Complete Mixed Meeting Hosting Guide

Planning an Adobe Connect (Breeze) Meeting with Some Participants Face-to-Face and Some at a Distance

Holding a meeting where part of the audience will be together in the same room and part of the audience will be joining the meeting from a distance through an Adobe Connect meeting room is the most complex type of meeting you can hold using Adobe Connect. The larger the groups are, the more complex the task. Running this type of meeting requires an expert knowledge of Adobe Connect as well as time to plan, prepare. and practice. Depending on the size of the groups and the size of the physical meeting room, you might also need extensive knowledge of audio and video equipment and setup.

NOTE: Broadcasting a large event over Adobe Connect to a remote audience that will be interacting with the face-to-face audience involves planning, preparing, and practicing. It is not the equivalent of setting up a video camera and recording an event.

Why Use Adobe Connect for Multi-Site (and/or) Large Group Meetings?

By allowing group members at a distance to attend a meeting using Adobe Connect, you reduce travel time and costs, giving group members who might not otherwise be able to attend the opportunity to not only watch and listen, but to actually participate in the meeting. This active participation is the major difference between using Adobe Connect and providing a live streaming video Webcast, although some groups are also using Adobe Connect as a substitute technology for Webcasting.

A recorded Adobe Connect meeting is similar to a video tape recorded meeting. All of the activities in the Adobe Connect meeting room are recorded and available for playback, including audio, video, PowerPoint presentations, and public chat.

So what's the catch? Planning and holding an Adobe Connect meeting takes a lot more time, practice, and team work than just setting up a video camera and microphone and recording a face-to-face meeting. Unlike videoconferencing using PolyCom where someone else is responsible for maintaining and setting up the equipment, with Adobe Connect you are responsible for making sure you have the right parts and pieces of technology and hardware and have them connected and configured correctly. You also have to plan for how everyone attending the meeting will interact and communicate.

Before Planning the Event

Before even deciding to hold a mixed, large group type meeting using Adobe Connect, there are a number of things to consider:

Define the goals and objectives for the meeting.
Identify the audience for the meeting. Specifically consider if the audience at a distance has the technology and skills necessary to join the meeting using Adobe Connect.
Identify the activities most likely to take place during the meeting to achieve the goals and objectives.

Based on your audience, goals, objectives, and activities, determine first if Adobe Connect is the best tool to use for your meeting. Consider if other communication tools, like PolyCom or just a phone conference, would work better.

If you think Adobe Connect is the best tool to use, continue your evaluation with the following steps:

Review the list of skills and knowledge about Adobe Connect you will need in order to run this type of meeting. Acquire the skills and knowledge that you lack. (See Levels of Hosting Expertise under Hosting Meetings.)
Define a strategy for broadcasting audio and for communication between the face-to-face group and the group assembled in the Adobe Connect meeting room.
Define a strategy for broadcasting video and displaying visuals like PowerPoint slides, graphics, and applications, and showing any other presenter activities to the group assembled in the Adobe Connect meeting room.
Define a strategy for projecting the Adobe Connect meeting room and presenter materials for the face-to-face audience and displaying files and pods to the Adobe Connect audience.
(For the above strategies, see Developing Strategies under this section.)
Identify skills guest presenters will have and skills they might need to acquire. (See Tips for Guest Speakers under Hosting Meetings.)
Create an Adobe Connect meeting room with customized layouts based on the activities that will take place during the meeting. Use a custom URL if the meeting room will be used for recurring meetings.
Set up a laptop computer with the equipment you will need to accomplish your audio and video broadcast strategies.
Take this computer to the assigned meeting room to test the audio/video setup you have identified.
Decide if Adobe Connect will work in the assigned meeting room to achieve the goals and objectives of the meeting.
(For the above steps, see Before the Meeting under this section.)

Developing Strategies

Developing Strategies for Running a Mixed Adobe Connect/Face-to-Face Meeting

Bringing participants at a distance into a face-to-face meeting through Adobe Connect adds an additional layer of complexity to a meeting. One way to manage this additional complexity is to include a meeting room moderator for the Adobe Connect room.

The Adobe Connect moderator's role is to greet participants as they arrive in the Adobe Connect room, help remote participants with audio issues, monitor the Chat pod, bring participants' questions to the attention of the speaker, bring problems to the attention of the speaker and/or face-to-face moderator, and act as the representative in the face-to-face meeting for the distant participants.

The Adobe Connect meeting room moderator and the face-to-face meeting room moderator have to work as a team to manage the meeting. They both need to have experience using Adobe Connect and both need to be able to recognize and solve problems that may arise while the meeting is in progress. They should both be in the room where the face-to-face meeting is taking place.

Both moderators need to work together to determine the plan for the meeting, including all of the strategies that will be implemented. In addition, they need to work with the presenters to prepare them to use Adobe Connect and with the face-to-face group to make them aware of things that are being done during the meeting to accommodate the Adobe Connect participants.

The most important things the moderators can do to make sure their combined meeting goes smoothly is plan, prepare, and practice.

Carefully read about planning meetings and develop strategies for the elements that apply to your specific meeting goals and objectives.
Identify and assign roles for everyone who will be helping with the meeting. (See Team Member Roles under this section.)
Make sure all tasks are identified and assigned.
Create a check list with deadlines for each task for each person who is helping with the meeting to be sure all tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Hold a practice session several days prior to the actual meeting for everyone who is helping.
On the day of the meeting, arrive at the physical meeting room at least an hour early to set up and test equipment.
Have a backup plan in case there are problems.

Audio Broadcast Strategy

See related topic: Strategy for Interacting under this section.

As you start to plan and prepare for your Adobe Connect meeting, you will need to develop a strategy for communication between the presenters and participants at the face-to-face location and the participants in the Adobe Connect meeting room. At a minimum, the Adobe Connect room attendees will need to be able to hear presenters. In a more complex scenario, attendees at the face-to-face meeting will need to be able to hear and interact with the attendees in the Adobe Connect meeting room and vice versa.

Available bandwidth and computer processor capacity and speed all play roles in the quality of the audio and video broadcast within an Adobe Connect meeting room. Presenters broadcasting audio, or audio and video, must have a wired Internet connection for best performance. Broadcasting audio, or audio and video, over a wireless connection often results in latency, performance, and recording problems as well as poor audio and video quality.

As you are developing and testing your audio strategy, please be aware that mixed Internet connection types in a single meeting room where multiple participants are broadcasting audio, or audio and video through the Camera and Voice pod, can be difficult to configure so that everyone has good sound and video quality. Be sure your testing includes remote participants with the same kinds of equipment and Internet connections that the participants will have in your actual meeting.

Also as part of your audio strategy plan, be sure to allow adequate time and resources at the beginning of each meeting to check each participant's audio broadcast and tweak settings if necessary.

Tasks

As you define your audio strategy, be sure to complete the following tasks:

Identify activities that will require audio communication and the type of audio needed.
Identify activities that could use other communication tools instead of audio.
Identify audience needs.
Identify Presenter needs.
Identify and install hardware and drivers needed to for audio communications.
Check out the physical meeting room.
Set up equipment and test your proposed audio solution in the physical meeting room.

Good Quality Audio is Essential for a Successful Meeting

Although video is often optional, most meetings and classes, no matter their size or purpose, proceed more quickly and smoothly with audio communication between the presenter and the participants. However, due to a number of different circumstances, it isn't always practical for everyone to broadcast audio in an Adobe Connect meeting. Depending on the size of the audience, goals, objectives, and activities of the meeting, creative use of supplemental communication tools such as the Chat pod, the Whiteboard, Poll pods, the Note pod, emoticons, and the telephone* instead of multiple audio broadcasts using the Camera and Voice pod can often produce equally satisfactory results.

* = For information about using the telephone for audio, see Penn State Audio Bridge under Using Adobe Connect -> Camera and Voice Pod: Broadcasting Audio and Video.

When holding a meeting with some participants assembled face-to-face and some at a distance, think about the needs of each of your audiences based on the stated goals, objectives, and activities for the meeting and identify how you will best meet their needs.

When defining your strategy, consider the following:

The importance of the meeting; how critical will it be for all participants to be able to hear and participate in the live meeting? Would participants also be able to get the information they need by watching a recording of the meeting if they are unable to participate in the live meeting?
The goals and objectives for the meeting
The activities that will take place during the meeting
If remote audience participation is essential to the success of the meeting.
Who will need to broadcast audio?
Will you use the Camera and Voice pod for audio broadcasts, or set up a conference call through the Penn State phone bridge*?
If you will be using the Camera and Voice pod for audio, will participants be allowed to broadcast audio if they want to?
If you are using the phone bridge will you allow remote participants to speak to the face-to-face group?
If participants are allowed to broadcast audio using the Camera and Voice pod, will you allow multiple simultaneous audio broadcasts or only single broadcasts? Be aware that feedback and echo through the Adobe Connect room may be a problem when both the mic(s) and speakers are open simultaneously in the face-to-face meeting room. If you decide to allow remote participants to broadcast audio, someone will need to mute the audio feed from the face-to-face room into the Adobe Connect meeting room when someone from the Adobe Connect room is speaking and the audio is being amplified for everyone to hear in the face-to face meeting room.
Is the remote audience so large that it would be impractical to have participants broadcast audio or speak through the phone? Perhaps Participants should be required to use chat instead of broadcasting audio?
If you are allowing remote participants to broadcast audio, how will they signal you that they want to speak? (Emoticons include a symbol for wanting to ask a question.)
What type(s) of Internet connection(s) are available if broadcasting audio through the Camera and Voice pod? A high-speed wired connection is recommended for broadcasting audio and video.
What is the layout and size of the physical room where the face-to-face participants will be meeting? The larger the room, the more complex the audio setup is likely to be. Access to house sound systems will likely be necessary as well as additional equipment for connecting the house sound system to the computer broadcasting to and from the Adobe Connect meeting room.
What is the size of the face-to-face audience and the size of the remote audience(s)? The larger the audiences and the more variety in connection types to the Adobe Connect meeting room, the more complex the audio setup will be.
Will you allow private chat?
Will your strategy need to include a combination of audio broadcast and public and private chat?
Can you replace some audience audio interactivity with other Adobe Connect communication tools like poll questions or use of "emoticons"?

Remote Audience Internet Connection Speed Matters

The type of internet connections used by the members of the remote audience will determine to some extent the types of communication tools they will be able to use in the Adobe Connect meeting room.

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Recommended communication activities for remote participants with various Internet connections

The processor speed and capacity of the computers participants are using to attend the meeting also play a role in the quality of the audio broadcast. The computers used to join the Adobe Connect meeting should not be running any other applications during the meeting and should be checked in advance to be sure all viruses and spyware have been removed. (See related topic: Hardware.)

Determine a Strategy

After considering the goals of the meeting, and the needs and capabilities of your audience, determine what your strategy will be for handling the audio broadcast and communication among the various audiences:

To and from face-to-face participants within the physical meeting room
From face-to-face participants to the Adobe Connect audience
From the face-to-face presenters to both the Adobe Connect audience and the face-to-face audience
From the Adobe Connect audience to the face-to-face audience
From a Adobe Connect participant to another Adobe Connect participant

Consider what kinds of audio equipment you will need, how many mics you will need, and where they should be placed:

Will you need just one mic at the podium that everyone will use?
Will you need a mic or mics positioned around the room so the Attendees in the Adobe Connect room can hear questions and discussion from the face-to-face audience?
Will you have several presenters in the face-to-face room participating in a discussion? If so, will you want several lapel mics, one for each person, or just one unidirectional mic positioned centrally?
If you are using multiple mics that connect to just one computer, what additional pieces of equipment will you need, e.g., a mixer?

Depending on the size of the audience and the room, and the importance of the meeting, consider finding someone with experience setting up audio equipment to help you.

Test Your Setup

After deciding what your audio broadcast strategy will be, you will need to test your proposed audio setup. It is strongly recommended that you go to the room where the face-to-face meeting will be held and position the equipment as it will be for the meeting. If you are using a phone bridge, arrange to call someone who will help with testing the sound. You do not have to use the phone bridge for testing sound, but you do need to use the same equipment within the room that you will use for the meeting. If you are using VoIP in the Camera and Voice pod, after connecting the required equipment, run the Audio Setup Wizard.

During your testing, have several people at different locations enter the Adobe Connect room and provide feedback on audio quality.

Keep in mind that just because you are testing the setup in advance does not mean there will not be glitches during the actual meeting. Allow time before the start of the meeting to set up and test your audio equipment. If possible, bring extra cables, mics, etc. in case there is a problem.

Video Broadcast Strategy

As you start to plan and prepare for your Adobe Connect meeting, you will need to develop a strategy for broadcasting visuals in the Adobe Connect meeting room.

Available bandwidth and computer processor capacity and speed all play roles in the quality of the audio and video broadcast within an Adobe Connect meeting room. Presenters broadcasting audio, or audio and video, must have a wired Internet connection for best performance. Broadcasting audio, or audio and video, over a wireless connection often results in latency and performance problems as well as poor audio and video quality.

As you are developing and testing your video strategy, please be aware that mixed Internet connections types in a single meeting room where multiple participants are broadcasting audio, or audio and video through the Camera and Voice pod, can be difficult to configure so that everyone has good sound and video quality. Be sure your testing includes participants with the same kinds of equipment and Internet connections that the participants will have in your actual meeting.

Also as part of your video strategy plan, be sure to allow adequate time and resources at the beginning of each meeting to check each participant's audio broadcast and tweak individual, room, and video settings if necessary.

Tasks

As you define your strategy for broadcasting video and visuals, be sure to complete the following tasks:

Identify activities that will require visual communication and the types of visuals needed.
Identify activities that could use other communication tools instead of live, full-motion video.
Identify activities that could use full-motion video delivered outside of the Adobe Connect meeting.
Identify audience needs.
Identify Presenter needs.
Identify and install hardware needed for video communications.
Run the Adobe Connect system test (https://breeze.psu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm) to be sure you have the sharing plug-in and the current version of Flash Player installed.
Check out the physical meeting room.
Set up equipment and test the video and audio strategies together in the physical meeting room.

Which Types of Visuals Will You Be Broadcasting?

There are really two types of visual broadcasts in Adobe Connect: the video image generated by a camera in the Camera and Voice pod and the visuals shared through the Share pod. While the visuals in the Share pod are often critical to the goals of the meeting, the video broadcast from the Camera and Voice pod often isn't.

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Share Pod and Camera and Voice Pod

Is Live Camera and Voice Pod Video Broadcast Necessary?

Because broadcasting live video takes more bandwidth than most other activities, it can affect the quality of all of the other activities taking place in a meeting room, including the quality of the audio broadcast. Although audio is usually required for most meetings and classes to proceed smoothly, live video is usually optional or at least can be minimized to allow more bandwidth for more important activities as well as for better audio quality.

The type and quality of video you choose to broadcast from the Camera and Voice pod during your meeting will depend on the goals, objectives, and activities of the meeting as well as your computer processor speed and capacity, your Internet connection type and speed, and the Internet connection types and speeds of your remote participants if they will also be broadcasting.

Think about the following when deciding what type of video broadcast from the Camera and Voice pod will best meet your needs:

What will presenters be doing during their presentations?
Will the Camera and Voice pod video broadcast be a critical part of your meeting?
Will remote participants need to broadcast audio, video, and/or share visuals?
Will you need live full-motion Camera and Voice pod video, or will a paused snapshot of just the presenter’s face work just as well?
Will you use the tools available from within the Adobe Connect room to display PowerPoint presentations, notes, and images, or will you use the Adobe Connect Camera and Voice pod in a live, streaming video capacity with a wide-angle camera showing the computer screen as it is being projected to the face-to-face participants as well as to showing the actions of the presenters?
Is high quality audio a necessity?
If both high quality audio and high quality live action video are essential to your meeting, is it possible, in order to reduce bandwidth issues, to use the Penn State Phone Bridge for audio instead of broadcasting audio through the Camera and Voice pod? (See Penn State Audio Bridge.)

Perhaps the best solution for your video broadcast will be a combination of live, high quality, full motion video, paused video, and lower quality, full motion video. If that's the case, be sure to include a meeting moderator in your plan so your presenter doesn't have to try to juggle presenting while also managing the meeting video settings.

NOTES: Video quality settings for the meeting room are located under the Options button in the lower right corner of the Camera and Voice pod and can be adjusted during the meeting by both Presenters and Hosts.

When broadcasting live, full-motion video, the more the presenter moves around, the more bandwidth is required to broadcast the motion. If possible, to conserve bandwidth, ask the presenter to stand or sit still. Another consideration for conserving bandwidth is the background behind the speaker. A busy background will take more bandwidth to broadcast, especially if the presenter moves around a lot. Consider placing the presenter in front of a solid colored background, if possible.

Visuals in the Share Pod

Fortunately the second type of visual display, displaying files and images in the Share pod, requires less bandwidth than broadcasting live video from the Camera and Voice pod, and therefore creates fewer performance issues and requires less testing and fewer "either/or" decisions. The exceptions to this are broadcasting a Flash video through the Share pod, and sharing live applications through the Share pod while also allowing a meeting participant to control the application remotely. Just like with broadcasting live video from the Camera and Voice pod, if you will be doing activities in the Share pod that will require more bandwidth, you will need to adjust your bandwidth use in other areas of the Adobe Connect meeting room.

Will meeting attendees be broadcasting video and sharing visuals?

Your strategy for broadcasting video and sharing visuals also needs to take into consideration your remote participants. If Adobe Connect meeting attendees will be broadcasting video or sharing visuals, their Internet connection types and speeds as well as their computer processor speed and capacity will matter. Consider the information in the chart below when determining the level of participation possible for meeting attendees and thoroughly test each activity within the same environment as will be available at the time of the meeting before making a decision about which activities to include.

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Possible visual activities for remote participants with various Internet connections

What about your presenters?

As you develop your strategy for visuals, you will also need to consider the technical skills and personalities of your presenters. Your meeting plan will need to provide time and resources for training presenters if necessary, and helping them prepare their materials and practice their presentations. Consider the following in regard to developing your strategy for displaying video and visuals:

What kinds of activities will presenters be doing? Will they have PowerPoint slides to show the audience? Graphics? Applications? Will they have physical objects to show or demonstrate?
Will they provide their presentation materials in advance so they can be uploaded into the meeting room?
Do they have any experience using Adobe Connect?
Will they be willing to take time to enter an Adobe Connect room and practice their presentation?
Are they comfortable using technology, or would the technology just be a distraction to them?
If the presenters are not familiar with Adobe Connect, how will help with the presentation be provided?

Set your Priorities

The most bandwidth intensive meeting is one where multiple participants are broadcasting live video and audio while also sharing and allowing remote control of an application in the Share pod. Even under the best of circumstances, this combination of activities can result in performance issues.

As you develop your strategy for displaying video and visuals within your Adobe Connect meeting room, decide which is more important: live full motion video broadcast, high quality audio broadcast, or use of live applications. You will need to tweak your meeting room settings based on which activity you decide is most important to the success of your meeting. If all three are equally important, you will need to consider using the Penn State phone bridge for audio in order to make more bandwidth available for the video and the application sharing. You may want to make additional changes to your priorities and your meeting room settings based on thorough testing of your strategy.

So, What's the Plan?

As you can see, there are a number of variables to consider as you develop your video and visual display strategy:

Your Internet connection speed
Your computer processor speed and capacity
The needs of your presenters
The needs and technology capabilities of your participants
The activities that are most important to achieve the goals and objectives of your meeting

And there are a number of options to choose from when planning your video broadcast and visual display strategy. You can tweak bandwidth usage by:

using a lower quality Camera and Voice pod video broadcast
using paused video in the Camera and Voice pod instead of live, full motion video
using the Penn State phone bridge* for meeting audio instead of broadcasting audio from the Camera and Voice pod
limiting the number of people who are allowed to broadcast audio and video during the meeting
limiting remote control of live applications shared in the Share pod
providing links to videos that can be viewed outside of the Adobe Connect meeting room instead of sharing Flash videos in the Share pod

Now, based on the video and visual display needs of the meeting, determine:

What kind(s) of Camera and Voice pod video broadcasts you will provide
What video equipment you will need in order to produce your Camera and Voice pod broadcasts
What types of files you will need to display in the Share pod
If/how you will use shared applications in the Share pod
How you will tweak the various settings to maintain adequate audio quality while implementing your video/visuals strategy

Finally, thoroughly test your strategy under the same conditions you will have during your actual meeting and make adjustments as necessary.

Display Strategy

Strategy for Projecting Computer Screens in the Face-to-Face Room and Displaying Files in the Adobe Connect Room

When holding a meeting where some of the participants are meeting face-to-face and some are attending through an Adobe Connect meeting room, you will need to consider what you will be projecting in the face-to-face room and what you are displaying in the Adobe Connect room.

Which Pods Will you Use?

Depending on the goals and objectives for your meeting, the activities you will be doing, and what you want your audiences to see, you will need to decide which pods to include in your layout (see Customizing Layouts under Using Adobe Connect). The appearance of some of the pods is affected by the level of each Attendee's permissions, so, depending on what you want your face-to-face audience to see and what you want to display in the Adobe Connect room, you may need to adjust the level of permissions on individual pods for specific users (see Roles and Permissions under Using Adobe Connect).

Host View vs. Presenter View vs. Participant View

The first thing to understand is that, depending on what permissions the Attendee has, the Adobe Connect meeting room looks different. For the purposes of deciding what to project, the biggest differences between the three sets of permissions is that the Host can see and use the prep area and control the Share pod; the Presenter has the same control of the Share pod as the Host but more limited use of the prep area; the Participant doesn't see the prep area at all and can only watch what's happening in the Share pod.

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Host View of Stage (circled) and Prep Area of an Adobe Connect Meeting

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Participant View of Same Adobe Connect Meeting Room

If, as the Host or Presenter, you think you will need to use the prep area during the meeting, for example, if you are using the Question and Answer Chat pod, then you will probably want to project the meeting room from a computer logged in with Participant permissions. That way the people attending the face-to-face meeting won't be able to see the prep area and what you are doing. Only Adobe Connect attendees with Host or Presenter permissions will be able to see what you are doing in the prep area.

Depending on your audio and video broadcast strategies, since users with Participant permissions can't broadcast audio or video from the Camera and Voice pod by default, you will need to change the permissions on the Camera and Voice pod, and probably the Share pod as well, to "Presenter." This will allow the computer being projected in the face-to-face room to be logged in with just Participant permissions but still give Presenters the tools they need to give their presentations and broadcast audio and video.

Camera and Voice Pod

If you are using the Camera and Voice pod to broadcast audio and/or video, in addition to deciding which level of permissions you will want to project for the face-to-face audience to view, you also need to consider that:

The Camera and Voice pod has to be on the stage area of the meeting room (not in the prep area and not minimized) in order to work.
Everyone who is broadcasting audio and/or video will show in the Camera and Voice pod. You can change the size of the Camera and Voice pod to accommodate several broadcasted images and/or to be more prominent on the screen.
You can set up the Camera and Voice pod, lock the "Talk" button to broadcast, and then hide the pod under another pod so that neither the face-to-face audience nor the Adobe Connect audience will see it. Be aware that doing this prevents others from broadcasting audio unless they begin broadcasting and have their "Talk" button locked on before the pod is hidden. Another important consideration is that you will not be able to visually monitor the audio broadcast if you can't see the Camera and Voice pod, so you won't be able to tell (just by looking) if there is an audio problem.
For projecting, you may want to create a Friends of Penn State account (see http://fps.psu.edu) with a generic name to use when broadcasting from the Camera and Voice pod. The reason you might want to do this is the name of the logged in user is displayed beneath the picture from that computer. The only way to change the name is to quit the meeting room and log in with a different account. If you are using one computer, having several presenters, and don't want the wrong name to appear beneath their image, rather than having each presenter log out when finished and the new presenter log in when he/she begins, you can create a Friends of Penn State account with a name that would apply to everyone who is presenting during your meeting. For example, you could use your meeting or group name to create the Friends of Penn State account so that when you log in to the meeting, that will be the name under the video broadcast image. Then, in a note pod, you can post the name of each presenter as he/she speaks along with the topic and any other pertinent information. Once the generic account is logged in to the meeting, a meeting Host will need to set the permissions for just the Camera and Voice pod to Presenter.

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Computer Logged in with Friends of Penn State Account

Chat Pod

It is recommended that the Chat pod be on every layout so that your remote audience will be able to communicate with the moderator and the face-to-face group. For example, if something happens to the audio broadcast and your remote audience is no longer able to hear, they will need to have a way to tell you. The Chat pod usually serves this purpose.

Having the Chat pod visible on every layout also means that people in the face-to-face room will be able to see and read any comments made in public or made to the user whose computer is being projected if private chat is enabled. Depending on your goals and objectives for the meeting, this might be good to have, or it might be an unwanted distraction.

If you need for some of your attendees to see the Chat pod, but would rather not have everyone see it or have it be projected, consider giving people who need to see it Presenter permissions and people you don't want to have see it Participant permissions. Then, turn on the prep area and place the Chat pod off the stage. Although the Camera and Voice pod has to be on the stage in order to work, all of the other pods will work equally well whether they are on the stage or not as long as the attendee has Presenter or Host permissions.

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Chat Pod in Presenter Prep Area

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Participant View of Same Meeting Room

Attendee List

Another pod that you may or may not want to project to the face-to-face audience is the Attendee List. The emoticons in the Attendee List can be a useful tool for remote users, but you may not want to take up screen space with the Attendee List, or perhaps you don't want your face-to-face audience distracted by the emoticons popping up randomly throughout the presentations.

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Emoticons in the Attendee List

Another consideration is that, depending on the type of meeting you are holding and whether or not you are recording the meeting, there may be privacy issues associated with displaying the Attendee List. If privacy is an issue, you also need to be aware that the Chat pod contains a list of attendees in the drop-down list used for private chat. Disabling private chat will disable this list.

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Attendees are listed in the Chat drop-down when Public Chat is enabled

On the other hand, if you are having a problem with screen real estate and extensive text interaction/communication from your remote audience isn't necessary for achieving the goals and objectives of your meeting, the Attendee List could be used instead of the Chat pod to offer the remote audience a means of communicating with the moderator. The emoticons in the Attendee List are available to all meeting attendees, regardless of their level of permissions.

Share Pod

As part of your projection strategy, consider what you want the Share pod display to look like. The Share pod "Full Screen" button allows Hosts and Presenters to maximize the Share pod so that it is the only pod visible on the screen. Setting the Share pod to full screen for the face-to-face audience will eliminate all of the clutter and distractions of the Adobe Connect meeting room interface. All they will see is what is being displayed in the Share pod.

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Full Screen Button Choices

“Full Screen” mode is a very useful tool but requires some thought to use effectively. Different combinations of the options have different effects. The effects depend not only on which options the Host selects but also which roles are assigned to Attendees.

The best way to handle the full screen issue for Adobe Connect meeting room Attendees is to have the Host or Presenter give all Attendees the option of setting the Share pod to full screen or not (ex. NOT selecting "Presenter's changes affect everybody," SELECTING "Enable Full Screen toggle for Participants," and SELECTING "Full Screen"). This will allow you to set the computer that is being projected for the face-to-face audience to full screen while allowing other Adobe Connect meeting room attendees to choose whether or not to view the Share pod in Full Screen mode.

As a general rule, selecting "Presenter's changes affect everybody," NOT selecting "Enable Full Screen toggle for Participants," and NOT selecting "Full Screen" is probably the worst combination of options. This particular grouping will prevent everyone in the room from seeing the Share pod in Full Screen mode. If the Host or Presenter doesn't give Participants the option of setting the Share pod to full screen or not, and sets the Share pod to full screen for everyone in the meeting room, Participants again lose the ability to communicate with others in the Adobe Connect room as well as those in the face-to-face room. When set to full screen, the Share pod covers all of the other pods in the meeting room. Changing settings in the middle of a presentation can be especially disastrous for Participants as they might end up with a blank gray screen covering their full monitor screen.

Set Your Strategy

After considering the options, decide which Adobe Connect pods you will need to use in your meeting. Then decide what to project to the face-to-face audience and how to set permissions in the Adobe Connect room. Use the tools available within Adobe Connect, like the prep area, permission levels, and full screen mode in the Share pod, to customize your strategy.

As part of your projection strategy, you will probably want to have the full screen toggle set so Participants in the Adobe Connect room can choose whether or not to go to full screen mode. Deciding whether or not to choose full screen mode on the computer that is being used to project to the audience in the face-to-face room will depend on your goals, objectives, and activities for the meeting. What might be a distraction in one meeting could be a necessity in a different meeting.

As with all of the strategies you need to develop for your meeting, be sure to practice the solution you decide upon and make adjustments as necessary.

Strategy for Interacting

Strategy for Interacting with the Audience at a Distance

One of the reasons to use Adobe Connect for a mixed face-to-face/remote meeting is because of the tools it provides for allowing interaction with participants at a distance. Tools available include:

Camera and Voice pod
Chat pods
Question and Answer pod
Interactive Whiteboard
Note pods
Poll pods
Share pods
File Share pods
Emoticons

Note: An optional tool that can be used for audio interaction instead of the Camera and Voice pod is the Penn State phone bridge.

Emoticons are useful for asking group questions and getting group responses. An example use of emoticons would be to have everyone give you a "thumbs up" if they can hear. Participants who don't respond may be having technical issues and may need help from a tech support moderator.

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Emoticons in the Attendee List

Poll questions can be used to keep your remote participants involved in the presentations as well as to help remote participants feel like they are an important part of the meeting. Well crafted questions give both remote and face-to-face participants a voice without actually speaking. Be sure to also have a way for face-to-face participants to respond to poll questions, even if it's just by having them raise their hands.

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Poll Pod

In Adobe Connect only Hosts and Presenters can enter text into Note pods and draw or type on Whiteboards. Participants can see the text and drawings, but can't draw or enter text themselves. Note pods and Whiteboards can be used for posting information, taking questions and comments, brainstorming, collaborative writing, drawing, and editing, as well as just recording notes for the meeting.

Meeting Hosts and Presenters can upload files to the File Share pod for everyone in the Adobe Connect meeting room to download. The Share pod is used only for displaying files, not for downloading.

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File Share Pod

One of the most useful tools for communicating and interacting with participants within the Adobe Connect room is the Chat pod. Participants can type their questions and comments for everyone else in the room to see and respond to. Private Chat is also an option set by a Host or Presenter within the Chat pod, making it possible for participants to address comments and questions to a specific person rather than the entire group. A Question and Answer Chat pod is a specific type of Chat pod that can be configured by the meeting Host. This type of Chat pod gives the meeting Hosts and Presenters additional control over the activities of the Participants. The Chat pod is an essential part of every meeting room layout as it provides a means for remote participants to communicate when broadcasting audio isn't an option.

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Q&A Chat Pod in Presenter Prep Area

Selection and use of these communication tools will depend on the goals and objectives of your meeting. At a minimum, you will want to plan how and when you will take questions from both the audience at a distance and the face-to-face audience. For example, will questions be taken at any time? Only at the end of a presentation? At specified intervals?

You should have determined a strategy for broadcasting audio when you checked out the physical meeting room (see Audio Broadcast Strategy under this section). Based on that strategy:

How will face-to-face participants "hear" questions asked in the Adobe Connect room? Who will convey questions from the Adobe Connect room to the speaker?
Will participants in the Adobe Connect room be given permission to broadcast audio so they can make comments and ask questions? How will that audio be amplified for the face-to-face audience to hear? What if the remote participants don't have the equipment or enough bandwidth to broadcast audio through the Camera and Voice pod? Be aware that having both the microphone(s) and speakers in the face-to-face room active at the same time will cause an echo/feedback loop through the Adobe Connect room.
How will participants at a distance hear questions asked in the face-to-face room? Will the presenter repeat questions? Will there be a moderator who is broadcasting audio to the Adobe Connect room who will repeat the questions? Will there be a microphone for face-to-face participants to use to broadcast questions to the Adobe Connect room?
How will you keep your remote audience interested and involved in the meeting?
Is comprehension an important element of your meeting or class? How will you determine if your remote participants understand what is being presented?

Based on your strategy for interaction among participants, you may need to adjust your audio broadcast strategy.

Strategy for Moderating

Strategy for Moderating a Mixed Adobe Connect/Face-to-Face Meeting

The most important things the moderators can do to make sure their combined meeting goes smoothly is plan, prepare, and practice.

Carefully read about planning meetings and develop strategies for the elements that apply to your specific meeting goals and objectives.
Identify and assign roles for everyone who will be helping with the meeting.
Make sure all tasks are identified and assigned.
Create a check list with deadlines for each task for each person who is helping with the meeting to be sure all tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Hold a practice session several days prior to the actual meeting for everyone who is helping.
On the day of the meeting, arrive at the physical meeting room at least an hour early to set up and test equipment.
Have a backup plan in case there are problems.

Strategy for Distributing Handouts

When holding a mixed face-to-face/Adobe Connect meeting, it's important to make handouts available in advance of the meeting. Remote participants appreciate having the handouts to refer to along with face-to-face participants. It's also an advantage to have the handouts available to remote participants in case there is a problem with the Adobe Connect meeting room and they are unable to see the files as they are displayed.

There are several options available if you have handouts and other materials to distribute to your meeting participants. Try to obtain the materials in advance of the meeting and:

use e-mail to send the handouts and materials as attachments.
upload handouts and materials to a Web site where participants can go to download the materials. Include the URL in the meeting announcement and/or in meeting reminders.
upload files to the File Share pod in the Adobe Connect meeting room. Set your Adobe Connect room to be accessible by everyone who has the URL and include the URL in the meeting announcement or other message sent to the meeting participants.

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File Share Pod

If you are unable to obtain the materials in advance of the meeting, have a moderator available to upload the files to the File Share pod within the meeting room and/or a Web site. Post information about downloading the handouts in a Note pod within the Adobe Connect meeting room.

Before the Meeting

Create a Plan for the Event

After determining that the assigned physical meeting room will work for the type of meeting you want to hold, continue with the planning process and create a plan for the event.

Develop a strategy for each element of the meeting; this specifies what you will do. See Developing Strategies under this section.
List the tasks necessary to implement each strategy; these are how you will do it.
Identify who will complete each task to implement the strategies by defining roles and assigning tasks to each role.
Set a timeline with deadlines for when tasks will be completed.

Set the Timeline

After creating a plan and assigning tasks, set the timeline for the tasks to be completed. Sometime it works better to start with the date the meeting will take place and work backwards from there to determine when each task will need to be completed. Notify Participants and Presenters about the meeting, allowing enough time for them to acquire and configure any necessary equipment as well as prepare their presentations and practice using Adobe Connect.

Create Checklists

As the final step of the planning process, create a checklist for each person assigned a role in the meeting to use when setting up.

Set Up the Meeting Room

In order to determine if Adobe Connect will work for your meeting, you will need to create an Adobe Connect meeting room that you can use for testing.

If this is an Adobe Connect meeting that will take place regularly, when you create the Adobe Connect room, consider assigning a custom URL that is easy for participants to remember and then using the same room for all of the meetings. See Creating New Meetings under Creating/Editing Meetings for details.

Based on the kinds of presentations that will be given during the meeting, design customized layouts within the Adobe Connect room (see Customizing Layouts under Using Adobe Connect). Once the meeting is in session, you will be able to easily switch between layouts based on the needs of the presenter. (Please be aware that switching between layouts can cause motion sickness in some people – let the audience know in advance when you will be switching layouts.) You will be able to collect more information about the kinds of layouts you may need if/when you meet with the presenters to practice in the Adobe Connect meeting room.

A Note about Templates: If you have several different groups for which you need to prepare Adobe Connect rooms, and the customized layouts for the rooms will need to be the same or similar, consider creating an Adobe Connect room to use as a template from which to create multiple rooms. See Creating Templates under Creating/Editing Meetings for details.

Set Up the Laptop

Set Up the Laptop Computer You Will Use for the Adobe Connect Meeting

Currently, podium computers in classrooms at Penn State do not include drivers for Web cameras. If you will be using Adobe Connect and broadcasting audio and video from a Penn State classroom, you will need to set up a laptop with the necessary drivers, cables, and hardware that you can take to the meeting room and connect to the network.

Some auditoriums and conference rooms are "Adobe Connect friendly" and some aren't, depending on the unit responsible for maintenance of the room. If your face-to-face meeting will take place in a conference room or auditorium, as soon as possible prior to your meeting date you will need to schedule a time to check out the room to see what equipment you will need to plan to bring with you. You will also need to find out any requirements for accessing the wired network in your assigned room.

Firewalls are an issue in some buildings across the Penn State community. If you take your laptop to the room where you will hold your face-to-face meeting and are unable to connect to your Adobe Connect meeting room, the problem might be a firewall blocking the necessary ports. For help with firewall issues, see the "Networking" section in Frequently Asked Questions under Help/FAQ.

Depending on the size and complexity of the type of combined face-to-face and Adobe Connect meeting you are planning, you may also need to contact tech support staff to get access to the audio equipment for the room.

Set Up and Bring Your Own Laptop

The easiest and most dependable way to prepare for your Adobe Connect meeting is to assume that you will not be able to tap into the in-house sound system, so you will need to take a laptop on which you have installed and tested all equipment necessary for your Adobe Connect meeting.

The actual equipment you need to install and test will depend on the audio broadcast and video broadcast strategies you will develop as you are planning your meeting (see Developing Strategies under Hosting Meetings -> Complete Mixed Meeting Hosting Guide). At a minimum, you will probably need to obtain a USB Web camera, speakers, headset, and/or microphone. For information about equipment, see Web Camera and Headset under Getting Started -> Requirements.
On your laptop, install any necessary drivers for the camera, headset, microphone, and speakers. Depending on the computer policies for your unit and your computer skills, you may need to contact your tech support person to perform any necessary installations for you.
The computer used for the Adobe Connect meeting should be optimized to improve the performance of the Adobe Connect meeting room. Remove spyware and check for any other problems. Depending on the computer policies for your unit and your computer skills, you may need to contact your tech support person to perform these tasks for you.
Before taking your computer to the physical meeting room for testing, connect your computer to the Internet using a wired connection and run the Adobe Connect system test (https://breeze.psu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm) to be sure you have the current version of the sharing plug-in and Flash Player installed. Depending on the computer policies for your unit and your computer skills, you may need to contact your tech support person to perform any necessary installations for you.
At the physical meeting room, connect all necessary equipment to your computer, connect your computer to the Internet using a wired connection, and start up your computer. You may need to check with the tech support staff for the room about connecting to their wired network.
Make sure no other applications are running during the Adobe Connect meeting. Applications can use bandwidth by accessing the Internet as well as reduce processor capacity and available memory.
Make sure you know, or bring with you, the URL to enter the Adobe Connect room.
Make sure you have Host permissions for the Adobe Connect room you will be using.
After connecting the equipment you will need to your laptop, connecting your laptop to the meeting room Internet, and entering the Adobe Connect meeting room you will be using for the meeting, run the Audio Setup Wizard, and check the equipment to be sure it works properly. You will need to invite someone to join you in your Adobe Connect room and give you feedback on your audio broadcast.

Note: Most microphones, headsets, and speakers do not generally need special drivers, however, cameras do need drivers.

Examine the Physical Room

Check Out the Physical Room Where the Meeting Will Take Place

Before scheduling a broadcasted Adobe Connect meeting, you need to check out the physical meeting room to see if it is a practical location from which to broadcast an Adobe Connect meeting. Following are things to consider:

Is there a wired Internet connection available?
- Presenters need to have a high-speed wired connection for best performance. Bring your laptop with you so you can check the connection.
- Bring an Internet cable to connect to an Internet port in the room.
- You may need to consult with a tech support person for the room to find out how to access the wired network.
- Run the “Test your Computer” diagnostic (https://breeze.psu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm) to determine the connection speed setting for the Adobe Connect meeting room.
Bring a video cable, and adaptor if necessary, so you can connect your laptop to the projector in the room and test your display strategy (see Display Strategy under this section).
- Again, you may need to contact the tech support person for the room if you need help connecting to the projector.
Bring any cameras, microphones, and speakers you may need to test your audio and video strategies. If you need to tap into house audio systems, arrange in advance for a tech support person for the room to meet with you when you come to check out the room.
If you are recording the meeting, the computer used for recording needs to be on a wired connection for best performance. The recording can be made from the Presenter’s computer; a separate computer is not required.
Check the room for wireless devices that may interfere with the audio equipment you plan to use.
Will there be audio interference from outside and/or background noises, e.g., open windows, mowers, fans, air conditioners, heaters, blowers, phones, hallway noise? Background noise uses bandwidth and interferes with the audio broadcast in Adobe Connect.
Will presenters in the physical room bring their own computers or use just one computer set up for presenting?
- If everyone is using just one computer, what is your strategy for making sure all necessary applications are installed and all necessary files are uploaded?
If you will have more than one presenter on more than one computer, are there enough wired connections in the room for the Presenters and meeting moderators to use? When presenting, all Presenters need to have a high-speed wired connection for best performance. Wired connections for moderators are preferred but not required unless the moderator(s) will be broadcasting audio and/or video.
If Presenters are using their own computers, allow enough time prior to the start of the meeting, or, preferably, several days prior to the meeting, to check to be sure they have been set up correctly:
- Have the Presenters' hard drives been optimized?
- Spyware removed? (Sypware interferes with performance.)
- Are there other unnecessary applications running that will use processor power, memory, and bandwidth?
- Do the presenters know how to get into the Adobe Connect room?
- Do they have a minimum of Presenter permissions so they can upload and control their PowerPoint presentations?
- Will they need to connect a camera and microphone?
- Do they have the necessary equipment?
- Have the necessary drivers been installed?
- After connecting a mic and camera they will need to run the Audio Setup Wizard.
- After connecting to the wired network in the room they will need to run the “Test your Computer” diagnostic (https://breeze.psu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm) and set their connection speed.
- Are they able to get the projector connected and working? Do they need an adaptor?

Decide Whether or Not to Broadcast the Meeting

If, during your testing, you find that there are not enough wired connections or there appear to be problems with audio and/or wireless interference, or other background noise interference that makes the room a poor choice for an Adobe Connect meeting, consider finding a different room or not using Adobe Connect.

If broadcasting the meeting to participants at a distance is essential, perhaps a different broadcast technology would work better in the room you have been assigned. Would PolyCom videoconferencing be a better choice than Adobe Connect? Are there other technologies you should consider using instead? Recorded video? Podcasting?

If you think Adobe Connect is still the best technology to use for your meeting, consider recording your meeting in a quiet room without any participants and then offering the recording to be used asynchronously and include contact information for participants who want to ask questions.

Notify Participants

Send an e-mail message to participants notifying them of the face-to-face meeting. Include information about connecting to the Adobe Connect room, contact information for getting help with audio and testing the meeting connection, and other details you worked out when planning the event.

If you have decided to make times available for participants to meet a tech support person in an Adobe Connect room to set up their sound and ask questions prior to the actual meeting date, include the schedule in the e-mail message. Another option might be to tell the participants about the open demo meetings already offered by the Penn State ITS Consultants.

Suggest that participants plan to enter the meeting room 10 to 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting to confirm their meeting room connection and audio reception. This allows a bit of time to resolve problems, if necessary.

Example text to include in e-mail notification of meeting being broadcasted through Adobe Connect

Good Afternoon Everyone,

The meeting name meeting will take place on date, time, location.

The agenda for the meeting is:

Time - item
etc...

If you are unable to attend the face-to-face meeting, you may want to consider attending through Adobe Connect instead. The URL for the Adobe Connect meeting is room URL

Adobe Connect is a Web-based desktop videoconferencing application that runs on your personal computer through a browser. For more information about connecting to an Adobe Connect meeting, please read the Getting Started guide at http://meeting.psu.edu/quickstart.

If you plan to attend via Adobe Connect, prior to the start of the meeting, you will need to:

Run the “Test your Computer” utility (https://breeze.psu.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm) and make sure you have the most current version of Flash Player and the Adobe Connect Sharing add-in installed.
Have either a Penn State Access Account ID or a Friends of Penn State account ID to log in to a Penn State Adobe Connect meeting. If you do not have a current Penn State Access Account, you will need to use a Friends of Penn State account ID to enter the meeting. Friends of Penn State accounts can be obtained quickly and easily at https://fps.psu.edu/.
Attend an open Adobe Connect meeting to check your sound. (Include a schedule of times and the room URL.) Not all audio problems originate from the broadcast site. To ensure maximum sound quality, you will need to take a few minutes to configure your own system.

To enter the Adobe Connect meeting room:

Either click the URL listed above or copy and paste the URL into the location bar of your browser window.
Log in to the meeting room using your Penn State Access ID or your Penn State Friends of Penn State account ID.

Please plan to enter the Adobe Connect room 10 to 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.

After entering the room you will need to run the Audio Setup Wizard to configure your sound for the current conditions of your environment. You will also need to set your meeting connection speed. Include any relevant directions for running the Audio Setup Wizard and/or setting connection speed.

Include any relevant directions for participants, for example:

During this meeting, only the presenters will be broadcasting audio and video. Participants attending the meeting through Adobe Connect will use the Chat pod to ask questions and make comments. The Adobe Connect meeting will be projected in the room so everyone will be able to see the public conversations taking place in the Chat pod.

Presenters:

Include any relevant directions. For example:

A computer will be set up at the podium for presentations -- please do not plan to use your own computer for your presentation. PowerPoint presentations will be displayed from within the Adobe Connect meeting room. If you are presenting at this meeting, you will need to upload your presentation to the Adobe Connect meeting room prior to the start of the meeting. In addition, any applications you might be using will also need to be installed on the podium computer prior to the meeting. Include information about where to send the presentation or how to access the meeting room to upload the presentation and what to do to have necessary applications installed.

We also recommend that presenters attend a brief (10-minute) Adobe Connect meeting to practice using the Adobe Connect interface for your presentation. (Include information about how to schedule a practice session.)

Handouts:

Tell the participants how to obtain the handouts. If they need to download the materials from a Web site or from the File Share pod within an Adobe Connect meeting room, be sure to include the URL and any special directions they will need.

Questions? Please contact us at: e-mail address

Prepare Presenters

Using Adobe Connect when giving a presentation adds an additional layer of technology to the process. Presenters need to know in advance what is expected of them so they have an opportunity to learn more about Adobe Connect and to practice using it. Waiting until presenters arrive at the meeting room to tell them they will be using Adobe Connect isn't fair to the presenters or the the audience. See Tips for Guest Speakers under Hosting Meetings.

As the Host of the meeting, you need to make sure your presenters are as comfortable as possible with the application. When designing a strategy for working with and preparing presenters, identify what presenters will need help with. Some possibilities include:

preparing PowerPoint slides
uploading their PowerPoint and/or other files to the Share pod and File Share pod
learning how to share applications and/or windows
learning to use the audio and video broadcast tools in Adobe Connect
learning how to interact with the audience at a distance and using the emoticons, Q&A Chat pod, and Poll pods in Adobe Connect

When planning what resources you will need to allocate for preparing presenters, consider:

Will there be a single presenter or multiple presenters?
Are the presenters comfortable with using technology? Presenters who are not comfortable using technology are not a good match for using Adobe Connect to deliver a presentation.
Who will prep the presenters prior to the meeting?
How much preparation will presenters need?
How and when will presenters be prepared to give their presentations through Adobe Connect? Just with written instructions? By having them meet in an Adobe Connect meeting room to practice? Who will meet with them and help them prepare?
Will presenters need help to upload their presentations into the Adobe Connect room? Who will help them?
Will Presenter files be sent in advance to participants? As e-mail attachments? Made available at the Web site to download? Uploaded to the File Share pod in the meeting room for Attendees to download? (See Strategy for Distributing Handouts under this section.)
Who will coordinate uploading and distributing presenters' files?
What if presenters do not provide materials in advance?

Prepare the Presenters (Ahead of Time)

Presenters who have never used Adobe Connect will need help preparing for the meeting. Even presenters who do use Adobe Connect may appreciate a chance to get into the meeting room, upload their content, and practice their presentation.

To prepare for the Adobe Connect meeting, a moderator/Host/event coordinator will need to:

Either meet presenter(s) in the Adobe Connect room where the meeting will take place and help them upload their materials or arrange to upload their content for them.
Review meeting goals and objectives with presenters
Tell the presenter(s) what the audio and video broadcast strategies are for the meeting, then practice the strategies with the presenter(s).
Review your strategy for interacting with the remote audience with the presenter(s).
Review presentation tips with presenters. preferably while in the Adobe Connect room.
Develop a plan for helping people who arrive at the meeting to present but who have not uploaded their materials in advance and have not taken time to practice.

Prepare Audiences

Prepare the Face-to-Face Audience in a Mixed Adobe Connect/Face-to-Face Meeting

One very important but often overlooked step in planning and preparing for a mixed meeting is preparing the face-to-face audience. Just like with any other type of videoconference there are things the face-to-face audience can do to make the meeting more productive and pleasant for everyone.

Notify all Participants

When you notify participants of the meeting, be sure to make it clear that the meeting will include the use of Adobe Connect. Even if you will be using Adobe Connect just to record the meeting and won't be including a remote audience, your face-to-face participants will need to adapt their behavior to accommodate the special circumstances.

Speak Up and Quiet Down

Tell all participants what the strategy is for handling questions and interactions during the meeting. As part of the interaction strategy, you should also let everyone know about any special needs you have in regard to your audio broadcast strategy.

Depending on your audio strategy, you may need to show the face-to-face audience where the microphones are, ask them to speak up when asking a question or participating in a discussion, show them how to use the "Talk" button in the Camera and Voice pod, and show them the green audio broadcast bar in the Camera and Voice pod so they can tell if the mic is picking up and broadcasting their voice.

While speaking up is important to a successful meeting, it is also important for all participants to realize that the microphones may pick up even small sounds, like whispering, paper shuffling, and pencil tapping. Besides being distracting and annoying to all participants, these little noises take up bandwidth and can reduce the overall audio quality. Remote attendees also need to remember to mute their mics when they are not speaking or they may accidentally, unwittingly include all of the meeting attendees in a private conversation or phone call.

Remote Attendees are People Too

Remind face-to-face attendees that the remote attendees are an important part of the meeting. Face-to-face attendees need to make every effort to include remote attendees in discussions and presentations. As the moderator for the meeting, you will need to have well defined strategies for distributing handouts, especially ones that arrive at the last minute, as well as for handling questions and other interactions (see Developing Strategies under this section). Then, make sure all meeting attendees know what these strategies are.

Recordings

Be sure to tell everyone participating in the meeting that the session is being recorded. Depending on who is participating in the meeting and how you will be using the recording, you may also need to obtain release forms from participants.

Video Broadcast

Depending on your video broadcast strategy, you may need to ask participants to sit still when broadcasting video and/or show them how to take a snapshot of themselves in the Camera and Voice pod. Excessive motion when your video strategy calls for live, full-motion video can take extra bandwidth and reduce the quality of both the video and audio for remote participants.

Day of the Event

On the day of the meeting, make sure everyone has their checklists that were developed during the planning phase and arrives at the meeting room early enough to complete all of the identified tasks, probably about an hour before the meeting is scheduled to begin.

Following are typical tasks that will need to be completed before the meeting begins:

Arrive at the meeting room early enough to set up and test the Adobe Connect computer network connection, computer projection, audio connection, and video.
Run the “test your computer” link and select meeting room settings to optimize available bandwidth.
Run the Audio Setup Wizard and test the audio broadcast with a remote assistant.
The face-to-face meeting room moderator will need to greet presenters as they arrive at the face-to-face meeting room and help them get set up for their presentations. For large meetings this needs to be someone other than the person running the meeting.
The face-to-face meeting room moderator will need to give presenters a “reminder” tip sheet for presenting using Adobe Connect and confirm with them the audio and video broadcasting strategy for the meeting based on their type of presentation.
The moderator in the face-to-face room should help with last-minute presentation uploading, either from Presenters who made changes to their presentation after uploading to the meeting room, or from Presenters who didn’t submit their presentation in advance. Last-minute uploads can be done through a Share pod set up in the preparation area of the Adobe Connect meeting room without interfering with the current presentation.
The person running the face-to-face meeting room will greet attendees as they arrive and distribute tip sheets for participating in a meeting that includes attendees in an Adobe Connect meeting room.
The moderator in the Adobe Connect room will greet participants as they arrive and help them test their audio connection. Depending on the number of remote participants, this should begin 30 to 60 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. If this is a closed meeting, the Adobe Connect room moderator needs to be in the Adobe Connect room no less than 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting to admit participants.

During the Meeting

Make sure all tasks that need to be completed during the meeting are assigned. Typically these tasks will include:

As each presenter comes forward to give his/her presentation, the face-to-face room moderator should help presenters connect mic(s) and test sound.
If wireless sound is being used, remind attendees to turn off cell phones -- Bluetooth is especially a problem. Using a PowerPoint slide posted in the Share pod of the projected meeting room would be an easy way to make this announcement.
The Adobe Connect room moderator should make announcements to Adobe Connect attendees and/or post announcements in a Note pod. For example, attendees could be reminded to post questions in the Chat pod.
The Adobe Connect room moderator should make sure attendees can hear and can communicate (e.g., through the Chat pod). When making sure all can hear, also post the question in the Chat pod so that people who cannot hear know that they should be able to. Either ask people to respond via the Chat pod or ask them to use the emoticons in the Attendee list. When using the Attendee List emoticons, you can ask for those who can hear to give you a thumbs-up. Remember to clear the emoticons after responses are given.
The Adobe Connect room moderator should switch layouts as needed based on the Presenter’s needs. Please be aware that switching between layouts causes pods on the screen to move around. People inclined to get motion sickness need to know in advance to look away from the screen. Switching layouts also causes an interruption in the audio broadcast. Remind presenters to stop speaking while the layout is changing.
The Adobe Connect room moderator should introduce each presenter and his/her topic via a Note pod. If the agenda is published in advance, this should be posted in a Note pod before the meeting starts.
The face-to-face room moderator should “coach” presenters if they forget the tips for presenting in Adobe Connect while they are speaking, e.g., let them know that the Adobe Connect audience cannot hear and remind them to speak into the mic. Before the meeting begins, make sure you have a way to communicate these problems to the presenters without disrupting the presentations.
If remote Participants are broadcasting sound, be sure they know to mute their mics when not speaking.
The face-to-face room moderator will implement an equipment failure backup plan if needed.

Team Member Roles

Depending on the size of your meeting, one person may play several roles. For example, in a classroom setting, the instructor may be the meeting moderator, the Host, and the Presenter. Also, in a small meeting, you may not need a tech moderator, or you may only need the tech moderator for the first couple of times the group meets until everyone is comfortable with the technology.

If your meeting Participants need to be able to broadcast audio and video, they will need to have Presenter permissions rather than just Participant permissions.

Here is an example of how roles might be defined for a large, interactive meeting:

Guest (Content expert/Guest Presenter) will:

have Host permissions
have a wired Internet connection
provide information for PowerPoint slides to be displayed while s/he is speaking
know the strategy for taking questions from the audience
know the strategy for broadcasting audio
know the strategy for broadcasting video

Host will:

have Host permissions
have a wired Internet connection
organize the meeting
arrange marketing and send announcements
send reminder announcements
reserve equipment if necessary
reserve necessary rooms
arrange for any needed equipment and/or connections if not already available
work with the guest(s) on the content for the meeting
create a lesson plan or meeting plan with goals and objectives
may need to create a PowerPoint file based on content submitted by guest(s)
upload files and create Adobe Connect layouts
create poll pods containing information provided by guest(s)
hold a practice session for production staff and guest
record the meeting if the sound is through a phone conference call – otherwise the tech moderator will record the meeting
open the meeting and provide announcement information to participants
introduce guest and topics
manage the meeting, adhering to the allotted time schedule
cue guest(s) with audience questions
help with discussion if there are no audience questions
prepare and post exit evaluation questions for the seminar
send reminder announcement that recording has been posted – could also include information about the next meeting

Meeting Moderator will:

have Host permissions
have a wired Internet connection
have access to a phone to talk with attendees having problems as well as to talk with the tech moderator if necessary
monitor chat pod and respond to participants when appropriate, both publicly and privately
work with tech moderator to resolve technical problems that may arise
tell the Tech Moderator if s/he notices a technical problem
monitor chat pod and submit questions to the Host to be asked of the guest

Tech Moderator will:

have Host permissions
have a wired Internet connection
have access to a phone
record the meeting unless the sound is through a conference phone connection, in which case the Host will have to record the meeting
monitor the meeting for technical problems
monitor the chat pod for technical problems and work one-on-one with participants through private chat or on the telephone as needed to resolve the problems
notify Host of technical problems if appropriate
work with Host to resolve technical problems within the presentation (e.g., sound, mic, camera, files, network, equipment failure)
have backup equipment ready to swap out for the guest and Host if necessary

Meeting Participant will:

have participant permissions
have various Internet connections to the meeting room
be able to download files from the File Share pod
be able to ask questions using the Chat pod; may be able to use private chat
be able to use emoticons
be able to page through the intro slides before the seminar begins
be able to go to full screen if they so choose

Case Study: Mixed Audience

The members of the Penn State Adobe Connect team are located in a number of different buildings throughout the University Park campus. For example, it takes twenty to thirty minutes each way to walk, ride the bus, or drive between Rider Building II downtown and the Computer Building to attend a large group meeting. As the team members learned to use Adobe Connect and became more comfortable with it, we found it just as easy to set up an Adobe Connect meeting room where we could gather, saving on a lot of travel time.

Typically, four or five people are present in the Rider II conference room and two or three people at various other locations are present in the Adobe Connect meeting room, which is projected on the screen in the conference room. All Adobe Connect participants are given Host permissions so they can broadcast their audio and video as well as access all of the tools in the meeting room. Assigning everyone Host permissions is acceptable in this situation, where everyone is a trusted member of the team and knows how to use Adobe Connect. However, doing so could be risky in other situations. Remember that a Host has control of all of the tools in the meeting room and can therefore “hijack” the meeting room—either accidentally or on purpose.

We use a unidirectional Blue Snowball microphone so that everyone in the conference room can speak and be heard by participants in the Adobe Connect meeting room. Team members gathered in the conference room hear the participants in the Adobe Connect room speaking through the speakers on the project leader's computer.

We have also used a conference phone instead of the internal Adobe Connect meeting voice-over-IP broadcast. This is the best method to use if at least one person in the meeting is connecting via dial-up, if several people might be talking at the same time, or if application sharing in the Adobe Connect room is the most important aspect of the meeting. In addition to providing consistent quality, using a conference phone saves bandwidth so the Adobe Connect meeting room runs more smoothly with fewer performance issues.

Our Adobe Connect meeting room layout typically contains the Camera and Voice pod, a Share pod, the Attendee pod, a Chat pod, and a Note pod. We use the Note pod for taking meeting notes that can be copied and pasted into an e-mail message after the meeting and sent to the group, including people who may have missed the meeting. We do not usually record our meetings; it is easier and quicker to distribute the notes and have people make additional comments through e-mail.

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Typical Adobe Connect Team Meeting Room Layout

We include the Chat pod as an alternate means of communication.

We use the Share pod to share applications and windows to demonstrate work in progress (such as user interfaces the programmers are creating) and to review and update tasks in our project management application.

The project leader is responsible for scheduling the meeting, creating the Adobe Connect meeting room, arranging for the meeting audio—using either a phone connections or unidirectional microphone—and e-mailing the Adobe Connect meeting room URL to attendees. The project leader also reserves the conference room and comes to the meetings five minutes early to set up the computer, make phone connections if necessary, and turn on the computer projector.