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General FAQs
Below are the general FAQs for the Netbriefings solutions.
1. What is Web Conferencing and Streaming Media?
2. What is Internet Conference Management?
3. Will it replace actual meetings?
4. Why should I try Web conferencing?
5. Why would I include a survey or test in a Webcast?
6. What does it cost?
7. How many viewers can participate at the same time?
8. Do we have to come to your Webcast studio to hold an event?
9. How can two people, one with a 56K modem and one with DSL, both see the same presentation with different connections?
10. Will it work if we have an Intranet with firewalls?
11. How do I put on an interactive presentation?
12. Why do polling questions stay on the screen for only a brief period?
13. How do I log on to an archived event?
14. How do I install RealPlayer?
15. How do I install RealPlayer for a Macintosh?
16. How do I install Windows Media Player for a Macintosh?
1. What is Web Conferencing and Streaming Media?
Web Conferencing allows you to deliver full-featured visual, interactive presentations over the Internet. These presentations can include PowerPoint slides, Web pages or documents, pictures, graphs, charts, whiteboards, and other types of media sources.
Streaming Media is streaming video with sound. With streaming video or streaming media, a Web user does not have to wait to download a large file before seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the video is sent in a continuous stream and played as it arrives.
The only thing the user needs is a standard Web browser and a streaming player, which is a special program that uncompresses and
sends video data to the display and audio data to speakers. Examples of Streaming Players are, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player.
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2. What is Internet Conference Management?
Internet Conference Management (ICM) is
not video conferencing. It does not require people to
travel to a conference site. Also unlike video conferencing, connection
time is a minor billing factor. It is not for small groups, but
for a larger audience.
It is the use of the Internet
to conduct meetings, conferences, and presentations for larger
or widely dispersed audiences. It is sufficiently economical
for use with frequency. ICM incorporates:
- Streaming audio and video,
- Graphic presentations, standard or
animated,
- Feedback, which includes
- online polling - the interspersing
of context-sensitive questions geared for immediate response
from viewers, and
- Interactive communications, including
- centrally controlled messaging,
- interactive "chat" messaging,
and
- teleconferencing for more personal
contact.
- Archiving of live presentations for
later retrieval by viewers who were unable or unauthorized to
view the original Webcast.
- Statistics for your organization, with
detailed information on viewers, both individually and as a
group.
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3. Will it replace actual
meetings?
Internet conferencing will never totally
replace actual meetings. But because Internet conferencing is
so cost effective, you may want to reduce the number of face-to-face
meetings and augment them with Internet conferencing. And, because
it is convenient, you will end up providing more information,
more often, and for less cost, to those you need to reach
... even with reduced face-to-face meetings.
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4. Why should I try Web
conferencing?
Save a lot of money. Studies
have shown that one can save 50% over video conferencing for small
events, and over 1800% for large events. Payback can range from
1 month to 3 months.
There's no travel or lodging costs,
no conference facilities to rent, and a lot fewer people
to involve in preparation. Because it's less expensive, you can
communicate more frequently with your audience, be it your
own employees, your customers, prospects or vendors.
Save a lot of time. Convenience,
alone, eliminates opportunity costs, allowing participants
to continue their normal work until the precise moment the communication
event begins.
Increase participation and reach.
The viewer need only log on to the Internet. The convenience provides
a greater incentive for potential participants, since they can
spend more time doing their jobs, instead of traveling to the
event.
Easy to do. Planning and
setting up an Internet conference is easy, so you can hold them
whenever the need arises. You don't have to plan a month or two
in advance.
Immediate measure of results.
With Internet conferencing, through quick audience queries, or
intermittent polls or tests, you know the impact of your event
immediately. You can elaborate on key points or adjust a session
"on the fly."
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5. Why would I include
a survey or test in a Webcast?
For at least two reasons.
- If you hold similar events or presentations
with some frequency, a survey can help you improve each
subsequent event.
- If viewers know there is a survey (or
test) at the end, it can help keep their interest. If you present
to your sales force, service providers, or supply channel, a
test can be used to indicate their comprehension. In some cases,
test scores can be used to reward good results. In other cases,
they provide an opportunity to cover low-scoring topics with
more or different detail.
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6. What does it cost?
It costs much less than all other
forms, except for teleconferencing. However, unlike teleconferencing,
cost is not time-based.
The cost is a factor of the complexity
of the multi-media you choose, the number and type of slides,
if any, and the expected number of viewers of the actual and the
archived events. The service is all-inclusive. In
most cases, there is virtually no burden on your IT department.
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7. How many viewers can
participate at the same time?
The true number is unlimited.
Current technology limits a single server to 2000 streams for 2000 viewers.
But there is no limit on the number ofthe number of concurrent servers.
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8. Do we have to come
to your Webcast studio to hold an event?
No, Netbriefings can come to you. There may be parts of a presentation that are
best presented from the studio, but good presentations can originate
from your offices or any location you choose. It is similar to
doing "remotes" on the nightly news. Remotes are sometimes less
sophisticated than studio productions.
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9. How can two people,
one with a 56K modem and one with DSL, both see the same presentation
with different connections?
The technology that allows sending video
through networks is called streaming. Quality video streaming
is optimized for different receiving speeds. The servers hosting
a presentation send streams of video and audio at separate speeds.
Your computer receives the stream optimized for your Internet
connection. In your case, the 56K modem and the DSL router are
receiving two separate streams, each optimized for different speeds.
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10. Will it work if we
have an Intranet with firewalls?
This is one case where we must work with
your IT department. Through them, your computers can be updated
free to include current streaming technology, and allow streaming
media to pass. However, updating does take some advance planning.
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11. How do I put on an
interactive presentation?
We can provide all the details. Simply
review Solutions and
How do I get Started? These will help you determine your needs, and
help us understand them when you contact us.
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12. Why do polling questions
stay on the screen for only a brief period?
Questions are designed to be clear, with
answers that require a simple click. Therefore, after sufficient
time for reading and replying, responses are tabulated quickly
for immediate display in a format chosen by the presenting organization.
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13. How do I log on to
an archived event?
If you are an authorized viewer, you will
be given instructions for logging on to a live and archived event
when you are notified of its broadcast. Our emailed instructions
include live URL links, easily accessed by clicking on them.
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14. How do I install
RealPlayer?
Instructions
for installing RealPlayer
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15. How do I install
RealPlayer for a Macintosh?
To participate in an on-line presentation it
is required to have the latest RealPlayer 8 Basic installed in your computer.
-
To download a free copy of RealPlayer 8 Basic
release for Macintosh, please go to the download
site.
-
Click the RealPlayer 8 Basicis our Free Player link
near the bottom of the page, on the left.
-
Fill out the information requested, being sure to
choose the appropriate version for your Macintosh Operating
System.
-
Follow the instructions for downloading and
installing the software.
Note
-
The system requirements for
RealPlayer and RealPlayer Plus G2 for Macintosh are as follows:
Minimum Computer:
Recommended Computer:
-
Macintosh OS 8.1 or higher
-
64 MB RAM or higher
-
65 MB virtual memory
-
PowerPC G3 processor (233 MHz
or faster)
-
Internet Explorer 5.0 or
higher, or Netscape 4.5 or higher
Please note that higher bit rate
content will not perform well on a lower end Macintosh with a minimum
amount of RAM. We recommend playing higher bit rate content on PowerPC
G3 machines with a 233 MHz (or faster) processor.
We also recommend that you run your
Player with Virtual Memory on, and allocated to at least 65 MB. As a
general rule, please do not run many programs while using RealPlayer
G2 for the Macintosh with high bit rate content.
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RealPlayer
8 will automatically overwrite RealPlayer
7 and RealPlayer G2. It is not possible to have both RealPlayer 8
and RealPlayer 7 or RealPlayer G2 installed on the same computer.
All of your custom channels and favorites will migrate from
RealPlayer 7 or RealPlayer G2 to RealPlayer 8.
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RealPlayer 8 will not overwrite RealPlayer
5.0 Plus
and earlier unless you install RealPlayer 8 into the same folder as
the older version.
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You may need to use StuffIt Expander to decompress
the downloaded file. If you don't already have this software
installed, you can get it from Aladdin systems at
http://www.aladdinsys.com.
-
Should installing the RealPlayer present
difficulties, please click on the following link to Real.com help
pages
http://www.service.real.com/realplayer/.
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16. How do I install
Windows Media Player for a Macintosh?
Microsoft recommends that you download and
install Internet Explorer 5.x to access Windows Media Player (WMP)
content.
To download and install the player, you first need
to remove any older version of WMP on your system:
- Drag the Microsoft Media Player folder to the Trash.
- In the Preferences folder, delete the Microsoft Media Player Prefs
file.Trash.
- In the Extensions folder,
delete the following files to the trash:
- Acelp.net Decoder 05.0 kbps
- Acelp.net Decoder 06.5 kbps
- Acelp.net Decoder 08.5 kbps
- Acelp.net Decoder 16.0 kbps
- Mpeg Layer - 3 Audio
- MPG4
- VivoActive G723 Decoder
- Voxware Sound Component v1.5
- Empty the Trash.
- Reboot your computer.
Note: The QuickTime PowerPlug extension must be enabled
for the Windows Media Player to install. If the install fails
without an error, verify that QuickTime PowerPlug is in the
"Extensions" folder and enabled.
Installing Windows Media Player
- Before installing Windows Media Player
please check to see that your system meets the following
requirements:
- Apple Mac OS 8.5 or later (Mac OS 8.6
or later recommended)
- PowerPC 603e 180 MHz or higher
processor
- 32 megabytes (MB) or higher of RAM with
15 MB assigned to the Player
- Virtual Memory turned on
- 10 MB of free hard disk space
- Monitor color depth of 256 colors
(Millions of colors recommended)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer Explorer 5.0 or later,
Netscape Navigator 4.5 or later
- >Sound Manager 3.1 or later
- Go to the download site.
- Select Windows Media Player 7 or Player 6.3 for Macintosh from the pull-down me
nu.
- Click the Download Now button.
- The WMP for the Macintosh will download to the download location specified by your bro
wser. The default location is the desktop. You may need to
use StuffIt Expander to decompress the WMP for Macintosh. You can get StuffIt
Expander from Aladdin Systems http://www.aladdinsys.com.
- Double-click the installer icon and follow the instructions
For further assistance with Windows Media
Player Mac, go to the following link on the Microsoft Home Page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download/mac7.asp
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