Conferencing Solutions for Desktop Training
Can't get attorneys to come to training? Then take the training to them.
By Cindy L. Chick
Orignally Published April 2, 2001
| Products Discussed | |||
| WEBEX | Netmeeting | ||
So you just recently subscribed to ANOTHER web product. It's Friday afternoon, and one of the tax attorneys in an office 3,000 miles away needs to use it for a research project. He/she couldn't find the time to attend the training session that was offered 3 weeks ago. The publisher's customer support/training staff have long since gone home. Now what?The following week you are excited to find you actually have 5 attorneys who are willing to attend a training session on the same web product. The only problem is, they're all in different geographical locations. The vendor doesn't have training reps in each of those cities. What do you do?
The ability to offer a wide variety of training options, some on a "just-in-time" basis is becoming increasingly important. These days the typical law library offers a wide variety of Internet, CD and other online products. But the more products offered, the more difficult it becomes to get attorneys and other end users to attend quickly multiplying training sessions. Add to the mix the fact that many firms are increasingly become more "global", with legal staff in a variety of locations, some domestic, and some not, and it's obvious that even the old stand-by of free food may not be enough to solve the problem.
The vendors can help, but for the most part, they can't do it all. Librarians need to make the content that the firm is paying big bucks for accessible and useful, and so have to step in and find innovative ways to provide training where and when the users need it.
There's a number of ways to do this with new technologies. But one relatively quick and easy method is to use some of the new conferencing and collaboration software and services to deliver live training directly to the desktop. These services allow a trainer in any location to connect over the internal network, or over the web and conduct a training session from their own computer. They can be used conjunction with a traditional conference call, or these services can be used to transmit audio as well. Everything that the trainer does on their workstation is transmitted to the attendee(s). And they never have to leave their office.
There are many products out there to choose from, most of them on the web. In this article, I've included basic information on Netmeeting, WEBEX and Placeware, as well as some limited information on conference servers.
Netmeeting is NOT a web product, but it IS free. It requires a small program, downloadable from the Microsoft site, and is included with Windows98 and 2000. While it's fairly bare bones, it can easily be used within your network, therefore avoiding problems with potentially slow Internet connections. Just keep in mind that unlike the web products discussed, there is a limit of 8 attendees at a "netmeeting." (A conference server is necessary to accomodate more than 8.) If you have a video camera on your computer, you can even transmit video to attendees, though from what I hear, this is a feature that is best avoided. Netmeeting's capabilities can be extended by third party products, such as CUSEEME. (http://www.cuseeme.com/)
WEBEX and Placeware are both web products. Both offer free versions that you can use for a limited number of attendees with some functional limitations. The free versions can be great for getting your feet wet, and in some cases, for example, when you just need to do quick 10 minute one on one training session with an attorney in another office, might be all you need.
Both WEBEX and Placeware allow you to do several things such as share a whiteboard, present a Powerpoint presentation, and share applications. For training purposes the ability to share applications is likely the most important feature for training purposes, as it allows you to show a web session or demo any program that resides on your computer. It requires little on the part of the attendees, and nothing on the part of your Technical Services staff. But if your Internet connection is quirky and sometimes slow, beware. Successful use of web products require a consistently reliable connection.
More help is in sight. If we're looking at using these products, you can bet that the vendors that sell us all these research products are looking at them as well. Or at least, they should be.
Now if we can just find a way to transmit food electronically, we'd really have it made.
| Netmeeting | WEBEX | Placeware | Conference Servers |
| Netmeeting from Microsoft | |
|
| WEBEX | |
|
| Placeware | |
|
| Additional Information on Conference Servers | |
|