Sean McAtee, UMC TechShop Manager, gave me a hands-on demo of Adobe Connect this week ... Sean is the same guy that's providing this service for the Fall Roundtable in Kansas City.
Via Clif Guy I contacted Sean a while back about the possibility of using Connect for the Church IT Podcast stuff ... and we finally got a meeting scheduled.
Wow, Adobe Connect is slick and packed with features. It makes WebEx look like a sissy boy :-) The other great feature is that it's pretty easy to use ... and it's all flash based ... so sweet!
We're still working out the details, but for sure we'll get access to use Connect for some of the future podcasts ... probably the ones that are focused around a particular product/technology where screen sharing would be a big plus.
I've also convinced Sean to come to MinistryCOM (UMC offices are in Nashville) and attend the Roundtable activies ... maybe even show off Connect if anyone is interested. He seems very interested in helping as he can with the CITRT "movement".
So if you're looking for a sweet collaborative tool ... you must give Adobe Connect a test drive! Adobe is also giving huge discounts to non-profits for Connect ... so don't fall over dead when you see the web pricing ;-)
Sweeeet! Glad to hear you got "connected" with Sean.
Posted by: Clif Guy | August 24, 2007 at 02:34 PM
Hey Jason,
Connect is a great tool. I've been doing a bunch of work for Adobe to help them market Connect, and using Connect Presenter to create short "Connectos." In the process, I've learned a ton about it, and it really is cool software. I've considered using it to create some How-To presentations for video production or presentation design.
There are ton of applications for churches, including training and creating easy to create and update interactive guides for the web site. Not trying to sell it, but the more I work with it, the more ideas I get on how to use it for the Kingdom.
I enjoy the blog, keep on posting. It really does help people!
Posted by: Mike Sessler | August 27, 2007 at 04:48 PM
Connect is a great tool. I manage an Adobe User Group and we use it all the time for remote meeting presentations as well as recorded content. I need to check out the non profit pricing because I've wanted to use Connect for a lot of stuff (since it was Breeze).
Do you know if Sean is the guy to contact for a UMC church or would calling our Adobe rep be an easier solution?
Posted by: Matt Kerner | August 28, 2007 at 12:37 PM