Frequent Questions

cloud computing conference 2011

List of Contents


General Information

Q: Where is Cloud Slam™ 2010? Which city? You should put it in large bold font!

A: Cloud Slam™ '10 conference is virtual, online event. Cloud computing conference in cloud.

Q: Why Virtual Conference?

A: Nowadays widespread business trends drive video conferencing and telepresence solutions, including globalization, cost consciousness, and a growing emphasis on “going green.” And of course, the current economy may be the biggest driver yet, as more and more businesses are looking for ways to cut travel costs, without sacrificing collaboration and face to face meeting capabilities.

Besides, business travel by air or car has environmental impact, releasing CO2 (aka carbon emissions) into the atmosphere, not to mention the productivity waste and hard travel costs. Many companies, schools and government agencies have instituted green initiatives that include reduced travel policies and mandatory telework. But accurate tracking of such programs has proven to be difficult.

The technology makes calculations based on each web conferencing participant's location and the standard emission rates for cars or planes. Not only can an individual see his or her immediate impact on the environment, a team can tally its total, as can an entire organization. In fact, conference participants will save many pounds of carbon emissions from harming the environment so far. As more and more customers use the web conferencing, the savings will only grow.

Speakers/Presenters

Q: I'm trying to register as speaker in EasyChair system. What does 'affiliation' mean?

A: EasyChair system uses this field to show your affiliation with specific organization, like your employer or other type of institution.

Q:We were required to submit our presentations in a non- powerpoint format (.pdf was what I uploaded). During the actual presentation, will the slides be fed from our computers or from the uploaded file?

A: It will depend on the mode of presentation. In most cases you'll have to upload presentation from your computer to webconferencing environment and use controls to change remote slides.
If you choose application or desktop sharing mode, you'll deal with your local files.
In some cases you need to verify what way works better to share your slides, by testing it in actual environment.

Q: We are all on Macs here and use Keynote. Is that acceptable?

A: In native presentation sharing, Microsoft Office, Keynote and Text documents can directly be imported by a Presenter on Mac without first converting them to UCF documents on Windows.

WebEx supports Apple Mac OS on both the PowerPC and Intel platforms

WebEx supports Mac 10.5 (Leopard), 10.4 and 10.3 in the WebEx WBS26 release.

WebEx supports Safari 2.0 and 3.0 browsers on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.4, and Safari 1.3 browser on Mac OS X 10.3

WebEx also supports Firefox 2 browser on Mac OS X 10.5, 10.4 and 10.3

Read more at http://www.webex.com/lp/mac/Cross_Platform_MAC.html?TrackID=1014237&hbxr...

or call tech support.

Q: Since we will be sending video (webcam attached to the pc) and audio, will the audio be fed to you via microphone on our computers or from a separate dial in phone line?

A: Presenters have to use teleconference(phone line) for audio.

Q: Any particular recommended camera’s/ mikes that work best in your experience? (I have a good Logitech orbit with right light/right sound technology that works really well for skype and yahoo calls (point to point). Should these work well for WebEx?)

A: http://support.webex.com/SelfServiceWeb/SelfServicePortal.portal?_nfpb=t...

Q: What is the mechanism for referring to a part of the screen (e-pointer, e-marker, ...)?

A: You can click on the icon that looks like an arrow in the annotation toolbar at the top of the meeting window to activate a pointer.

Q: How much of a delay will there be between our live feed and the images the attendees see?

A: This question depends heavily on the Host’s and Attendees’ internet connection. Typically, assuming there are no latency issues, and if maximum bandwidth needed is fully available, you can experience a delay of less than 1 second. However, depending on latency of the participants in the meeting, this can be higher. Usually around 2-3 seconds for a good meeting.

Q: Should a hotel room wired internet connectivity (major upper end hotel chain) be good enough, or should I get a “rent-a-office” with better bandwidth?

A: We would test out the meeting first. Typically with hotels, there is a lot of internet security that may keep the meeting from even running. The connection there should be fast enough, but because the chance of heavy traffic can occur at the hotel, we would test it out first. Nevertheless we had several presentations done from the hotel, with various quality.

Attendees

Q: I’d like to register for Cloud Slam™ '10, but your site doesn’t mention anything about how the conference will actually work. Do I need to install special software? Or does it all work through the browser?

A: We'll send access information closer to start date, since there is a lot of activity on sessions made by presenters at the moment, so we want to make sure your e-mail is not bombarded with updates for smaller changes like spelling corrections for event description etc.

Q: There is no place in the registration process to put in a discount code like: 1234-QAAA-38-8MRL. I think other people will have the same concern.

A: Please locate and click on hyperlink with words 'Enter Discount Code' (under 'Donation more info March 23, 2010 Enter amount ($)' ). You should see text form field with lable 'If you have a discount code, enter it here:'. Put your discount code there.

Q: Unfortunately there is no way in conducting any registration on this page. All it shows is

“Thank you for your interest in Cloud Slam™ 2010. For group discounts, please send request to info@cloudSlam™.org.”

No information about pricing and registration form.

If this is a browser problem that it does not work in either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

A: This might happen because of disabled Javascript support in your browser. Please try on another workstation..

Q: If I register, will I be able to view the presentations/keynotes after the event? I might miss some of them due to the time-zone difference.

A: Registration fee gives full access to all presentations and panels before, during and after event. We'll try to make files both downloadable and streamable as long as possible.

Q: Will the recorded seminars download to my desktop for review by me at a later, more convenient date,

after the two month download period?

A: Registered attendees will have access to downloadable version of all sessions as long as possible. VIP level ticket entitles attendee for all proceedings on DVD.

Q: What is the typical size of a one-hour recording?

A: The size of a recording varies with meeting length, actions during the

meeting, and video use. Without video, recording size can range from

15MB to 40MB; with video, it will be around 250MB.

Q: What does the cost of the conference cover? Is it just the ability to connect? Or does it include ability to access the presentations after the event?

A: Registration fee gives full access to all presentations and panels before, during and after event. We'll try to make files both downloadable and streamable as long as possible.

Q: Will you be taping the event? It would be a shame not to enable access to all that knowledge after the fact. Access to tapes of the event would also allow journalists to check their facts post-event, and serve as a resource for the cloud community in general. In addition, it would be wonderful to access the lectures that you had to miss because of other commitments.

A: We'll record all sessions. Media representatives have free access to all sessions, so all the knowledge will be exposed to general public.

Q: Could you please tell us if it's appropriate to use a single registration for a conference room with multiple attendees?

A: Yes, it is appropriate. We had large coporations like Boeing watching session in large auditorium on big screen.

Q: Is there something like attendance certificate for attendees?

A: Yes, organizing committee can send confirmation letters for conference attendee organization upon request, after payment of registration fee..

Q: Do I need to install special software? Or does it all work through the browser?

A: Typically, all you need to attend sessions is commonly used web browser, PC audio system and optionally phone line.

Q: Is any client software necessary?

A: Test your system at http://www.webex.com/lp/jointest/

Q: Is any client software necessary?

A: Test your system at http://www.webex.com/lp/jointest/

Q: Is the streaming broadcasted in a special tcp-ip port?

A: Please explore http://support.webex.com/support/support-overview.html

Q: Does WebEx NBR capture all meeting content?

A: WebEx NBR captures:

  • All public chat and data, including annotations, shared poll results

    and published notes
  • Presenter video, when one or more attendees are present
  • Cisco WebEx Audio and third-party audio

WebEx NBR does not capture:

  • Private chats to the host
  • Poll results not shared by the host
  • Breakout sessions in WebEx Training Center, Panellist Prep Room in

    WebEx Event Center, and closed captioning in WebEx Meeting Center
  • Video of attendees during a Cisco WebEx Multi-Point Video (MPV)

    session

Q: Is there a centralized place/calendar where I can see my subscriptions ? and potentially import them into my calendar ? do we get reminder before the event ? can we set those somehow?
A: There is not a centralized calendar where you can see a listing of the events that you specifically registered for. The listing on the site will have all of the events available that you can register for. However, if you look towards the bottom of the email invitation, there should be a link to add each event that you register for in your Outlook Calendar. Reminders are set up by the host and usually happen 24 hours and 15 minutes prior to the event. This option depends on when the host has the reminders set.

Q: Do we have to install any software (webex related ) ? it is not clear to me. (it seems that a web browser and the password/code would be enough).

A: WebEx installs software (WebEx Event Manager) in order for the meeting to run on your computer. The WebEx Event Manager will install automatically when you join the WebEx event. You will be prompted to install an ActiveX control at the time of joining the meeting in order for the WebEx Event Manager to install if you are using Internet Explorer. You will need to have Java installed if you are using a browser such as Mozilla FireFox or Google Chrome.

Q: I enjoyed the conference very much, and am hoping that the presentation materials and perhaps the audio recordings will be made available. There are specific events that I would like to replay. Do you know when it will be available?

A: We will make event recordings available with 3-4 weeks after the event. All attendees and presenters will receive notification by e-mail. If you are not registered to attend, but want to get access to recordings, please send request to info@cloudSlam.org