Second Life Conferencing

Great America Networks Conferencing will be holding their official launch party in Second Life on their conferencing and events sim, The Alhambra Conference Center.  The official event starts at 2PM PST and will include opening remarks and comments from Reno Provine, the President of Great America Networks Conferencing, as well as demonstrations of how the features and functionality will extend to allow corporations to have completely integrated events within Second Life.  Some of the shortcomings that our company will be solving for corporations are:

1.  Most companies use the telephone to communicate.  Second Life has no solution for this.  Our company utilizes state of the art audio conferencing bridges from Compunetix that allow for the connection of up to 5000 participants via telephone.  I know most people in Second Life are thinking "who uses the phone?  we use skype and ventrillo, and teamspeak.  and what about Second Life chat and voice?"  Our answer is quite simple.  Businesses do not use those tools for corporate communications.  While some may be capable, most use the telephone to communicate.  It's that simple.  None of the aforementioned solutions are business quality communications tools, nor are they reliable, nor are they simple to setup and use.  All of them also require a different type of interaction then most business employees are used to, ie PC, microphone, etc. instead of the phone they just pick up and dial.

2.  Most companies that hold press releases and large scale events don't want to be constrained with a maximum participation of 50.  Our company allows our clients to have their participants take part in the event in the following ways, all in a seamless fashion:

• Up to the maximum in SL for a sim - generally speaking 50
• SL users can listen one-way via the land stream parcel
• SL users can participate 2-way via telephone
• SL users can view the movie or slides via SL screens in-world
• SL users can communicate via SL chat
• Non-SL users can listen one-way via standard media player through audio stream
• Non-SL users can participate 2-way via telephone
• Non-SL users can view the movie or slides via standard Internet Browser
• Non-SL users can communicate via web tool chat in standard Internet Browser

All of this is coordinated by our trained meeting consultants and bridge operators.  We can conduct formal Question and Answer sessions, provide polling results, and much more.

3.  Most corporations who will be inviting clients or new users to attend their events will have to deal with the reality of the steep learning curve for a new person coming into Second Life for the first time.  We provide their participants with custom avatars, clothing and accessories right off the bat.  This will save them a lot of time and allow them to be impressed with their first experience.  We will also bring them directly into our customized full-sim tutorial island.  We have designed a truly outstanding environment for them to learn the basics of Second Life.  They can go through the tutorials as quickly or as slowly as they like.  They also have the option to come back at a later date for a more advanced tutorial session.

4.  We will provide a truly unique experience for their event participants to come in and have their hands held the whole way.  There will be pre and post event sessions held and allow for fun and exploration, as well as smaller breakout sessions.  Participants will also be able to try their building skills in our customized tutorial sandbox, and explore our breathtaking sim layout.  Easter egg hunts, and many other add-ons will be available to increase customer participation.

5.  We provide a variety of add-on services including recording and archiving your event, converting your event into podcast format, providing archived streaming access to your event, customised registration pages with information capture, and much more.

In summary, we are truly providing a unique service to companies that are coming into Second Life and have a need or desire to host unique events for their clients such as press releases, sales management events, IR calls, and much more.  This is all in addition to our core offerings of audio conferencing, web conferencing, and video conferencing.

To find out more about how you can use our organization for your next event, contact Pierce Benelli, Astryd James or myself Atalar Longstaff in the world of Second Life.  Or go to www.ganconference.com for information about or company outside of Second Life, or www.slconferencing.com for information about our Second Life Division.  You may also call 1-877-GET-GAN1 to speak to a live person.