Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro

New Connect Pro whitepapers on Security and Server Virtualization

2009-11-09T18:00:00Z

The Connect Pro team released today three new whitepapers addressing key topics of interest for its hosted and licensed customers. A first set of documents provide an updated security assessment for Connect Pro 7.5; another whitepaper focuses on our support for virtualized server environments.

Security - Collaborate in trust with Connect Pro

Leading organizations are increasingly using realtime collaboration tools, such as Connect Pro, to increase employee productivity and optimize their costs of doing business. While enhanced business velocity is the primary objective, systems security, data integrity and privacy protection are vital imperatives for systems administrators.

Adobe has for long acknowledged that software applications and services must be delivered in a secure and reliable fashion. As part of this commitment to transparency, Adobe released today an updated version of its security reports (one for its SaaS platform, one for its premise-based software). The new documents can be found at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/whitepapers/

Customers will find that, from design to systems deployment, Connect Pro implements best practices for software security at all stages of its engineering development and operations. All Connect Pro application components, whether delivered as a service or licensed software, go through a rigorous process of validation, conducted side-by-side by Adobe's dedicated, in-house security team and third-party security experts.

In addition to the techniques employed to ensure communications encryption and protection against security exploits, it is important to note that Connect Pro also offers leading features for compliance and control. They give systems administrators a tighter control over the functionality accessible to end-users and are useful to mitigate the risk of accidental sharing of sensitive information and ensure alignment with internal and regulatory policies. More details can be found in a tutorial published on our community website, at www.connectusers.com.

Virtualization - Optimize resources with Connect Pro

Server virtualization is becoming the norm across many data centers. The overall level of virtualization has increased steadily over the past years and is widely seen as a valuable avenue for cutting costs and improving resource utilization in the data center.

Four main reasons are driving this uptake:

Server consolidation and data center optimization: by consolidating several workloads on a single, partitioned server and running them each in their own VM, more efficient utilization can be achieved while still allocating sufficient resources to execute each workload. This also allows for substantial savings on data center costs and space.
Business continuity: the deployment and management of applications on virtualization software offers more cost-efficient options for high availability, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery.
Encapsulation and isolation: by creating separate operating environments for multiple applications, virtualization technology mitigates the risk of conflict, facilitates the troubleshooting of runtime problems and achieve security isolation.
Dynamic utility computing: virtualization can turn previously discrete IT resources into an internal utility grid that saves energy, reduces cost and increases reliability.

To take advantage of the benefits of virtualized server architectures, Connect Pro 7.5 has been certified in a virtualized server environment running VMware ESX Server.

The new whitepaper, published at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/whitepapers/, offers benchmarks and data points about the application's performance in a virtual environment, under different configurations (single server setup, clustered three-server setup). It was found that Connect Pro performed on par with an equivalent physical installation and that the user experience was comparable.

This whitepaper also advises customers on the best way to set up and configure Acrobat Connect Pro on VMware ESX Server.

Connect Pro Version 7.5 Released!

2009-11-04T19:19:45Z

We are thrilled to announce a significant update to Acrobat Connect Pro!

Some of the new capabilities include the ability to integrate with any audio conferencing provider, allowing organizations to leverage existing investments. Telephone audio can be recorded along with a Web conference and streamed to VoIP-only meeting participants and advanced integrated audio teleconferencing capabilities include call controls, participant management and synchronized recording. In addition to Acrobat Connect Pro's existing integrations with Premiere Global, MeetingOne, Cisco, and Avaya, Adobe is releasing a new integration with InterCall, the world's largest conferencing and collaboration services provider, to offer customers the ability to deploy Acrobat Connect Pro with InterCall audio conferencing.

Increased webinar capacity will enable users to engage up to 80,000 participants in high-impact sessions that can incorporate rich media demonstrations, live and recorded video and interactivity. This new capacity will support use cases ranging from large marketing events and product launches, to global town hall meetings and effective eLearning programs.

Further enhancements to security and compliance functionality includes more secure desktop sharing that offers increased control and enables regulation compliance and new administrative tools allow customers to define which applications can be screen-shared; users can collaborate with ease without the risk of an inadvertent breach.

With this release, we are offering a new implementation model. In addition to current hosted and on-premise deployment options, Acrobat Connect Pro will be available as a managed service, offering customers the ability to outsource IT support while realizing the benefits of security and control.

Other key areas of additional functionality include: native support of PDF that offers advanced document controls and improved workflow through increased integration with Adobe Acrobat; functionality that enables users to schedule and manage Acrobat Connect Pro meetings directly from Lotus Notes; easy account migration for installed customers who wish to change deployment configurations; and certification that offers on-premise customers the ability to run Acrobat Connect Pro on VMware infrastructure. Additionally, work is currently underway on the Acrobat Connect Pro Mobile application, which will enable meeting participation from mobile devices. The first devices that Adobe is working to enable are the Apple iPhone and iPod touch.

Check out the new release!

Adobe -- Gold Sponsor of Enterprise 2.0 Conference

2009-10-29T16:56:53Z

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference is a forum for business and IT leaders to focus on building more agile and productive business cultures through the use of tools and technologies. Adobe is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor of the Enterprise 2.0 Conference , which is being held November 2-5, 2009. "Unlocking the business value of Enterprise 2.0" is the theme of this year's inaugural San Francisco version of the conference. In his keynote address on November 3rd, Rob Tarkoff, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Business Productivity Solutions group at Adobe Systems, will talk about the Customer-Driven Enterprise and what the future of customer interactions will look like. Adobe will also be making some exciting announcements at the show. I'll be there and hope you will too!

In addition to the keynote, Adobe has a booth in the joint VoiceCon/Enterprise 2.0 Expo Pavillion on Tuesday, November 3rd and Wednesday, November 4th from noon til 5pm. We'll have Connect Pro and Adobe Livecycle ES product experts and demo stations. Be sure to stop by booth #722 to discuss with us our solutions and to see them in action. Note -- since a good portion of the Connect Pro product team is based in San Francisco, there will be quite a few of us at the booth and attending sessions -- so be sure to come talk to us about how we can help you engage with your customers, partners and employees.

Clay Shirky to Speak at the Adobe Learning Summit Nov 9 '09

2009-09-30T23:38:12Z

Don't miss the chance to attend the Adobe Learning Summit in San Jose this November 9th, 2009. As a long time elearning professional I'm particularly excited about our guest keynote speaker, Clay Shirky.

I recently had the honor to discuss with Mr. Shirky some of the collaborative technology topics that I believe are of interest to us as learning and collaboration professionals. In preparation for his address, we discussed impressions and questions I've heard from elearning professionals and have experienced myself. For example, we have all been talking up 'web 2.0', blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and the like for years now, and have even started to see some great examples of how these have accelerated knowledge transfer within and across groups. But how does that really apply to us as learning professionals? Should we embrace these technologies just because we hear they are the latest and greatest? How can we determine whether they might work for our purposes, and if so, where should we get started? And finally, if we do provide the tools for a more social and collaborative learning environment, how do we know the users will embrace them? Is there a way to seed the community, or drive motivation to help our communities evolve and provide valuable knowledge transfer - or more - for our organizations?

With those questions in mind, and with an extensive knowledge of and passion for learning and technology, I am certain Mr Shirky's talk will be memorable for those of us lucky enough to be there to hear him speak. Join us for this exciting keynote speech to kick off a value-packed day, created just for learning professionals at the Adobe Learning Summit.

Clay Shirky's Biography:
Clay Shirky is a writer, educator, and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. In his new book, "Here Comes Everybody", Clay explores how organizations and industries are being upended by open networks, collaboration, and user appropriation of content production and dissemination. In this highly engaging keynote presentation, Mr. Shirky will explore these trends in light of how they impact our efforts as learning professionals.

Clay Shirky references and talks on Ted.com:
http://www.ted.com/search?q=clay+shirky&x=0&y=0

Vote for CO.NX at the Adobe MAX Awards

2009-09-29T21:44:35Z

Thrilled to see that the U.S. Department of State has been nominated for an award at Adobe's annual MAX user conference! The CO.NX project was named a finalist in the public sector category, which recognizes the most innovative use of technology. The U.S. Department of State developed CO.NX to connect U.S. experts with international audiences to better teach the world about the U.S, its policies, and people.

As a tangential aside, Mark Hamill (AKA Luke Skywalker) will be presenting the award in Los Angeles to the winner on October 6.

Please take a minute and vote for CO.NX here: https://www.adobemaxsubmission.com/viewer/?projectid=121.

Congratulations to the entire CO.NX team!

U.S. Marine Corps Selects Connect Pro for Mission-Critical Communications

2009-09-04T13:30:41Z

It's flattering when a customer looks around the web conferencing market and chooses Connect Pro. Even more flattering when 200,000 people do so all at once.

We are thrilled to announce the that US Marine Corp recently selected Connect Pro as their standard across the entire organization to provide deployed troops secure web conferencing and collaboration. The big focus will be to use Connect Pro as a tactical battlefield collaboration tool for deployed troops across locations worldwide, and will used as a part of version 1.5 of the USMC's Tactical Collaboration Work Suite, a portable data center providing robust, highly available, highly scalable collaboration and hosting capabilities to deployed forces.

The Marine Corps cited several factors for adopting Acrobat Connect Pro as its collaboration solution. In addition to meeting stringent standards for security, availability and quality, the solution is Joint Interoperability and Test Command Certified, so troops and military leaders can connect quickly across any Department of Defense network. Also, because Acrobat Connect Pro simply requires that users have Adobe Flash Player, which is already installed on Department of Defense computers and 98 percent of Internet-enabled desktops, it can be deployed in the field for use in extremely low-bandwidth environments and intermittent connectivity.

For a few years now we've been seeing some of the world's most secure organizations in financial services, life sciences, and government -- including the entire U.S. Department of Defense -- turn to Connect Pro as their preferred real-time collaboration solution. This is because Connect Pro not only far exceeds the security capabilities of our competitors, but also enables increased efficiency by removing all the technology barriers found in our competitor's numerous plug-ins, downloads, and system requirements.

Adobe is happy to help the Marine Corps streamline information exchange and keep troops safe in mission-critical deployments.

In Meeting Live Support

2009-09-02T18:03:14Z

About a year ago, we introduced 24x7 in-meeting support for our hosted customers. We have a dedicated team of Connect Pro specialists ready to help you with your meeting needs. To reach them just dial 800-422-3623 from the US. If dialing from another country check this page for our internationals numbers.
Recently some customers seemed to be confused about which number to call when on a 'Gold' support service plan. Even if you are on a gold support plan, you should use these numbers to reach 24x7 in-meeting support, and not use your gold support number.

Updates on Connect Pro Support

2009-08-28T16:04:42Z

Looking for answers to your Acrobat Connect Pro questions, but not sure where to go? There are a number of great online resources available to make you successful when using Connect Pro, such as our user community ConnectUsers.com, Online Help, our Resource Center and more. To make it easier for you to find the right information, we recently made a number of changes on the Acrobat Connect Pro Support Page, we made improvements to the user interface and added quite a bit of content. We now have a "Top Picks" section which we will refresh with new content based on what we hear from our customers and partners.

While we try to make as much content available to you online, there may be times when you don't get the answers you need online or just prefer to get answers directly from us you can do that to. We encourage you to do that. The main Connect Pro support page has North America phone numbers listed and there are links to international numbers too.

I would be remiss if I didn't also address the fact that recently some of our customers calling in to get support have experienced a level of service that is inconsistent with what they expect and deserve. This is unacceptable and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Teams are working around the clock to resolve these issues. I encourage you to read the open letter to all Adobe customers from Lambert Walsh, our Vice President of Technical Services, which addresses the situation. Thank you for your patience and understanding - and please continue to share your concerns and feedback with us.

Connect Pro in Gartner's Leaders Quadrant for the 3rd Year in a row

2009-08-27T17:08:39Z

We're thrilled to announce that Gartner Research has once again placed Acrobat Connect Pro in the "Leaders" quadrant in their 2009 report on web conferencing. Connect Pro was one of 14 products evaluated for the report with rating criteria including product/service, overall viability, customer experience, market understanding, marketing strategy, product strategy and innovation.

Gartner defines a leader as having:

achieved significant market share while demonstrating their ability to respond to customers' needs. Leaders have robust, scalable products with a wide range of features, a large installed base, acceptable financial performance and good distribution. Leaders do well today and are prepared for the future.

Some of the key strengths they cited include our robust support for multimedia, lack of compatibly challenges seen in all of our competitors, our success in security with significant wins in regulated industries, government, and defense, and how our service is optimized for rich media without straining a customer's network.

You can view the full report on our website.

"Virginia is for (Telework) Lovers"

2009-08-26T16:43:14Z

Where were you three weeks ago, on August 3, 2009? If you are a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is a chance you were at home - working.

In June 2009, Governor Tim Kaine issued an executive order to "green" Virginia, with an aim to increase efficiency in state government operations and save the energy of commuting. One of the initiatives was to encourage individuals and organizations to work from home or a remote location on a statewide Telework Day (Monday, August 3, 2009). While symbolic, this event may have proved a powerful catalyst to drive more pervasive telework adoption across Virginia.

According the Telework Trendlines™ 2009 report issued by WorldatWork, the number of U.S. employees who worked remotely at least one day per month increased 39 percent over the past two years, from approximately 12.4 million in 2006 to 17.2 million in 2008. The sum of all teleworkers - employees, contractors and business owners - has risen 17 percent from 28.7 million in 2006 to 33.7 million in 2008.

Making Everyone Win

In Virginia and beyond, telework is a win-win-win opportunity for public and private organizations, their employees, and the environment.

By reducing commuting or discretionary travels, telework supports the reduction of car traffic, greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigates road and air congestion. But it is also a powerful way of increasing operational efficiency. Organizations can save on costly real-estate and office space. They benefit from a highly distributed and cost-effective backup infrastructure (also referred to as "COOP" or "Continuity of Operations") that can help them keep "business as usual" in case of disruptions, such as a weather event or a flu outbreak.

Telework also supports the recruitment and retention of personnel who may not have joined the organization otherwise. For example, the US Patent and Trademark Office, a Connect Pro customer, has found that they could hire skilled examining attorneys who might not be able or willing to relocate to the Washington, DC area; from geographically constrained, their pool of talent has become truly nationwide.

Finally telework strategies play a critical role in maintaining an upbeat work environment and sustaining employee morale by enabling a positive work/life balance and sparing individual the stress and costs of commuting. No wonder that Governor Kaine described telework as a "family-friendly, business-friendly public policy".

Providing Easy-To-Use Tools

To demonstrate that work is "something you do, not just a place you go", it is vital to enable employees to be highly productive from their home, from their car or from a customer's place of business. They must be granted continuous, on-demand and secure access to the informational resources of the organization. Enterprise collaboration tools, such as Connect Pro for web conferencing, become instrumental in this distributed environment.

Web conferencing is critical to maintain cohesion among distant employees, facilitate the accomplishment of cross-organizational projects and ensure the continuity of business relationships with customers and partners.

While many options exist to meet this need, they are not equally efficient. Many web conferencing solutions from large software vendors look appealing and "well-integrated" on paper; others from lesser-known vendors seem robust enough and surely cost-effective. However when you add up the time needed to deploy their multiple components, the burden of training users and their failures (measured in terms of technical problems or lagging adoption), their cost of opportunity outweighs their benefits.

At Adobe, we believe that ease of use is the #1 factor for end-users and buyers in IT and LOBs. Removing technicalities and downloads is critical to stronger adoption, usage and productivity gains.

Finally, with telework, organizations' sensitive information is exchanged among more endpoints, more widely distributed in space. Beyond the security of the connections, it is vital to select tools that ensure the integrity of data and comply with internal policies

Choosing a Ubiquitous Platform for Universal, Secure Access

Because it is built on the Adobe Flash platform, Connect Pro offers both instant access and rich experience to all users, across platforms and operating systems. Additionally, it supplies unique compliance and control features so that administrators can regulate the webconferencing usage and ensure adherence to industry and governance regulations.

Companies can also choose among a SaaS-based service hosted by Adobe or an on-premise setup that keeps the system and its data under their full supervision.

A few months ago, I published a tutorial on how to "Work Remotely with Connect Pro" on our Connect Pro User Community website. For those of you willing to institute flexible work arrangements, I hope this guide will give insightful tips and show why Connect Pro is the right technology to enable your telework environment.

As illustrated by our friends in Virginia, it has now become easier to be a good citizen and a productive employee.

Sneak Preview: Adobe Presenter 7.0.5 update

2009-08-19T13:05:37Z

Paresh Kharya, our product manager for Presenter posted to our ConnectUsers.com group recently about the forthcoming Presenter 7.0.5 update:

In next few weeks we release a significant update for Adobe Presenter 7 which will provide a number of enhancement across the entire product. This update will be distributed through the automatic product update system (Adobe Presenter help-> updates) and would also be downloadable from the Adobe Presenter product update page. The update will be available for all the languages supported by Adobe Presenter 7.

Some of the key highlights of this update are

Improved PowerPoint Conversion and PPTX format support
This update will include support for various PowerPoint SmartArt Animations. It will now be possible to work with and synchronize PowerPoint SmartArt animations. This release will include enhancements for improving the flash conversion fidelity of embedded images in PowerPoint and also enhance the conversion fidelity for various text and shape effects created in PPTX format.

Accessibility
This update addresses a number of issues related to making Presenter content more accessible. There are three key changes

* Enhanced Presenter Presentation player controls, Quiz controls and Warning messages to make them assistive technology friendly and keyboard navigable
* Resolved issues where text content in presentations was not being exposed to screen readers
* Resolved issues where alternative text inserted using PowerPoint was not being exposed to screen readers

Audio Editing
This update will fix the issue where recording audio for a slide using pause and then record only kept the last part. This release will also resolve the audio clipping issue where first quarter second of audio would clip in the published presentations when they are played for the first time. The 'Unknown codec' error which is seen on playing certain MP3 files inside Audio Editor and Quiz Manager will also be fixed.

Embedding of Captivate Content using Presenter
We have enhanced the support for embedding Captivate created flash content in Presenter presentations. Captivate content containing full motion recordings will now play properly without the need to manually copy the Captivate output files to the Presenter data folder. We have also fixed issues related to loss of display fidelity when Captivate content sometimes get imported with incorrect dimensions.

Inserting Flash and Video Content
We have fixed issues related to play back of video in Presenter presentations in Connect Pro meetings including a streaming issue where video inserted using Presenter would get progressively downloaded rather than being streamed. We have resolved issues where Presenter would fail to import certain F4V files and fixed issues related to the size of the inserted videos being different from the original video size.

Publishing to Acrobat Connect Pro
We have resolved an issue where uploading presentations to Connect Pro servers having NTLM authentication enabled would result in a connection error.

Quizzing
We have resolved the issue where quiz button positions and the customized quiz button text were being reset to default when quizzes created using earlier versions of Presenter were modified using Presenter 7. We have also resolved issues related to positioning of questions and options like where answer options would overlap and the radio button becomes non-selectable in some cases with option shuffling.

LMS Reporting
We have resolved the issue where Presenter 7 presentations would show a Javascript error in the course window when launched from the SkillPort LMS system. We have also resolved an issue where Presenter content would not send the "Exit_AU" message to an AICC LMS when an AICC session is closed.

Thanks to all our loyal customers for providing feedback on improving the product and to all the participants of the Presenter Update Beta Program. If you like to submit bugs or feature request suggestions for Presenter or Connect Pro, please do via our product feedback form

Start with Engaging Content

2009-07-06T07:01:00Z

Keeping colleagues and prospects engaged in your meetings is a common challenge. Through chat, breakout rooms, whiteboards, high quality video and more, Acrobat Connect Pro enables you to create high-impact online sessions. However, the distractions of upcoming summer activities and vacations may make it even more difficult for you to get your audience’s attention in the first place. So it is even more important to begin your meetings with highly engaging and interactive content.

]]> Keeping colleagues and prospects engaged in your meetings is a common challenge. Through chat, breakout rooms, whiteboards, high quality video and more, Acrobat Connect Pro enables you to create high-impact online sessions. However, the distractions of upcoming summer activities and vacations may make it even more difficult for you to get your audience’s attention in the first place. So it is even more important to begin your meetings with highly engaging and interactive content.

I like having a lobby area in my Acrobat Connect Pro meeting rooms so that I can easily share engaging content while my audience waits for me to begin my presentation. I change the content based on the audience. For example, when there will be many participants who are newer Connect Pro audiences, I include “how-to” tutorials, links to resources, and customer success videos. If I want input from the audience to so that I can tailor what I cover in my based on their preferences or interests, I include polls for them to answer while we wait to get started.

According to Tom Rath in his book Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford To Live Without, camaraderie among work colleagues increases productivity. So, for some of my regular meetings with internal participants, I include entertaining photos or videos just to get the team talking and to foster a sense of community. More often than not, I load a Connect Collaboration Builder SDK application into my lobby. There are many great applications available on the Connect Exchange, but Connect PRoshambo is my favorite. With Connect PRoshambo, you can bring the in-person experience to your online meeting by enabling any two meeting participants to play Roshambo (aka Rock, Paper, Scissors) within Connect Pro.

I find it to be a great way to keep an audience entertained while waiting for others to join the meeting. It also adds a fun, yet competitive, spirit to meetings which ultimately leads to higher productivity. Once people are active and involved participants in meetings, they are more likely to continue to collaborate and remain engaged.

Announcing the Adobe Learning Summit - Nov 9th

2009-06-25T15:22:26Z

We recently announced details for the Adobe Learning Summit coming to San Jose November 9th. This is an annual event where we share ideas and successes from our customers and partners, our vision for eLearning as well as roadmaps for products and solutions for eLearning professionals. The summit features around two dozen sessions from Adobe customers like Xerox, Intel, Franklin Covey, Thomson Reuters, San Diego State University, Constellation Wines, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement along with several Adobe Product Managers and other experts in Adobe eLearning tools and solutions.

I’m personally very excited to welcome Clay Shirky as our keynote speaker. Clay is a professor at NYU and a prominent writer, educator, and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies (you might see him quoted a lot right now in the general press regarding Twitter and the impact within Iran). In his new book, "Here Comes Everybody", Clay explores how organizations are being upended by open networks, collaboration, and the ease of content production and dissemination afforded to individuals due to the internet. I recently finished his book and recommend it to anyone interested in eLearning or collaboration; very applicable to anyone with an interest in knowledge sharing. I can’t remember the last time I had three pages of notes from a book I ostensibly read for “fun”.

Additional information can be found here: http://www.adobe.com/go/als. Hope to see you there.

Green Web Conferencing & eLearning

2009-06-02T02:21:07Z

Going green by using technology to reduce overall environmental impact has become a core tennant of social responsibility and sustainability initiatives in IT, training, marketing, and sales departments worldwide. As part of this month's Topic of the Month on ConnectUsers.com, we'll explore how you can implement strategies to enable a more green workforce and put metrics in place to ensure that you achieve green initiatives while bringing unexpectedly large cost savings to your bottom line.

]]> Among the new content are a great piece by Vincent Toesca on tips for working remotely in a telework environment, Monty Hossain's piece on all of the areas within Adobe that we are seeting green benefits from using Web Conferencing, and a great tutorial done by our friends at Refined Data about their Footprints application that allows organizations to measure their carbon footprint savings by using Connect Pro.

Check out the June Topic of the Month - Green Web Conferencing & eLearning
http://www.connectusers.com/community/monthly_topic/2009/06/

Connect Pro virtual meetings and Face to Face meetings

2009-06-01T18:52:24Z

Because of the current economic conditions and the increased awareness of the impact of travel on the planet, many organizations are promoting virtual meetings as a replacement for face to face meetings. Yet, as people get more comfortable with web conferencing thanks to engaging tools like Connect Pro, they realize that both type of meetings are very complimentary and combined can effectively drive individual and group productivity.

]]> As a general rule, face to face meetings are seen critical when you need to build trust or prove or force undivided attention to the other people with whom you meet. But in a world where every knowledge worker is under pressure to deliver more, multi-tasking is becoming essential. Virtual meetings, when done right, not only eliminates the time wasted in costly travels (even if it is just from one floor to another or one building to another) but also they enable knowledge workers to multi-task from their desk and participate in the meeting only when they are needed.

Organizations should look beyond this dichotomy: virtual and in-person meeting are actually very complementary and can uniquely drive an organization productivity.

At Adobe for example, employees across the organization use Connect Pro even when they meet face to face. The Connect Pro meeting room is an advantageous substitute to room projectors: everyone accesses the meeting room on their laptop connected to the enterprise LAN via a wireless connection: no matter where you seat in the room, you now have front row seat to the presentation.

Beyond this logistical advantage a Connect Pro meeting room combined with an in-person meeting provides a rich set of meta-data on top of the real meeting. Did you join late? Not sure who is who? The attendee list pod provides you all the names of the participant so that you can figure out every attendees. The note pod presents the meeting agenda. Since a Connect Pro meeting room is persistent, the note pod might even contained the notes or agenda from previous meetings so that you get a much better history of what is being discussed. The file share pod provides all the attachment and files being discussed eliminating the need to search back into your email for that file that was sent a couple of weeks ago. The private chat functionality enables you to continue discussion on a specific topic without interrupting the flow of the meeting. All this set of meta-data make the face to face meeting all the more productive.

Virtual meetings have the power to transform face to face meeting into digital assets that can be very valuable. Think of a sales rep doing a stellar in-person sales pitch. If this meeting is accompanied by a virtual Connect Pro meeting and is recorded, the sales pitch can be shared with other rep, driving sales best practice and effectiveness across the organization. Training sessions can take a second economic life if recorded. Teaching organizations can then sell these recordings to people who might not be able to afford the in-person experience.

Many people still consider web conferencing as a second rate experience compared to face to face meetings because they have used solutions that unlike Connect Pro do not provide a rich and engaging user experience. But when done right, web conferencing can actually not only in certain case substitute to live meeting but also complement them in a way that dramatically enhances productivity.