Overview

We are glad that you are planning to participate in one of our upcoming webinars.  Fair Voting BC is using the Elluminate webinar service offered through LearnCentral.org.  LearnCentral has graciously offered us free access to their large webinar room (up to 300 participants) when we are running a public education event.  The purpose of this page is to guide a new webinar participant through the process of starting and participating in a webinar session.

Getting Help / Trouble-Shooting

We have arranged for someone to be standing by if you have any technical problems.  Please call 778-235-7477 if you require live assistance.  If the webinar software fails for whatever reason, we have a backup webcast/conference call in place;  please click here to visit our Help and Backup Instructions.

Getting Started

Click on the LearnCentral event picture above to start the webinar software.  You can try this out anytime as this is a public webinar room (though depending on when you do this, you might happen into the middle of another public event!  Don’t worry – FVBC will be on-line on Saturday at 2:00).  We suggest you plan to log in and try things out 10-15 minutes in advance of the start of the event.

Session Login

When you click on the event link, you will be asked to enter the name you wish to be known by during the event.  We strongly recommend that you enter your actual name (first and last name).  This will help everyone in the webinar identify you and keep track of your contributions to the discussions.  If you are hosting a group event, please enter the name of your community (e.g., ‘Vancouver’, ‘Kamloops’, etc).

Running Java Application

After you hit the ‘Login’ button, Elluminate will try to start a Java application.  This is a small program which runs the webinar interface.  It may take a moment before the windows shown above appear – don’t worry!  Allow your computer to open the Java program (click ‘Open’, then ‘Allow’).  Again, it may take 30-60 seconds for the application to open, so don’t worry.

Initial Settings (Connection Speed and Audio)

Once the webinar software is running, it will ask you to confirm your connection speed (e.g., wireless or wired).  You should set this correctly to achieve the best performance for your system.  It will also suggest that you run the Audio Setup Wizard;  this is used to set your microphone and speaker settings.  Please do this a few minutes before the start of the webinar so that you can hear and be heard clearly.

The Webinar Interface

The webinar interface looks like the picture shown above (click image to expand).  On the left are three main sections – the participants, the chat room and the audio settings.  On the right is the main window;  here is where the presentation slides will be shown.  You will also want to go under the ‘Windows’ menu and activate the Video feed so that you can see the speaker (if you have a webcam and want to speak, the moderator can enable your camera at an appropriate time).  This will bring up a small video window which will sit on top of the main webinar screen.

Using the Webinar Interface

The main things you need to know are the following:

• How to open a video window – to see any broadcast video, see the instructions above (click Windows menu item, then select Video).  If you experience interruptions in the audio or video, we suggest you try closing the video window and just following along with the audio.  When the video window is open, you may make the image bigger by clicking the appropriate button below and to the left of the main video pane.  If more than one webcam is active, you will see additional thumbnail images below the main video feed;  you may choose a different feed by clicking on it.  If you would like to broadcast from your own camera, click the ‘Transmit’ button.
• How to follow along in the presentation – the slides will be shown in the main window.  It is common practice in many webinars to close the video window after initial introductions.
  
• How to ask a question – in the Participants pane on the upper left, click the Hand icon underneath the participant list.  The number beside your name indicates your place in the hand-raising order.  When the moderator acknowledges you, click the microphone at the bottom left of the screen, talk, then click your microphone off again (this prevents feedback).
• How to answer a Yes/No question from the speaker – click on the green check mark or the red ‘X’ below the participants pane.
• How to communicate with other participants – we invite you to enter comments in the chat window at any time and to respond to comments from other participants.  We will have someone monitoring this window, so please feel free to advise us of technical problems or to request assistance.  We should be able to get back to you fairly promptly.

For more detailed information, we suggest that you download an orientation guide from the following section.

Training/Orientation Guides

To learn about how to use this interface in detail, we strongly suggest you spend a few minutes in advance of the webinar reading through the orientation materials provided on the Elluminate website – just click on the image above to go to their site.  They offer a five minute recording, a short slide show, a quick reference guide (PDF) and a more detailed participant guide (also in PDF).