I like John Barclay’s webinars. In fact, Topaz Webinars have always been a major feature of owning the software. But lose the Google portal. Go back to what you did, or make absolutely sure you’ve fixed all those sophisticated and complicated problems with their connections. Your webinars made for good watching a second or third time, and the quality of the recording was a big part of that. I can’t imagine wanting to watch this one again. It was enough to stick through with it to the end with the poor presenter having problems due solely to technical issues.
I have to agree with cris272. It wasn’t so much the intermittent sound so much as it was the video quality where I half the time I was unable to make out which slider John was using or where he was clicking. While it was a noble goal to try a less complicated way to enter the webinar, the results were pretty frustrating for the audience. Nice try, but no cigar
Warren
Interesting comments there. I too have always got so much from Topaz Webinars - I have learnt so much from them. When I tried to register for this one Google shot to the fore trying to register under my Google registration rather than my Topaz registration so it was a no-no for me. Google finds it way into too many parts of my life and I am busy building walls to keep it out. I feel a little like The Prisoner fighting No. 1 - I am not a number - so if Topaz choose this road in the future I will not be joining in and I will miss a great deal. Please think again Topaz.
where I half the time I was unable to make out which slider John was using or where he was clicking.>
I was there primarily to see which additional modules JB thought were worth having, so I wasn’t concerned with the sliders. But you’re right. I did notice that video quality wasn’t as good as it had been in their earlier webinars. I’m so used to low quality YouTube videos, I didn’t think about it. I was on YouTube, after all. I don’t know how Google factored into it, but since they appeared to be the ones making it happen, I think Topaz would be wise to rethink this move.
Now that’s very interesting. Registration was another complaint I forgot about. In my case, when I clicked on Register in my email last week, it took me to YouTube, iirc, and made it look like I was automatically in, there being absolutely no place to register, but there was no follow-up email. When it came time to attend, I had no URL to go to, and eventually found a way in by digging the original email out of the trash. I was asked to register when I found the location, but I didn’t bother to at that point. I certainly don’t intend to give Google any more of me, either. They keep trying—Hydra, the many-headed monster.
I just had the opportunity to watch the video last evening and as all of you have mentioned the technical difficulties with the intermittent sound definitely made it a challenging experience. I did stick it out as I too admire John’s work and his style of “teaching”.
While the short videos are interesting and give a taste of what a particular module can do, I get FAR more value out of the webinars. Please continue to offer them as they help me to learn and give me the confidence to experiment with the software.
I look forward to future offerings sans the difficulties of the audio in this one.
I, too, watched the recorded version last night, and I put up with the audio glitches until the end of the webinar. I’m not sure the audio problem was Google’s fault; it sounded to me like John had some microphone connection malfunctions on his end. I have always enjoyed John Barclay’s presentations, and I’m sure his next one will be sans clicks and dropouts.
Bob
