Web Conference: First Ever!!

On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, I attended my very first web conference. I have to admit that web cams freak me out. It’s a little strange to me to be able to see people on a camera in real time/live motion. I suppose that my comfort level will increase with more exposure to using video/web conferencing. It is like that will all technology. I might be afraid to use it only because I am not familiar with it. The web conference started out bumpy and we were approximately 20 minutes late getting started. The professor was having trouble with her microphone and for the longest no one could hear her. I had trouble with my lighting. Even though I had every light in the room on and all the shades up to let sunlight in, I could not get enough light. My camera displayed a very dark room. I was using a headset with a microphone, but when I muted my microphone, everyone could still hear me. It was only when I disconnected my microphone that the others in the conference could not hear me. I noticed that I was not the only one experiencing problems. Some were having trouble with the room lighting, while others could not get their equipment to work. This is the fate of technology. It is wonderful and great when it is working, but when it’s not working properly we are at technology’s mercy.

I believe that everyone who participated in the web conference needs to learn room etiquette. There were people with background noise (children in the room, eating food, drinking beverages, televisions, radios, etc…) that contributed to not being able to hear and concentrate on the information being given in the room. This became frustrating since the information being given was important. I also noticed that when the room was opened up to discussion and questions that most people chose not to use the “raise hand” function or their microphones. Questions were typed in the chat box. This made it difficult to follow the conversations and there were some questions that did not get answered. Overall the web conference was an interesting experience, and I’m sure that once I get the “technical bugs” worked out I will have a great time.