Hi Jeff

I have past experience (in a previous incarnation) of running web
conferences for various clients and, while Skype is great for small
meetings, it is not designed for big events. It uses your own
equipment and the general internet, whereas the professional systems
like Adobe Connect and Webex (which have to be paid for one way or
another) use dedicated servers and even high-speed networks to carry
the traffic in real time without building up latency, so can cope with
bigger meetings (up to 10,000). Also, what you are trying to do is
what I would call a 'hybrid' meeting with some people in a room and
some online. This has special problems (see below) and I would try to
avoid it until you are comfortable with online.

In my experience, the technology generally does what it says on the
tin, but the people are the problem element that you have to manage
closely. A lot of the 'secret' to this technology is old-fashioned
management, like learning, training, preparation, and rehearsing. I
prepared some guidance back in 2011 for one of my clients, which I'm
happy to share:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22279603/Online%20or%20web%20conferencing.pdf

See especially the advice on hybrid meetings, and the different
approach to purely online.

If you want to talk, give me a call on 01664 822614 and I'd be happy
to pass on what I can. I'm a big fan of teleconferencing (having been
a sceptic at the start), but it only works if you manage it.

On the MP3 players and speakers, you might look at our Info-Point
unit, (www.info-point.eu ) which can deliver them (among other things)
to visitor's mobile phones. We work with interpretation and AV
partners like Jonathan Knight at Blackbox AV so they could probably
extend your system using Info-Point.

Regards

Neil Rathbone


> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Sun, 30 Nov 2014 12:18:49 +0000
> From:    Jeff Cowton <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: online lectures
>
> Dear MCGers,
>
> I ask your advice, please, on the following subject. I am Curator of the Wordsworth Museum, based in Cumbria, and miles from any centre of population. We have received many offers from lecturers from home and abroad to give online talks to our local community. I envisage a group of people meeting in our education room listening to the lecturer speak from their home or office, and for us to be communicate back with questions and comments. Presumably this could be done with Skype? but would members of the group suggest other, better means of doing this?
>
> i would also like to consider widening participants to this. The previous paragraph describes a two way conversation - how could we SIMPLY widen participation by enabling people at home accessing this through their own computers? One scenario would be everyone joining in the conversation - another would be that those at home could listen to the conversation between Grasmere and speaker but not join in. The latter seems easier to manage and would be acceptable in the first instance.
>
> Hoping you can help. Thank you.
>
> Jeff.
>
> Jeff Cowton
> Curator
> The Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere.
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Sun, 30 Nov 2014 12:22:55 +0000
> From:    Jeff Cowton <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Sound points in the gallery
>
> Dear MCGers,
>
> Forgive a second message so quickly after the first, also asking for help.
>
> We currently use Blackbox AV for headphone sound points in the museum. These work fine, but on the model we have are limited to 2 files per unit (I know more can be added).
>
> Is this still the best way of delivering audio to people using headphones?  or has anyone had success with cheaper methods such as adapted mp3 players, or tablets?
>
> I'm sorry if this a frequently asked question - I'd be delighted to know of a ready made answer!
>
> I'd be very grateful for any advice. Thank you.
>
> Jeff
>
> Jeff Cowton
> Curator
> The Wordsworth Museum
>

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