Adobe Connect Blog

Time flies. It feels like we just celebrated the New Year, but Spring is already right around the corner. And with it comes Adobe Learning Summit 2011. The Summit will be co-located with Learning Solutions Conference 2011, and will take place on March 21 at the Hilton, Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.

We’ll be there, in the form of our own Adobe Connect evangelist, Peter Ryce, who will present a session titled, “Extensibility = Learner Engagement”. And we’re excited to have Adobe Connect customer, Thomson Reuters, on the agenda, as well. Joe Pokropski, managing director of Thomson Reuters Markets Division, will present a talk called, “Switch Happens! The Challenges of Learning at the Speed of Need”.

You can also catch keynote speaker and best-selling author, Steven Johnson, discuss “Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation”, followed by informative sessions spread across four parallel tracks—Innovation and Emerging Technologies, Best Practices, eLearning Development for Beginners, and eLearning Development for Advanced Users. Hear representatives from Marriott, Latham and Watkins and others share their views on emerging trends and how to leverage best practices in eLearning.

Check out the Learning Summit site for more info and to register. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for ongoing news, views and tips on Adobe Connect.

Cheers!

By Paresh Kharya, Product Manager, Adobe Connect

With Adobe Connect 8 we have made significant progress in improving the accessibility of the product. Our objective is not just to become the market’s most compliant web conferencing solution for accessibility standards but also the most usable by users with disabilities.

Some of the key accessibility improvements that we made in version 8 are:

Screen reader support

Adobe Connect 8 meeting interface supports screen readers. The benchmark that we used for developing and testing this support is JAWS 11. The meeting interface provides users who are blind or visually impaired the information that is needed to be able to participate effectively in Adobe Connect meetings.

Keyboard navigation

Adobe Connect 8 interface is easily navigable by keyboard. Users can use Ctrl + space to navigate through the main menu, Ctrl+F6 to navigate through the pods, Ctrl+F8 to access the contextual pod menu and tab to move between options within a pod. A quick demo of navigating an Adobe Connect meeting using keyboard is available on AdobeTV.

Apart from making the interface navigable via the keyboard we have also provided direct shortcuts for common functionality. These direct shortcuts will enable faster and efficient interaction with the interface. Common tasks having direct shortcuts include attendee management, starting/stopping a recording, turning microphone on/off, starting/stopping screen sharing, navigating shared content, entering chat text, etc. The complete list of keyboard shortcuts is available from the help menu on the top right corner of the meeting interface.

Real time captioning pod

We are also working on releasing an updated version of the real time captioning pod for our users. The Adobe Connect closed captioning pod is aimed at ensuring full participation in online Adobe Connect meetings and webinars by participants who are deaf or hard of hearing. It allows connection to professional captioning providers such as Caption Colorado, the Media Access Group at WGBH, and CaptionFirst. The enhancements in the updated version include more options for subscribing to captioning systems, individual control over caption font size and contrast, and the ability for participants to rewind and fast forward. Expect more information from us on this soon.

We remain committed to supporting various accessibility related standards. For a detailed assessment of our compliance to section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act please refer to our voluntary product accessibility template.

We continue to work on improving the accessibility of Adobe Connect and ensuring that Adobe Connect remains the easiest to use solution for all users. We’d love to hear from you on what amongst the new accessibility improvements is working for you, what you would like us to do more or differently.

By Francesca Lohman, senior product marketing manager

A prominent research firm recently estimated that only 4 percent of U.S. information workers use Web conferencing on a daily basis.

It got me to thinking about the ways we use Adobe Connect here at the company. Granted, I work on the product team – and everyone at Adobe has what essentially amounts to an unlimited license – but what is it that makes working this way so fundamental and basic to us, like using email or IM? Admittedly, we’re “alpha-users”, but much of what we’re doing is worth consideration by our customers.

I participate in Adobe Connect meetings several times a day, every day; not one goes by when I’m not either hosting or attending. I estimate that on average, I’m in Adobe Connect meetings 4 -5 hours a day… wow!

A few thoughts/examples, some more serious than others:

• Even when meeting casually (e.g., sharing info or brainstorming), I’ll often jump into my Adobe Connect room so the other person can see the notes I’m capturing — and maybe (hopefully?) take the content more seriously. 
• As a team, we have all of our meetings (even with everyone physically present) via Adobe Connect. This may sound odd – sitting around a conference table but using Adobe Connect as the meeting progresses – but in doing so, we can share anything without delay, see notes in real time, capture actions on the fly, chat without disturbing the speaker, and record the whole thing for those unable to attend.
• Persistent meeting rooms let me house past agendas and quickly prepare new ones (“Agghh, the meeting starts in three minutes!”) – no need to go searching for notes.
• My meetings are stacked up or I need to multi-task and don’t want to be rude? Sometimes undocking and running to a conference room on the other side of the building or another building altogether is unnecessary – I’ll join via Adobe Connect, and feel more productive as a result.
• Our IT help desk staff uses Adobe Connect for internal Adobe desktop support and troubleshooting. I can’t imagine how much time (both mine and theirs) has been saved by remote screensharing and, when needed, relinquishing control of my system. I’ve even picked up a few tips along the way – like the famous C: prompt (fun fun)!
• We were evaluating logo gear to support the recent launch of Adobe Connect 8 – I was in San Jose and wanted to provide input, while other teammates were in our San Francisco office.  I needed to see the samples to help select what would be best and keep the process moving.  No brainer: Adobe Connect video pod – very clear and real-time. Done. Next.
• Video is great for closing distances – we routinely use it for critical communications, but it can also provide a more light-hearted moment from time-to-time.  A colleague in the U.K. who was working from home once pointed his camera toward his backyard to prove that it was, in fact, NOT raining in London that day. He forgot his laundry was drying on the line, though, and needless to say was more than a bit embarrassed by the sight he broadcast to us. We still laugh about it today. Kidding aside, a lot can be lost through just a phone conference…something we never struggle with here.

Our slogan used to be, “The next best thing to meeting in person.” Now we meet in person and use Adobe Connect at the same time. Are we addicted or is it just too useful?  I don’t know, but I’ll let you know when a work day goes by that I don’t use and truly gain from it – just don’t expect to hear from me anytime soon.

Do you have other examples to share of day-to-day uses you couldn’t do without? Mine is by no means an exhaustive list; would love to hear from you in comments.

Cheers,

Francesca

By Arun Anantharaman, VP and GM, Adobe Connect

2010 was a fantastic year for Adobe Connect and our customers. Wanted to share with you some highlights:

• We announced and initiated the rollout of Adobe Connect 8—a major upgrade that has been well received, generating enthusiastic quotes. Among them:

“I’m completely convinced that Adobe Connect 8, the latest version of their online meeting and collaboration software, can actually beat the average business meeting in terms of usefulness, engagement, and simplicity.” ZDNet

“To sum it up quickly, Adobe Connect 8 is easier to use, offers better collaboration, richer audio and video experiences, improved access and extensibility, and increased security and support.” Learning Solutions (5 stars)

”Boasting a completely redesigned user interface, Adobe Connect 8 should prove to be easier to use for both presenters and conference attendees.” GigaOm

“Adobe introduces a variety of new features and capabilities in Adobe Connect 8 designed to make the entire online meeting process smoother and more intuitive.” PC World

• We also introduced Adobe Connect Mobile applications for the Android and Apple iOS platforms to help users extend reach and enhance their productivity.
• Our hosted minutes delivered increased from approximately 20 million minutes/month (in 2008) to over 140 million minutes/month (excludes on-premise deployments).
• We helped enable the collaboration and online training needs of major organizations in the public sector, including the Defense Information Systems Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. State Department (including streaming addresses by President Obama and other senior staff, such as Secretary of State Clinton), as well as major corporations and organizations, including SAP, Xerox, FranklinCovey, Memorial Hermann Hospital, MDC Partners, and others.
• Adobe was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of the Gartner, Inc. 2010 “Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing” research report.
• Adobe was recognized as a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave: Web Conferencing (.pdf), Q2 2010 report, which stated, “Adobe offers the best user experience.”
• Adobe Connect won both the Best Web Seminar and Best Virtual Classroom categories in the Best of Elearning! 2010 reader’s choice awards program.

We’re excited about these milestones and many others that point to the momentum for Adobe Connect. With the ongoing input of our customers (you!) who require the best and most of our technology, we look forward to continuing to provide you with the richest, most extensible, most flexible web conferencing solution on the market.

Here’s to a successful 2010—and an exciting 2011 ahead!

Cheers,

Arun