 |
 |
AudioFile Solutions' Blog
PGi just won an award for its video conferencing product iMeet®. Good for them! And, good for you! You can get a 30-day free trial of iMeet here. Or review other conferencing services here.
Begin Press Release
———————-
June 22, 2011 03:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
iMeet® Wins People’s Choice Stevie Award
Soul-Sucking Meeting Haters Everywhere Rejoice
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The people have spoken. Earlier this week, PGi (NYSE: PGI) was awarded a People’s Choice Stevie Award for its latest innovation, iMeet, at the 2011 American Business Awards (ABA) reception. iMeet took home the trophy in the Favorite New Computer Service category and earned a finalist nod in the New Product or Service of the Year – Computer Services category.
“We’re thrilled and humbled by the number of iMeet users who took time out of their day to vote for us,” said Boland T. Jones, PGi founder, chairman and CEO. “With iMeet, PGi set out to reinvent video meetings by making them more personal and accessible to all people in an organization, regardless of their role, location or devices. This award is further proof that we’ve hit a nerve. We’re encouraged by the positive reception of iMeet as we continue to make better meetings a reality.”
iMeet takes video conferencing to the next level by giving users their own personal video meeting room online. The iMeet experience is simple, social and enjoyable – without the hassle of software downloads, hardware investments or IT support. Since launching in January, the iMeet community has grown to more than 35,000 people who engage in better video meeting experiences every day.
More than 2,800 nominations from organizations of all sizes, in virtually every industry, were submitted for Stevie Award consideration in more than 40 categories. Finalists were chosen by more than 150 business professionals nationwide during preliminary judging in April and May.
In addition to peer judging, every new product or service nominated in The American Business Awards was automatically included in the vote for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. More than 140,000 votes were cast by the general public from May 12 through June 3, and the winners were honored at the ABA Awards Banquet in New York on June 20.
For more information about iMeet and to sign up for a 30-day free trial, visit www.iMeet.com.
About Premiere Global Services, Inc. │ PGi
PGi is a global leader in virtual meetings. For nearly 20 years, we have innovated technologies that help people meet and collaborate in more enjoyable and productive ways. Every month, we bring together over 15 million people in nearly 4 million virtual meetings. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia USA, PGi has a presence in 24 countries worldwide. For more information, visit us at www.pgi.com.
About The Stevie Awards
The Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.
Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made based on management’s current expectations or beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. A variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in Premiere Global Services, Inc.’s forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following factors: competitive pressures, including pricing pressures; technological changes and the development of alternatives to our services; market acceptance of new services, including our iMeet® and GlobalMeet® services; our ability to attract new customers and to retain and further penetrate our existing customer base; risks associated with challenging global economic conditions; costs or difficulties related to the integration of any new technologies; service interruptions and network downtime; price increases from our telecommunications service providers; technological obsolescence and our ability to upgrade our equipment or increase our network capacity; concerns regarding the security of transactions; our level of indebtedness; future write-downs of goodwill or other intangible assets; assessment of income, state sales and other taxes; restructuring and cost reduction initiatives and the market reaction thereto; risks associated with acquisitions and market expansion; the impact of the recent sale of our PGiSend business; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, including possible adverse results of litigation or infringement claims; regulatory or legislative changes, including further government regulations applicable to traditional telecommunications service providers; risks associated with international operations, including political instability and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and other factors described from time to time in our press releases, reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or a person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
 - Transcribing takes focus and a special skill set. Quality work, with value, will help create repeat customers for years to come.
As a transcriptionist, help your clients put their content into context and it will keep them coming back.
1. Do you offer top-notch transcription skills? You need to be a fast and accurate typist with a tremendous grasp of grammar. You must maneuver in transcription software like you were born doing it, follow client-provided style guidelines, and never waver from the deadline-being-the-deadline. When you provide digital audio transcription services, you’re ultimately evaluated on keeping your word and delivering the words on time. Don’t dabble. Make sure you have what it takes to succeed.
2. Do you like to learn new information? Offering transcribing services gives you a view into industries and subjects that may be new to you. Don’t deliver a final draft with (inaudible) or (indistinguishable) notations when a quick search on the Internet could verify these terms you’re unsure of. In addition, ask the client if they can provide a list of commonly used terms from the recording. This will help you provide a more accurate transcript. Offering these value-added services is not lost on the client; they know when you’re going the extra mile.
3. Are you viewing things from the client’s eyes? The transcript is the end-product delivered to the client, but what else does your client receive from you? Do you do an audio proof (not just proofing while typing the raw transcript) to review the quality of the transcription? Do you offer a final read-through to ensure comprehension? Are you alerting the client of items that may be discrepancies in their transcript? A “good enough” transcription is never an option. Deliver with the quality that you’d expect to receive.
If you’re a top-notch transcriptionist or if you’re a company seeking transcription support that meets YOUR mark, contact AudioFile Solutions today.
There is a disturbing trend in podcast production that I feel the need to address. Podcasters have been sold a bill of goods that says, “record with a condenser mic, it sounds superior”. Without knowing any better, and because 90% of USB microphones on the market are condensers, they wind up purchasing a condenser instead of the “inferior” dynamic mic.
Well, the problem is, condensers—as a general rule—pick up a lot of unwanted lip smacks, saliva and other noise from the human speaking voice. While they tend to sound great on the singing voice, speaking is a whole ‘nother matter. Hearing the saliva roll around in someone’s mouth during a podcast is not pretty and may just encourage the listener to turn it—YOU—off.
Very few of us get to try out a microphone before buying it, but it is the only way to tell if a particular mic sounds good on YOUR voice. Yes, for some people a condenser will sound better than a dynamic, but I would wager that the opposite is more likely.
Try out the Shure SM7, Electro-Voice RE-20 or a Heil PR 40—all dynamics. If these are good enough for NPR, Rush Limbaugh and Leo Laporte, they are good enough for you too. They may be a bit more expensive than you are wanting to pay, but the expense will be worth it. Or, use eBay to find one used at a more reasonable price.
A USB converter such as the Blue ICICLE can connect these mics to your computer if you don’t already have a recording set-up, so don’t settle for an inferior mic just because it’s got USB built-in. After all, it is the one piece of equipment that connects you to the listener.
What do you think about the condenser vs. dynamic debate for recording a speaking voice?
Recording a live webinar by GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, WebEx, Microsoft Live Meeting or Adobe Connect can be a daunting task to someone who doesn’t know the ins and outs of video frame rates, resolutions and codecs. We developed our webinar recording service for businesses that either don’t have the technical expertise, or don’t have the time to learn.
We’ve done extensive testing to find the best method to record webinars. Here are the highlights.
- We capture the entire screen with the best video codec.
- We record PowerPoint animations, cursor movements and desktop sharing.
- All elements are in high definition.
- Audio editing and video editing are available.
- Output is .wmv, .mp4, .flv, DVD or Blu-ray disc.
We produce the best, highest-quality, highest-resolution webinar recordings possible.
If you don’t already have a web conferencing service, we can help with that too.
Give us a try today by calling 877-AFS-FILE.
We’ve been editing a lot of recordings made with the WebEx web conferencing application lately. Many people think this cannot be done because WebEx is a proprietary service that creates .arf and .wrf file extensions. Rest assured, we are editing both the audio and the video of these web conference recordings with very little noticeable quality loss.
When you download the WebEx file from their website, the file extension will be .arf. If you’ve recorded directly to your computer, expect to see a .wrf extension. We can fully edit both of these file-types.
Whether you want all stuttering, ahs and ums removed from the audio, or whether you made mistakes in the video / slide presentation, we can fix just about anything. We also automatically remove all dead air from the beginning and end of the presentation.
Output format is video and ready to post on your website. Windows Media (WMV), MP4, and FLV are all options, including many more, even for DVD and Blu-Ray…
Contact us today for more information on our WebEx audio and video editing service.
Looking for a way to use your iPod to cheaply record a podcast, record your company conference call, or transcribe an interview or lecture? Recording with an iPod is easier than you might think. In all cases, these audio files can be used for podcasting, archiving or uploading to a transcribing company.
Here are the top 4 articles we’ve found that will help you use your iPod for recording.
1. Recording a Podcast Using an iPod and a Micromemo
Author: academictechnology
In this YouTube video, Jason discusses using a standard iPod to record lectures or interviews with the Micromemo. He demonstrates how to plug-in the device and how easy it is to record directly to the iPod Nano.
2. Recording Lectures with an iPod Touch
Author: Heather M. Whitney
This post on The Chronicle of Higher Education site is geared towards those wanting to use the second-and third-generation iPod Touch for recording audio. This method can be used to record lectures, interviews or any other live source via the iPod Touch.
3. Recording Phone Calls with an iPod
Author: Jake Ludington
Conference call recording is typically best left to experts like, well … us. Jake Ludington says as much in the introduction to this post. But if you find yourself with no other choice, recording your next phone call using the iPod—while not perfect—is doable.
4. Using Your iPod to Record Audio and Podcasts
Author: Michael Miller
With the right equipment and accessories, you can use your iPod to record conversations and interviews, and even to record and mix podcasts for broadcasting over the Internet. Read this article to learn more.
photo by Jay Riddle
Years ago, web conferencing was in it’s infancy, and all audio conference calling was full-service. To make a reservation, one needed to physically call the company to set up a conference call. If you were lucky, the reservationist might discuss with you the ins & outs of having a successful event. The actual conference was handled by one or more support specialists who would answer all incoming lines and connect them to your meeting. If you felt the need to complement or complain to the company about how your call was handled, you’d once again pick up the phone to talk with a customer service agent.
While full-service continues to be a big part of the market, self-service is growing increasingly important. Customers want to learn about products online, sign up for services via a website, and even use their conference call account without ever contacting another human being.
Among CSPs (Conferencing Service Providers), PGi is leading the way in ensuring a quality self-service experience. This is but one reason why we have chosen to be one of their premier agents. See PGi’s blog for their article: How PGi Keeps the “Service” in Self-Service.
View PGi’s premier self-service audio conferencing service here.
We offer the full suite of Web Conferencing services from PGi (a full service web conferencing company), including Adobe Connect. Contact us for more info. – - Andy R
Begin Press Release
————————-
Adobe Unveils Adobe Connect 8
Major New Version of Enterprise Web Conferencing Solution for Delivering Rich Collaboration Experiences
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Connect™ 8, a significant update to the company’s Web conferencing solution for powering effective and engaging Web meetings, online training and webinars. Based on the virtually ubiquitous Adobe Flash® Player software, the latest version provides enterprises and governments worldwide with broad capabilities for delivering rich experiences across multiple devices, while maintaining easy, reliable meeting entry.
Andy Nilssen, senior analyst, Wainhouse Research:
- We’re seeing the adoption of Web conferencing as a core collaboration technology for everyday use accelerate rapidly. In addition, we’re also seeing enterprises increase expectations for their Web conferencing solution. These organizations want to go well beyond everyday meetings and seminars to enable myriad and divergent use cases, easily extend solution capabilities with key new functionality, integrate with existing infrastructure such as video conferencing room systems, and support meeting access via a wide choice of mobile devices. All while providing meeting participants with a great user experience.
Key new features of Adobe Connect 8 include a simplified interface for greater usability, expanded and more flexible collaboration capabilities for sharing ideas more freely, and enhanced audio and video integration for richer multimedia experiences. In addition, Adobe Connect 8 offers a software development kit (SDK) for greater extensibility, a new, optional desktop client based on the Adobe AIR® runtime for easier meeting management, and support for a range of mobile devices to extend reach and enhance productivity.
New Features and Benefits
- More intuitive user interface that provides meeting hosts, presenters, and participants with even easier access to capabilities; allowing presenters, for example, to quickly and flexibly adjust meeting room layouts in real-time, as needed.
- Enhancements to sharing, chat, video, notes, Q&A, whiteboard, and other functionality “pods” to facilitate collaboration.
- Addition of two-way Universal Voice that allows customers to bridge audio from any conferencing provider into an Adobe Connect room and provide two-way communication between participants on both VoIP and telephone audio.
- Integration of Adobe Connect1 with existing video conferencing systems, enabling meeting hosts to bring live audio and video broadcast streams directly into an Adobe Connect room.
- Enhanced collaboration SDK, with support for Adobe Flex®, Adobe Flash and Adobe ActionScript® 3, which allows developers to create custom pods or integrate Adobe Connect with other systems.
- Adobe Connect Desktop, based on Adobe AIR, which lets users set up and manage meetings right from the desktop. The optional application also allows users to download recorded sessions for offline viewing.
- Adobe Connect Mobile enables participants to view meetings on mobile devices. Adobe Connect Mobile works on Apple iPhone and iPad, as well as Google Android and other mobile devices enabled with Adobe Flash technology.
Quotes
Arun Anantharaman, vice president and general manager, Adobe Connect:
- Adobe Connect 8 is a transformative release. It enables organizations to standardize on a single Web conferencing platform to support a variety of use cases. Presenters can completely tailor their meeting environments prior to and during meetings, thereby dramatically improving collaboration. In addition, the product is highly extensible, enabling organizations to leverage third-party pods, as well as integrate with existing systems. No other solution on the market comes close to offering the ease of meeting entry, richness of interactions, or extensibility.
Al Paz, manager, Global Learning Solutions & Applications, Xerox Corporation:
- Adobe Connect provides a mission-critical, real-time collaboration solution for enterprise environments. The enhanced features and functionality in Adobe Connect 8 eliminate technology barriers for all users, by providing an engaging, intuitive, rich user interface.
Denise Fleming, program assistant, Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Office of Public Health Preparedness, Michigan Department of Community Health:
- We are continually expanding our use of Adobe Connect. The easy-to-use interface lets new users get productive in Adobe Connect faster, while enabling our most experienced users to do even more in their Web conferences.
La Tricia E. Austin-Downer, customer support specialist, ADNET Systems, Inc., in support of Federal Highway Administration:
- Adobe Connect continues to deliver a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution for Web conferencing – offering a set of features that stands apart from other Web conferencing solutions.
…more.
Our Fax2Mail service is provided by PGi, so this press release may be important to some of our customers. As the title suggests, there doesn’t seem to be any issue with the technology or functionality of this fax to email service, the sale is meant to allow PGi to concentrate on their virtual meeting business—highlighted by their audio conference calling and web conferencing services. In fact, the desire of EasyLink to purchase Fax2Mail, I think, should be viewed as a positive. PGi and EasyLink have told us that we should expect no major changes to this service in the short term. It is “business as usual; this change should be completely transparent”. Online Fax2Mail signup is still available here. – - Andy R
Begin Press Release
————————
PGi Sells Fax Business to Become a Pure Play Virtual Meetings Company
Company to Use Portion of Proceeds to Reduce Debt
ATLANTA, October 21, 2010 – Premiere Global Services, Inc. (NYSE: PGI) today announced that it is focusing its strategy on virtual meetings with the completed sale of its PGiSend messaging business through the divestiture of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xpedite Systems, LLC, and certain other assets to EasyLink Services International Corporation (NASDAQ: ESIC) for $105 million in cash.
PGi intends to use a portion of the proceeds from the transaction to repay certain borrowings under its credit facility, including retiring its $50 million Term A loan, and to pay certain transaction fees and closing costs. The company currently intends to continue its investment strategy of pursuing strategic acquisitions and opportunistically repurchasing shares of its common stock.
“The global meetings and collaboration market is growing in size and importance, and it’s clear why. Today, meetings fuel both business and our daily lives,” said Boland T. Jones, PGi founder, chairman and CEO. “Meetings that were initially reserved for corporate executives have become a cultural phenomenon, and virtual collaboration technologies are now paramount in getting business done.”
“By selling our fax business, we can now focus one hundred percent of our time, attention and resources on furthering our lead in the virtual meetings market,” continued Jones. “PGi is pouring all of our creativity into new technologies that enable people to collaborate and come together in more enjoyable and productive ways. We are thrilled with the positive customer reaction to our next generation collaboration product, iMeet® — the first of many new innovations to come.”
About Premiere Global Services, Inc. │ PGi
PGi is a global software and services company that enables real-time, virtual meetings. For almost 20 years, we have innovated technologies to empower people to connect, collaborate and come together in more enjoyable and productive ways. Every month, we bring together over 15 million people in nearly 4 million virtual meetings. Headquartered in Atlanta, PGi has a presence in 24 countries worldwide and an established base of greater than 30,000 customers, including 75% of the Fortune 100. For more information, visit us at www.pgi.com.
Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made based on management’s current expectations or beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. A variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in Premiere Global Services, Inc.’s forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following factors: competitive pressures, including pricing pressures; technological changes; the development of alternatives to our services; general domestic and international economic, business or political conditions; risks associated with challenging global economic conditions or a prolonged recession, including customer consolidations, restructuring, bankruptcies or payment defaults; market acceptance of our new services and enhancements, including iMeet; our ability to complete acquisitions and successfully integrate acquired operations; concerns regarding the security of sending information over the Internet and public networks; our ability to upgrade our equipment or increase our network capacity; service interruptions; our dependence on telecommunications supply agreements; our ability to service financial leverage; our dependence on our subsidiaries for cash flow; future write-downs of goodwill or other intangible assets; assessments of income, sales and other taxes for which we have not accrued; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; our ability to protect our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights; our ability to successfully manage the impact of the divestiture of our PGiSend business, including any financial impact from the loss of PGiSend revenue or earnings; possible adverse results of pending or future litigation or infringement claims; federal, state or international legislative or regulatory changes, including further government regulations applicable to traditional telecommunications service providers; risks associated with international operations and fluctuations in currency exchange rates; changes in and the successful execution of restructuring and cost reduction initiatives and the market reaction thereto and other factors described from time to time in our press releases, reports and other filings with the SEC, including but not limited to the “Risk Factors” sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or a person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Our podcast production services are increasingly being compared to automated, DIY services like BlogTalkRadio, FreeConferenceCall.com, and the former Gabcast. Let’s be clear, we are a professional podcast production studio and have no aspirations of being anything less. These companies are better suited to individuals and businesses interested in making a podcast on their own. Do-It-Yourself services have their place, but we provide our customers with a completely different level of service—a team approach. Our team will be with you from the beginning to the end of the podcast production process. This will improve the quality of the end product immeasurably, and here’s why.
Commitment to Quality
Our company believes in producing the best podcasts; this starts with the highest quality podcast recordings possible. Whether that be in the studio or over a telephone conference call, our recordings are always going to be top notch. Ok, you might be asking, ”What makes you so special?” The single largest differentiator between us and our competitors is a commitment to quality.
Our equipment is designed to produce the best quality audio and video productions, but equipment hardly tells the whole story. In fact, podcasting equipment is only as good as the person using it. We’ve been recording and editing digital audio since 1996. We are first and foremost professionals in this field, and our experience is hard to beat.
One area we pride ourselves in is our telephone recording. All of the companies mentioned above automate their phone call recording service. That is, there is no one there to fine tune the settings for each individual podcaster. Again, while this one-size-fits-all method may have it’s place, we have a different view.
- Our recording levels are set by hand. There is no one-size-fits-all approach here.
- Phone call/line quality is checked and problems are troubleshooted.
- Pre-processing of the audio file is done by hand, not using any automation. Your recording will be precisely optimized for the internet or for CD.
- The beginning and ending are trimmed of any irrelevant material such as on-hold music.
- Professional audio editing is available.
- Audio file encoding and conversion are done to our exact specifications.
While telephone and conference call recording is only one aspect of our business, the above serves as a key reason why recordings made with DIY services may not be the way to go, especially if you are a business protecting the quality of your brand. Recordings made my DIY services typically sound inferior in many different ways:
- Volume levels are low or, alternatively, much too loud.
- Audio is heavily distorted because of number 1 above.
- Audio sounds unnatural because of an inferior encoding process.
- There is dead air at the beginning or end of the file.
- The end of the audio contains loud pops and clicks when you hung up the phone.
- Various drop-out and quality issues because of a poor VOIP connection.
Commitment to Service
The second reason we’re different from DIY services is our commitment to service. When we begin a project, our producer is with you hand-in-hand helping you decide which podcast production style is right for you. Once the style is decided upon, he/she will walk you through the entire recording and production process—from beginning to end. Whether that is to record a telephone interview with a content expert, produce a script for a professional voice-over, or discuss the best music to use for the introduction, we’re with you the entire time.
Commitment to Our Customer
We do not believe in producing expensive, extravagant podcasts when the situation calls for much less. Our commitment to you is that we will give you our honest advice based on the needs of your company, not ours. If your company is best served with a podcast production costing $100, we promise not to push you into producing the next version of Titanic—it’s that simple.
If you’d like more information on any of our audio and video production services, please contact us here. We’d love to help.
|
|
|
 |
|
View Andy R's profile
