Murphy's Law Strikes a Webconference! part 3

when things go wrong...

When we last saw our adventurers, their course had been set. The valiant leader and his apprentice had done their best, and were confident in their preparations. As the time of the great event drew near, what appeared to be a minor inconvenience proved to be an evil portent of the catastrophe that lay ahead…

A few days before the meeting, I was told that we would not have access to the meeting room until the afternoon of the meeting. We would be unable to set up our equipment and test our Internet connections until just before the meeting.

We weren't too worried, as the software had been pre-loaded to avoid installation problems, it had been tested on several computers, the hotel's AV technician was taking care of phone service and audio hookups, and we had plenty of backup equipment.

Show Time!

eerie music swells, the lights flicker, and a chill runs down the spine of our intrepid leader

As we unpacked the hardware, the hotel AV technician was in the corner working with the audio mixer. One of the speakers' notebooks developed problem, but he loaded his presentation onto one of the other notebooks, and all congratulated themselves on being well-prepared. In the corner, the hotel AV technician was working with the audio mixer.

We had some difficulty figuring out how to connect all of the computers to the LCD projector. There was also the problem of switching computers during the program. Fearing the results of any disconnection, we opted to have two computers on-line at all times. One would be used by the active presenter, the other would be the one for the speaker on deck. When the first speaker was done, he would disconnect his computer, and the third speaker would log on during the second speaker's presentation. In the corner, the hotel AV technician was working with the audio mixer.

The room was filling up, and time was running out. The hotel AV technician told me that the mixer was bad, and that he would have to get a replacement. Then we found that although the speakers could get on line, we could not give them control of the webconference, so their PowerPoint presentations could not be seen by our remote participants!

We had no choice - we opened the meeting, and the first speaker went on.

Virtual Unreality

At that time, we did have communication with the remote participants. They could see what was on my computer, and we could talk to each other by typing messages, much like a chat room. But they could neither see nor hear the presentation.

Just before the second speaker was due to start, the hotel technician got the audio connection working. Remote participants were now able to at least hear the presentation. We gave them the option of staying on for audio only, and most did.

During the next hour I made a number of calls to technical support. I was told that they had been having trouble recently, as they had just upgraded their program, requiring reinstallation on computers that had previously downloaded the software. We told the remote participants that they could stay on line for the audio, but that there would be no video until after dinner.

While the live attendees enjoyed happy hour and dinner, I spent my time on the phone with technical support people. We downloaded the software to all computers again. During our discussion, one of the support people remarked that our show had too much color. Inquiring further, I was told that the software does not simply send out the current image on the presenter's monitor, but tries to upload the entire slide show. The result was that a change in slides by the speaker did not appear on the remote computers for about a minute!

Complicating the matter was a steady degradation of our Internet connection. When we first logged on around noon, we had relatively good speeds, approaching 56K. Each time we logged on again in the evening, I noticed that the speed was lower, eventually dropping to about 28K.

It was obvious that we would not be able to make any of the video available, and we terminated the virtual part of the meeting early in the evening presentation.

Stunned by the surprise attack from the dark forces, our intrepid leader and his faithful apprentice were brought to their knees. Downcast, writhing in agony, they struggled valiantly - and though they did not achieve victory over the Dark Lord Murphy, neither did they perish.

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Material from CSI Chapter newsletters used with permission.