All good points Dave. On tonight's demo, we got the audio sorted out. Bigmarker is short on instructions:
- the headset icon turns on mic AND speakers - then a prompt asks if the server can use your mic and speakers - you must 'allow' this before your sound can activate- there is a few second delay and if someone is not on headset, there is feedback. - you don't need a full headset, but at least earbuds so your mic won't transmit the delayed signal
- sound quality is excellent- my screen share was way too slow to be useful. Garth's was marginally better(forget his cpu speed)
- uploading reference material, pointer, and text chat was great.The only unresolved question is capacity. If everyone is willing, I will set up the next trial for this Tuesday.
Good quality voice-comms is essential.A good way to share a desktop so that the presenter can demonstrate things is very important. Being able to see a laggy, low resolution video of the other attendees faces is rarely useful. Instant Messenger stuff like iChat/AIM/Jabber is handy for person-to- person sniping :)Skype does voice very well. You can do voice-only conference calls with up to 25 participants for free with Skype. Skype can also do text chat alongside that. BigMarker can share a desktop / presentation / etc, it can also do text chat.Using these tools in combination might work well. We do the talking on a Skype conference call, we don't do any audio, or video in BigMarker, use it only to do the business of presenting and demonstration.Also... as I was reminded last night, using the built in mic/speaker on a laptop to join a conference call is not good, introducing extraneous noise or feedback onto a call with many participants is bad. In fact it's good practice for everyone to use a headset and to mute themselves when they're not talking.
Wayne Dobson pwdobson@xxxxxxxxxx (519) 474-1253 res. (519) 860-2725 cell --- Manage your account options at //www.freelists.org/list/muglo
