Adobe Connect Blog

Last week, Adobe announced the availability of a new release of Adobe Presenter 8. The release is specifically for customers on Adobe Software Assurance plans for Adobe Presenter and the eLearning Suite – though all of the features will eventually make it into the next major release of Adobe Presenter.

There are a significant number of new features included in the new release.

Windows 8 & Microsoft Office 2013 Support
The latest update adds official support for both Windows 8 as well as Microsoft Powerpoint 2013. Newer Powerpoint objects like SmartArt and animations are also supported.

A new audio workflow.
The team has worked to simplify and improve the experience around recording audio and synchronizing it to your Powerpoint slides. The new interface is looks much more modern and makes the functionality easier than ever to use.

Closed Captions
Captions can now be generated automatically for your audio track in the video creator tool. Adobe Presenter translates your narration into text using cloud based computing. Captions are delivered back to the user who can make further edits. It’s very impressive functionality – and you can see it in action below:

Improved Interactions Library
Adobe Presenter 8.0 launched with a new feature that enables customers to add interactive elements to their on-demand courses. In this update, additional interactions have been added – including games like Hangman and Jigsaw.

Improved mobile app for Adobe Presenter.
The team has updated Adobe Presenter Mobile for iOS to incorporate tracking via Adobe Connect.

If you’re not familiar with Adobe Presenter, I’ve embedded a quick overview video below. Note that this overview doens’t include the great new features added to Adobe Presenter 8.1.

Yesterday, at the Enterprise Learning! Conference & Expo, the Best of Elearning! 2011 awards results were announced. Program recognition is significant because nominations and winners are determined by executives and business managers engaged in the areas of enterprise learning and workforce technology.

We’re very pleased that Adobe Connect has been recognized in two categories:

• Best Web Seminar Solution – Winner

 “Nice interface, great performance that allows in-depth learner interactions.”

• Best Virtual Classroom – Winner

Nominations and voting were conducted over a three month balloting period. Given both the quality of competition and quantity of nominations – this year featured 1,750 nominations, covering 56 products across 20 categories – we thank all who took the time to vote and support Adobe Connect!

To read more about the awards and results, please see the press release from the Elearning! Media Group here.

And if you’re not already following us on Twitter, check us out @AdobeConnect.

-Randah McKinnie, Principal Product Manager

Chris Benz, director of online events at The eLearning Guild , recently talked to us about how the organization uses Adobe Connect to deliver innovative online events.  ‘The Guild’ is the oldest and most trusted source of information and network for eLearning professionals, and these events are designed to enhance the knowledge, expertise and practice of its members. By implementing Adobe Connect, The eLearning Guild enables eLearning professionals to attend live sessions or access almost 700 archived sessions.

Persistent, customizable Adobe Connect meeting rooms improve event preparation while mobile options eliminate travel costs while still creating an engaging interactive environment for idea sharing. To learn more about how The eLearning Guild is using Adobe Connect, click here.

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