Dear eLearning Forum Members:

The Board has taken several steps to improve the quality of the eMeeting experience for our remote participants.  You will likely see the effects of some of these steps during the May eLearning Forum meeting.  Other steps may take time and your support to implement.  Steps include:

1. I'll act as the facilitator and champion for remote participants.  Before, during and after meetings, I'll be working to erase the boundaries of time and space for remote members.

2. For May's meeting, we have created a Guide For Remote Participants. We welcome your input to this document, as it needs to provide for multiple systems, connection speeds, experiences, etc.

3.  We will also be providing other resources that will engage remote members more actively.  These resources may include:
       * jpegs and bios of eLearning Forum members
       * Guides to using other eConferencing or eCollaboration tools
       * An eLearning Forum roster of meeting participants
       * Relevant links to resources for remote participants
       * Threaded discussions to foster networking, about relevant topics, projects, issues, etc.

Please remember that as remote participants, the single most effective step you can take to increase the quality of your eMeeting experience is to register early, and be sufficiently familiar with the system(s) that you are well prepared before the meeting starts. The Guide will help you prepare.

Since each of us may at some time be a remote participant, we are distributing this message to all members, and invite your participation in this effort.  We all benefity from multiple and global perspectives that are added by our remote participants. Please email your suggestions, concerns or questions about how to improve the quality of your eMeeting experience to rickhuebsch8@aol.com.

Thank you in advance for your contributions.

Rick