WorkCast Platform Product Updates

To make our platform better we provide regular updates to functionality, usability and performance. We will communicate these through email communications and our own webinars. You can review previous updates on this page.

Security Enhancements

Infrastructure move to AWS to allow scalability, resilience and improved security.
HTTPS as standard for the Platform, Studio, Registration and Auditorium URL’s.

Create Events Tab

Creating a Live or HubSpot event from a master template now gives you the option to choose which presentation (slides only, slides & webcam, slides & multi screen webcam, slides and screenshare, scheduled replay) you would like your event to be created as. Host users are unable to select scheduled replay.

Event - Event Experience Tab

Presentation type lifted from the ‘Slides’ tab and displayed at all times no matter which tab you are in.

Bulk Registration Uploads

Now in a separate queue to standard event registrations.
Bulk uploads will not slow standard event registrations from hitting the platform causing emails to be delayed.
Speed improvements for time taken to complete a bulk upload.
Detailed failure overview description should your bulk upload fail.

Slide Upload Improvements (Event Setup & Studio)

Quicker error detection if invalid slides are uploaded
Greater number of invalid failure errors caught
Slide uploader's detect if there is inactivity during processing, and clear the connection to stop the uploader's becoming locked causing a backlog of uploads waiting in queue.
Upload Success Message: Slides Attached: If you start a Powerpoint upload against a new event, once it finishes uploading it attaches to the event and will display an announcement popup message to the user who uploaded the slides.
Upload Success Message: Slides Ready to Attach: If you start a PowerPoint upload against an event that already has slides attached, or from the media tab, once it finishes uploading an announcement popup message to the user who uploaded the slides appears stating the slides are ready to attach.
Failure Message to users: Invalid Hyperlinks and Images on a PowerPoint upload return back the slide number and link or image file name in the event setup and studio with a link to Insite PowerPoint best practice guide. This also displays a popup announcement message to the user so they know the slides have failed if they move around the platform. Unknown upload failure displays a generic message to the user and popup notification.

WorkCast Studio

12 Pods now become a total of 6
Only a maximum of 5 pods display at any time.
Moveable Pods: You can now drag pods around the Studio page by holding down the top bar of each pod.
Resizable Pods: You can resize all pods except for the media Hub by dragging arrow icon bottom right of each pod.
Default Pod Sizes: All pods other than the Media Hub now default when added to the page at the smaller size of 400px wide. These can be made wide by dragging the arrow icon bottom right of each pod.
Responsive Pod Content: In the smaller sizes the content of pods condenses into tabs so the content is easy to view
Reset Pod Positions: Click the ‘cog’ in the menu bar and select ‘reset pods’ to reset pod positions.

New Studio Pod List

Media Hub

My Connections Tab (new)
Session Content Tab
Present Tab

Attendee Questions / Attendee Chat (only one or none of these display based on event setup)
Event Polls
Event Interactions (Combined Event Lock Status and Event Session Interactions)
Presenter Only Chat

HTTPS VERSION OF THE STUDIO / NEW MY CONNECTIONS POD

HTTPS version of the WorkCast Studio which initially will be linked from the existing WorkCast Studio via a button and called 'Studio BETA NEW' (BETA means an early version of a program or application that contains most of the major features, but is not yet the final version)
A new ‘My Connections Pod’ will be available in the BETA Studio and will combine Webcam, Screenshare, Presenter Audio and Audio Control Pods in a single pod. As well as this the dial in phone bridge details with link to the international numbers Insite page will also be included.
The new 'My Connections Pod' will allow presenters to easily hear the audio from other presenters connections. Presenters using webcam, computer mic or phone bridge connections will all benefit.

DEFAULT SLIDE DECK (IF NO SLIDES ARE UPLOADED)

If you visit the ‘Media Hub’ having not attached any slides and hit ‘Start’ you will see a popup saying ‘Oops, no slides attached, Don't worry, you can use our awesome default slides for audio only, screenshare or webcam, alternatively you can attach or upload your own slides.’
There are two buttons you can then click, ‘Use default’ or ‘Add your slides’.
If you choose ‘Use Default’ this will attach and use the WorkCast Default Slide Deck which is an 8 slide deck with either full screen generic images or short video loops. You could choose a slide and begin a broadcast if you required an audio only presentation, or wished to jump straight in to full screen webcam or screenshare.
If you choose ‘Add Your Slides’ it will automatically take you to the ‘Session Content’ pod to upload your own presentation slides.

PRESENTATION UPLOAD SPEED / THUMBNAIL CREATION

We have made improved steps to speed up slide upload speed including faster initial processing steps.
The main item to speed up the slide upload is the slide deck becomes available to use before the thumbnail images have been created. This does mean initially if you upload a large slide deck and use it the second the slides have become available then when you hit ‘Start’ in the Media Hub the deck will load but there will be NO THUMBNAIL IMAGES appearing down the side of the presentation to see what is coming next.
The thumbnails still get created behind the scenes, and when ready, the NEXT time you hit ‘Start’ to go back in to the Media Hub, the thumbnail images will appear.

REPORTING

Report Type Name Updates - The 'Report Type' names have been slightly updated to hopefully make it clearer regarding what the report represents. We have also updated the help text for each report type.

ADMIN AREA (Cog) - (Producer Users)

‘Account Splash image’ becomes ‘Account Defaults’ with the addition of ‘Manage Account Default Logo’.

Schedule Replay (Simu-live) Update - This includes a non-Flashpreview for presenters, the ability to dial in to the phone bridge for live Q&A. Simple and easy to schedule from creating a live event.
Brand New HubSpot Integration - A fully automated webinar workflow created directly in your HubSpot account. Sit back and let the registration landing page, confirmation page, event page and email flow be created for you.
Usability Updates Include - Welcome dashboard, reporting, styling and pop-up rendering throughout the platform.
Presenter Experience Updates - Extended viewing choice for presenters as the Platform can now be viewed on more browsers than ever before.
Extended Payment Options - Greater choice if you wish to charge attendees to view a webinar or channel of webinar content.

Performance Update for Presenters in Studio - This includes a none Flash view of the Media Hub which will improve Geographical location performance of a presenters view of the stream. Benefits over Flash also include speed of transition changing for presenters.
Create Events Tab - A refresh with the introduction of thumbnails makes this page more visual.
New Full Screen Webcams Fully Activated - A new event format where presenters can easily switch between large webcams and their slides.
(Producer+) Updated Attendee Chat Functionality (Studio) - Existing attendee chat functionality is updated to allow chat moderators to see total number, and the individual attendees present within an auditorium and actively start a conversation with them.
(Producer+) Updated Attendee Chat Functionality (Auditoriums) - A new widget within auditoriums will appear bottom right of the page and will popup when a chat moderator in the WorkCast studio actively starts a chat with an individual event attendee.
(Producer+) Admin Functionality - Producer+ license users will now see the introduction of the admin cog within the top right of the WorkCast Studio. This gives users access to manage integrations, event templates and account level defaults.

Event User Experience Update - update to event set up to allow the editing of event sessions directly within the event. This allows users to update their event pages all within a single area in the platform.
Reports Listing - the reporting tab in the platform now lists the events in your account and takes you directly to the report set up page for your event.

Update to Webcam Functionality - adding the ability for presenters to mute their microphone but stay on camera. Also the ability to turn off camera but keep microphone active to contribute to presentation.

Updated Test Page - this will test the user's connection for them and provide feedback and tips to enhance their viewing experience.
Slide Upload Enhancement - when uploading slides to an event in the Studio, they will now be attached to the session you are in, automatically.

As well as these updates, there will also be a staged roll out of the following features that you will see appearing in your account over the next few weeks.

Screenshare - We are adding a built in screenshare capability that will allow you to share your screen directly into the live stream.
Presenter Webcam - The ability to allow up to 3 presenters to use their webcams during events, which will be broadcast directly into the live event stream.

Dashboard - Welcome page giving you easy access to registration data for your most recently configured events
Platform announcements - Updated to include pop ups of new announcements to ensure you never miss any of the latest information and news about the platform
Enhanced event listing (Producer+) - Allows easier identification of events, their type and any details included such as date/time and communications
Updated event reporting (Producer+) - Report filters that can then be shared as authenticated links, allowing you to control what reporting information you share
Updated Media Hub* - Film strip of slides allowing a preview of the next slide within the presentation and the ability to jump to a chosen slide
Flash free presenter option* - The ability to choose a static image flash-free option for your presenters to see their slides content. This can be toggled on and off by each individual presenter as required

*part of a staged roll out during week commencing 15th May, your account will be updated to include these features during that week.

Flash Free Audience Experience - We have implemented a non Flash stream and player within the WorkCast Platform allowing viewers to watch live events in a completely Flash free experience. This allows us to reach audiences who might otherwise be restricted in their viewing due to restrictions of their browsers, networks or firewalls.

Automatic Slide Video Re-encode - One of the key features of the WorkCast Platform is the ability to run videos, animations and builds within PowerPoint and have these honoured when presenting. This feature ensures that any videos embeded in PowerPoints are able to play correctly within events by identifying videos in the slides upon upload and re-encoding these to optimum streaming settings ready for use.

Integrations updates - following on from the previous drop a few updates have been added for referrers, pick lists and bug fixes
Video in slides messaging - more prominent messaging around the loading of video in slides indicating that a video VM was loading and that this may take up to 3 minutes
Extended CE Report - updated and expanded report for graded polls
Custom reporting at event level - all extended registration fields available at event level
Extended reporting data update - previously extended reporting data was only displayed in the first instance, this should now appear in all rows of the report for a user
Event Reporting set to unique email addresses - within the event or channel reporting the main headline figures use email address as a unique identifier and therefore will only count each user once event if they have accessed or registered for different sessions across the event
Presenter Chat update - username updates will be carried through to the presenters chat in the studio pages rather than being set the first time a user logs in
MP4 upload in studio for schedule replay - if your session is set to be a schedule replay you will see media upload and choose media options in the studio session content section rather than the slides upload options
WorkCast audio update - presenters are now able to talk to each other on the bridge prior to the slides being started. Presenters are also able to dial into other sessions so long as they are in the relevant account

Automated Registration Page Link - The ability to add the registration page link to the auditorium sign in page within the template without it needed to be updated on an event by event basis. This means any event created from the master event template can display the link back to the registration page for those who haven't registered.

Integrations - these are for Eloqua, Hubspot, Marketo, Pardot and Salesforce and are accessible through the administration area (where you can load new templates and manage registrations) or for Producer users through the settings drop down menu (where the Logout option is contained)
Schedule Replay Auto Polls - where polls are included in a schedule replay event these will automatically pop up at the time they are loaded into the timeline of the media used
Lock Slides - an update to this control that allows presenters to join the session but not move the slides
Post event emails for auto ondemand - when using the auto ondemand feature this is to make sure that the ondemand has actually been created before allowing the post event emails to be dispatched
Session Reporting Line Graph - this now stops at the current time if you view mid event, rather than showing a drop off
Adding MP4 content in Session Content of the studio - this will allow schedule replay events to be created in Present+ and Producer+ (with the correct master event template)
Producer+ Updates - some usability and formatting updates to Producer+ for further consistency
Channel Embed Update - channel embed does not refresh unless all the sessions are approved removing the ability to cause the code to fail
Audio Connected Icon in Studio - showing that your phone bridge is connected to the stream when a session is running in the Media Hub
Slides Loading page - when starting a session in Media Hub you now see a loading page for the full time, rather than just at the final stage
CPD/CPE Reporting - extended reporting available directly from the Platform to be able to more easily review graded polls
General Bug Fixes

Styling - A platform wide redesign in order to better make use of the screen real-estate as well as sharpening the look and feel of the platform.
Menus - As part of the styling updates a new menu has been created on the left of each of the platform pages into which the major functions have been moved, such as publish.
MEID - As part of an integration with the WorkCast platform and CRM or Marketing Automation systems as Managed Event ID (MEID) is required. This has now been exposed with the session page.
Extras Tab - This used to be called the Content tab within the session but has been updated to be called the Extras tab. This is in order to avoid confusion as to what it actually includes within the session.
Image Libraries - When you use an image within the platform for either a logo or splash page this is now added to an image library within your account, meaning to re-use this image you do not need to re-load it but can now choose it again from your library.
Account Wide Splash Image - As standard the platform will add a WorkCast splash image to your event if you do not add one yourself. However you are now able to add your own at an account level that any event in the account will default to if you do not add one at the session level.
On-demand Polls - As for live polls it is now possible to add ondemand polls through the session rather than having to add them to the media. This is done within the Extras tab in the session where you will see a preview of your content meaning you can add the poll to any point in the timeline of the media.
Presenter Audio Microphone Option - It is now possible for your presenters to use a microphone on their computer as an audio option, rather than dialling into a telephone. Your account will need to be configured to allow this new feature.
Audio Controls - This new pod within the WorkCast Studio presenting area will allow you see which presenters are logged in and also if they have connected their microphones.
Keyboard Controls for Slides - As well as using your mouse buttons to progress through your slides you are now able to also use the left and right keys on your key board or an external clicker.
Lock Slides - If you wish to lock your slides so the presenters cannot progress through them you can now do this. They can join a session and see the progress of the slides, as well as taking part in the presenter chat but the facility to progress through the slides will be de-activated.

In platform Help - Throughout the platform we have included additional help pop ups that assist you with event stage of your event set up. These can turned on and off using the "Show Help" tick box located with the tech support chat link
Create Events - The quick events tab has been renamed Create Events.
Setup/Content Tabs - Event Sessions set up has been split out into two tabs. The Set up tab contains the more advanced information which you may not amend from your Create Event Master template, and the Content contains the information relevant to your particular session, such as titles, descriptions, registration information etc.
Previews - When using the content tab as detailed in the point above you can now preview and changes before you make them live. Once you are happy with the updates you can then publish your draft to push the changes to the live page, without having to bring the link down.
Adding Polls - Polls can now be added to the event session, rather than being added into your media.
Media Search - It is now easier to search for media in your media tab using either the free text search box or filtering by video or slides.
Studio Updates - The studio has been updated to include a number of new features.
- Title, Date and Time - These are now displayed at the top of the studio
- Dial in details - These are displayed in the top right of the studio page
- Pods Menu - Unused pods can be closed and moved to the pods menu which is hidden to the right of the studio. They can then be reopened as needed. They can also be moved around to re-order them using drag and drop.
- Slides Upload - Slides are now uploaded directly into the Studio using the session content pod. Slides can either be uploaded here or selected if they have previously been added to the account
- 16:9 Slides - Slides can be displayed in 16:9 widescreen format within the presenter Media hub, reflecting what the audience see more accurately.
- Presenter Chat - messages in presenter chat can now be deleted
- Clear Polls - poll data can now be cleared out so any test polls you run can be set back to zero results.
- Attendee Questions - this functionality has now been updated so that you are reply to questions, prioritise or hide. The functionality has been designed to work in a similar way to your email inbox.