Tag: iPad

Attending a webinar on your iPad

Tips on having a great webinar on your iPad

First things first:

  • Make sure the iPad you are using has the current version of the Adobe Connect app installed. This is free and available in the iTunes App Store.
  • Make sure your confirmation email for the webinar is available on the same device.
  • Make sure you have a good strong WiFi signal for your iPad – ie: try to be close to your router or wireless access point.
  • Minimise how many other devices are connected to the internet at the time of the webinar. Perhaps ask other household members to hold back on Netflix streaming and other downloading for the duration of the webinar.

Logging in

  • At least 10 minutes before the webinar start time, open the confirmation email and click on the ‘Join’ button in the email.
    This will open your web browser and will display this page:
  • Click on the ‘Open Adobe Connect Mobile‘ button
  • This will start the app and log you into the webinar, where you will be in the ‘lobby’
  • Once logged in, wait for the advertised start time then follow the instructions given by the Presenter or Producer during the webinar.

Participating in the webinar

  • The Presenter and Producer will give instructions for participants to follow during the webinar, however there are a number of control icons that are helpful for iPad users to be aware of to help you to communicate and participate during the session.The following icons will appear on the top left of your screen as needed, once the webinar is underway:
    • Layout

      Use this button to return you to the full presentation screen layout if you have used the Q&A icon or the Poll icon.
    • Q&A

      This is how you communicate with the Presenter/Producer.
      To enter a question, touch the ‘speech bubble’ icon that appears in the list of control icons. This will make the Q&A pod come to the foreground. Touch ‘ask a question’, type your question, then hit ‘Done’ to submit your question to the Producer.
      Touch the layout icon to return to the main presentation screen. Any response from the Producer will appear under your question in the Q&A pod.
    • Polls

      Polls will appear at various times throughout the webinar. To participate in the poll, touch the ‘voting’ icon that will appear in the list of control icons. This will bring the poll to the foreground. Touch the radio button next to the answer you wish to give.
      When you have selected your answer, touch the layout icon to return you the poll presentation screen.

Logging out


When the webinar has concluded, you log out by touching the ‘hamburger’ menu at the bottom left of your screen and choosing ‘logout’.
You may then close the Connect app and wait for your follow-up email in 24 hours time.

Tips for Online Assistants

Many of the people that Online Assistants will be asked to help will be older people or people with some disabilities.

One of the first hurdles to overcome is ‘how does someone without an email address create an account for online (or face to face) training?’.
There is one approach that is quite simple:

  • Set up a free Gmail account for your church for this purpose, e.g., stfaiths@gmail.com
  • It’s not widely known that an easy way to get multiple versions of that address delivered to the one inbox is to include plus signs (‘+’) in the first part of the address.
  • So in our example, if you wish to set up a safe ministry account for Fred Bloggs and Mary Smith simply type stfaiths+fredbloggs@gmail.com and stfaiths+marysmith@gmail.com into the email field when creating their safe ministry account and our system will recognise them as unique email addresses but information for both addresses will end up in the stfaiths@gmail.com inbox.
  • This is a great way to leverage this for our purpose. It will also work with any existing Gmail account, e.g., for couples who share a Gmail address.
  • Using this simple method, if you are the Online Assistant, you can very easily help people with no email address create a Safe Ministry Training account for online or face to face training, and monitor the emails the system will send them.
  • More information on this technique can be found here: https://www.labnol.org/internet/multiple-email-addresses-in-gmail/17426/

Here are a few other suggestions to help smooth the path for people with limited internet skills/abilities wanting to do online training:

  • If someone struggles with technology, don’t attempt the training on device like an iPad.
    The smaller screens will just add to the challenge.
  • For a better experience with such people, we recommend using either a desktop or laptop computer – ideally with a LARGE monitor to make viewing more comfortable.
    All laptops these days allow the plugging in of an external monitor.
  • Consider having a morning at one location with internet where two or three devices can be set up, and two or three people doing the training at a time, with an Online Assistant overseeing the session.
  • If you are experiencing unreliable internet, try and arrange to have the device connected by cable to the router rather than Wi-Fi.
    Wi-Fi is great for email and browsing the web, but was never designed for more serious usage (with some rare exceptions).