobe Captivate to create a dynamic and interactive agenda for the virtual conference. Conferences that last more than a day typically have complex learning tracks and non-uniform start / end times for actual sessions. For this reason, EnvolveMEDIA suggests a custom built interactive agenda. This allows attendees to: Better understand when sessions are being offered More easily play the trade off game - what will be missed by attending one session vs. another Provides a better user experience with roll-overs giving detailed session information (imagery, text, and even audio) Access the actual session (Connect Meeting) with 1 click. Figure 8: Approval s / Custom Interactive Agenda Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 10

11 STEP 4: ONLINE SESSIONS Within a couple days, conference session recordings had been viewed over 200 times. The heart of the system is the Adobe Connect Meeting. Once users have registered, been approved, and understand the schedule, the conference itself is a collection of online meeting rooms. They take the form of large scale general sessions and smaller scale session meetings. PRO-TIP: It s important to leverage the powerful recording capability provided by Adobe Connect. The entire meeting experience is captured and indexed for an interactive playback after the fact. For more information on Connect Recordings, please refer to this document by EnvolveMEDIA: emttp Connect 9 Recordings Figure 9: Online Sessions and Recordings Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 11

12 GENERAL SESSION /KEYNOTE CONNECT SEMINARS The general session and keynotes are typically offered in Adobe Connect Seminar Rooms. These rooms function in a similar way to standard Connect Meeting rooms but offer increased levels of capacity: 1000 to 1500 simultaneous attendees. These can be recorded, offer polling, support multiple video streams, facilitate Q&A, and serve up metrics to track attendance. CONFERENCE SESSIONS CONNECT MEETINGS The conference sessions are setup as regular Connect Meeting Rooms. An actual day of the conference will see the simultaneous use of many meeting rooms to support the different learning tracks. MEETING TEMPLATES An engagement meter also tracks attendees to gauge the level of engagement as defined by several user interaction points. Many meetings will be created to host the entire virtual conference. To this end, use of Adobe Meeting Templates is essential. Meeting Templates allow for a consistent look and feel as attendees jump from session to session. Pre-seminar, Presentation, Closing, and various other subject matter specific layouts are setup once and recreated as templates are copied to all online meeting rooms. Streaming Video Synchronized Presentation Public / Private Chat Attendees Polling Data File Download Figure 10: Meeting Layout and Components (Pods) Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 12

13 SESSION MODERATORS Moderators are typically assigned to each meeting room to work with Presenters. The Moderators role is to manage the online meeting technology so that the Presenters can focus on their subject matter and engaging attendees. Most military groups are familiar with Defense Connect Online (DCO) which is a DoD branded solution built on Adobe Connect. EnvolveMEDIA typically holds ½ day training sessions on how best to discuss Connect 9 meeting features, advanced layouts and pods, and the specifics of how audio is being integrated to the conference. STEP 5: ANALYTICS / ENGAGEMENT METRICS Adobe Connect 9 provides analytics at several levels. In terms of virtual conferences, the following aspects become important: 1. At the overall conference level, analytics take the form of a post conference surveys, registration reports, and concurrency reports. As an example, registration data allows you to ask about the conference demographics. NAVY, 871 AF, 160 ARMY, 200 OTHER, 30 USCG, 15 DOD, 25 USMC, 85 Figure 11: Service Breakdown Pie Chart 2. At the online meeting level, analytics take the form of polls, attendance reports, engagement reports, and download reports. PRO-TIP: Adobe Connect 9 has several functions focused on engaging and monitoring the audience. Please refer to this document by EnvolveMEDIA for more information: emttp Online Engagement Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 13

14 POLLS VALUE BEYOND THE METRICS Beyond simply giving feedback to presenters in a meeting, Connect Meeting polls offer tremendous value in terms of engaging the audience. Many groups use polls at the beginning of a session to better understand the demographics of the audience. A second place to use polls is at the end of a session to conduct a survey. How was the seminar, the speaker, the online format? These types of polls should be standardized across all meetings (i.e. made part of the meeting template). Figure 12: Cumulative Approval Ratings by Attendees A third area to use polls is throughout the subject matter discussion. As with most presentations, the goal is to create a dialogue between the presenter and the audience as well as at the attendee level. Polling used in this way pulls attendees into the subject matter. Many learning strategies focus on cognitive thought. Teachable moments can be created by simply asking hard questions, questions that might Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 14

15 not have a single right answer. stimulus and response. In this way polls can create a PRO-TIP: Set polls to broadcast whenever possible. This allows the results to be seen instantly by all attendees. The value beyond the metrics themselves is that it pulls the audience into the conversation. In virtual environments we use this to make the audience feel like they aren t just sitting there by themselves. ENVOLVEMEDIA Dean Pianta Chief Learning Technologist EnvolveMEDIA LLC Phone: (571) dean.pianta@envolvemedia.com EnvolveMEDIA is an elearning & Collaboration consulting company. We believe that for organizations to succeed in the next decade they must create a collaboration-aware enterprise that leverages a new work paradigm. This new normal embraces elearning, social media and collaboration technologies to create a blended, synchronous and asynchronous interaction the connected-state. By applying best practices, skills development and an intelligent collaboration architecture design, EnvolveMEDIA can bring a gamechanging paradigm to your enterprise. EnvolveMEDIA is very proud of the Commander Coins we were awarded for our contribution. Copyright EnvolveMEDIA LLC, All rights reserved. Page 15