... h1. Instructions for Presenters at TheAquarium Channel
_On Cancelations_ - These presentations are fairly informal. The fully-online nature means that presenters need not travel, and neither does the audience. If you develop a conflict / problem at the last minute and you need to cancel, let us know and we will cope with it.
_On Attendance_ - As of writing this note, the largest audience I've seen was ~50 simultaneous w/ 150 visitors (in and out); a more typical number is around 25/50. The slides and recordings get visited after the webcast and those range from low hundreds to thousands. I expect the audience to continue to grow but the ratio of online/replays will stay about the same.
_General Model_ - The broadcaster (eduardo) broadcasts video+audio using uStream.tv. The speakers give me content ahead (slides, screencasts, etc), and, during the presentation, they just need to call into a concall number. I pull the audio from there via a softphone. I compose the video using a softcamera. We may also insert some live video (skype, webcam, video play, whatever).
The presenters need access to the audio concall, this can be a plain POTS, a VoIP, or whatever. Beware of audio feedback loops and noise; if you want to hear yourself you will want headphones. You may also want a skype-capable setup (mike, webcam, headphones). A headshot of yourself will be appreciated so the Broadcaster can insert it as PIP.
This arrangement is fairly robust, which is good in a "live" broadcast situation with multiple moving parts.
h5. Preparations Ahead of Broadcast
* Start by checking your audience setup works (Flash plugin, etc)
* Provide your skype id to the broadcaster (or gaim)
* Send your slides in PDF (and ODP) format to the broadcaster
* Send any other material (screencasts?) to the broadcaster. Quicktime, FLV, MP4 are OK; Shockwave is not.
* Check your setup with the broadcaster - don't skip this, it won't work!
h5. During Broadcast
* (Optional) Open your browser on uStream.tv. You need this is you want to see the chat activity. If you want to participate in the chat Q&A (which is a bit tricky as you are talking at the same time), we request you to not be anonymous (either login into uStream, or acquire a nickname, see above).
* Call into concall; that will provide your *+audio+*.
* (Optional) track the chat Q&A, but beware of split brains.
* You can use the skype chat (which you have with your broadcaster, see above) to talk with him/her.
* During the presentation, I turn the "slides"; just say "next" and go on (there is a lag, but don't worry about that, the audio and video streams are synchronized).
Note that...
* During the presentation, the audience will connect through their browser (flash client). They participate via the associated chat room. Often there are side conversations ongoing during the presentation, with presenters / extra members answering questions as they appear. |