Home · Certification · Job Board · Discussion Forum · Links · Membership · Next Meeting · Past Meetings · Steering Committee
| |
Home · Certification · Job Board · Discussion Forum · Links · Membership · Next Meeting · Past Meetings · Steering Committee |
 |
This month, SASQAG is introducing our new streaming presentation service. Initially, we will be offering new SASQAG public meeting presentations for viewing a few days after each meeting. We will also be adding past meetings starting with 2004 and 2005 as we have time and get author/presenter permission.Our first offering is May 2005's Lean Production by Larry Schuiski. Go to the "Past Meetings" tab and look for the logo. Let us know how it works for you.
|
Q) When I try to view the presentation I only see a gray box with a red X in the corner. Why is this happening?
A) Click this link for answer..
-----
Q) I have other technical problems or questions about the playback of
presentations...where do I go?
A) The Impatica (the tool we use to stream) playback FAQ is here.
-----
Q) Why are you adding On-Demand presentations of the monthly SASQAG public meetings? Won't people stop coming?
A) Over the past few years, attendance at our public meetings has been declining while our membership has increased. Our members are working longer hours and are finding less free time to increase their knowledge in the profession. Companies are expecting their employees to spend more of their own time to do professional improvement and training. We are still doing our "birds of a feather" networking sessions at every meeting which can't be reproduced on the WEB. The SASQAG steering committee has been interested in finding a way for more people to benefit from the excellent presentations at our public meetings. We have been planning this service for the past couple of years and we hope it will help our current members and perhaps expand the SASQAG membership.
-----
Q) How is SASQAG paying for this service...are members being charged to listen to past meetings?
A) The startup costs are being paid for by one of our sponsors, SAFECO Insurance. At this time, there is no charge to our membership and we will try to keep it this way. You might want to send SAFECO an email if you want to thank them.
-----
Q) What is the difference between
and
?
A) The dialup stream has a higher audio compression and does not have the playback control bar. The broadband stream is the same content with a little less compression on the audio and includes the playback control which will allow the user to repeat slides and move to the next slide manually.
-----
Q) There is a blank screen when I start the stream...what's wrong?
A) When you select either the dialup or broadband version of the program stream, a small Java program is downloaded to your computer to actually play the audio and display the slides. It can take 10-20 seconds for the program to start, especially if you are on a dialup line. Then the content (program) starts to download to your computer. Once enough of the program is downloaded to start playing, the presentation will start. The first screen will be the SASQAG banner for 10-15 seconds with no sound, then the first slide of the presentation will be displayed, then the audio will start. Be patient, especially if you are on a dialup line..
-----
Q) Why does the audio "skip" sometimes, especially when the slides change?
A) Each slide has it's own audio track. When the presentation was recorded at the SASQAG meeting, the presenter might have been speaking during the slide transition, thus there might be a momentary audio "glitch". The audio can also pause or "cut out" if the stream "runs dry" (the download can't keep up with the playback). This happens most often if you are using a dialup connection. Be patient, the audio will start up again where it left off once a buffer has been established...nothing is missed.
-----
Q) When the presenter goes to another program to show a demo or display the screen during his presentation, they don't show up in the stream...why?
A) Only the PowerPoint slides are included in the stream. Once the presenter goes back to the slides, the slides will advance again.
-----
Q) What technology are you using for this service?
A) We have purchased a product called "IMPATICA for PowerPoint" which takes a MS PowerPoint presentation with narration, compresses it, and builds a file which will stream without any "helper" programs.
-----
Q) How do you produce the programs?
A) In the back/side of the Attachmate auditorium, we have a laptop loaded with same presentation as the author uses up at the podium. The presenter uses two wireless mics; one that is for the room PA system and one that goes back to a receiver that is connected to the laptop at the back of the room. When the presenter starts his presentation, the operator records the audio using the PowerPoint "narration" feature. The operator also changes the slides when the presenter does so the slides and the audio are in sync. Sometimes the presenter goes back to a previous slide or skips a few slides forward...it depends on how attentive/lucky the operator is as to how good the recording comes out. This is all done "real time" and we don't go back and fix or re-record things. Once the presentation is completed, the file is saved. After the meeting, the Impatica tool is used to convert the PowerPoint presentation to the format for streaming. Next, the files are uploaded to out Web provider (Hostway) and the WEB pages are edited to reflect the new content and uploaded. Once we do some testing, the site goes into production.
-----
Q) Seems like the "dialup" stream is a waste of time to offer...nobody does dialup anymore.
A) Since we started SASQAG.org, Mark Bullock (our webmaster) has continued to make the site "dialup friendly" by keeping the layout free of lots of graphics, lots of frames and animations. If people don't use the dialup streams, we'll stop offering it and save server space. Right now, it's no big deal...the streams compress down to 5-10mb for a 45 minute program...that means we only have to push around 150k down the line per minute to hold the audio/visual stream!
-----
Q) Do you have any suggestions for using the presentations?
A) We hope you have some ideas...perhaps you can put together a lunchtime "brownbag" meeting and invite coworkers interested in the content. You can use an overhead projector and a computer connected to the WEB. You can print the slides from the SASQAG WEB site and make copies or just let people know where they can find them on the SASQAG.org past-meetings pages. Of course, you can always listen on your own time...send the URL of the presentation to others in your organization so they can benefit from the presentations. Please respect the authors content...don't charge for the event and give credit to the author. If you use some of the slides in your company, give credit to the author and include their name, company, and email address.
-----
Q) How can I ask questions or make comments about
?
A) You can either send us email or go to the SASQAG forums system. There is a SASQAG On-Demand forum for comments and suggestions (remember, you need to register with the forum system to add content).. SASQAG hopes this will allow many more of our members to benefit from the excellent presentations at out public meetings.
Email questions about SASQAG or this web site to webmaster at sasqag.org