I thought that it would be good to speak to a ConnectSolutions customer that uses Adobe Connect in a significant way and is providing compelling content and user experiences to their customers via webcasting.
O’Reilly Media is best known as the publisher of technical manuals, but also conducts online learning, and conferences. Their brand is most recognizable because they always feature a distinctive woodcut pictures of an animal on their book covers. Since the team at O’Reilly specializes in education, we will also get some great ideas about producing a successful webcast.
Below is the Q&A session I had with Kathryn Barrett, a Webcast Producer at O’Reilly:
Q: What does a Webcast Producer do?
I don’t know what other webcast producers do, but I handle most of the aspects of running our webcast program: I line up presenters and work with them, set up the webcasts in Adobe Connect, manage all the communications around the webcasts, provide technical support to our users, and run and moderate the live events. There’s a lot of work involved and it’s very hands-on. Beyond making sure that everything comes together well for each event, my goal is to make sure that our attendees find the experience trouble-free and rewarding.
Q: What is O’Reilly Media’s business all about today?
O’Reilly’s business is about spreading the knowledge of innovators. We do that in a lot of different ways–through our books, websites, videos, conferences, and many other ways, including webcasts and online events. These days, people are fairly particular about how they want to receive information. Some like to read regular printed books, others want to read on their computers, cell phones, e-readers, or iPads, while other people prefer to watch videos or attend in-person training. We try to make our content available in whatever format our customers want to receive it.
Q: How is O’Reilly Media using Adobe Connect?
We’re using Adobe Connect as the platform for our online events: webcasts, online conferences, and online tutorials. We’ve found it to be a very flexible platform so we’re always trying out new ideas. Lately we’ve been using it with ConnectSolutions’ Podium HD Pod to stream high-resolution video of live events. That’s been exciting. We also use Adobe Connect internally for meetings and presentations, and our IS department uses it for tech support, especially with employees who work remotely.
Q: What factor/s made Adobe Connect the choice for your webcasts?
Every organization has its specific needs. We needed a platform robust enough to support groups of 1,000 or even more without any deterioration of the user experience. We also needed it to be accessible by Windows, Mac, and Linux users. And I wanted joining the meeting to be trouble-free (no user downloads or other hassles). Those were the primary limiting factors. I’ve looked at a lot of online meeting solutions that say they can support up to 1,000 in a meeting but in practice fall quite short of that–the audio feed falls apart, people are dropped from the meeting and can’t connect again, or the entire experience just slows to a crawl. I’ve become skeptical of claims like that; in my experience there are only three solutions these days that can handle groups of 1,000 with no deterioration. Adobe Connect met all of my criteria plus it had a lot of other features that were very attractive.
Q: Did you consider other solutions?
Yes, I consider it part of my job to be familiar with all the solutions available so I’m constantly looking at them. We’ve used two other platforms in the past. We outgrew the first one quickly. The last one we used was very good except that users complained about having to download the client in order to join the webcasts and we found that their support for Mac users left something to be desired. We also had plans to use both streaming and embedded video more, and it didn’t offer the support we needed for that.
Q: How many webcasts do you hold using Adobe Connect? and what is the format?
My goal is to offer four webcasts a week, one each morning, Tuesday through Friday, but our overall plans are more ambitious. We’ve had a few online conferences and are working on other offerings now such as online workshops with smaller audiences where attendees will get a lot of personalized attention. We’ve also started streaming tutorial sessions live from our conferences, which is a nice option for people who want the training but don’t have the liberty of traveling to the conference.
Q: What was your biggest concern when you first started using Adobe Connect?
Just getting up to speed quickly so we wouldn’t have an interruption in our webcast program. That includes meeting all of our users’ needs and anticipating the questions and problems they might have with Adobe Connect. We had great support from you guys at ConnectSolutions that made the transition very easy.
Q: How have your speakers and authors responded to using Adobe Connect? and are they tech savvy people?
Most of my presenters are remote and I don’t have a lot of time to introduce them to the platform and make sure that whatever they want to do is actually doable. Some of them are very tech savvy (which you’d expect from our authors and conference speakers) but others aren’t. Overall, I find that they take to Adobe Connect easily. Often the first thing they’ll tell me when we finish a webcast is, “That was fun. Let’s do another one!”
Q: What makes your webcasts successful or how do you determine success?
The attendees are the ones who let us know whether a webcast is a success or fell short. I solicit their feedback and read all of it. In general though, if there are no serious technical glitches, if the presenter is well prepared and the audience is involved and seems to get a lot out of it, I consider it a success. We run into problems when speakers haven’t prepared or rehearsed, or there’s an act of God like the network going down or the phones cutting out, or when we haven’t properly described what the webcast is about and attendees are disappointed by the content or targeted experience level. Those are the biggest problems that can plague us.
Q: How have attendees responded to your webcasts?
Enthusiastically! I think we offer some great speakers and content, but beyond that, we try to have an open, casual atmosphere where attendees are encouraged to chat, comment, and ask questions. We don’t moderate our chat room–we want people to see all of the conversation and chime in. I like to keep the attendee list visible so people can see who else is in the meeting. Otherwise it can be such a sterile experience. I also insist that the webcast cannot be a sales pitch. Our attendees need to feel that they’re spending their time doing something worthwhile.
Q: Were there any surprises when you started using Adobe Connect?
Not about Adobe Connect–it was pretty much what I had seen and expected. My biggest surprise was the amazing support we got from ConnectSolutions. I hadn’t anticipated that level of support at all or the professionalism. That made me feel completely confident that we could achieve what we set out to do.
Q: What Adobe Connect feature do you use the most/least and why?
I use the basic features the most: the chat pod, share pods, note pod. I also use the fileshare pod to make files available for download during a webcast. I like to use polls occasionally but don’t find them to be the interactive ice-breakers that a lot of people think they are. Too often I think they’re just part of the drill that people are told they should include in a webcast: use a poll to get the audience involved. It’s contrived. I personally don’t think we should make our audiences jump through hoops. If the content and format are compelling, they’ll get involved. And I never use the moderated Q&A. I want everyone to see what other people are asking. A lot of times our attendees will have great answers to share, too.
Q: How has your team at O’Reilly responded to Adobe Connect?
I think they like it a lot. They definitely see the potential there.
Q: Where can people who read this get more information on upcoming O’Reilly webcasts?
That’s easy. Just go to http://oreilly.com/webcasts. We list all of our upcoming webcasts and keep the archive of past webcasts.
Thanks Kathryn! I hope all of you have gained some insights here. I encourage everyone to checkout the webcasts offered by O’Reilly Media and be like me and transition from the printed books and guides and take advantage of the ebooks offered by O’Reilly.
