Hey Guys...
Ok - just got off a very long (and highly informative) phone call with Casey Stack about the up-coming laser safety lecture we've been planning for Monday, August 23nd (the day after SELEM). A few things have changed, so I started this new thread to talk about them.
First, a little bit about the subject matter: Casey will be presenting on general laser safety, and he will also be talking about safety as it applies to laser projector assembly (and certification), as well as laser safety as it applies to laser shows (including laser show variances and show reports). He will include detailed information about US regulations relating to laser product reports, as well as information about IEC regulations that can be applied to US projectors in leu of certain CDRH standards.
The idea for the first portion of the seminar is to give a budding laserist a good foundation in general laser safety. The second portion of the presentation is aimed at people who want to build their own projector, get it certified, and use it for a commercial show. Thus, there will be an emphasis on regulatory paperwork, safety devices, proper show procedures, and so fourth. He will also discuss liability issues, and some things you can to to protect yourself and your company. At the end, there will be a question and answer session regarding specific projector designs and show setup situations from the attendees.
Casey will be using powerpoint slides for most of the presentation, and copies of those slides will be supplied to each person who attends the event. Understand that this material is not to be scanned and posted to the Internet! This must be considered private information. Sure, there will be plenty of discussion about it here on the forum, and that's fine, but Casey doesn't want the actual documents posted. I told him that sounded fair. (Especially since he normally charges $800 and up per person for access to this stuff.)
Now, several members have stated that they would be willing to pay to see this event live via some kind of internet broadcast. Previously, Casey was uncomfortable with this. However, after a lengthy discussion with me, he has agreed to allow this to happen under two conditions:
1) The broadcast is only viewable by people who have registered. It can't be made available to everyone and anyone. That means we can't use Ustream. We would need some kind of web broadcast that offers a login for the viewers.
2) The broadcast must not be recorded.
So if we can find a live broadcast method that limits the viewers to those who have logged-in, then we'll be able to broadcast the seminar to people who can't attend in person. Casey has agreed to allow us to mail those people all the handout materials (copies of the slides) in advance so they'll have them when the seminar starts.
I recall a few members had suggested some alternatives to Ustream that might allow us to control access to a live broadcast like this, but I can't remember the specifics. So if you have an idea, please post below! I'd like to nail this part down quickly, so we'll know if we can open the seminar up to people in remote locations.
Also, there is one other *possible* problem with a live broadcast. Casey has some content that is licensed from other people which he uses during the safety portion of the presentation. Some of this content has very restrictive use rights associated with it, and if any of that material makes it into the presentation, we would have to turn the camera off for that portion so it would not be broadcast on the Internet.
I don't yet know if this will apply to our seminar or not, but even if it does, we're only talking about maybe 30 minutes to an hour out of an 8 hour (or longer) presentation. Also, this won't affect the second portion of the seminar at all (the part about projector design and regulatory compliance). But for the people who are considering the live broadcast, understand that there might be a mandatory "break" in the feed. More on this in a week or two when Casey has the final curriculum ready.
Casey is preparing a quote for his expenses, and I should have that information by late next week. At that point, we can make a per-person estimate of the costs based on the number of people who have expressed an interest in signing up.
Also, for those who want to view the event on the Internet (assuming we find an appropriate broadcast method with login capability), I expect they will be paying a much smaller share of the cost. (Say, 50% of the cost of attending in person?) And remember that the remote viewers will still receive the same hand-out material (basically copies of all the powerpoint slides) that the attendees will receive.
Assuming that whatever broadcast technology we select also has chat capability, we can support the submission of questions from the remote audience via chat. (And if there is no secure chat coupled to the broadcast widget, we could always set up our own channel on a chat server to handle this.)
So, what do you all think? And more importantly, who's still in? Finally, does anyone have suggestions for the live broadcast? (And how many of you are willing to pay to be able to tune in remotely for a day?)
Adam