Adobe Connect Blog

Yesterday, Adobe launched the Adobe Marketing Cloud “Metrics Not Myths” campaign.  This campaign aims to counter common statements hurled at Marketers like “Marketing is BS”, that it is hard to measure ROI on marketing investments.  Here is a funny video made for the campaign.

This “Metrics not Myths” plays well for webinars as well.  Up to 75% of all webinars are run for marketing purpose either to generate leads or to move prospect up the interest ladder.  Yet we found that marketers have difficulty measuring the ROI they are getting on their webinars or optimizing their webinar spend because they are getting an incomplete picture of the performance of their webinars.

For example, before the webinar, they typically can track which campaign draws the most registrations.  After the webinar, they can see who attended and who did not.  From the registration data they can qualify the lead based on demographics data.   But they can not tell which campaign generated the most qualified leads (and not just the most registration).  Was it the email invitation, the banner ads, the paid search keywords etc…?

Adobe Connect 9 Reporting

Enters Adobe Connect 9 and our integration with Adobe’s Marketing Cloud.  Out of the box, our webinar solution enables, marketers to identify the most qualified leads based not only on demographics data collected during registration, but also on behavioral data collected during the webinar.  We provide also reports that track which campaign brought these qualified leads to register, toattend the webinar, and help optimize the webinar spend the next time around.

With additional configurations, using Adobe’s Marketing Cloud Digital Analytics, our customers can correlate webinar data to their website traffic data, being able to identify which pages registrants looked at, which document did they download before attending the webinar.  This behavioral data can be used to further optimize the web path to get user to register for webinars or to further qualified leads based on behavior on the website.

Getting this insight is true gold for marketers and uniquely enabled by the close integration between Adobe Connect 9 and Adobe’s Marketing Cloud.

The Adobe Connect team is excited to announce that a newly updated version of the DCO Connect Mobile app is now available for Android devices! The latest update brings enhanced hosting controls for complete mobile-to-mobile collaboration and training, especially from tablet devices.

Originally launched in 2007, DCO (Defense Connect Online) leverages Adobe Connect web conferencing and instant messaging/presence via an XMPP client, to enable anywhere, anytime collaboration across over 700,000 users at the U.S. Department of Defense. Given the globally dispersed user base, and necessity to collaborate, train, and coordinate time critical efforts, it is not practical to expect users to be at a desk to initiate or drive virtual meetings or training. With this in mind, the updated DCO Connect Mobile app delivers even greater hosting, presenting, and sharing controls to completely drive collaboration and fulfill the many different use cases DoD personnel have for collaboration while operating in a mobile environment.

In addition to the existing features for tablets and smartphones (including hosting/attending meetings, participant management, 2-way video, VoIP, chat, and other interactive features), the updated capabilities include:

• Start, stop, and manage meeting audio and teleconferencing bridge
• Invite others to the meeting
• Start and stop recordings
• Enable web camera rights for all participants at once
• Switch between layouts in the meeting room
• Share content from share history
• Share content from Adobe Connect content library
• Share content from local device photo library or file storage (SD Card)
• Use drawing tools (pencil, highlighter, shapes) on whiteboard and on top of shared files/video
• Use emoticons: Raise Hand (B), Agree / Disagree (B), Speak Louder / Speak Softer, Speed Up / Slow Down, Laughter, Applause
• Stepped away indication appears when multi-tasking away from app
• Device phone number detected and populated when joining audio
• Participate in breakout rooms
(Most new features apply to tablets only; “B” indicates both smartphone and tablet)

Hosts can now whiteboard and annotate with the tip of a finger, change layouts, and foster interaction with a range of emoticons.

In addition to existing hosting controls (begin/end meetings, manage attendance, manage attendee roles – Host, Presenter, or Participant, etc.), hosts can now fully control meeting recordings, audio conferencing, and video.

Share presentations, videos, images and other content stored in your library in the cloud; in the image library; or on the device drive itself.

DCO Connect Mobile (version 2.0) is now available for free download on the Google Play Store.

The app supports the following devices and operating systems on Android:
- Devices: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy Tab (10.1), ASUS Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab (7”) , Motorola Xoom, Motorola Xoom 2
- Supported OS versions: 2.2 and higher
- AIR Runtime required: 3.2 or higher

For more information, please see these resources below:
Adobe Connect Mobile webpage
Getting Started Guide – Hosts and Presenters (Tablets)
Getting Started Guide – Hosts and Presenters (Smartphones)
Getting Started Guide – Participants (Tablets)
Getting Started Guide – Participants (Smartphones)

One of the great things about Adobe Connect is the terrific partner community that supports, resells, promotes, and innovates on Adobe Connect solutions. We were very excited when Adobe Connect partner, ConnectSolutions, was awarded the Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice GOLD Award for Blended Technology, for their work with the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy (VAAA). The award was announced in a ceremony several weeks ago at the annual CLO Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Learning in Practice Awards recognize industry leaders with demonstrated excellence in design and delivery of employee development programs. Awards are given to both practitioners and providers, in a variety of categories, including strategy, global learning, business impact, and blended technology.

“VAAA has a fantastic team of eLearning innovators,” said Michael Fitzpatrick, ConnectSolutions CEO/Co-Founder. “We love partnering with our customers to ensure things run flawlessly, which lets our customers do the things the care most about, like creating and developing innovative content.”

VAAA was created within the United State Department of Veterans Affairs to build a stronger workforce at the Veterans Administration, in the midst of budget cuts, workforce reductions and a high retirement rate. They are committed to best in class training and innovation, including a variety of learner engagement techniques, even creating their own games to integrate into training programs.

Elearning! Media Group hosted their Best of Elearning! awards this year, and it’s exciting to say that Adobe Connect has been named the 2012 winner in two categories – Best Virtual Classroom, and Best Web Seminar Solution. Even more exciting is that this is the fifth year in a row that we’ve come home with awards across these categories – winning Best Virtual Classroom in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012; Best Web Seminar Solution in 2010, 2011, and 2012; and an Award of Excellence for both categories in 2009.

But what’s most exciting is that the award winners are chosen by you – users of web conferencing and training products who vote via an open-ended ballot that Elearning! Media Group posts online, while we go head-to-head with other leading products in the industry. We’re honored to receive this recognition from our users, and looking forward to delivering more award winning innovations to you in the years to come!

Finally – we hope you’ll join us at the Adobe Learning Summit – happening October 29 in Las Vegas, NV.  Adobe product team experts, industry luminaries, and customers will present insights and practical skills and discuss innovations for a successful organization-wide learning program featuring Adobe solutions.  Registrations are open now!