Comments on: MuniGovCon09 – A Virtual Conference for Government http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/2009/04/munigovcon09/ An Online Resource for Public Works Professionals Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:39:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: MuniGovCon’09 – A Belated Recap of a Virtually Historic Event « Memento Mori http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/2009/04/munigovcon09/comment-page-1/#comment-3130 MuniGovCon’09 – A Belated Recap of a Virtually Historic Event « Memento Mori Thu, 28 May 2009 16:05:41 +0000 http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/?p=727#comment-3130 [...] you want more detail on the conference itself, I’d encourage you to take a look at Pam Broviak’s blog post about it (hers was much more timely than mine). If you are in Second Life, you can also visit the MuniGov2.0 [...] [...] you want more detail on the conference itself, I’d encourage you to take a look at Pam Broviak’s blog post about it (hers was much more timely than mine). If you are in Second Life, you can also visit the MuniGov2.0 [...]

]]> By: admin http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/2009/04/munigovcon09/comment-page-1/#comment-3087 admin Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:22:51 +0000 http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/?p=727#comment-3087 Hey Ari! Thanks so much for asking that - I probably should have covered more of the background planning required. There are several items that needed to be done that were similar to those required for an offline event. Then there were others specific to the fact that this was held virtually. Here is a quick rundown of the major issues: Speakers/Panelists: I think one item that took a while was lining up the speakers. We had a few others express interest and were not able to finalize the agenda until just a few weeks ago. Orientations: One of the other important issues was the fact that so many people would be new to Second Life. Several weeks were required to to help everyone get signed up to use Second Life and go through the orientations. Machinima: We also wanted to video the conference so it could be archived, and that required time for someone to line up the software and practice using it. Here are a few more items that did not take quite as long but still needed to be done: Set up the registration page and Web site and a specific group in Second Life for the event. Create a press release and discuss how best to advertise the conference. Work with CDWG for press coverage and magazine article. Assign people to be greeters, transcribers of the chat, moderators, bouncers, helpers. Create clothing for those volunteering to help during the conference. Work with vendors to set up booths. Handle and organize the registrations. Send out group notices letting people know about the location and agenda. Decide on entertainment/after conference activity Secure the conference site, plan the use of the site with the owners, and test it for voice Collect speaker slides, upload them to Second Life, place them in the presentation viewer Take the speakers through a "dry run" to prepare and make sure everything is working. Set up the MuniGov area for the day of the conference - signs/amenities. There are probably other miscellaneous items I am missing, but those are the main ones I can think of. And although all this took place over a few months, we only worked on the planning during our weekly meetings. All the other work was done by group members on their own time. Now that we have a system down and the experience of hosting one behind us, the next one should not take quite as long. Particularly if we try to just host some type of specific training instead of multiple sessions. Hey Ari!
Thanks so much for asking that – I probably should have covered more of the background planning required. There are several items that needed to be done that were similar to those required for an offline event. Then there were others specific to the fact that this was held virtually. Here is a quick rundown of the major issues:

Speakers/Panelists: I think one item that took a while was lining up the speakers. We had a few others express interest and were not able to finalize the agenda until just a few weeks ago.

Orientations: One of the other important issues was the fact that so many people would be new to Second Life. Several weeks were required to to help everyone get signed up to use Second Life and go through the orientations.

Machinima: We also wanted to video the conference so it could be archived, and that required time for someone to line up the software and practice using it.

Here are a few more items that did not take quite as long but still needed to be done:

Set up the registration page and Web site and a specific group in Second Life for the event.

Create a press release and discuss how best to advertise the conference.

Work with CDWG for press coverage and magazine article.

Assign people to be greeters, transcribers of the chat, moderators, bouncers, helpers.

Create clothing for those volunteering to help during the conference.

Work with vendors to set up booths.

Handle and organize the registrations. Send out group notices letting people know about the location and agenda.

Decide on entertainment/after conference activity

Secure the conference site, plan the use of the site with the owners, and test it for voice

Collect speaker slides, upload them to Second Life, place them in the presentation viewer

Take the speakers through a “dry run” to prepare and make sure everything is working.

Set up the MuniGov area for the day of the conference – signs/amenities.

There are probably other miscellaneous items I am missing, but those are the main ones I can think of. And although all this took place over a few months, we only worked on the planning during our weekly meetings. All the other work was done by group members on their own time. Now that we have a system down and the experience of hosting one behind us, the next one should not take quite as long. Particularly if we try to just host some type of specific training instead of multiple sessions.

]]> By: Ari Herzog http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/2009/04/munigovcon09/comment-page-1/#comment-3085 Ari Herzog Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:00:44 +0000 http://www.publicworksgroup.com/blog/?p=727#comment-3085 Blame my Second Life ignorance, but how does it take five months to plan a virtual conference? Blame my Second Life ignorance, but how does it take five months to plan a virtual conference?

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