Thing 6 : Online Meetings

Diving into Digital Books: Adding eReaders to Your Library, May 2^nd, 2011.

I attended this archived webinar and found it to be as convenient as attending a live webinar.  Many thanks to Polly who sent me the archived link; I was able to download and install the Elluminate Live! Software on my

MacBook Pro while lying in bed and my laptop on my lap—where else? The process was very easy and seamless. The audio was good, and there were no sound issues. At one point, I was able to pause the program for a short break and continue where I left off. It was and hour-long webinar with a brief answer and question session at the end.  There were 135 participants and a little pop-up window kept appearing every time a participant joined the webinar. On the left panel of the screen, there was a little window where you could view chat sessions and comments from the participants. In the middle of the screen were slides that corresponded to the presenter’s topic. They were very engaging and kept my attention throughout the program. Even though this was an archived webinar, it's as if I was attending it live. The only disadvantage was that if I had any questions, I wasn't able to ask them.

Compared to attending an in-person meeting, I think this is very good. If you don’t have the funds for travel, or cannot attend due to scheduling problems, an archived webinar is the next best alternative. I have attended webinars before, and I think I will continue to attend as many free ones as time allows in order to keep up with my library skills.