Webinar: How to use pre-recorded content followed by live Q&A

[todd_linden]

We're using Adobe Connect 9 and have been successful in presenting webinars live. Our department supports a global company serving a scientific community. This makes it challenging for industry experts to find a time that will suit our customer's needs. We would like to allow these experts to record their presentations to be presented at various times to allow our customers to ask very techinical and specific questions. There will be a live moderator as well as another scientific expert available for Q&A following the recording.

We would like:

1. Expert to record their presentation in a studio environment
2. Edit recording for clarity and flow
3. Present the recoding during a "live" webinar
4. Host Q&A upon conclusion of recording
5. Use Adobe Connect Audio Bridge

How do we:

1. Record the presentation for reuse?
2. Determine proper file format for recording?
3. Create a live webinar to include the pre-recorded content?
4. Know if all attendees have concluded the pre-recorded section?
5. Record this session for attendees to review upon conclusion?
   1. Note: We often email a recorded session link to the attendees.

How can we accomplish this using Adobe Connect?

Thank you – Todd

[Jorma_at_CoSo]

Here is how I would approach this:

1. Use what ever studio/audio software is available to you. (This can be done in Adobe Presenter, mentioned in step three, but I prefer to use audio specific software such as Audition or Audacity).

2. You should save the finished audio in MP3 or WAV format. I would probably create a unique audio file for each slide in your presenter's presentation, as this can save you time later.

3. Use Adobe Presenter (can also use Captivate, but Presenter is a simpler tool), and import the recorded audio to your presentation Presenter wants a unique audio file for each slide, so if you split them up when editing the audio, then this becomes a relatively painless process. You can also then associate the animations in the presentation with your audio.

4. Play back the presentation in the Connect room as a Sync'd presentation. This means that everyone is seeing the same thing you are, so when you are done watching it, so is everyone else.

5. You can either record the Connect session and distribute that recording, or you can distribute access to the Presenter presentation on it's own. Using the same email method you have in place, would work.

The one thing to watch out for is that this method doesn't have the audio broadcast over a phone bridge. Any asset in the Share pod will broadcast it's audio over VoIP exclusively. You may want to consider a THAT-2 box to bridge the audio into the phone. http://www.amazon.com/JK-Audio-THAT-2/dp/B003D82WKC/

[todd_linden]

Jorma,

That is VERY close to an acceptable solution. However, that may require more overhead (read: more work for our department) than we'd like. There's also a new need that I was not entirely aware of. Some presentations will be hands-on demonstrations in conjunction with these presentations. Therefore, we will need the ability to record these sessions for playback.

Initially we were attempting to record an Adobe Connect session (without participants) and utilize that file as our playback source. From what I have read, Adobe Connect has a 100 MB limit on file uploads. I do not think a 50 minute webinar will fit within that file size without significant audio/video loss.

Can we possibly use a custom pod to stream from another video source? (e.g. Brightcove video?) Could this be accomplished by embedding some HTML with the video code within it?

Great forum!

- Todd

[Jorma_at_CoSo]

I never did promise that it was a quick solution .

I have used this style of solution for a number of years, and it does take time, but yields the best quality result with the least amount of pain in creation.

As to the 100 MB limit, this is only on content uploaded into the meeting room or through the new content wizard. Presenter is allowed to upload larger files (3 GB i recall, but don't hold me to that number) due to the fact that they can be lengthy and contain video and flash assets. I wouldn't have a second thought about a 50 min webinar, as I create 1-4 hour presentations fairly regularly (I don't like to but it's not my call on their duration).

Large Presentation:

Going the custom pod route is an option. There are pods out there to link into an external media server, but they will likely require some customization for your needs, and you would spend far less time and money just making an offline FLV version of the live session and then playing that back in the Share pod. Don't expect HTML code to work in Connect it is an AS3 Flash environment. Check out the options available in the Extend section of the Connect homepage and see if you can find a solution there that works for you. Some are free (Podium HD), while others are low or high cost (tecRacer VideoPlayer for FMS or TalkingStick) solutions. http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect/extend.html#3