Many have heard of the magazine called Blogger and Podcaster Magazine and this week, my special guest is Larry Genkin, the CEO of Blogger and Podcater Media Network who will talk to us about this new network and how small time bloggers and podcasters call make money doing what they like to do! http://www.nmpnetwork.com

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Project Icon – A few weeks ago, the WordPress dev team put out a call to those who are interested to develop a set of icons that can be used throughout the WordPress administration area. Over a dozen designers responded but after the team decided to turn the actual decision of which icons to use to the community, half of the designers took back their submissions. As it stands, there are now five icon packs to choose from. The icon survey will will remain open for a period of 48 hours starting Thursday so be sure to head on over the WordPress devlopment blog for a link to the survey. The icons that win the survey will be added into WordPress beta 3.- http://wordpress.org/development/2008/11/wordpress-27-project-icon/

WordPress 2.7 Update – WordPress 2.7 will undergo another beta release which would make it the third in the testing cycle. Bugs continue to be added to the WordPress bug tracker but most of the problems stem from the WordPress UI redesign coupled with IE6 compatibility. Considering the icons from the survey will be part of beta 3 and the survey will last for 48 hours, I expect beta 3 to be released either on the 16th or 17th of November.

IntenseDebate Reopens – IntenseDebate, the third party commenting service has reopened its doors after closing them soon after they were acquired by Automattic. Along with the service now being available to the public, there is also a new WordPress plugin that has been released that taps into many of the features the service has to offer. Some of these features include two-way comment sync, admin panel integration, search engine optimization, trackbacks, profile sync, post settings and much more. If you have time, be sure to check out the video on the IntenseDebate blog post which does a great job explaining what the new plugin is all about.- http://blog.intensedebate.com/2008/11/12/intensedebate-is-back/

Plugin Of The Week – No Self Pings – I don’t know about you but I find it annoying that WordPress pings itself if you link to a previously published article within your blog. Thanks to the no self pings plugin, this is no longer an issue. All you you have to do is upload the plguin to your plugin directory, activate it and just like that, you won’t ping yourself when you link to an article within your archive.- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/no-self-ping/

Popularity: 14% [?]

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Web conferencing is starting to replace fact-to-face meetings. Web conference aims to make employees more productive at the same provide significant improvement on how the company runs.

There are several things to remember to ensure that web conferencing was done or conducted effectively and is a success. Preparation is important for a successful web conference. According to Resource Center, it is never to early to prepare for the conference. A month before the web conference, it is important to determine if it is indeed necessary and design who will be participating in the conference and rough outline of the topic to be discussed.

Two to three weeks before the scheduled conference, invitations to the participants should already be sent out. A week before the conference will just be for polishing of the details planned couple of weeks earlier.

A week before the actual date of the conference, it is important to conduct a dry-run or trial run. This would help or eliminate any possibility of technical issues.

Check the participants’ bandwidth. It is important to know if anybody from the participants would have any problem about the video or audio. It there is somebody from the group whose bandwidth is not enough to support the conference, then advice the group member to call and coordinate with their internet service provider.

Testing the equipment before the conference is very important. Check the web cameras if they are working properly with the web conferencing programs. Also, check the sound system. See if the microphones are giving out feedback that may deafen the other participants. Make sure that all the attendees have the right tools needed for the conference.

Aside from the web cams and sound system, also check for the camera angles. It is important, and professional, that your whole head will be shown in the camera, not just the neck or the top of the head. Also double check the lighting on the camera. If telephone is needed in the web conference, using headsets is more effective than the phone.

Also test the software you are going to use in the presentation. There are test or free trials of the software available. Try using these software to be familiar with its features and food.

If the person involved in the meeting is located in a different country, it is important to double- check the time zone. Also try to use more muted colors like blue or gray. Bright colors and patterned clothing doe not really match with transmission.

Using clear and thorough instructions can also help the participants to have an enjoyable session. Since web conferences come with lots of features, it is important to use the feature that will enhance the quality of the presentation or demonstration. Familiarize yourself with the features before the meeting.

To use time efficiently, set an agenda. Agenda setting will help the moderator and the participant’s to know the expectations from the conference and address those expectations. Agenda setting is a great way of managing time. Starting and ending the meeting on time is also a way of valuing time.

The day after the conference, send out thank you notes to the participants who have attended the session. A week after the conference, ask the participants to provide any feedback to improve the flow and the conference itself. Through this, we can ensure that the participants had the greatest web conferencing experience.

Popularity: 5% [?]