Our recording policy is simple:

- We record all presentations, except where a speaker doesn’t wish that
- If a speaker doesn’t want their presentation recorded, no problem. There’s been a variety of reasons they might not want it recorded, but it really doesn’t matter to us, it’s their choice
- We make all presentations available soon after the conference in a variety of video and audio formats

There’s no charge or barrier for people wishing to view or download the presentations. We encourage people to do so and to spread word of them widely. We take the view that, frankly, it’s good “web citizenship”. There’s a lot of great stuff presented at Webstock and we love the idea that it can be available to a wider audience. We’re also very aware that a lot of what we’ve learned and know has resulted from others making material freely available, so in a sense we’re paying that back.

We build all costs for filming and hosting the presentations into our conference budget. And as of 8 months ago Webstock is no longer a labour of love, but our jobs. Well, it’s *still* a labour of love, but it also needs to pay the mortgage!

We don’t believe making the presentations available impacts on attendence at the conference. If anything, it probably helps by making Webstock more widely known.

We also have the philosophy that Webstock is more like an experience, or a festival, than a conference. So while the presentations are excellent, Webstock is much more than that. It’s hanging out with friends; it’s making new connections and networks over drinks; it’s enjoying a chance to get inspired and refreshed. These are things that can’t be replicated outside of actually being there. And can often be the most valuable part of attending.

In summary:

- Make conference recordings available cos it’s a good thing to do!
- Concentrate on making the conference experience so good that people want to be there in person.

Perhaps STC membership could include the ability to download these mp3s?

Frankly, some talks are just as easy to hear on mp3 player as it is to see. (That’s why I usually avoid talks about copyright/privacy/etc at SXSWi). Other talks have demos which would be worth seeing in person.

Knowing that someone will be recorded definitely changes the way people talk at these sessions. Questioners will always give their URL. Presenters won’t offer informal opinions. People need to become accustomed to the fact that things spoken in a semi-public gathering could make it all over the world.

I am also ecstatic that the sessions will be recorded and offered later. I almost always have to make choices between sessions at the conference. That being said, I’ll have to make a concerted effort to watch and listen to the broadcasts after the conference. Luckily, I can do that at work now.

I hope that face-to-face conferences never go away. I have too much fun traveling and meeting new people! There are a lot of folks from Houston who don’t make it to our monthly meetings, but they attend the conference. When I can make those face-to-face connections, I get a chance to expand my professional horizons AND I might make the chapter a better place by signing up a new volunteer.

* Who owns the copyright of the recording? It sounds like STC does, but it would be appropriate for the speaker to be able to use the recording any way they wish IN ADDITION to STC making it available for a fee. I think copyright/ownership is a BIG issue. A lot of people didn’t write for STC’s ‘Intercom’ because they signed away all rights to their own work – without being paid!

* Even though STC is recording the presentations, is there anything to stop a speaker recording their own session with their own digital voice recorder? And if they do, who owns that copyright?

* I think that if you attend the conference for the full 3 days you should get access to all the recordings for free. If you don’t attend, you should expect to pay some minimal amount for each recording, or a flat fee for access to all recordings or all recordings in a stem.

* As someone who has to pay a lot just to get to a conference in the US, I think that making the recordings available to ALL STC members (even for a fee), is a great idea. Most international members can never attend the conferences — I’ve been fortunate that I have, but I can’t do more than one in the US a year, and with WritersUA and STC being a couple of months apart, it’s just not possible to attend both. Like other contractors/consultants I don’t get paid when I’m not working. For me a US conference is not 3-4 days away from billable time – it’s a good 1-2 weeks (more if I add in some vacation time).

* One thing that I love about Webstock, SXSW, TED etc. is that I *can* download/listen to them at a time and date and place of *my* choosing. All for free. I tend to go for the podcast option so I can listen to them in the car, so I miss out on the PowerPoint slides that go with the presentation. It’s not usually an issue with SXSW or Webstock, though I prefer to watch the TED presentations. Will STC have a ‘voice only’ option for download? (When I lived in the city, my commute was 15 mins each way. I used to listen to podcasts while driving, and in a week, I’d get through a good hour or two – it was amazing how it added up! Now that I live out of the city, I bundle up my podcasts before a trip and listen for the 3 hour drive to the city. Again, I get through a lot this way all without impinging on my work or family/leisure time).

* Will the downloads be in an open format (like MP3) that we can use on many devices, or will it be something proprietary that we can only view/listen to on our computers with special software installed? Or from a locked down website? I would be much less likely to pay for recordings if I have to go to the STC site to view/listen to them as versus download them to a device where I can listen to them at any time/any place (e.g. doing the gardening).

* Has a pricing model been publicised? I mentioned a couple of models earlier (pick and choose individual sessions, stems/themes, or the lot). What if a session is really bad or not at all what you expected from the blurb – is there a refund option? Should there be?

I realise that you won’t know the answers to most/all of these questions, but in the spirit of adding to the discussion I thought I’d throw them out there anyway.

But I APPLAUD this experiment as going to one of our strategic objectives: Globally improve the practice of technical communication. In the long run, anything we do that promotes that goal will promote the health of our profession and the value of our society. Oh brave new world that has such people in’t.