Technology Set Up

For help during the Symposium:

The NMC wants to ensure you have a great experience at the Symposium on Creativity, and so has set up several avenues you can use if you find you need help. If you have any sort of a problem that affects getting ready for the symposium this week, or any part of your experience at the event, please contact the Symposium Help Desk at help@nmc.org (anytime) or 1-866-588-7680 (US business hours). Outside the US dial 512-445-4200 or Skype drljohnson.

When you arrive at the NMC Conference Center during the Symposium, our staff will, of course, always be on hand to assist you with any hurdles.

Here are our suggestions for helping you have the best experience possible during the Symposium.

• Your Computer. If you are brand new to Second Life, you will want to make sure you have access to a relatively new computer (less than 2 years old), with a fast graphics card (see the detailed software requirements from the Second Life site.). Second Life eats RAM for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you should try and avoid having other programs open at the same time, if possible,
• Your Pipe to the Net. We strongly recommend that you are connect to the Internet by a wired connection -- wireless connections are notorious for poor performance (known in SL as lag); you may not be able to access audio and/or video on a wireless connection.
• Using Voice Chat. The capability for voice communications built into Second Life is rather new, and the NMC Conference Center is equipped to allow voice chat. While we are not relying on it for our main sessions, we encourage you to try it out informally and while engaged in Symposium activities. If you have not done so already, this feature is enabled in the Second Life software via the Edit -> Preferences menu, and then the Voice Chat tab. It can be set up to be an open mike, or to only allow your voice to be heard when you press the "talk" button in the bottom right of the SL viewer. See the Voice FAQ for more information.
• Get Your Headsets. During the symposium we will make use of the music channel for audio for the plenary sessions (the music channel requires speakers, but not a headset), but almost the other sessions plan make use of the new voice chat features. We strongly encourage you to include a headset/microphone with your computer set up, and to set your setting to "push to talk" so that your keyboard clicks and other background noises are not conveyed into the virtual setting.. Do not plan to use your computer or laptop's built-in microphone as it will cause unbearable feedback (bouncing echo) for your colleagues.
• Turn on the Audio and Video. The presenters at the Symposium on Creativity plan to use all that Second Life has to offer in their sessions, so you will want to make sure you have all your settings configured properly for multimedia. This is simple and takes only a few seconds. In the Second Life software, under the Edit menu at the top of your screen, select Preferences, then the Audio/Video tab, and make sure you have the options checked to play streaming video and music.
• Ask for Help. The NMC want to ensure you have a great experience at the Symposium on Creativity, and so has set up several avenues you can use if you find you need help.If you have any sort of a problem that affects getting ready for the symposium this week, or any part of your experience at the event next week, please contact the Symposium Help Desk at help@nmc.org (anytime) or 1-866-588-7680 (US business hours). Outside the US dial 512-445-4200 or Skype drljohnson. When you arrive at the NMC Conference Center next week, our staff will, of course, always be on hand to assist you with any hurdles.