HOW TO CONDUCT A VIRTUAL CONFERENCE IN SECOND LIFE and make your team meetings more interesting
2 Table of Contents What is a Second Life Virtual Conference?... 3 Setting Up a Second Life Account for Meeting Attendees... 4 Virtual Conference System Requirements... 4 Creating a New Second Life Account... 4 Activating Your Second Life Account... 9 Adjusting Your Second Life Profile... 10 Setting Up the Conference... 16 Obtaining A Crowne Plaza Account... 16 Reserving a Conference Room... 18 Going to the Conference Room for the Meeting... 22 Setting up the Presentation for the Meeting (If You Are the Presenter)... 24 Participating in the Meeting... 29 Getting a Better View of the Presentation... 29 Communicating with other Attendees... 31 Summary Checklist of Steps... 32 Meeting Organizer Steps... 32 Attendee Steps... 33 Disclaimers... 34
3 What is a Second Life Virtual Conference? Second Life (www.secondlife.com) is an Internet based virtual world. Second Life was launched in 2003 by Linden Research, Inc. (commonly referred to as Linden Lab). The virtual world in Second Life contains different businesses, hotels, streets, and people just as in real life. Each person who joins Second Life is represented by an avatar, which is a 3 dimensional representation of the person. Users can customize the appearance of their avatar, such as by changing height, weight, clothing, and so on. While logged in to the virtual world, avatars can walk up to other avatars and talk to them or send them a text message, just as in the real world. Second Life also uses a currency called a Linden Dollar. You can buy Linden Dollars and then purchase goods or services from merchants who host stores in Second Life. You do not need any Linden Dollars unless you actually want to purchase a good or service. Just walking around Second Life and interacting with others is free. Various Meeting Islands have been developed to provide businesses with places to host virtual conferences with their team members or other companies. Meeting Islands can contain many different buildings, such as the Crowne Plaza Hotel s new meeting center (described in detail later) that is located on the Place to Meet Island. Through meeting centers, you can reserve conference rooms to use for conducting meetings with your team members and/or other companies. To attend a particular conference, your team members all log in to Second Life, and then navigate their avatar to walk into the conference room that you have reserved in advance. You can see each other in the room, just as in real life. If you have headsets connected to your computer, you can also have live audio discussions with your team members. By talking with each other through the headsets, this really gives you the feeling that you are all sitting in the same room together. Another feature that most conference centers provide is audio/visual equipment for giving presentations to your audience. You typically have to upload the audio/video through a web browser. Then, from within the conference room, the meeting organizer can have their avatar walk over to the audio/video equipment and select what to play. Again, this is just like you would do in real life. It is truly amazing that you can have your entire team meet in a conference room in Second Life, and that you can then talk with them in real time, and can give them a presentation that everyone sees. This takes the concept of virtual team meetings far beyond the telephone conferences and sharing of computer screens that the other virtual team meeting programs of today provide. Let s now walk through the steps required to set up and conduct a virtual conference in Second Life. Various screen shots will be provided to illustrate the concepts along the way. The Crowne Plaza Hotel s meeting center will be used in our example. A conference room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel s meeting center can be reserved for free at the time of this article s writing. The steps described herein are similar for other conference centers that you may choose to use as well.
4 A summary of all steps will then be provided at the very end of the document for your point of reference. Setting Up a Second Life Account for Meeting Attendees Each individual that you want to participate in your virtual conference will need to set up their own Second Life account. Thus, the steps described in this section will need to be repeated by each participating individual to set up their own computers. It will take approximately 10 minutes per person to set up a new Second Life profile with the necessary options. Virtual Conference System Requirements In order to run Second Life, a high speed Internet connection is required. Also, you must have a computer that is capable of running Second Life s 3D Viewer program. Your computer will need a graphics card plus a decent amount of memory and CPU speed in order to run this graphics program. The specific system requirements for various operating systems can be found on Second Life s web site at: http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php. If this specific hyperlink stops working, you should be able to easily find the system requirements from the home page of Second Life at www.secondlife.com. In addition to the above requirements, you will also need a computer headset with a microphone if you want to use audio to talk with the attendees of your virtual conference. Various types of headsets can be used, such as USB headsets, audio port headsets, and so on. Here is an example of such a headset: Logitech Premium USB Headset 350 with Microphone. The key is to buy a headset that works with your computer equipment, and that has a microphone that allows you to speak. Creating a New Second Life Account To create a new Second Life account, visit www.secondlife.com, and select an option to create a new account, such as the Sign Up Now option circled in red in the screen below:
5 If you are prompted to Select a Community to join, just select the option that says just take me to Linden Lab s Orientation Island, as circled in red in the screen below. Note that you may or may not see the Select a Community screen, depending on which link you choose to set up a new account. There are various communities that you can join within Second Life that include virtual worlds directed to a specific purpose. However, to use the conference facilities on The Place to Meet Island, you do not need to know anything about the various communities. You can explore this more on your own later if you have an interest.
6 On the Second Life registration screen that follows, you are prompted to select a First Name and a Last Name, plus other login details. You can specify any first name you want, but your last name must be chosen from the list of available last names. You can select the option to Check this name for availability to make sure that no one else is already using that name. You then specify your date of birth. This information is used by Second Life as a security code. If you later forget your password or other details, they will ask you for this information in order to allow changes to your account. Finally, you enter your email address. An activation link will be later emailed to this address with further instructions, so make sure you specify a valid email address. Once all of the above fields are filled out, you click the Continue button. Correct any errors that are indicated, if any.
7 You will then be prompted to select an Avatar, as shown below. To see what a given avatar looks like, select it from the list. A preview will be shown in the right portion of the screen to illustrate what this avatar looks like in its default form. You should choose an avatar style that best represents the individual for which you are setting up the account. Of course, for fun, you can choose any avatar style that you want for your account. You can then later customize the hair color, clothing and other details for the avatar if desired. Select a desired template from the list, and then select the button that says Choose this avatar.
8 You will then be prompted to enter your real name, a password for your account, a secret question and answer, your mailing list preferences, and so on. Fill in all the fields that are required. At the bottom, make sure you fill in the code shown in the graphic on your screen (an example of this is shown below, but your code will be different). This code is used to make sure a human is setting up the account. Also, make sure you check the option to indicate you agree to the Terms of Service. Then, select the Submit button.
9 Next, you will be given an option to upgrade to a premium membership. You can select the option to Skip this Step and just use the free membership. A confirmation screen should then be displayed to indicate that your account setup was successful, and to provide a summary of your account details. Activating Your Second Life Account Check the email account that you specified in the registration process for the confirmation email from Second Life. Confirmation emails are usually sent within one minute of account signup. In the confirmation email, click the link to activate your Second Life Profile. A screen similar to the one shown below will be displayed to indicate that your account has successfully been activated. You can then follow the steps on the screen to download the Second Life client viewer software. If for some reason you need to go back and install the Viewer software later, you can do so using this download link: http://secondlife.com/community/downloads.php.
10 Adjusting Your Second Life Profile Once you have activated your Second Life account and have installed the viewer software, you are now ready to log in to Second Life and make a few adjustments to your settings to support virtual conferences. To do so, launch the Second Life program that was installed on your computer. A Second Life icon may be present on your desktop. The Second Life program should also be present in your program list, such as on the Start Menu if you are running Microsoft Windows. The first time you launch the software, you will be prompted to accept the Terms of Service and will be provided with a warning about the standards for using Second Life. Click the options to Accept and Continue. Once the software finishes loading, a screen similar to the one below will be shown. Near the bottom left side of the screen, you should enter your first name, last name, and password that you specified for your user account during the account setup process. Then click the Connect button to log in to Second Life.
11 You will then appear in Orientation Island or whatever community you chose to start in. If you are in Orientation Island, you will see other people dropping in next to you, sometimes naked momentarily. Do not be alarmed. This is where new avatars are first placed into Second Life, and then clothed with the clothing that the default character contains. You can feel free to explore Orientation Island to get a feel for how to navigate your avatar through Second Life.
12 You can optionally edit your appearance to change your clothing, hair color, etc. at any time. To do so, select the Edit menu, and then the Appearance option. A screen similar to the one below will be shown with various options for editing your appearance.
13 Next, you will need to adjust the settings that are necessary in order for you to participate in virtual conferences with your team. Let s look at what Audio and Video settings are necessary in order to participate in a virtual conference that uses audio and/or video. To do so, select the Edit menu, and then Preferences, as shown below.
14 You should then navigate to the Audio & Video settings tab, as shown below. If you plan to use streaming music or video from your conference, make sure that the Streaming Preferences are checked. For Audio Preferences, you can also select the option to Mute Audio when the Second Life program is minimized. You may or may not want to enable this option. What it means is that if you toggle away from the Second Life program and open another program, it will stop showing you as available in the room to your colleagues, and it will stop sending your voice if you are talking into the microphone. You should set this option only if you want it to show you as away when you have toggled over to another program. If you do not want your boss to know you are multi tasking, then you may not want to select this option!
15 Once you have set the preferences for audio and video, you should then select the Voice Chat settings tab. An example of this screen is shown below. Voice chat is the feature that allows you and your colleagues to talk with each other in real time over the Internet while you are in the conference room together (or elsewhere in Second Life). Each person needs his/her own headset with a microphone in order to participate in a voice chat. If you are using the voice chat feature (which is highly recommended in order to have a meaningful virtual conference), then select the option to Enable Voice Chat. You can then select whether to enable voice chat from camera position or avatar position. You can play with the settings with your colleagues and see which one provides you with the greatest distance of hearing each other. With either of these settings, you will still not typically hear each other unless you are nearby in the same room. You then need to specify the Push to Talk method. The Push to Talk method lets you specify when and how your voice gets transmitted from your microphone. It is recommended that you select the option that says Use Push to Talk in toggle mode. This allows you to toggle talking on and off. While talking is toggled on, you do not have to hold down the talk button. You just talk naturally like you would if you were really sitting in the same room with someone. If you do not have this option set, then you will have to hold down the talk button the entire time you are talking, like you do with a walkietalkie. You can also adjust what key to use for the toggling the talking mode. There is also a button that will later be displayed in Second Life that will show you whether talking is turned on or off. Once you are finished adjusting these settings, click the OK button to save your changes.
16 Let s now leave Second Life for a moment and walk through the steps of setting up a conference. Setting Up the Conference To reserve a conference room on the Crowne Plaza Hotel s meeting center, or through some other conference facility, you typically need to use a web browser. In our example, we will be using one of the conference rooms offered by the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Second Life. Obtaining A Crowne Plaza Account To reserve a room, you first need to set up a Crowne Plaza profile by visiting this web site http://www.secondlife.crowneplaza.com/. You can then select the option to register for a new account, as indicated in red on the above screen.
17 You will then be prompted to create a user name and password for your Crowne Plaza account. You also have to specify your Second Life First Name and Last Name. These should match your account name exactly, as this is what is used to control who is allowed to access their conference facility from within the Second Life world. After providing the required details, select the Register option. Note that you will later have to specify the Second Life names of all persons who will be attending the conference. Once your new account has been setup, you will automatically be logged in. You can also revisit the page later at the web site previously noted to log in again and manage your meetings: http://www.secondlife.crowneplaza.com/.
18 Once you are logged in, a screen similar to the one below will be shown. You can see the various conference rooms that the Crowne Plaza has available, and check availability of a given room on a specified date. Reserving a Conference Room At the time of this book s writing, there are three different conference rooms available from the Crowne Plaza: the Executive Conference Room, the Theatre Room, and the Lounge Room. You can click on a given conference room for details about how many people each room will hold, and to see other details, such as what the room looks like and what type of audio/video presentations are supported. You should view the conference room details and determine which room will best accommodate your meeting. You can then fill in the details in the Check Availability area on the left side of the screen to see if that meeting is available at
19 your desired date and time. Here are some tips on reserving a room: You will need to reserve a room that is large enough to hold the number of people who you plan to have join your conference. You should also reserve the room with enough time in advance so that you can test the settings and become familiar with the environment. It is recommended that you schedule your room for at least an hour in advance to make sure you are comfortable with the meeting room and are familiar with how to operate the audio/video settings from within the room (more on that later). Also, note that you will be disconnected from the conference at the exact time your conference ends. Thus, if you are not sure when your meeting will end, make sure to reserve the room for extra time. This will keep your group from being ejected without warning. To actually reserve the room, select the Conference Room, Date, and Time and click. Note that the times are listed in Pacific Time in one hour increments. Click the option that says Check Availability. If the time is available, a screen such as the one below will be shown.
20 You can then click the Reserve option to reserve the conference. You will then be prompted to specify other details for the meeting, such as attendees, as well as the presentation materials you want to display in the meeting. An example of this is shown in the screen below. In the Attendee List section, you should add the various attendees to the list. Second Life uses this list to determine who will be allowed to enter your meeting room. This is for security reasons so a random person does not just walk into your conference. In the Media Upload section, you can upload the presentation materials that you want to display to the attendees during the meeting. To select a file to upload, select the browse button. Then, click the Upload button to upload the file you selected using the Browse option. At this time, the Crowne Plaza only supports.mov,.mp3, or.jpg file formats. If you have a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation that you want to display to your attendees, you have to do a Save As from
21 within Powerpoint to save each slide to a.jpg format. You then upload the files one by one as shown in the above example with Slide1.jpg, Slide2.jpg, and Slide3.jpg. If you do not yet have your presentation materials ready, you can log back in later to upload the files. When you are finished adding attendees to the list and/or uploading your presentation materials, make sure to click the Finish button. You will then be given a confirmation screen such as the one below. This confirmation screen contains a Second Life link that you will provide you all of your attendees so that they can navigate directly to the Crowne Plaza meeting facility in Second Life when the meeting has started. Your attendees will then just have to walk into the correct conference room. You should send a calendar invitation (or email) to all of your attendees with the meeting date and time, the conference room you reserved, plus the Second Life link that they need to use in order to access the conference.
22 Going to the Conference Room for the Meeting When the meeting time arrives, click the link to the meeting room that is contained in your calendar reminder or email. This will launch Second Life. You will need to log in, but once you log in, it will take you to the Crowne Plaza conference facility on the Place to Meet Island. (You may need to close Second Life first if you still had it open from earlier). You should see a screen similar to the one below that says Welcome to the Meeting. You then click OK, and are allowed to proceed into the meeting room.
23 You should then walk through the door, as shown below. You will then be in the conference room. You can use the arrow keys to navigate 360 degrees around the room. Note: If you still see the Required Tutorial window in the upper left hand portion of the screen, you can hover your mouse over that area, right click with your mouse, and select the Detach option. The screen should go away.
24 Setting up the Presentation for the Meeting (If You Are the Presenter) Once you are in the room, if you are the meeting organizer, you should navigate over to the podium and test the conference equipment to make sure you can run your presentation. The podium says Touch here to choose your media as is circled in red in the screen below. The amount of time remaining in your conference is also displayed. Walk over to the podium using your arrow keys and then use your mouse to select the flashing light. It will then prompt you to choose the media you want to display on the output screen.
25 Choose the Select File option from the upper right portion of the screen.
26 You should then select the type of file you want to select (Image, Movie, or Song), as shown below. In this example, we will select Image to display the images that were created from the example Powerpoint presentation. The files that you uploaded earlier for the meeting using the Crowne Plaza web site should then be displayed.
27 You are then prompted to select which image to display. In this example, we will select 0 for image1 to select the first slide of the presentation. After selecting the desired image (or video) to display, yyou should see the selected slide or video displayed on the output screen across the room. You may need to turn around in order to see the output screen to make sure the selected slide or video is displayed. In the next section, you will learn how to get a better view of the presentation. But for now, let s first finish learning how to navigate through the presentation materials.
28 If there are multiple slides or media to present, the presenter will want to leave the media navigation pane open (shown below) so that he/she can then navigate to each of the next slides as desired. From the media navigation pane, the arrow keys ( << and >> ) can be used to toggle through each of the slides one by one, or Select File can be chosen to jump to a specific file. To close the media navigation pane, click Exit. To later return to it, click on the media option from the podium.
29 Participating in the Meeting Getting a Better View of the Presentation Once the presentation has been displayed on the output screen, you may find that some of the presentation chopped off from your view. The easiest way to get a view of the entire screen is to select the Fly option from within Second Life, as circled in red below.
30 You will then start flying in the air and should be able to see the entire presentation more easily, as shown below. When you are done flying, you can select the Stop Flying option from within Second Life. Another way that you can see more of the presentation is to walk to the back of the room to get a better view. The fly option is easier.
31 Communicating with other Attendees When other attendees join you in the meeting, you can then have an audio conversation with them in real time. The talk setting, as circled in red below, will indicate whether your Push To Talk setting is turned on or off. If it is turned off, you can toggle the mode to talk so that others in the room can hear you. You should now be able to talk to anyone in the room who has is using a headset with a microphone from their computer. No phone lines are required! You are just using the power of your high speed internet connection to talk with others in the room, which is truly amazing! Note that the settings that control Push To Talk were explained in the earlier setup section. You can revisit that earlier section if you are having trouble getting the talking feature to work. Just remember, that once your conference ends, you will all be ejected automatically from the meeting. You can view the remaining time for your meeting in the label above the podium.
32 That s it! You should now be all set up to have virtual meetings in Second Life, rich with live audio conversations and presentations. This is much more enjoyable than just telephone conversations! Summary Checklist of Steps Here are checklists of the steps that you just went through in order to set up and/or attend a virtual conference in Second Life. One checklist is for the meeting organizer, and the other is for attendees. Meeting Organizer Steps Check your system requirements to make sure your computer supports Second Life Obtain a headset with a microphone if you wish to use audio in your conference Create a new Second Life account from www.secondlife.com Activate your Second Life account by clicking the link in your email Install the Second Life Viewer software Log in to Second Life and change your settings to support virtual conferences Close Second Life. (You will re enter later) Create a new Crowne Plaza profile for scheduling conferences (www.secondlife.crowneplaza.com) Schedule your conference for a specific date and time, allowing extra time for the meeting setup Specify all of the meeting attendees and upload your presentation for the conference Send meeting details to all meeting attendees (from the confirmation screen once you click Finish ) When the meeting time arrives, click on the hyperlink provided in the meeting confirmation to launch Second Life at the Crowne Plaza Hotel conference center Go to the podium and select the media you want to play Adjust your view so you can see the whole screen (such as by selecting Fly ) Ensure your talk mode is enabled Wait for the other attendees to arrive Talk with others as they arrive Use the navigation control panel to control your presentation (to advance to other slides, etc.)
33 Attendee Steps Check your system requirements to make sure your computer supports Second Life Obtain a headset with a microphone if you wish to use audio in your conference Create a new Second Life account from www.secondlife.com Activate your Second Life account by clicking the link in your email Install the Second Life Viewer software Log in to Second Life and change your settings to support virtual conferences Close Second Life When the meeting time arrives, locate the email or calendar invitation with the meeting details, and click on the hyperlink to launch Second Life at the Crowne Plaza Hotel conference center. Enter the conference room Adjust your view so you can see the whole screen (such as by selecting Fly ) Ensure your talk mode is enabled Talk with others as they arrive, and enjoy the presentation!
34 Disclaimers Second Life, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Microsoft, Logitech and any other third party trademarks used in this article are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. Innoventum, Inc. has no affiliation with these companies and claims no interest in the trademarks of these companies. Innoventum, Inc. makes no warranties, express or implied, that this article will provide any particular benefit to the customer or produce any particular result. This article is provided As Is, and could become outdated as information on the Internet changes.