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So you want to communicate with your members. You want it to be in real time, and you want members to hear you and/or see you. The teleconferencing might work, but you know some people will not call a long distance number, plus, you really want your members to give you live feedback via real-time chat. The audio chat client might work for audio only, but you do not want others to be able to speak as well, plus, it may be a little confusing to the average member just to listen in. The video chat might work, but with each participant broadcasting audio and or video, it could be a mess for a one-to-many "webinar" type event. Solution? The iGrOOps Live Broadcaster!
The live broadcaster was developed out of the growing need for an administrator of a group to communicate and audio/video message to his or her members in real-time, while allowing the members to offer real-time feedback, using an incredibly simple interface. It is a flash-based application that loads in seconds and allows for hundreds of participants.
The live broadcaster is the ideal compliment to any Pocaster! Imagine doing live podcasts and having participants ask questions and leave comments as you podcast. Welcome to the next phase of podcasting evolution.
Activating Your Live Broadcaster
All members have access to this new application. Like all applications, in order to activate for your group, you must go into your "administrator settings", then select the second section from the pulldown at the top of the screen - "Applications / Permissions". Scroll down and look for the "Live Broadcaster". Make sure it is checked, and choose the permissions.
Only the administrator is allowed to broadcast. You can choose to allow limited members and/or full access members to participate or not. If you ever wanted to allow a member to broadcast, you can give that member admin access to the application.
Once your broadcaster is activated, you need to link the application somewhere within your iGrOOp. Most people will choose to just add this application to the list of "featured applications" on the left column. This is done in the homepage editor, under the "left column" section.
Setting Up Your Admin Options
Just as you begin to introduce any application, you should setup the admin options by clicking the "admin options" link within the application.
Broadcasting
As an administrator, when entering the application you will see TWO links: "Start Broadcasting" and "Launch Live Broadcast Console".
note: the text above the "start broadcasting" link is the whiteboard message.
Assuming you want to broadcast, click the "start broadcasting" link. The flash broadcaster will launch in a new window and a dialog window will appear setting up your webcam and camera. Follow the instructions in the dialog.
You can broadcast audio and video OR audio only. To broadcast audio only, do NOT select your webcam from the dropdown list when prompted.
Once complete with the dialog, you will be broadcasting!
Participating
Participating could not be easier. As a participant, just click the "launch live broadcast console" link. There is no dialog box, and you will immediately start hearing/seeing the broadcaster.
Only the administrator sees the choice to broadcast. The member does not see this link.
Some Podcasting Tips
This application does NOT record, but using your favorite desktop podcaster/audio recorder, you can have that software running while you are broadcasting.
Looking for podcasting software? On the PC we suggest Castblaster or Audacity, and on the MAC you can use Garageband.
For more on podcasting see http://www.membershipsitebuilding.com/members/msb/blog/VIEW/00000008/00000015/Episode1-Podcasting-for-Your-Online-Group.html#00000015
Miscellaneous Notes
