We all know that to use your microphone with a PC in a Centra session you must hold down the CTRL (Control) key while speaking. When you press the CTRL key, your microphone icon to the left of your name turns yellow.
This key-command on a Mac computer is different. To use your microphone while on a Mac computer you will need to press the "Option" key (the one that is two keys to the left of the space bar). Pressing this key will activate your microphone (and turn your microphone icon yellow) and allow you participate in the session.
It's relatively easy to edit a centra recording.
First go to Manage Events and locate the event.
Click Manage Recordings, then click Edit
In the recording editor, create index points to indicate start and end points to delete. Delete as appropriate.
Then publish the edited recording.
Back at the Manage Recordings page, make sure that the recording that you want users to play back is the one with the word Yes in the Selected column. Click the No to change to a Yes if necessary.
To get a handout of this process with screenshots visit http://eit.tamu.edu/centra.html
It's a good idea to remind people of an event beforehand. Depending on your participants, you may want to remind them a couple of days before, the day before, and then even the morning of an event! And emailing also gives you the opportunity to attach some pre-event reading material, or an agenda of topics, or share a URL for participants to visit before the event.
If you're enrolled in the event as the leader, you can get to the list of attendees by going to My Schedule, and clicking on the View Enrollment link of the specific event. There you'll see a link with the words Email Enrollees, that will do just that when you click it. It will launch your email application and start a new message addressed to the email addresses of those enrolled in your Centra event. Just compose the message, attach a file, include a URL... and send the message.
Remember that you can use Centra for more than internal professional development and meetings. Not that it's not great for that- it is- but it can be used for so much more. Meetings with volunteers. Bringing in a guest speaker from afar to present, either to a room full of people or to rooms full of people at their own computers. Bringing you, as a speaker, to a remote location, to meet or to present, without traveling from your office.
With Centra you can save time, money, and do more with less. In more ways than you might have known.
You've probably noticed that your Friday mornings seem to be less productive this summer. You're not moving as quickly, learning as much, getting excited about discovering new things...
But don't worry, Friday Onlines will be back in the fall- to bring life, excitement, and learning back to your Friday mornings once again!
The new schedule of events is posted and open for enrollment. Read all about it at http://tcewiki.tamu.edu/wiki/Friday_Online_Topics.
