Help Desk
During the 2009 OR Meeting week, October 5 - 9, 2009, the meeting help desk will be monitored live by ICPSR staff during the active sessions times, roughly 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, EDT each day.
For questions that are somewhat immediate in nature during these times, we encourage you to use the following avenues to contact us:
Phone: 734-647-2200
E-mail: netmail@icpsr.umich.edu
icpsrusersupport
web-support@icpsr.umich.edu
Using the ICPSR OR Meeting Help Desk
ICPSR staff are delighted to assist you with the goal to make your participation in the virtual meeting both meaningful and straightforward. We have chosen webinar and other virtual technologies that we believe will provide easy access to the content being shared at this meeting. That said, ICPSR staff will be well-versed in where to point you to find the content you need for the meeting, but we are unfortunately unable to provide technical help related to your personal computers or the computing environment at your institution.
Help Questions ICPSR Can Address
ICPSR staff can easily assist you with:
Finding sessions, presenters, and registration links to the meeting Sessions & Presentations
Contacting presenters with follow-up questions not addressed during the live webinars
Finding datasets or other resources referenced in the webinar sessions
Directing you to help documentation on the virtual meeting technologies we are using
Help Questions ICPSR Cannot Address
ICPSR staff unfortunately are not equipped to troubleshoot technical issues related to your computing environment. While ICPSR has experienced few problems with the GoToWebinar technology having conducted numerous sessions with hundreds of attendees, we have experienced a handful of instances where problems occurred. These included:
Confirmation emails that include the link to the live session were not being received; something in the spam filter of the individual's email securities prohibited the email from arriving to the attendee's Inbox.
One individual could not hear the presentation over her computer; it was later discovered that she had technical problems related to her audio card.
Another individual could not open the recorded webinar file (.wmv); it was discovered that she had an extremely old versions of the Windows Media Player and other media players.
Technical Help Documentation
The best and most updated source of help for our virtual meeting technologies come right from the source! Following are links to their help documentation:
GoToWebinar Help
User Guides
(Click on the Documents tab and select GoToWebinar Attendee Quick Reference Guide)Technical Support
(Click on the Contact Support tab to submit questions/search FAQs)
Our discussion boards are using Blogger
.For many of you, the recorded webinar files (wmv) will open in Windows Media Player
.
GoToWebinar Troubleshooting & FAQs
What if I don't receive a confirmation email after I register for a session?
You should receive a confirmation email for each webinar session you register. If you did not, please check your Junk/Spam box. The confirmation email contains a link to join the webinar that sometimes gets it sent to the Junk box. The other problem we've seen most frequently -- the email was typed incorrectly during the registration process.
I deleted my original confirmation email. What should I do?
You will receive an additional confirmation email with the link to join one hour before the start of each session you registered.
I forwarded my confirmation email to another email account and now I cannot join the webinar. What should I do?
Each confirmed registration is tied to the email of that registration. You must join the webinar from the email account you registered. If you want to use a different email account, you'll need to go and re-register using that email.
I am no longer able to attend the webinar session I registered for. Should I let ICPSR know this?
No, we prefer that you do not contact us. We cannot remove you from the registration list.
I can't hear the presentation.
The first thing you need to do is verify that your computer actually has speakers. (Many computers on campus will not have speakers.) Try following this link to an MP3 from one of our prior webinars. If you can't hear anything, audio may be disabled on your computer, and you will need to use your phone instead. (See the next question.) Please understand that ICPSR is not in a position to troubleshoot audio problems on your computer; you may not even have the necessary hardware.
My VoIP audio is not working well. Can I switch to telephone during the session?
Yes. All sessions will provide both VoIP and telephone options for the audio portion of the Webinar. You can switch between using VoIP (Mic & Speakers) or your telephone during the Webinar session. (You will not create any disruption as all attendees are muted.)
In the Audio pane during the session, select either Use Telephone or Use Mic & Speakers. If joining via telephone, be sure to enter the Audio PIN noted in your Control Panel.
I just exited the webinar session and I didn't intend to. How do I rejoin?
Rejoin by using the link in your confirmation email.
I cannot open the wmv files (the recorded files of the webinar sessions). What should I do?
The only instance where we saw this situation was from someone who had ancient versions of all media readers on their computers. Many PCs will open the wmv files in Windows Media Player. We are currently running version 11 on our PCs here at ICPSR.
I cannot find the ICPSR meeting sessions on GoToWebinar.
Indeed, you will not be able to search the GTW Web site for the ICPSR meeting sessions. (You also do not need to download their "Try It Free" software to participate.) You need to follow the links on our Sessions & Presentations page to register and then use the confirmation link that comes to your personal email, which also enables you to join the session on the date and time it occurs.
General Questions about the 2009 OR Meeting?
Do you have general questions or thoughts regarding the 2009 OR Meeting? Visit our Discussion & Networking page and post your questions on the General Discussion Board. This particular blog topic will be open and monitored periodically prior to and during the meeting dates.
Questions for the Data Community?
In the ICPSR Discussion & Networking page, attendees will also find various topics to post/answer questions and share information. Discussions are expected to cover topics such as using (ICPSR) data in education, questions/advice on the OR/DR role, using online analysis, OR Meetings beyond 2009, and a general discussion area. We expect, of course, that these discussion boards will be most active during the week of October 5, 2009. Note that you are not required to register or set up an account to post to these boards.
