TechNet Webcast Weblog : Latest News

Aloha TechNet Webcasts and Virtual Labs

technetwebcasts — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:09:00 GMT

The one thing constant at Microsoft is change and this past year has seen a lot of change on the Webcast/Virtual Lab team. After many years of stability managing the TechNet Webcast program, Dean Andrews moved to a new emerging media position and Katheryn Baker took the helm. After just a few months Katheryn moved over to MSDN and I took over as the TechNet Webcast/Podcast/Virtual Lab guy. Well, after four short months we're shaking things up again and I'll be moving over the take over the MSDN online media program and Anthony Tsim will be taking over my role in TechNet.

When I took over this blog in May, I laid down a manifesto to help revamp how users consume our media. I wanted to help improve our programs' discoverability, usability and ease of getting into our resources (ie. registration). I'm happy to report we're making advances on all fronts, although they may not be visible quite yet. On discoverability, we added keyword search capability to the "Find Events and Webcasts" link at the top of the left column of our landing pages. That was a no brainer but if you only knew what it took just to get that. The other two are high on our priority list and hope to have some tangible results within the next few months including a wider a variety of online media.

So I'll be picking things up on the developer side of things. Thanks for tuning in.

Scott Lum

IT Showcase is Now TechNet Spotlight

technetwebcasts — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:08:00 GMT

I'm not sure when the converted over, but I noticed that IT Showcase is now called TechNet Spotlight: www.microsoft.com/emea/spotlight/. With a new design and Silverlight video player, the site is a much improved way to view Microsoft videos. TechNet Spotlight focuses on videotaping demos and presentations at various live events (do you still call it videotaping if it's all digital?). The result is a video of the presenter in action and you can download the PPT or view it in the sidebar. By using a high res Silverlight you can see a much larger image of the video than the small viewer that IT Showcase featured, which makes it much easier to view the content and more pleasant to watch.

Check it out - there's a bunch of good content that will be of interest to IT Pros and Managers. There's video from TechEd, IT Forum, WinHec, OCS Ignite Tour and many more.

TechNet Spotlight: www.microsoft.com/emea/spotlight/

Scott Lum

Thailand Students Win Imagine Cup

technetwebcasts — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:25:00 GMT

Imagine Cup, the world’s premier competition for technology students, gives students the chance to unlock their creative genius and build solutions that tackle real-world issues facing society today.This year's Imagine Cup had 100,000 students from 100 countries participating in this software design competition. The 55 software design finalist teams created applications using the Microsoft platform and Microsoft tools based on the Imagine Cup competition theme: “Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all.”

“Imagine Cup provides a forum for university students around the world to explore new ways to use the power of software to help address some of the world’s toughest problems,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft. “The high caliber of the students and their projects is an indication of their potential to become great business and technology leaders, and a hint at how a new generation of innovations can have a lasting and transformative impact on education and beyond.”

Next year's Imagine Cup will be in France. Imagine Cup home: http://imaginecup.com/Default.aspx

Microsoft Press Pass: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/aug07/08-10ImagineCupWinnersPR.mspx

Imagine Cup Promotional Video - Soapbox: http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=fde1c7fa-59c8-4cba-ba4b-10e3d87190a5

Scott Lum

3D View of a NASA Space Shuttle and Launch Site - Microsoft Photosynth

technetwebcasts — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:43:00 GMT

Microsoft just announced a collaborative work with NASA to create a 3-D photo experience using a product under development called Photosynth: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/326453_software06.html. Photosynth takes a collection of photographs and stitches them together for a rich, immersive environment. Check out the Space World site which is created in conjunction with NASA, Microsoft Live Labs and MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20098402/

There are a bunch of other Photosynch collections worth checking out including a Britain in Pictures: BBC Collection, Gyeongbokgung - a South Korean Temple, Piazza San Marco, Venice, Grassi Lakes in the Canadian Rockies, Gary Faigin Art Studio and Piazza San Pietro, Rome.

As a photographer, I love this stuff! The engaging experience that Photosynth brings to the site is almost as good as being there live - and in many cases it's even better. I've always preferred a good photograph to video because of how it freezes time and tells a story of how the photographer interpreted the moment. Photosynth brings all of these moments together and tells a story and the high resolution images let me explore details that I might otherwise have missed if I was there in person.

I could go on and on about all of the cool things you can discover on with Photosynth but it’s something you’ve just got to check out for yourself.

Happy exploring.

Scott Lum

Vista Test Drive - Try out Vista in a Virtual Lab environment

technetwebcasts — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:52:00 GMT

Several months ago, our team launched the Vista Test Drive (www.vistatestdrive.com) in time for the Office Vista Launch. The Vista Test Drive is a great way to try out some of the features of Vista without having to download or install the trial software on your computer using a guided hands-on Virtual Lab. You can also see the features demonstrated in a mini-screencast demo.

So, why is the Vista Test Drive format important? When I was at TechEd, the top two feedback comments I heard from you was make it easier to get into the Webcasts and Virtual Labs and make them easier to find. With Vista Test Drive the registration is much easier - you enter your e-mail just once up front and once you're in the Vista Test Drive you can try out the videos and the Virtual Labs without having to re-register. I realize that it can be a pain to get into our Webcasts and Virtual Labs right now - you need to navigate several pages before you get to watch the Webcast or evaluate the product online. We don't have a silver bullet yet, but we're getting better.

Also, we made it easier to find the content based on the important product features and the audience (Small Business and Mid-Size Business for this version). I think this drives users through the content much more seamlessly and we don't just drop you into a landing page with a laundry list of resources. How we tackle the 6000 Webcasts in our archive will be a different matter, but for now, I think this is a step in the right direction.

The response has been hugely successful. The number of people watching the videos and trying out the Virtual Labs has exceeded our expectations. Try it out, let me know what you think and look for new versions of Test Drive for some of our other products in the near future. (Requires IE6 - available in US and Canada only).

Scott Lum

Farewell George - MSDN Webcast Guru

technetwebcasts — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:48:00 GMT

I'm a month late but I wanted say farewell to George Pulikkathara who has been the MSDN Webcast Marketing Manager for the past six years: http://blogs.msdn.com/msdnwebcasts/archive/2007/06/30/good-bye-george-msdn-webcasts-guy-hello-george-mcp-community-guy.aspx . You may be familiar with George who supported the MSDN Webcast Blog, but you may not have known that he was one of the original creators of the Webcast team in the US Marketing team. There had been several groups at Microsoft creating ad hoc Webcasts and George and a few others decided to consolidate the Webcast engine into a single group. Over the past six years, the team has created over 5000 Webcasts between IT Pro and Developers. The team has since grown to include other media such as Podcasts and hands-on Virutal Labs.

George has done a bunch for the Webcast team but my favorite is the creation of the MSDN Webcast Guy. It started off as a single foam character with a red cape. The program has since grown to seven characters as part of the Source Fource: http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/hero/. If you were at TechEd for the past couple of years you may have seen the life size characters roaming the floor and you may even have picked one up at the Webcast station.

George has moved on to promoting the Microsoft Certified Professional program in Microsoft Learning. Best wishes on your new position George. We'll miss you in Webcast land.

Scott Lum

New Short-Format Audio Podcasts for Office System Productivity

technetwebcasts — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:05:00 GMT

The Online Media Team, who creates the Microsoft Webcasts and Virtual Labs, just released a newer format of audio Podcasts. Up until now, if you went to www.microsoft.com/podcasts, all of the content on the site has been audio stripped out of our Webcasts. Not an ideal learning environment because you don’t get to see the presenter’s demos but for many, it was still a good way to learn about our products during your commute or while working out. So finally, we’re coming out with a new series of content that is created directly for audio and in a shorter format (10-20 mins) so that it may be easier to consume in a single session.

Tomato-Tomaaato/Potato-Potaaato/Podcast-Webcast Audio. So, if you’re scanning our Podcast site looking for some helpful audio content, how can you tell which is which? The short format, direct to audio content will be labeled “Podcasts” and the audio that we stripped out from the Webcasts will be labeled “Webcast Audio”. Also, the short format Podcasts will generally be at the top of each section and the Webcast Audio will follow.

Check out the new Office Podcasts: http://www.microsoft.com/events/podcasts/default.mspx#busMicrosoftOfficeSystem

· Enhancing the Effectiveness of Your Team and Community with Groove 2007 Workspaces

· Improving Data Analysis with Excel 2007 PivotTables and PivotCharts

· Process-Driven Collaboration with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Outlook 2007

· Sharing PowerPoint 2007 Slide Content

Scott Lum

SharePoint & Office Open XML Short Format Webcast Express Pilot

technetwebcasts — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 02:01:00 GMT

We're trying out slightly new form factor - a shorter duration Webcast we're calling Webcast Express. Most of you are familiar with our standard 60-min Webcast. These shorter format Webcasts are recorded straight to on-demand and generally run 10-20 minutes in length. For the pilot, we're running them in a Web console and we're making it easy to consume (ie. no registration).

With the feedback I've been getting from our evaluations and speaking with people at TechEd, I would think Webcast Express would be a no brainer. Shorter time committments and focused content will make it easier to consume in a single sitting. The no registration part means that the video will launch in just two clicks and you're in. So I'm sure this will be a popular format - we'll just need to make a few tweeks in the upcoming months to make it more cost effective to create and even easier to find content. Try them out and let me know what you think. Since this is a pilot, your feedback is important. Is it too short, just right, good way to learn, etc.?

We have seven SharePoint 2007 Webcast Express on topics like new features, installation & confirguration, customizing search, report center, etc. There are also two Webcast Express for Office Open XML Format - one on Excel and the other Word. They're presented by a couple of the speakers you may know well - Matt Hester and Kevin Remde.

· Introducing New Features in SharePoint Server 2007 Duration: 15.29 min

· Installing and Configuring SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 1 of 2) Duration: 22.09 min

· Installing and Configuring SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 2 of 2) Duration: 23.26 min

· Viewing User SharePoint Server 2007 Search Improvements Duration: 11.36 min

· Using Search Query and Results Reporting in Office SharePoint Server 2007 Duration: 13.47 min

· Customizing Search in Office SharePoint Server 2007 Duration: 21.3 min

· Exploring the Report Center in SharePoint Server 2007 Duration: 14.18 min

· Working with Office Open XML File Format: Microsoft Office Excel Duration: 18.46 min

· Working with Office Open XML File Format: Microsoft Office Word Duration: 12.25 min

View all the Webcast Express along with the abstracts and presentation details: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/SearchResults.aspx?culture=en-US&evtTyp=0&kwdExact=technet%20webcast%20express&lng=en&advFlag=1

Office Live Meeting 2007 at TechEd

technetwebcasts — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:51:00 GMT

One of the favorite things I saw at this year’s TechEd was the new version of Office Live Meeting 2007. It might not have been the most earthshaking technology at the show but it could have a big impact on the Webcasts you see on TechNet and MSDN. As you may know (or not), our team uses Live Meeting to record most of our Webcasts and we strip out the audio to create the Webcast Audio Podcasts. While Live Meeting was not created for this purpose, it works well for our use - it's simple and provides most of the functionality we need. The new version of Live Meeting has some new features which will help make our Webcasts even richer in the future. A few of the features I liked:

1. Video support– The current version of Live Meeting does not support video. A Webcast presenter can’t show off a video that they may otherwise use in a live PowerPoint presentation. With the new version they can – so the potential for a richer Webcast experience is there.

2. Support for slide builds – I don’t know this for a fact but if LM supports video I’m assuming that it will support PPT slide builds. This is big since the replay of the Webcasts would often have overlapping text which made no sense since the original PPT deck had slide builds one on top of the other. To get around that problem we encouraged presenters to create separate slides for each build. This should make the on-demand viewing of our Webcasts much more pleasant.

3. Talking head video – The new version also supports Webcams so you could potentially see the Webcast presenter in a small window as they talk. I’m not sure how many of our presenters are willing to set up a Webcam for all to see, but I think it will add one more element of interest. They also showed off support for the new Microsoft RoundTable ringcam which is an awesome new camera which gives you a panoramic 360 degree view of a conference room and directional mikes which detects were the sound is coming from and focuses on the face of the person talking. It’s not something we’d use for Webcasts but very cool for businesses looking to collaborate in meetings using the Web.

4. VoIP Support – Most of the live Webcasts are broadcast over IAB. LM2007 will support VoIP which should provide higher quality and more reliable audio during our live Webcasts.

Office Live Meeting 2007 is scheduled to be released in the Fall so it will be awhile before we see new Webcasts in this format. Something to look forward to…

Scott Lum

See, Hear, Do - Webcasts, Podcasts and Virtual Labs

technetwebcasts — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:55:00 GMT

Thanks Katheryn -- best wishes on the developer side of things. This wouldn't be Microsoft if we didn't have change -- its a good thing. I'll be taking over the TechNet Online Media program which covers not just Webcasts but Podcasts and hands-on Virtual Labs which will give us a lot to cover. Who da Guy? I've been working with MS for the past six years, primarily in sales and marketing (cut me some slack). I spent the first three years selling and evangelizing our technologies on our Academic team, the next year or so on the developer sales team and the past year and a half promoting Virtual Labs and Webcasts.

My objective for this Blog will be to highlight some of the upcoming Webcasts, Podcasts and Virtual Labs and give you a preview of some of the new form factors we're working on - Labcasts, short format Webcasts and Podcasts, Test Drives, etc. Some pretty cool stuff that I hope will help you understand our products better. I'll also digress a little with some technology tidbits that I may find.

Some of the things that are high on my priority list for the next 12-months: 1. Improved registration process, 2. Enhanced media experience, 3. Better discoverability of our existing content. Dude, I'm not that good yet, so don't expect miracles right away, but I figure if I put these thoughts out to the universe it'll have a better chance of happening. It's my mission statement, my hope, my dreams. "Yeah right!" you say.

Stay tuned. I'm off to TechEd next week and I'll try to report on some of the things going on from an online media perspective.

Scott Lum

A Webcast a Day...

technetwebcasts — Sat, 12 May 2007 06:55:00 GMT

...keeps you sharp and informed!

We are knee-deep in our “Webcast a Day” series this month to support the joint launch of Forefront and System Center. There’s a lot of great content out there with top-notch presenters, so please be sure to register now! As always, if you missed one, you can always catch up with our on-demand Webcasts. Be sure to catch one now…so you can keep the “viruses” away!

Generic TechNet Webcast Update

technetwebcasts — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:46:00 GMT

Hi All! So, it has been an eventful month, getting adjusted to my new role. Lots of meetings and getting up to speed with new processes-Dean left big shoes to fill! Currently I am working with some of our awesome TechNet presenters to put together some short-format webcasts for the 2007 Office system. This is something that we are looking forward to, as it will not require registration-somewhat of a barrier for users to access Webcasts and Virtual Labs-especially when our registration engine is down! Stay tuned, as I am hoping there will be an update soon on the availabilty of these Webcasts.

We have also been busily planning upcoming series-Longhorn in April, and System Center and Forefront in May. It is really exciting to be a part of launch activities and we have some first-rate content coming around the corner for these products. Be sure to sign up!

That's about it for now-March is already a busy month...over 60 TechNet Webcasts scheduled, so be sure to register for one today!

Cheers,

Katheryn

And the Winners are...

technetwebcasts — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 02:24:00 GMT

Well, this is an exciting kick off for my first "official" post—announcing our prize winners!

We always have contests going for various products and programs, however the Office Webcast giveaway was especially exciting because the First Prize was an Acer Ferrari Laptop! Be sure to catch a 2007 Office webcast right away to put yourself in the running for the February drawing!

Congrats to:

Alison B. from Lee’s Summit, MO, who won the Acer Ferrari laptop watching the TechNet Webcast: Accelerate Desktop Deployment with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (Level 200) webcast
Tho P. from Spokane Valley, WA, who won the Windows Mobile powered smartphone watching the TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Deployed Office Groove 2007 (Level 300) webcast
Curt L. from Madison WI, who won the Microsoft Zune digital media player watching the TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Deployed the 2007 Office System (Level 300) webcast

Be sure to check out the Enterprise Search Webcast series…the first Webcast kicked off yesterday, but you can catch up by watching the on-demand version. They also have a special contest where you could win a Microsoft Tech∙Ed 2007 conference pass along with accommodations! Be sure to check out the official rules for further details.

Alright...gotta run for now-more to come!

Katheryn Baker

TechNet Webcasts

Oooh! Do I get a star?

technetwebcasts — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:26:00 GMT

I've never been a sheriff before! I look forward to moseying down the Microsoft halls in search of new and exciting TechNet Webcasts.

First, I have to thank Dean for the great introduction! He passes along a very prosperous and respected program and I hope to continue the same. The great news is that Dean isn't leaving the group, just moving over to the head up the Emerging Media program for the team. He's been a big help during this transition and I definitely owe him big time for all of the support he's given me along the way.

On to Webcasts! There is always a lot of activity in the TechNet Webcast world and this spring is shaping up to be no different. With Vista, Office and Exchange launches brings a lot of exciting new content. We will also be featuring a great series on Windows Server "Longhorn" kicking off in April-so stay tuned for more information on that in the future.

As you know, the 24 hours of Exchange Webcast series has launched and it's going great! Harold Wong, as previously mentioned deserves another pat on the back for another job well done! He's also been kind enough to scrub the Webcast Q & A's from his sessions and post them on his blog. Comments on his new series are superb, complete with someone suggesting he needs a raise. I hope his manager was listening. :)

I will seriously try to keep this blog up to date with upcoming TechNet Webcasts and information about the program. Please feel free to use this blog as often as you like, as I hope that I can carry the torch as well as Dean has.

Great to be on board!