Comments on: What’s next for NECC?

By: EdStreamTV is going live! - Teach42

EdStreamTV is going live! - Teach42 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:58:17 +0000

[...] It’s no secret that I think streaming video is going to be huge at NECC. I’ve already blogged about it once. A thread that I started on the NECC Ning site caused some major conversation. This led to an ISTE [...]

By: Luke Allen

Luke Allen — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:23:13 +0000

Live streams and backchannels…great for those of us who can’t make the conferences, but if folks are just streaming away at every opportunity, what does this do for the presenters and any copyright issues that may arise over their presentations. Any copyright lawyers in the house. (You have no idea how it pains me to say that!)

Luke Allen’s most recent blog post.. FIREFOX 3!

By: Plugged In to NECC. I hope… | Onionskin

Plugged In to NECC. I hope… | Onionskin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:29:32 +0000

[...] sure this will come to a maddening cacophony in the next two weeks — until I ran across this post by Steve Dembo a week or so [...]

By: Catherine L. Nelson

Catherine L. Nelson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:25:40 +0000

I think the love affair with twitter is over-but back channels of any kind will be the rage for NECC. I already have friends asking me if I’ll ustream some of the sessions I attend. I said i may not make it to a single one, just sit somewhere and network, but if they’s like to participate, Ustream could serve. So if I had to say what will be ever so popular this year, I’d say back channels. Any kind. Great post Steve.

By: John Thompson

John Thompson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:20:15 +0000

@Steve
And you raise a great point, too. Increased participation via streamed sessions might make more people aware of NECC (there are still many, many folks who don’t know about it), which could actually increase conference registrations. Or conferences could offer a reduced registration fee that would be “just” for streamed (live or archived) presentations. BTW, what’s to prevent anyone from taping presentations they attend and then uploading the video to an Internet site? With some planning and organization, conference goers themselves could make the matter moot if they “crowd source” the taping themselves. As for me, I’m convuluted on the topic of whether streamed presentations will help or hurt actual physical conference attendance. But with gas and airline prices spiraling out of sight and videos becoming ubiquitous on the Internet, conference organizers need to consider some alternatives to the traditional way of running their conferences.

By: Steve Dembo

Steve Dembo — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:46:56 +0000

@John
Now that’s a great point. Interestingly, we had similar discussions when podcasting became mainstream and many sessions were broadcast that way. While there may be some people who would opt to just attend virtually for that reason, I think there’s much more to the conference than just the sessions. The vendor area is obviously a huge draw, but to many people the best part of the conference is the networking you get to do there. I spoke to many people last year who said they could have gotten a ton out of the conference even if they hadn’t gone to a single session.

So not advocating that we eliminate presentations, but suffice to say I think it may actually do more to advertise the conference than drive people away!

Steve Dembo’s most recent blog post.. Lose weight with the Wii Fit? The numbers don’t lie.

By: John Thompson

John Thompson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:38:20 +0000

Sounds good but what will the impact on conference organizers like ISTE if conference “attenders” don’t have to pay a registration fee to view the conference presentations? Couple that with the impact of the rising price of gas for cars and planes and you start to see that conference attendance is poised to take a big hit.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:11:29 +0000

@Jill Heh, I don’t think I said that it was a new mode of communication. That it was going to be the hot topic for NECC this year and become adopted by a critical mass.

Oh, and by the way. By using Veodia as the streaming technology instead of uStream or any of hte others, you can can actually stream it directly into Second Life so people CAN virtually participate I’ll be doing a short presentation on this a week from today at the DEN HQ in second life!

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:25:19 +0000

Video streaming is the new mode of communication? I think that might be a stretch. How about having the ability to virtually participate in sessions using MUVEs like Second Life? That might be a little more cutting edge but only a little…

By: Sheryl A. McCoy

Sheryl A. McCoy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:00:34 +0000

I agree, the video streaming is reaching critical mass as a “new” mode of communication that will transform the way people view conferences.

I have watched various presenters , using UStream improve greatly over time. The first ones I saw were weak, but my first one will probably be weak. Weak or not, these presentations serve as an inspiration for me. I get it! I see the need to stream presentations, and I thank them for their risk taking abilities.

If you wait until your work is perfect, you will never do anything for fear of making mistakes.

As teachers, we know that making mistakes is the most important part of learning. Make an effort, refocus the effort, make another effort, etc until the improved effort meets the final standards we set for our work.

By: Steve Dembo

Steve Dembo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:05:13 +0000

@JackieB Heh, it’s a big jump to go from 0 sessions live video streamed last year, to having most of the sessions you want to attend virtually being streamed!

Oh, and for the record, I wouldn’t pigeonhole it to uStream. There are so many other options for different situations. Qik and CometNow for mobiles, Veodia for higher quality and for SecondLife, and so on…

@Andy Love the idea. Obviously that’d require the presenter to coordinate with the ’streamer’ prior to the event. But clearly doable. Hmm…. thinking that something really needs to be created for this.

Steve Dembo’s most recent blog post.. What’s next for NECC?

By: JackieB

JackieB — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:44:48 +0000

UStream will be the next big splash? Funny, I've already come to take it for granted. I assumed that most of the sessions I want to attend virtually will be available. Strange how the "new" becomes commonplace. JackieB's most recent blog post.. Dimensional Fun

By: Stephanie Sandifer

Stephanie Sandifer — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:40:14 +0000

I do think it would be helpful to have some centralized page to organize who is broadcasting, and when and where (Ustream, mogulus, etc.) to help "viewers" find those broadcasts. I also agree with the comments about quality. This past March I had the opportunity to do some live streaming for a local event that featured David Warlick as the keynote speaker. I wrote up my tech notes in this blog post: http://www.ed421.com/?p=433 I am sure there are several options for broadcasting quality live video stream and it might be a good idea to try to collect those options/technical instructions somewhere for everyone to access. Stephanie Sandifer's most recent blog post.. Catch the Fever: Viral Professional Development - Add your voice!

By: andy carvin

andy carvin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:09:02 +0000

If you wanted to get really sophisticated with it, you could have a copy of a presenter's powerpoint and websites they're sharing on the laptop that's doing the streaming, so if you use a service like Mogulus.com, you can switch between the video of the presenter and the stuff they're showing on their screen. Personally, I just want to be able to listen in, since I can't attend this year, so I don't care if the video quality stinks. I just want to hear the conversation. Wish I could be there; otherwise I'd be qikstreaming like a madman. andy carvin's most recent blog post.. A Camel Eating Cantaloupe

By: Steve Dembo

Steve Dembo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:05:57 +0000

@kmulford Your comment made me think of an interesting idea. I wonder whether we need a wiki page somewhere, where people who are attending virtually can REQUEST streams of specific presentations? Or a list of presentations where people can mark if they are going to be streaming it out. That way people don’t double up, wasting bandwidth. Hmm… Gotta mull that one over.

@Nancy Heh, I’ll forgive the caps I TOTALLY understand. I’ve had some people stream sessions of mine where the bulk of the time the camera was on an empty lectern as I wandered the stage. However, I do think that’s part of the learning process. People that make those mistakes generally learn from them and do it differently the next time. And I couldn’t agree more about the slides. Combining the live action with a slideshare of the presentation is really the best of all worlds.

@Rob Amen. So long as the audio comes clean, it’s worth it.