Category: Uncategorized

by Quinn McDonald

Choosing a topic and writing a webinar are vital to your webinar’s success. But unless you plan the event carefully, the communication won’t work. Let’s take a look to see what it takes to set up a Webinar with a provider. If you wrote the webinar, you may be in charge of running it.

Here are some tips on Webinar presentations.

Preparing for a Webinar

Webinars are virtual seminars. They are a good way to reach those who need orientation or specific-topic training. It’s easy to think that a webinar is run just like a meeting, but there are some specifics that need to be planned ahead of time.

Find the Webinar Provider That’s Right for Your Needs

There are many webinar providers, offering different services, features, prices, and extras. Start at least eight weeks before you plan on running the orientation. You’ll need some lead time.

Before you call providers, develop a list of questions and items you already know about your needs. For example, time zones involved, computer platforms (PC and Macs), ISPs (Firefox, Ubuntu, Safari, Internet Explorer get different results), number of participants in total, highest number of participants in a single location, and approximate length of program.

Almost all support PowerPoint, but if you plan on developing material you will share through Adobe Acrobat or web development programs, ask the provider if they support that software program. Webinar providers don’t know what you are planning, and may not mention other choices, so ask. You’ll get a provider better suited to your needs if you can compare products, services, not just price.

Run a Practice Webinar

Webinars aren’t difficult, but they are different from running a meeting or a conference call. Ask for a practice session if you’ve never run one before. To make the practice work well, you’ll have to prepare all your materials first. Then ask two people from sites that will be participating to help you by signing on and asking questions. Some providers have a practice session built into the price or have a practice run rate.

Create, Send and Stick to a Schedule

Most people are busy, so send a "save the date and time" email about a month ahead of time. Include instructions for downloading software and installing it correctly. Ask the provider what ISP or platform is best. Don’t assume everyone uses a PC and Internet Explorer. Provide a telephone number if participants need help. Keep the number handy yourself in case something goes wrong.

In the ‘save the date’ email, send a link to a page on your website that shows the entire schedule for the webinar. If you run one Webinar a month, at the same date (15th of the month or the closest workday in the week prior) or day of the week (third Thursdays at 10 a.m.) it will help attendees plan their time.

Send a reminder of the contents and time of the webinar one week ahead of time. Send a "see you there" reminder the day before.

If you are the moderator, be ready to go 15 minutes ahead of time. Start on time, and respect your participant’s schedules by ending on time as well.

The moderator’s job is to present fresh material that is easily understood and to answer questions. PowerPoint was not made to be a report, or to be a read-only document. PowerPoint presentations filled with lists of bullet-point that are topic headings won’t work.

You won’t be able to cover as much material in a one-hour webinar as you can in a one-hour classroom session. You will need to repeat important points more than once. You will need to give examples and show diagrams, photographs, and charts that make your material easily understood.

After the Presentation

If your service provider offers a way to record and store the presentation, the moderator will find it useful to listen to it after the presentation. You’ll get a feeling for how you sound and present, and how you used PowerPoint.

Ask for feedback from the participants. You may be surprised at the good suggestions you get from hearing from the other side of the computer and phone.

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About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer, certified creativity coach and trainer in business communications. See more of her work at Quinncreative.wordpress.com

Question: Captivate vs. SnagIt and FullShot

You mention on page 19 of your Captivate 3 book that you use third-party screen capture programs (SnagIt and FullShot) for backgrounds, whereas most people "elect to use Captivate to create the screen captures."  You don’t really elaborate on this.  Would you mind me asking why it is that you don’t just use Captivate?

Answer:

SnagIt and FullShot both include intense graphic tools to augment screen captures created with those applications (you can add callouts, shadows, arrows, etc.); Captivate does not have any drawing tools.

Both SnagIt and FullShot allow you to pull specific parts of the screen (such as a window, menu, button, dialog, screen, etc). Using SnagIt or FullShot you can elect to save your screen captures in various formats (BMP, JPG, etc). With Captivate, you are forced to capture everything within the red recording area on your screen. And the screen captures created in Captivate are intended to stay within Captivate (even though you can certainly copy and paste the backgrounds between applications).

Question: Captivate versus PowerPoint

Captivate seems to be a great alternative to PowerPoint for doing presentations.  In your experience, are there any circumstances where PowerPoint still has an advantage over Captivate?

Answer:

While you can create wonderful scenario-based projects with Captivate, I would say that most people who use Captivate use it to create interactive software simulations or demonstrations. While you could mange much of the same Captivate effects using PowerPoint, Captivate "just feels right" for creating software simulations where I feel like I’m trying to put a square peg into a round hole trying to use PowerPoint. However, PowerPoint does contain some wonderful animation effects you cannot get with Captivate (animated bullets, master slides, etc.) PowerPoint sports a ton of drawing tools and AutoShapes. If you are creating a soft-skills presentation and do not intend to include quizzes, do not need SCORM compliance and do not intend to upload to an LMS, I would advise you to create that kind of project in PowerPoint and leave software simulations to Captivate.

Got a Question You’d Like Answered? Email me.

An Authorware User and eLearning Developer takes a Second look at Adobe Captivate

Steve Howard of Magnolia Multimedia has been developing eLearning with Authorware for almost 10 years. He has written an interesting article that compares Authorware to Adobe Captivate versions 2 and 3.

Question About Using JavaScript in Captivate

I recently got a copy of your book Essentials of Adobe Captivate 2 and would like to explore JavaScripting (i.e., Button–execute JavaScript).  Basically we would like to script the "back" button to go back to the exact page last viewed, not the page before the page viewed.  Any help you could provide would be great appreciated.  Thank you.  – MSJ, Raytheon Company.

Answer:

You can certainly attach a JavaScript to a button (show the Properties of the button, select Execute JavaScript from the On Success drop down menu, click the three dots you see to the right and type your JavaScript in the window that appears. The JavaScript you create can force the browser playing your Captivate movie to perform some wonderful tricks. However, jumping back to a "marked" slide won’t work without taking your Captivate project into Flash and adding some ActionScript. You can easily take your Captivate project into Flash (that only takes a few seconds assuming you have Flash 8 or newer on your PC). However, it’s the ActionScript part that won’t be easy unless you have a working knowledge of ActionScript.

Follow-Up to a Question from Last Week 

Here was the Question: We have an on-going need to change sections or individual slides and relevant voiceovers in movies. This presents a challenge when trying to splice into an existing movie and maintaining the same sound quality.

Due to our environment, using a professional sound recording studio is not an option. In addition, we need to produce the movies in two or three languages. Completing a full voice over each time is unrealistic.

How can we maintain a "reasonable" level of sound quality without a professional studio or completely re-recording the voiceover. I believe the use of quality microphones and recording equipment may aid our cause–it’s also where I’m stuck since I haven’t a clue about this area (either hardware or software). Can you help?

Follow-Up

Juan R. Gomez, Quality & Continuous Improvement Manager of Infotech Aerospace Services provides the following:

"You can always have a high quality text to speech software application do the trick for you.  They are relatively inexpensive and voice quality in terms of pronunciation and realistic sound has gotten very good and affordable.  I suggest the following web-sites to start looking."

• www.nextup.com
• www.naturalreaders.com
• www.neospeech.com
• www.cepstral.com

If you have additional suggestions on the best way to maintain audio quality for Captivate audio files that you record yourself, please let me know. I’ll be happy to publish your responses in this newsletter next week.

Got a question? Click here.

Question About Creating Hyperlinks in Adobe Captivate

I have created some CBT training using Adobe Captivate 1. Some of the modules contain references to other modules because they contain related information. Some of the users have asked if hyperlinks can be embedded within a module that will take them to the referenced module (or in another case, to a referenced website).  I have checked the Help and training materials, but don’t see anything on hyperlinks. What do you say on the subject, Kevin?

Answer:

Any interactive object (Click Box, Button, or Text Entry Box) in Captivate can result in a hyperlink to a Web site, e-mail address, another Captivate slide in the same project or another Captivate project all together.

For instance, here’s how to create a link to a Web site via a Click Box in Captivate versions 1-3:

1. Choose Insert > Click Box
2. On the Click Box tab, select Open URL or file from the On success area
3. Type a Web address in the URL area



4. Click the black triangle to the right of the URL you just typed and choose New (this option will force the link into a new browser window instead of replacing your movie with the Web site)
5. Click OK

Question About Controlling Audio Quality in Adobe Captivate

We have an on-going need to change sections or individual slides and relevant voiceover’s in movies. This presents a challenge when trying to splice into an existing movie and maintaining the same sound quality.

Due to our environment, using a professional sound recording studio is not an option. In addition, we need to produce the movies in two or three languages. Completing a full voice over each time is unrealistic.

How can we maintain a "reasonable" level of sound quality without a professional studio or completely re-recording the voiceover. I believe the use of quality microphones and recording equipment may aid our cause–it’s also where I’m stuck since I haven’t a clue about this area (either hardware or software). Can you help?

Answer

I’m not an audio expert, although I do play one on TV. In all seriousness, I take audio quality so serious for my customer’s that I always employ professional audio talent when creating audio files for my Captivate projects. However, I understand from reading your email that hiring audio talent is not an option and that you must create the audio yourself. Therefore, I’m going to rely on your fellow Captivate developers reading this newsletter to respond appropriately. If you have suggestions on the best way to maintain audio quality for Captivate audio files that you record yourself, please let me know. I’ll be happy to publish your responses here.

Got a question? Click here.

Question About Adobe Captivate Movie Size & Playbars

I need a 679 height to cover the spread sheet I’ll be capturing in the movie.  Two things happen in View in Web Browser mode:

1. User needs to scroll down to the bottom of the screen to view the entire application.
2. The playback controls cover parts of the application that is being demonstrated.

Do you know how I can set the New movie options to capture the entire application without scrolling and having the controls block the application?

Answer

If you must capture a screen height of 679, and scrolling is an issue, you can select Full screen from the Output Options in the Publish dialog box (File > Publish). When publishing with this option, the browser’s title bar and toolbars will be hidden when the learner watches your simulation.

As for the playbar issue, use Skins (Project > Skin) instead of Bitmap playbars. Unlike Bitmap playbars, the playbars included with Skins do not cover any part of your simulation’s screen.

Question about Updating PDF Files in RoboInfo

In RoboInfo, if I want to replace an existing PDF with a new PDF, what is the best way to do that?  Do I need to first delete the old one before I import the new one?  What about if I have hyperlinks to the old PDF document and I want the same hyperlinks to the new PDF?  Do I need to go in and redo all the hyperlinks, or is there a way to avoid redoing them?

Answer

The simplest thing to do is keep the PDF file names the same. Open the RoboInfo project folder, copy the new PDF into the project folder where the old PDF resides. Replace the old file with the new one when prompted. If you keep the names and locations the same, you will NOT have to redo your project links.

Question about Punctuation in eLearning

What is the proper use of quotation marks in eLearning?  Can quotation marks be used to make a phrase or button stand out?

Answer

I tend to use quotation marks as little as possible. For instance, if you instruct a user to type "67" into a Captivate Text Entry Box, they are likely to take you literally and type "67" instead of 67. Instead, I would make the instruction appear bold: type 67.

Question about Displaying Proper Names in eLearning

How would you handle the name of books and /or the names of chapters in a book (would you use italics, quotation marks or bold)?

Answer

I use bold for all titles, names and important steps. I do not use underline (people will mistake the title for a link), italics (hard to read) or quotation marks. But keep in mind that as long as you are consistent in what you do, you can quite literally do anything you want when it comes to either of the two questions above. When in doubt, you could refer to the The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual—that’s the one we use at IconLogic as our grammar bible.

If you have your own resources when it comes to either of these two questions, please send them along. I’ll be sure to post your comments here.

Got a question? Click here.

In September, I’ll be teaching two Captivate classes at ThinkB!G: "Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3" (a 2-day course on Captivate 3) and then "Adobe Captivate Plus" (a 1-day script writing class).

Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3 (2-day class)

September 17-18, 2007

First, learn the essential skills necessary to create killer CBTs in Adobe Captivate 3 including: recording projects in all of Captivate’s recording modes, working with Text Captions and the Timeline, working with images, adding animation, changing the pointer path, adding highlight boxes, making projects interactive, publishing, adding audio, adding sound effects, creating Question Slides and posting projects to a live LMS.

Here’s a special offer just for readers of this newsletter:

Register now and you’ll receive $100 off the price of the class (use coupon code IL100 to receive your discount). Click here to register.

Prerequisites: Experience with the PC and the Windows operating system.

Note: The discount offer above expires September 1, 2007.

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Adobe Captivate PLUS! (1-day class)

September 19, 2007 

Creating effective CBTs takes more than Captivate skills–you need an effective script. I’ll work with you to create an efficient, step-by-step script/storyboard for your very own CBT.

As you move through the writing process, you’ll share your script with your peers. Once your script is finished, you will use Adobe Captivate to record a totally interactive software simulation. Finally, after producing and testing your project, you will enable its e-Learning features, publish it and then upload it to a live LMS for the entire world to see.

Here’s a sampling of what you will learn:

• How to write concise scripts and step-by-step instructions that are presented in the active voice, without "deadwood"
• How to develop your very own style guide that will serve as your Captivate "bible" for years to come
• Real-world production tips and tricks that will save you hours of labor during the "cleanup" phase

Register now and you’ll receive $50 off the price of the class (use coupon code IL50 to receive your discount).

Space is limited to 10 students. Ready to register? Click here.

Prerequisites: You should have already taken the Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3 class or have a strong working knowledge of Adobe Captivate 3.

Note: The discount offer above expires September 1, 2007.

Question About Links to PDFs in RoboHelp

"I have created links to several PDFs in my RoboHelp project. Those PDFs (not the links) need to be updated. How do I do that?"

Answer

That’s a simple process of creating the new PDFs using the same names as the old. Then copy the new PDFs into the RoboHelp project folder and replace the old ones when prompted. The next time you generate and publish the project, you will be all set.

Question on Adobe Captivate 2 Question Slides

"I’m using question slides and the numbering is wrong which is affecting the scoring.  My project has 4 slides, then it branches off into either an Order Entry piece which is 27 slides long or a Quiz portion that is six slides long.  When you are editing the question slides, the numbering is correct, i.e. Question slide 1 out of 1.  When you preview the project, it says 1 out of 21.  When you publish and view, same thing occurs.  So when you do complete a quiz, and you get all five slides correct, it says you failed because you only got five out of 25 correct.  Twenty mystery quiz slides are being added."

Answer

I’ve seen this problem before. You have objects in the project that are reporting user interaction and the scores are inadvertently being included in your quiz (any Button, Click Box or Text Entry Box can be reported and treated as part of a quiz). You can turn off the reporting by showing the Properties of the objects, selecting the Reporting tab and deselecting Include in Quiz. After repeating this step for all of the interactive objects not part of the quiz, you will be good to go.

Question About Upgrading to Adobe Captivate 3

In your opinion, is it worth upgrading to Adobe Captivate 3 from version 2? I feel that Captivate 2 had several bugs. Has Adobe fixed the problems with Captivate 2 or has Adobe provided new features without fixing existing problems?

Answer

Adobe Captivate 3 has several wonderful new features (question pools, random question slides, the ability to duplicate questions slides, search/replace, recording multiple modes at one time, Vista support, improved PowerPoint import support) and I would strongly recommend upgrading. However, Captivate 3 is too new to pinpoint the possible bugs. As with all upgrades, much has been fixed from the previous version; some new bugs may be lurking.

An astute reader of last week’s column on commas with adjectives may have noticed that in the example Brian’s comfortable big old brown soft Italian leather driving jacket sleeve was lurking a hyphenation question. Shouldn’t Italian leather be hyphenated?

The answer is it depends. Was it an Italian jacket made of leather? Or was it a jacket made of Italian leather?

Wait. Wait. That is breaking my brain. At least that is what my neighbor’s son says when I try to discuss these matters with him when going over his school work.

Let’s start from the beginning. How do you tell if you need a hyphen with adjectives? You ask whether each adjective can be used by itself to describe your noun. If yes, no hyphens. If no, you probably need a hyphen. "Wait. What do you mean by probably?" I can hear my neighbor say.  Let’s look at some examples.

Two small green lizards. Can you use the word two by itself to describe the lizards? Yes. There were two lizards. Can you say they were small lizards? Yes. Can you say they were green lizards. Yes. Each of these words can describe the lizards. You don’t need any hyphens.

Five-mile hike. Can you call it a five hike? No. The word five cannot, by itself, describe the hike. You have to combine it with the word mile before you can have a complete unit that can modify the hike. Editor’s call this a unit modifier. The hyphen combines the two words into one unit.

So far so good. But now comes the probably part. Two things might mean you still do not use a hyphen. One is if the two words are already perceived as a unit by your readers: high school dance. The compound word high school is already a well-known unit. It is even in the dictionary under h for high. Real estate license. Home run hitter.

The other thing you don’t hyphenate is an adverb.  If the first word modifies the second, often specifying the degree or intensity of the adjective, then that first word is an adverb. Don’t hyphenate after an adverb.

• The very small lizard.
• The completely green lizard.
• The extremely low discount.
• The previously described report.
• The highly motivated employee.
• The completely correct grammar.

So what about the Italian leather jacket? Without the hyphen, I am saying the word Italian is just one of a list of adjectives describing the jacket. If I had meant that it was a jacket made of Italian leather, I would have needed a hyphen.

Next time: Quiz!

by Jennie Ruby

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as Essentials of Access 2000; and Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7 to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing. You can reach Jennie at Jenruby@aol.com

I recently received an email attachment that contained a DOCX extension. Hmmmm? I’d never seen that type of extension before. The person who sent the email was a trusted source and I was assured the file was a Word document. Hmmmm? DOCX? What happened to my friend DOC (which has been the extension for Word documents since the beginning of time)?

Here’s what happened: Word 2007! It turns out that Word 2007 documents use the DOCX extenion. Undaunted, I attempted to open the file using Word 2003. Pow!!!!! Instead of the file opening, I was greeted with a bunch of gibberish. Ouch!

Again, I had to ask myself, "What happened?" It seems that Microsoft has added the new Office Open XML Formats to the following 2007 Microsoft Office programs:

• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007

What’s that you say, "So what! I’m sticking with older version of Word." Nice. But you’ll quickly take one on the chin because older versions of Word cannot open Word 2007 files. Sooner or later, someone is going to send you a DOCX file and you’re going to be stuck.

Don’t panic. Read on…

A compatibility pack is now available from Microsoft that will enable you to open and save Office Open XML Formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office. You can install the compatibility pack on a computer that is running Microsoft Office 2003 programs, Microsoft Office XP programs, or Microsoft Office 2000 programs. Once you install the compatibility pack, you can open, edit, save, and create files in the robust Office Open XML Formats.