Welcome!
Since you have arrived on this website, you must be someone who is scheduled to make a presentation at a virtual event presented through the OnAIR platform. This website is designed to help you learn what the OnAIR platform is, how it works, and how you will use the features of OnAIR to make your presentation.
This learning process is self-paced; that is, you can move through the information on this website at a speed that is comfortable for you. You can spend as much time as you need looking at the illustrations and reading the accompanying information so you can understand the controls and features that are shown.
We strongly recommend that you go through the entire website at least once so you gain an overall understanding of OnAIR. You can always return to any part of the site to study or review any of the information.
So let's get started!
What is OnAIR?
OnAIR is a web-based environment in which an event can be conducted so that people around the world can participate in the event virtually. OnAIR provides a way for event participants to attend presentations, to make presentations, to interact with exhibitors, to attend poster sessions, to attend breakout sessions, to interact with other participants, and more. All the participants need is a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.
The most common use of OnAIR is to conduct a conference, such as the one that you are scheduled to attend, in situations where the event organizers want to ensure that those who cannot physically attend the conference can still participate. OnAIR strives to make the experience of the virtual attendees very much like the "real thing"!
OnAIR has multiple "faces"
OnAIR presents a different experience, or "face", to different participants who are in different roles during the event — and the face seen by a participant can change at different times. You don't have to worry about that, though, because it all happens automatically. Just go with the flow!
For now, let's focus on only two of the many faces.
The Audience Member face
For the audience members — and that would include exhibitors, breakout session attendees, and poster session attendees — the experience is very much like attending an in-person event. On their computer, audience members see an agenda identifying various sessions, and they can choose which sessions they want to attend. Once in a session, they see any presentations being made, they can chat with exhibitors, they can participate in breakouts — really do just about everything they would normally do at a conference.
The Presenter face
Presenters (that's YOU!) see a different face. The presenter experience is very much like participating in a live program produced in a television studio. In fact, the similarity to producing live television is the reason the platform is named "OnAIR" — the content that is being shown to the audience is being sent out in real time, just like a television program being broadcast "on air".
On their computers, presenters will ultimately see a completely different screen than that seen by audience members. The details and functions of that screen will be discussed on subsequent pages of this website.
Quick Tip
Event attendees who are designated to be presenters in one session might not be presenters in other sessions. If you are not a presenter for a particular session, you will most likely be an audience member.
What is a presentation?
In OnAIR, a presentation is a collection of information being presented to the audience by one or more presenters. That "information" can be any of the following:
- A speech delivered in real time to the presenter's camera
- A collection of slides prepared in something like PowerPoint shown and narrated by the presenter in real time
- A slide presentation that is pre-recorded by the presenter with pre-recorded narration
- A pre-recorded video, either with included narration or narrated by the presenter in real time
- A combination of any or all of the above
- Perhaps something else?
OnAIR can accommodate a wide variety of presentation content and formats; however, you should check with the event organizers first if you plan something "special" for your presentation.
Now that we've covered some basics, you'll want to choose your learning path on the next page.
Click/tap the Next button to go to the next page.
