Instructions for Live Webcast Connection and Test Connection

The log in window to each session starts 30 minutes before the session start time. Please, start you connection as soon as possible so we will have time to solve possible problems before the session starts. Don’t wait until the last moment. On session days (from 30 minutes before the session starts until the session ends), we have two phone lines available for support on technical issues. The phone numbers are 804-828-7112 and 804-828-7163. During live sessions we are not able to solve technical issues by email.

The following issues have been encountered during the login process on previous sessions:

• The Academic or Technical Contacts did not have their password. The password can be requested by clicking on the “Forgot your Password?” link at the login page (CARMA Website User Area);
• Once the Contact person was in the Update Registration page, he/she did not known how to update our database entering the IP address of the viewing machine. This process is explained below;
• After the Academic or Technical Contact clicked on the connection button, they would get a message saying that Windows was not able to find an application that could open the file. This happens if RealPlayer is not installed on the viewing machine. To solve this problem, just install RealPlayer; and
• After the Academic or Technical Contact clicked on the connection button, they would get an error message saying that the file could not be found. This happens when the machine can not reach the file, meaning that probably that machine is under a firewall that blocks RM streaming. To solve this problem, contact your network administrator and request that that machine is granted rights to receive RM streaming.

Therefore, as preparing for live Webcasts, please MAKE SURE that:

• You have Real Player installed on the machine you will be using for the test (if you do not have real player installed, you can get the basic player for free at http://www.real.com/realplayer.html;

• The network that this machine is connected to allows video streaming of RM files (Real Media files). Some network firewalls are configured to block RM streaming and this is the type of file our webcast technology uses. If the streaming of this type of file is blocked by your network’s firewall, your viewing computer will not be able to receive the video. Please, check with your Technical Contact or network administrator to be sure that your machine will be able to receive RM streaming video.

The Academic, the Technical, or the Fiscal Contact identified at the time your school registered for our program must request the webcast connection. They can follow the guidance provided in the following eight steps for the live webcast sessions or to test the connection before the live session:

1. Use the computer in the viewing room where you plan on watching our webcast.

2. Sign in on our website in the CARMA Website User Area. The Academic, Technical, or Fiscal Contact person doing this should already be a registered user. When signing in to the CARMA Website User Area they will be requested to enter their registered email address (username) and their current password (If they don’t know their password, it can be requested at the login page by clicking on “Forgot your Password?”). Notice that the Technical Contact should also be selected as the Technical Contact for the Program Registration. If a person logging in is a registered CARMA Website User and has NOT been defined as a Contact, this information should be updated by the Academic Contact on the "Update Program Registration" page which can be reached through the CARMA Website User Area.

3. Click on the "Update Program Registration" link.

4. Click on "CARMA Consortium Webcast Program 2008-2009".

5. An IP address should appear at the bottom of the Update Registration Page as the machine's current IP address.

6. If this address is different than the one directly in the line above that or if no IP address was provided during the registration, simply type the bottom numbers in the line that reads “Webcast machine's IP address”. Therefore, both lines should show the same IP address.

7. Click on "Update Information". On the confirmation page that you get after updating the information, you will be able to see a button that reads “Watch Live Webcast”, in the case of live sessions, or "Test Webcast Connection", if during regular days (for testing the connection). The same button will also be available if you go back to the Update Program Registration page. The “Watch Live Webcast” button will be available beginning 30 minutes before the Live Webcast sessions.

8. Enter the number of attendants in your viewing room (only for live sessions) and click on the “Watch Live Webcast” button to proceed to connect to the live webcast session or on the "Test Webcast Connection" button to connect to the test video. Real Player will open and automatically start loading the video. When testing the connection, if you can see and hear the video, your connection is working properly.

Also, as you know from our materials we have a process that allows participants to ask questions to our presenters by sending an email message during each live session. Questions are anonymous. The questions must be sent to two email addresses (enter both addresses at the “to” field in the message):

1. carma@vcu.edu
2. carmawebcast@comcast.net