Dame Kelly Holmes – Really Can Be In Two Places At Once
Kelly Holmes Education Sporting Excellence Programme Talent Day (18 January 2014)
Photo by Russell Garner (Kelly Holmes at Athens 2004) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
OK, it was through the use of technology, but nonetheless, delegates at the Kelly Holmes Education Sporting Excellence Programme Talent Day at the National Sports Centre on the Isle of Man were treated to a surprise visit by Dame Kelly when she addressed the attendees by live video link. She was unable to attend in person as she was preparing for her first Duathlon.
While video conferencing solutions have been available many years (Astro has been selling and supporting video conferencing solutions for the past twenty years), what made this special was how easy it was to enable this live video link. Only a week before Dame Kelly and her IT specialist decided that it would be good if they could use video technology to enable Dame Kelly to address the attendees on the day.
“…the installation was up and running and ready to go in no time at all”
Armed with some video conferencing equipment, a high definition TV and a broadband line in their office in Kent, and nothing more than a laptop and a large projector screen on the Isle of Man, the installation was up and running and ready to go in no time at all.
For those technologist among you this did not require any complex network changes, firewall access control list configurations, firewall or router port configurations or any other technical wizardry. Nor did we throw caution to the wind and wing it with one of the common proprietary based Internet services. In fact the equipment in Kent was enterprise quality, standards based video conferencing equipment that was configured and commissioned in less than an hour on the Friday afternoon before the Saturday morning video link.
Well that was weird but very cool making a video appearance in the Isle of Man while sitting here in Kent! pic.twitter.com/wm29jzX1JV
— Kelly Holmes (@damekellyholmes) January 18, 2014
“How were we able to do this so quickly and effectively?”
How were we able to do this so quickly and effectively? By using a StarLeaf (localhost/wordpress1/starleaf) cloud based video conferencing solution. With simple, low cost endpoint hardware or the StarLeaf Breeze software client for Windows, Mac and iPad (Android coming soon) a video conferencing facility can be set up in a heartbeat – OK, typically 10 minutes for the StarLeaf Breeze software client and approximately 30 minutes for a room system.
StarLeaf doesn’t require any on-site video conferencing infrastructure hardware, nor does it require you to reduce network security in exchange for video conferencing functionality. StarLeaf is secure, simple to deploy, simple to use and simple to manage. StarLeaf is changing the way organisations make use of video to benefit their business communications.
…StarLeaf delivers enterprise quality video communications and desktop sharing (and it is standards based)”
Unlike many of the other free video conferencing solutions, StarLeaf delivers enterprise quality video communications and desktop sharing. StarLeaf is standards based so it can inter-operate with other standards based professional videoconferencing systems.
For Dame Kelly and her team this was a great way to give her attendees the personal touch and make a real impact on the event. But, you don’t have to be an Olympic double gold medalist to benefit from StarLeaf. StarLeaf is changing the way people communicate in all sorts of organisations. To learn how StarLeaf can help your organisation call us on 01322 610100 or click here
I am delighted to have had the opportunity to work with Dame Kelly. Dame Kelly and her team are doing fantastic work through Kelly Holmes Education and DKH Legacy Trust. For more information go to…
Kelly Holmes Education – www.kheducation.co.uk
DKH Legacy Trust – www.dkhlegacytrust.org