Moderator Checklist for OPAL Online Events
 

December 27, 2008

This sequential list of tasks for someone facilitating an OPAL online event using tcConference software was compiled by Tom Peters. 

Some of these steps are optional or may not apply to the particular OPAL online event you are planning. 

Please send comments, questions, and suggestions to tpeters@tapinformation.com or 816.616.6746. 

 

As Far in Advance of the Online Event as Possible

  • Confirm with the presenter that he or she is willing to speak as part of an online event you are planning.  Ask them if they’ve ever used web conferencing software.  Find out what type of computer, operating system, and Internet connection they will be using.   
  • Confirm the day, date, and start time of the online event you are planning.  This is a good time to learn about time zone conversions!  Confirm which time zone the speaker will be in when she or he speaks.  Be mindful of the commencement and conclusion of daylight saving time in various regions of the world. 
  • If necessary, negotiate any speaker agreements, contracts, honoraria, etc.
  • Write a brief, descriptive, enticing announcement about your online event.
  • If your event is going to be a “fully public” OPAL event (i.e., available to anyone in the world), send Tom Peters an email message about the event, so he can add it to the OPAL master calendar. 
  • Announce the event in as many communication channels as possible (e.g., email discussion groups, blogs, webpages, Facebook, Twitter, printed material).  If you are able to announce an online event several weeks in advance, you may want to repeat the announcement as the day of the event approaches.   

Several Days Prior to the Online Event:

  • Meet online individually with the presenter to acclimate him/her to the online room. 
    • Test his/her microphone.
    • Demonstrate private text chat.
    • Show the basic features (follow-me browsing, etc.)
    • Demonstrate the advanced features (whiteboarding, desktop sharing, webcam, etc.)
  • Tell the presenter the moderator password for the online room you will be using. 
  • Make decisions with the speaker about who will handle various tasks during the online event. 
    • Will the speaker advance the slides, or will someone else? 
    • Will someone serve as a designated “text chat spotter” looking for questions and trenchant comments that can be interjected at the appropriate time into the audio presentation? 
    • Will someone be the primary technical support person? 
  • Gently remind the presenter that she/he needs to get her/his presentation slides and other “handouts” to you as soon as possible. 
  • Go into the administrative module for the online room to be used.  Make sure the room is configured the way you need it to be. 
    • Do you want to enable or disable text chatting during your online event? 
    • Do you want moderators, users, or both to be able to record the event? 
    • Do you want the URL window to appear in the user’s embedded browser window, so that he or she can browse on their own?  
  • Obtain the presenter’s PowerPoint slides and other background information and add them to the Document Center for the OPAL online room you will be using for your live event.  You may also want to convert the PowerPoint slides to HTML and upload them to some server to which you have ready access, to serve as a backup in case the Document Center in the OPAL online room is not functioning properly.    

The Day Before the Online Event:

  • Go into the administrative module for the online room to be used and change the default homepage in the room to one appropriate for the online event.
  • Send a reminder message to some of the announcement channels you used originally, such as email discussion lists. 
  • If you have a set of questions or topics you are going to discuss with an interviewee, or introductory material that is better read aloud than memorized, you may want to print out this material.  Although we all want to print less and be more environmentally responsible, in this instance it often is much easier to just grab that sheet of paper when you need it, rather than rely on a split screen. 

The Half Hour Prior to the Start of the Online Event:

  • Make sure the presenter has moderator status in the room.
  • Have the presenter test his/her microphone again.
  • Make sure the presenter has the follow-me (synchronized) browsing feature turned on.  
  • Announce to the incoming virtual studio audience that the event will start in X minutes.  Repeat this frequently as more people come into the online room. 
  • Start a recording session, then pause it immediately (alt-P).
  • Announce to everyone in the room that the program will officially begin in X seconds.   
  • Un-pause the recording (alt-P) and begin the formal introduction to the program and the speaker. 

During the Online Event:

  • Monitor the text chat and respond to any problems or procedural questions people may have.
  • Communicate privately with the presenter, if necessary.
  • If someone is speaking but their microphone is not working, or if they have their microphone turned on and they do not realize it, you will need to “clear” that speaker.   
  • If you get bumped out of the online room, your recording session will be terminated!  Pop back into the room as quickly as possible and set up another recording session. 
  • Thank the speaker and the members of the virtual studio audience.
  • Stop the recording.  You should receive a pop-up window indicating that the MP3 audio file has been saved. 
  • Save the text chat as a separate file (optional).

After the Online Event:

  • Modify the metadata for the MP3 audiorecording.  In “explore” mode in the MS Windows operating systems, you may be able to do this by right clicking on the file name.
  • If necessary, edit the audiorecording using software such as Audacity to combine two or more segments of the complete recording, or to edit out problems are unnecessary dead air time. 
  • If necessary, edit the Javascript file that contains the timestamped text chatting and co-browsing activity to replace or remove URLs that create problems during full playback, or to insert URLs that will make full playback more visually engaging.      
  • Upload the entire recording folder to a server.
  • Podcast the MP3 audiorecording.
  • Remove the event announcement from the OPAL schedule of events. 
  • Add links to the various files to the OPAL archive.
  • Change the default homepage in the online room.
  • Note the usage stats for the room during the timeframe of the online event and update the OPAL attendance spreadsheet.