Adobe Connect Blog

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some, like GetConnect, since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Greg Anderson, CEO of GetConnect.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Greg,  can you tell us more about GetConnect?

Greg Anderson (GetConnect): GetConnect is a Texas corporation based in Dallas, but is virtual with everyone working from home. There are thirteen employees, with people in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, California, and Toronto, Ontario Canada. GetConnect sells all across North America, which means the US and Canada. The first day in business was Monday, December 12, 2005. Our mission from day one has been to be the best Adobe Connect partner there is, by any measurement, as viewed by our customers and by Adobe. Today we have over 1,000 active customers using Connect.

GP: What would you say is unique about your company?

GA: GetConnect is unique in that our founders and five of our seven salespeople are former Adobe employees who have been selling Connect for years. Our cumulative experience selling Connect exceeds 50 years. Our experience, depth and breadth of knowledge are without equal.

GP: Why did you choose to resell Adobe Connect?

GA: All we sell is Adobe Connect. Simply stated, it’s the best product in the web communications space. For anyone needing or wanting the leading technology in web conferencing and elearning today, there is no other product that does what Connect does. Why would we want to sell anything else?

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Sophie Lal, CEO and Chairman of MeetingOne and Nicolas Perdrillat, VP Connect Audio Integration at MeetingOne.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Sophie,  as the CEO of MeetingOne, can you give us a quick overview of  your company?

Sophie Lal (MeetingOne): MeetingOne was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with international locations in France and Belgium. MeetingOne sells in North America and Europe.  MeetingOne’s mission is to enable businesses and educational institutions around the world to communicate and collaborate more effectively despite geographic distances, by using a combination of tools and services including Adobe Connect web-conferencing.

GP: MeetingOne has been selling Adobe Connect for a long time, hasn’t it?

SL: Quite a long time indeed. MeetingOne’s partnership with Adobe started in July 2005 and the status of Gold Partner got awarded in 2007 for its sales achievements as a VAR and its advanced integrated Adobe Connect audio conferencing technology.

GP: At the time, what prompted you to choose to resell Adobe Connect?

SL: We chose to sell Adobe Connect exclusively because of the extended functionality the technology provides compared to other web conferencing  providers. Beyond Web Conferencing, Adobe Connect also provides a full on-demand e-Learning Suite that is un-matched and present an ‘All-In-One’ solution. Adobe Connect elevates online training, marketing, sales, and web conferencing to a whole new level, delivering high-impact communications everyone can access. And because Connect is deployed using Flash Player, it is already installed on more than 97% of browsers worldwide, the audience can always join a Connect online meeting and/or on-demand training course instantly.

GP: What would you say is unique about MeetingOne?

SL: MeetingOne offers the most advanced audio integration for Adobe Connect and the best expertise in facilitating high profile integrated audio and Adobe Connect events with our live event facilitation team. In addition MeetingOne has developed Click&Meet, a fully integrated teleconferencing online visual interface that allows you to control your call more efficiently. It revolutionizes the way businesses conduct conference calls by providing users with unparalleled control through a visual and easy-to-use interface.

Nicolas Perdrillat (MeetingOne): Let me add a few details to what Sophie just said.  Because we are reselling Adobe Connect exclusively, we have focused all our web conferencing integration efforts on Adobe Connect.  As a result we offer audio services to Adobe Connect that no other conferencing provider does.  For example, we offer Adobe Connect on-premise customer with a SIP service that connects directly to their Flash Media Gateway interface.   We also support up to 20 break out rooms to match the total number of break out rooms supported by Adobe Connect.  Since 2005 we have built a very strong technical expertise to help customers with any audio integration needs they might have.

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Mark Alexander, President of Arkadin’s North American operations.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Mark,  can you give us a quick overview of Arkadin?

Mark Alexander (Arkadin):  We were founded in Paris in 2001, and today Arkadin is one of the largest and fastest growing collaboration service providers in the world. With a vision rooted in the belief that progress emerges from people’s desire to share, Arkadin offers a complete range of remote audio, web, and video conferencing and unified collaboration solutions. The services are delivered in a cloud model for fast, scalable deployments and a high ROI.

GP: So I take that you have market presence in France and in the US.  Where else?

MA: Our global headquarters is in Paris and our North American operations are based in Atlanta. We have over 1,000 employees worldwide and a global network of 51 operating centers in 31 countries spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and North and South America. Dedicated local-language support teams service our 37,000 customers.

GP: Why did you choose to resell Adobe Connect ?

MA: Arkadin has been selling Adobe Connect since February 2012.   Adobe Connect’s full enterprise web conferencing solution gives us a more complete suite of web collaboration services to appeal to large businesses. It offers an unparalleled user experience resulting in rapid adoption throughout the enterprise. Together with our integrated audio platform, our large business customers now have a robust all-in-one unified collaboration solution for all their needs.

GP: What would you say is unique about Arkadin?

MA: Arkadin provides unique expertise in delivering integrated audio, video and web conferencing services that are supported by our global client-service teams. Arkadin was founded on the principle that no one understands local customer needs better than support teams that live in the same country and speak the language. This global, yet local service expertise is in our DNA. It’s especially advantageous for businesses that need seamless and cost efficient global deployments for Adobe Connect.

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Melanie Flowers, Senior Director of Unified Collaboration Product Management at InterCall.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Melanie,  can you give us a quick overview of InterCall?

Melanie Flowers (InterCall): Sure.  InterCall is a subsidiary of West Corporation and is the largest conference and collaborations service provider in the world with over 4,000 employees globally.  We are a leading provider of global cloud-based unified communications services.  Founded in 1991, InterCall offers telephony, messaging, event services and conferencing and collaboration tools for businesses of all sizes, from large global enterprises to small or regional companies.

GP: Do you have a global presence?

MF: Yes, InterCall has a global footprint.  It is headquartered in Chicago and has a strong U.S. presence, including four call centers and 26 sales offices across North America.  We also have operations and sales offices across the globe in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan that managed over 130 million conference calls in 2012.

 GP: How long have you been selling web conferencing?

MF: InterCall has been selling web conferencing services since 1997.  We have seen tremendous success with Adobe Connect since adding it to our portfolio in 2009.

GP: Why did you choose to resell Adobe Connect ?

MF: We listened to our customers and prospects and their request was pretty clear.    They required a solution that would allow multiple participants to join from any device.  As the market and technologies expand, adding Adobe to our portfolio made sense – to offer a solution that is not only easy to join but can allow for robust multi-media files to be shared along with the creation of custom content to truly make your meetings unique.   Adobe Connect has a specialization in eLearning and the event space, which fits nicely into our overall portfolio.  Adobe is a strong recognizable brand in the market and coupled with their universally compatible Flash technology, the platform offers a solution that meets our customers’ needs.

GP: When selling Adobe Connect, what would you say is the unique value brought by InterCall?

MF: InterCall knows more about remotely connecting people in business settings than anyone else, and we are making it more seamless and more flexible to the user – without sacrificing security or quality.  This is where our experience provides the most impact and value to businesses of any size.   But when you look at all we offer, what really sets us apart from other Adobe partners is our Reservationless-Plus® audio conferencing service and our first class web conferencing training and support organization.     We have spent the time and technology to integrate our audio conferencing with Adobe Connect to ensure a seamless audio and web meeting experience for our customers and their participants.  Through this integration we are able to leverage our extensive global audio conferencing platform to provide our customers with the best end to end combined audio and web conferencing solution.  In addition, InterCall is able to able to create unique offers in the marketplace, for example WebConnectUS, which bundles Adobe with both audio conferencing and event services to offer customers a premium event service for a flat fee without a long term contract.

by Guillaume Privat, Director Adobe Connect

A recent report published by Forrester Research recognised Adobe CQ as a leader in web experience management. “The Forrester Wave™: Web Content Management For Digital Customer Experience, Q2 2013” report looked at 10 web content management (WCM) products, one of which was Adobe CQ, across 100 comprehensive criteria such as vendor’s current offering, strategy and marketing presence.

Adobe CQ is the underlying technology used in Adobe Connect 9 Events module used to create rich events catalog, micro-sites or landing page.  It provides an easy drag and drop framework that enables any webinar producers to create and update rich and professional looking information and registration pages without the need to work with IT or external agencies.  It speeds up the process of the creation of these pages and reduces to cost to create great looking landing pages that will help build a large audience for a webinar.

In addition to CQ, Connect 9 Events provide also out of the box analytics powered by Adobe Analytics (previously known as SiteCatalyst), which help marketers analyze and optimize every step of their webinar: optimize the registration form, optimize email communications, optimize webinar promotional spend, optimize webinar content delivery.

For the price of the Adobe Connect Events module, webinar producers can access 3 leading technologies seamlessly integrated into an out of the box complete solution for webinars: Adobe CQ to create rich landing pages, Adobe Connect to run rich and engaging webinars and Adobe Analytics to measure and optimize the entire webinar experience.

There is no such thing as an instant webinar.

In the age of instant gratification and technology, I have run across many a webinar producer that has made the mistake of assuming their webinar technology platform will read their mind, set itself up according to their requirements, and instantly produce a flawless event to a virtual audience of hundreds or thousands.

This is a dangerous assumption.

A mission critical event to a large audience should never be left to the last minute. For example, a producer of a live in-person event will visit the physical event venue for a site inspection in advance of the event and then show up early for the event to make sure everything is correctly set up according to specifications before the event begins.

The same is true with a virtual event.

At a minimum a virtual event producer should spend time in the virtual room setting it up ahead of time, hold a rehearsal with all speakers, moderators and hosts, and, finally, build in a 30 minute pre-conference for speakers and hosts immediately prior to the event.

Take some time to avoid virtual event disasters.

8 Reasons to Prepare, ‘Site Inspect’ and Rehearse your Virtual Event

- Test audio integration

• There are many audio options for your webinar, including universal audio integration. You can simulcast both the phone audio conference and VoIP, use the phone only, or use VoIP only. The universal integration needs to be done well in advance of the event. For audio options and integration how-to tips, please see.

- Check the speaker’s audio quality

• There are many things that can reduce audio quality. Be sure to have all speakers use the exact same equipment during the rehearsal as they will use during the live event – this includes the computer and the actual phone or headset. Wireless is not recommended for either computer or phone and, of course, using a speakerphone is a big no-no.

- Ensure speaker understands how to use the platform

• If your speaker is new to the particular webinar platform technology you are using, take the time to give him a tutorial, even if he is experienced at webinars in general. Just like it’s always awkward to drive someone else’s car, it can be equally awkward finding all the right buttons to push in a webinar room that is unfamiliar.

- Upload and flip through all slides

• Uploading slides 15 minutes prior to your event is risky to say the least (especially if it’s a big file that may take some time to upload). Take the time to upload them during the rehearsal and flip through all of them to check for any misaligned text or images. Make any necessary changes to the deck and re-upload them before the pre-conference and re-check.

- Confirm all parties know how to get to your event

• The rehearsal will give all your speakers, hosts and moderators a chance to ‘find’ the location – locating their login info, practice logging in, download the presenter add-in, and overcome any other technical issues related to browsers, etc. The last thing you need on the day-of is a missing speaker!

- Review the flow of the event and room set up

• Prepare any polls, chats, quizzes or multiple slide decks you’ll be using ahead of time using the layout functionally and arrange the layouts in order of your agenda. This will ensure a smooth flow and avoid having to ‘fish’ for polls during the live event.

- Prep your backstage and familiarize all hosts, speakers and moderators with it

• Your Presenter Only Area is your private backstage area for hosts and presenters. This is a great place for the Attendee pod, a Presenter chat (so you can coordinate amongst yourselves without interrupting the event flow), the Presenter view of the Q&A pod and any notes or reminders you might have for your speakers or moderators. Remind your speakers to keep an eye on the backstage in case you need to communicate with them while they are presenting.

- Have an emergency plan and communicate it to all hosts, speakers and moderators

• Virtual events are subject to things going wrong just like physical events. Think through what you will do if… your audio conferencing provider experiences an outage… if your speaker’s computer crashes… if your speaker accidently hangs up on herself… if you lose your internet connection… etc, etc. And, yes, with 7 years of experience running upwards of 30 webinars a quarter, I have run into all of these and more!

So, don’t leave the details of producing your mission critical virtual event to the last 15 minutes, because treating webinars casually will get you into big trouble.

Good luck and may your next webinar run flawlessly!

During a recent Adobe Connect webinar titled ‘Virtual Conferences for Government’, Dean Pianta of Envolve Media discussed how the Adobe Connect platform is being used within government organizations for virtual classrooms, online meetings and seminars. He reviewed several benefits of moving meetings, conferences, trainings and events online, such as cost savings and archived recordings. The benefit of having the recordings of these sessions to view after an event is for those that may have missed the event, or for those that would like to review the session for reference.

Adobe Connect has advantages like the event management tool that can be utilized to design landing pages using a template or built from scratch. With this feature organizations can setup registration for an event with custom landing pages and forms. The advantage of a powerful registration system is also the tracking of attendee information pre- and post-event.

Watch this recording to learn more details on how virtual conferences are being created and used across the board by government agencies and organizations: http://onlineevents.adobeconnect.com/p2d3iegluqo/

The use of videoconferencing in business has been on the rise over the last few years, but it wasn’t until recently that the Department of Defense (DOD) started heavily pushing for its use in its day-to-day operations. In the past, the DOD’s enterprise collaboration tool, Defense Connect Online (DCO), which is powered by Adobe Connect, had been used primarily to supplement physical conferences.

Recently, Federal Computer Week magazine sat down with our Mike Murtha, who manages the DCO program here at Adobe to discuss the DCO program. Mike reiterated the increased demand by the DOD to use videoconferencing to replace physical meetings and conferences. “Over the past three months, we have gotten a lot of inquiries [saying]: ‘We want to run an entire conference virtually,’” Murtha said.

FCW also discussed barriers that were in place that discouraged the use of videoconferencing such as costs, security concerns, and infrastructure requirements. The article noted that an advantage that Adobe Connect offers is that its services also provide videoconferencing capabilities for both desktops and mobile devices. Mike mentioned that the DCO system wasn’t initially built for videoconferencing, but that the customers are pushing it in that direction.

To read more about how federal agencies are promoting the use of videoconferencing, click here.

Over the past year, recognition continued to roll in for Adobe Connect.  Another great review that came in at the end of 2012 was from Network World.

Network World conducted side-by-side comparisons of eight of the leading Web conferencing vendors and ranked Adobe Connect in a tie for first. The Network World web conferencing vendor test ranked the services according to four scenarios ranging from meetings of two to five people to large scale webinars.

We were excited to see the areas where the review praised Adobe Connect, including the ability to host large-scale webinars calling it a “post-conferencing reporting powerhouse.” Network World also noted “Connect also has the strongest features when it came to measuring audience engagement and supporting archival meeting content.” Other areas where Network World positioned Adobe Connect above other offerings were the recording options available, including the ability to record the chats and participants names, and its mobile client, noting its “consistent user interfaces and clean look.”

In addition, the review discussed persistent URLs for Adobe Connect meeting rooms, calling them “handy when a team is working over a period of time on a set of documents.” As our customers know, this feature is also useful for setting up last-minute, ad hoc meetings.

Another area the review considered was the audio options each service provides. Our own Alistair Lee recently blogged about our Universal Voice feature, which lets users leverage VoIP or their audio provider of choice.

We’re interested in what you have to say, though, after you give the roundup review a read. Let us know what stands out, good and bad, and what you’d like to see more of from us moving forward.

By Matt Murdoch and Treion Muller, FranklinCovey

Have you ever seen, or better still, been part of a group that decides to jump off a cliff at the local swimming hole? There are at least two interesting things to watch. One is approach and the other is execution. Experience and skill affects how each prospective diver approaches the edge. Some are confident, some are cautious and some are hell bent on just lettin’ ‘er rip.

While each individual has their own experience and perceptions about both approach and execution, there is one thing that all share in common – the platform. Whether you’re new at it or it’s old hat for you, you’re jumping off the same cliff – the same platform.

Adobe Connect is just that – a platform. It offers the same launching pad for the inexperienced and the expert. It provides a place to try something new (and a little bit scary) or something you’ve done a thousand times before. The platform itself is not what shapes either approach or execution. That is the province of the person on the platform and what they will do with their launch pad.

Don’t default and abandon control and creativity to the platform. Don’t let your approach, your plan or your execution be controlled solely by the platform. It’s a jumping off point, nothing more. Your job is to shape Adobe Connect to your ends. It’s the place you start from. It’s the jumping off point. Adobe Connect has far more potential than is usually tapped if you understand how to shape it to your ends rather than being contained by it.

There are four steps you can take to ensure you don’t default:

1. Awareness: Read the Manual
We know, almost nobody starts with the manual, but a detailed awareness of what the platform offers is THE starting point. Once you know what it CAN do you can start worrying about getting that platform to do what you WANT it to do.

2. Attempt: Try the Manual
After you’ve got a reasonable familiarity with the basics of what the platform can do, put it through its paces. Design a webinar but stick to the fundamentals – don’t get fancy yet.

What you’re looking for at this phase is a clean presentation – designed to deliver a message and stimulate an engaging conversation. And, create a presentation that is simple to deliver – not too complex or too technically convoluted. Just get off the cliff and into the water – and do the same jump a dozen or so times to get comfortable with it.

3. Assimilate: Apply the Manual
This is where we begin to break away from the simple default options of the platform. This is where we start to get fancy and, more importantly, where we start to make the platform our own. We make it our own when we get the platform to work WITH us and FOR our audience. It’s where you separate and prioritize what you’ve learned in the first steps into tools and techniques that you’ll keep and use and those that you’ll ignore or discard.

4. Author: Write Your Own Manual
Now, throw away the manual and never (or at least, hardly ever) look at it again. It’s time to experiment with new jumps and tricks and to author you own handbook. This is the most important method to avoid defaulting back to the same old way of doing things.

One final thought. Conducting a webinar is as different from live in-person training or a face-to-face meeting as jumping off a cliff is to jumping off your bed. You mustn’t default to traditional approaches because good-quality online events must be designed and delivered much differently to be truly effective.

You can learn more about this and other key principles in our book, The Webinar Manifesto: Never Design, Deliver or Sell Lousy Webinars Again.