In today's creative industries the new digital technology is a strong factor that can develop our relations and cultural encounters. A rapidly growing branch is videoconferencing and distance learning in virutal environments that replaces travel and among other things contributes to a better environment. In the nearest future, the need for trained personnel working for the companies and organizations, which provide conference-hosting services, will increase. Opposed to today’s requirements to be cost-effective the single staff member will be required to master technical skills from multiple ICT areas and able to handle communication systems including such aspects as video, image, audio, light and data transmission. The objective of the project Educational Program for Conference Hosts is to take the branch of conference hosting a step further by putting research done by the industry and universities into practice by creating an educational program, curriculum and courses for the ones woking or planning to work in the area of conference hosting. The project is to combine different knowledge areas and ICT that most probably haven’t been put together within the framework of one project thus complementing the other projects in the ICT field. Number and profile of participants The partners of the project are Svefi Academy in Haparanda, Sweden, working with sound engineering, lighting design and other technical aspects both training students and providing services in the relevant sphere. University of Murcia, Spain, training the students among other things in different types of media and transmission technologies. The 4System, Poland is a prominent software development company with various software solutions and training programs for a number of different branches. Tempo Agency in Czech Republic is an experienced training provider among other things in ICT. All the project partners have many years of experience of running and coordinating projects within various EU programs. The partners’ staff will put their efforts together to create an educational program for the conference hosts covering different technical aspects and brining their competence to a totally new level. Description of activities The project partners will develop their part of the educational program based on their sphere of competence. 1. Lighting Design Basic Lighting Technology Lighting solutions of image presentations Electrical Safety Technical Equipment for Lighting Sound Basic Acoustics Microphones Wireless Microphone Systems Sound recording media Sound Transmission Speakers Headphones 2. Video conference - Software for video conference - Conference equipment - Web cameras - Video conference technique and communication - Internet programmes - Distance learning Digital formats Image Sound Data transmission speed Technical equipment for digital transmission Image Basic visual narrative Camera Creating an image Editing Projection of an image Video conference Basic system solutions for video conferences Video conference - Software for video conference - Conference equipment - Web cameras - Video conference technique and communication - Internet programmes - Distance learning E-learning in the context of conferences - pedagogical aspects - general practice - organisation - follow-up The project will arrange 6 seminars, workshops where the project implementation is planned and the results will be presented, verified and verified. There will be two types of workshops - development and administrative. Apart from that the project will involve external experts from the branch of conference hosting to those activities in order to get their feedback and form the training courses according to their requirements. The project will also arrange spreading activities both national and international in order to reach education providers, companies/organisations in order to promote project results, inform about the training possibilities. Methodology to be used in carrying out the project The project will use the adaptive methodology to get the best possible results and value out of the resources it has access to. It will use the competence of the partnership organizations as well as involve the target groups into planning, development and evaluation of the results in order to deliver the best possible educational programs for the conference hosts. Description of the results The project will develop the content and training methods described in a handbook for the education providers in running short courses and one year educational program/curriculum for the conference hosts. The project mater Long-term benefits The companies and organizations providing conference hosting services will be more cost-effective by employing the personnel with multiple skills able to handle sound, video, lighting and other ICT areas, deliver high-quality experience and expand the branch.
In today's creative industries the new digital technology is a strong factor that can develop our relations and cultural encounters. A rapidly growing branch is videoconferencing and distance learning in virtual environments that replaces travel and among other things contributes to a better environment. In the nearest future, the need for trained personnel working for the companies and organizations, which provide conference-hosting services, will increase. To be cost-effective single staff member will be required to master technical skills from multiple ICT areas and able to handle communication systems including such aspects as video, image, audio, light and data transmission. The objective of the project Educational Program for Conference Hosts was to take the branch of conference hosting a step further by putting research done by the industry and universities into practice by creating an educational program for the ones working or planning to work in the area of conference hosting. The project has combined different knowledge areas and ICT putting those together within the framework of one project thus complementing the other projects in the ICT field. Number and profile of participating organisations The partners of the project have been Svefi Academy in Haparanda, Sweden, working with sound engineering, lighting design and other technical aspects both training students and providing services in the relevant sphere; Catholic University of Murcia, Spain, training the students at different levels among other things in different types of media and transmission technologies; The 4System, Poland, a prominent software development company with various software solutions including proprietary distance learning system and training programs for a number of different branches. The project partners have developed their part of the educational program for conference hosts and technicians consisting of two levels (Basic part I & II, and Advanced), based on the area of the partners’ competence. Svefi Academy was responsible for (1) Lighting Design part, which covered such areas as: Svefi Academy was responsible for (2) Sound Engineering part, which covered such areas as: UCAM was responsible for (3) Video, Image and Signal Transmission 4System was responsible for (4) IT, Data and Presentation as well as Distance Learning and Video conferencing The project has arranged 6 training activities for the staff members of all the institutions with hands-on workshops where the project results were presented, the developed content tested, verified and improved. The project has involved external experts from the branch of conference hosting to those activities in order to get their feedback and adjust the training courses according to their needs and requirements. The project arranged a number of activities in all the project countries to test the created content on the vocational students/participants whose work would be related to conference hosting or adjacent technical areas to make sure that the materials were of good level and quality. The participating organizations have done spreading nationally in order to reach education providers, companies/organizations to inform about the training possibilities within conference hosting. Methodology that was used in carrying out the project The project used the adaptive methodology with the traditional planning, implementation and control phases to get the best possible results and value out of the resources the project had access to. We used the competence of the partner organizations, external experts representing the branch of the conference hosts as well as involved the target groups into the planning, development and evaluation of the results at all the stages in order to deliver the best possible educational programs for the conference hosts. Description of the results The project has develop a 2-level course for conference hosts and technicians combining 4 different areas of competence. The course is available as a number of downloadable pdf-documents and as an on-line course with interactive content. The partners have produced the instructions describing the course in the document called Curriculum for the education providers for the ease of running the short and the long course of the educational program for the conference hosts. These materials have been used for testing and pilot training of the students/participants planning to work within the branch of conference hosts. The participants of the pilot training had an opportunity to meet employers and the best ones get hands-on experience at live events arranged by the events companies and conference hosting providers. Long-term benefits The companies and organizations providing conference-hosting services could be more cost-effective by employing the personnel, trained with the help of the developed course, with multiple skills able to handle sound, video, lighting and other ICT areas, deliver high-quality experience.