eLearning DevCon 2007 Blog / News

eLearning DevCon 2007 Just Around the Corner

2007-07-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Thankfully each year gets a little less hectic, but putting on a conference is always a big job. Anna Alcoser, our Conference and Events Coordinator is doing a great job, kindly bossing us all around, making sure we tie up all of the loose ends. She's very good at what she does.

I wanted to put a plug in for the Monday night event. Besides the excellent keynote addresses we anticipate from Patti Shank and Brent Schlenker, we'll be giving away some terrific prizes in a drawing as well as enjoying a great dinner and entertainment. If you haven't RSVPed for that, make sure you do.

We've got some great presentations lined up. As always, you can check out the daily schedule at www.elearndevcon.com.

Let's all start learNING!!!

2007-03-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

I checked out NING many months ago and thought is was awesome then...but a little clunky. Haven't looked at it since. Then I see about it coming back to life and so I check it out...
WOW!
Check out elearndev.ning.com
Mark Oehlert is onboard too at eclippings.ning.com
So cool!!!!

Patti Shank Added as Another Keynote Speaker

2007-02-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

We are very pleased to announce that Patti Shank, the author of Making Sense of Online Learning (Pfeiffer, 2004) and the editor for The Online Learning Idea Book (Pfeiffer, 2007) will be our second keynote speaker. She has also published many articles including articles in eLearning Guild publications, Macromedia’s eLearning and Training Solutions, Adobe’s Resource Center, Magna Publication’s Online Classroom, and elsewhere.

Patti is well known for her independent and systems-oriented approaches to training, learning, and technology and is frequently invited to speak at learning and technology conferences.

I've known Patti for several years and we are excited to have her as another keynote speaker at eLearning DevCon 2007. Read more about Patti's Presentation at the eLearning DevCon website.

We've also added dozens of additional presentations to the lineup over the last few weeks. If you haven't seen the session list lately, take a look at www.elearndevcon.com.

Garin Hess
Executive Director

eLearning DevCon 2007

www.elearndevcon.com

Brent Schlenker is Keynote for eLearning DevCon 2007

2006-12-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

One more post here, to highlight the decision to ask Brent Schlenker to be the keynote for eLearning DevCon 2007. Brent has presented twice at DevCon before and has been one of the most popular presenters. He is a widely revered expert in Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on corporate learning trends.

You may remember, Brent was the person that Kevin Kruse gave $100 to for blogging his keynote last year. So he lives what he preaches!

Also, last year there were so many people in Brent's presentation I thought the fire marshal was going to show up at any minute and haul us all away. I personally never got to see his presentation, so I suppose there's a little in it for me. As the keynote, at least I'll be able to actually get to see Brent's presentation this year.

Take a look at Brent's presentation as well as others that we have scheduled already. Lots more to come!

Garin Hess
Executive Director
eLearning DevCon 2007

eLearning DevCon 2007 Open for Registrations - $150 off this early

2006-12-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

We are announcing today that eLearning DevCon 2007 is open for registrations. If you register before Feb 5, 2007, you get $150 off, so that makes registration only $699 (and that includes all meals!). Check it out now at www.elearndevcon.com.

And remember, the first 150 that register get entered into a drawing for a video iPod! We gave away three of these as well as lots of other great giveaways in the 2006 show. So register soon for the chance to win big in July!

If you have any questions about this year's show. Please let me know!

eLearning DevCon 2007 - Dates and Call for Presentations

2006-12-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

We've made final decisions on the dates for eLearning DevCon 2007. The official eLearning Developers Conference will be July 16-18, held at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

We've also made our first call for presentations.

If you are interested in presenting at eLearning DevCon 2007, submit a proposal at www.elearndevcon.com. If your proposal is submitted and accepted by 1/9/2007, as a thank you we will provide you with a complimentary pass to the conference, pay for all of your meals, and we'll pay for your lodging at the residence halls at the conference. We've had some great presenters in past years and I expect we'll have an equally great lineup this for 2007.

Registrations will open on 12/15. Check back at www.elearndevcon.com soon for up to $150 off when you register early. And, check out who is going to be our keynote next year! Coming up soon!

Garin Hess
Executive Director
eLearning DevCon 2007
www.elearndevcon.com

NOTE: I've changed this blog title to focus on the 2007 event.

Conference-only Discounts Extended

2006-08-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

We've extended the conference-only discounts on Flashform Rapid eLearning Studio through August 25. To get $100 of either the Professional or Standard Edition, enter 'devcon06special' in the Customer Code field when ordering and you'll get the discount.

More Information & Purchasing

Conference Presentation Materials

2006-08-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

What a great conference! Thanks for all of your participation. It was so great to meet so many of you that up until now I have only known via email or on the phone.

There have been numerous questions about the presenter materials. They are available and online. We sent an email to all attendees with information about the materials. In summary, we are asking that you complete a short online evaluation of the conference and at the end you are provided the link and username/password to the conference materials.

If you haven't received the email about this for some reason, please contact Anna Alcoser by email or phone (801-766-2585) and she'll make sure you get pointed in the right direction.

Thanks again to all of you presenters. This year I actually got to GO to some of the sessions and they were excellent.

Your friend and colleague in e-learning,

Garin Hess
Conference Organizer
garinhess@rapidintake.com

Conference connections - continuing the conversation

2006-08-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hi conference attendees!
I spoke with so many wonderful people while in Utah and hope that you will all stay in touch.
Even if we didn't get a chance to connect after one of my sessions, please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or ideas. You can email me at either brentschlenker(@)gmail.com, or brent.t.schlenker(@)intel.com.
As I mentioned in my sessions if you want to just get inside my head for my latest musings you can always check out the Corporate eLearning Development blog.

Also, if you will be attending DevLearn2006 in S.F. in Oct, I will be giving 3 sessions and sitting on a featured session panel discussion. The panel discussion is going to be quite exciting titled e-Learning 2.0: The Next Great New Phase or Just Hype? As you can tell, I have a few opinions in this space, and I've had some spirited, thoughtful discussions in the blogosphere with Tony Karrer already. So I would really like to get some of your open honest feedback from my Learning2.0 session so I can prepare this event. I'm really looking forward to incorporating all of your wonderful feedback and improving on these sessions.

Many thanks!

Web2.0 Starter Kit

2006-08-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

The Web2.0 Starter Kit by Intel colleague and blogger Dawn Foster.
This is some great stuff. The Web2.0 idea and it's related brother Learning2.0 are huge concepts to swallow. So following these steps and breaking it down into small workable chunks makes it less daunting.
Step 3 is absolutely the most important step. During my Learning2.0 presentation I use the following quote from the matrix to make the same point.

"nobody can tell you what the matrix is, you have to experience it for yourself." - Morpheus

Without a doubt, your world will change after engaging in Web2.0. But you MUST engage. Reading about it is great, but trust me when I say that DOING it is a completely different mind-blowing experience.

If this Starter Kit doesn't get you going then contact me and I will help you...really!

eLearnDevCon2006 additions to the blogosphere

2006-08-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

Just giving a shout out to new bloggers who attended my sessions at eLearnDevCon2006.

e-Learning Visions
I love the idea of eLearning Visions. Nice work, Geradine! I'm looking forward to reading more about your visions.
EvidenceSoup
Evidence-based ______________ (you fill in the blank) is all the rage these days. I'm very glad that there are people out there driven enough to make the research happen. I tend to go with my gut most of the time which has served me well over the years, however when making a sale, or convincing management, or investors to believe in me, that data sure does come in handy.

I am glad you both enjoyed the conference. Thanks for helping continue the conversation.

Why Learning2.0 changes EVERYTHING! A real world example

2006-08-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

Since Corporate universities and training systems have been devised based on the traditional educational system, its not that great of a leap to think that what this teacher is going through will be the same transformation of corporate universities. His post on Progressive discourse is a must read for all training/learning professionals. I will say no more to give you time to spend at his blog. Its just that great! Check it out!

Who is blogging about the eLearnDevCon2006?

2006-08-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hi attendees,
Who besides Matthew and me are blogging about their experience at the conference?
I would love to start a list. Add your post or link to the comments here and then we can all link to each other. Welcome to the edtech blogosphere.
Cheers!
Brent

eLearnDevCon Tuesday update - Games, Corporate YouTube

2006-08-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

After giving my Wikis and Learning presentation (coming soon to a podcast near you.) I floated around the sessions poking my head in and out. I stopped off at the Games for learning session and was impressed with the content. At least the content I was there for. One thing I would like to add for those of you new to my blog and/or attending the conference is Raph Koster's book... A Theory of Fun. This is a fabulous book with so much learning theory in it that it should required reading at all EdTech schools. And I love sharing this quote from Marshal Mcluhan:

"Anyone who makes a distinction between games and learning doesn't know the first thing about either"

Then...I hustled over the session talking about video, MPEG4, Flash video, etc. That is where I discovered the golden nugget I had been looking: Corporate YouTube! On2 Flix has a server engine product that allows you to create a web app for users to upload video clips...it then compresses the video to flash video...just like YouTube. Hopefully this "YouTube" style compression and user-generated video content system will not bog down corporate bandwidth.

Wikimania at eLearnDevCon

2006-08-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

My wiki session just ended. I rcv'd lots of possitive feedback. Thanks to all who attended. For those of you that missed it, I will be doing it again tomorrow afternoon. You should also consider attending my Learning2.0 session tomorrow morning.
Some items of interested that were discussed today:
Tiddlywiki
Mediawiki
OpenWiki
The Heavy Metal Umlat video by John Udell
List of opensource wiki engines
Some interesting points for me were that there are some IT departments that DON'T know what wikis are. Other companies have IT departments that are afraid to even implement a wiki on their intranet. The only thing I can think of is that there are other political/power struggles occuring within those companies. Here are the experts talking at Wikimania2006...
this from Andrew McAfee

Ross Mayfield said that in four years of building wikis for corporations Socialtext has seen precisely 0 trolls and 0 instances of vandalism. I was astonished by this and polled the entire room. No one reported even a single instance of counterproductive behavior on the wiki.

As I've written before, one of the advantages the Intranet has over the Internet is that people within companies share a culture and norms, and are usually quite reluctant to overturn them. In addition, vandals and trolls can usually be easily identified behind the firewall. So perhaps I shouldn't have been so suprised that employees aren't using corporate wikis to act out.

Check out the following blogs to hear more about the wikimania panel discussion on enterprise wikis:
Josh Bancroft, Ross Mayfield, Andrew McAfee, Ned Gulley, Michael Idinopulos

The Blogosphere 100 x bigger than 3 years ago

2006-08-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

David Sifry (founder and CEO of Technorati) has posted is latest State of the Blogosphere report. As a blogger, I feel compelled to pass this info on to the elearning community. As the ONLY blogger blogging the eLearnDevCon I feel even more compelled to share. Let's start with the stats summary:

Technorati is now tracking over 50 Million Blogs.
The Blogosphere is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago.
Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months.
From January 2004 until July 2006, the number of blogs that Technorati tracks has continued to double every 5-7 months.
About 175,000 new weblogs were created each day, which means that on average, there are more than 2 blogs created each second of each day.
About 8% of new blogs get past Technorati's filters, even if it is only for a few hours or days.
About 70% of the pings Technorati receives are from known spam sources, but we drop them before we have to send out a spider to go and index the splog.
Total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second.
This is about double the volume of about a year ago.
The most prevalent times for English-language posting is between the hours of 10AM and 2PM Pacific time, with an additional spike at around 5PM Pacific time

I was going to start into why these numbers are important to the elearning community but I promised to start blogging about the 2 HOWs (How to use the new technologie, and How it effects our jobs). First of all these numbers should help as part of the data for pushing our cause. This data combined with evidence-based learning defining how blogs can be used for learning should also help the cause.
Hey, Kevin! Any studies for blogs and learning in the works?

eLearnDevCon2006 Keynote with Kevin Kruse

2006-08-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Kevin Kruse from e-LearningGuru.com.

Industry threatened:
1) Industry is threatened: lack of measurable results
2) Vendors are threatened: clients don't choose quality
3) You job is threatened: by those who can do it cheaper

Kevin is talking about the web2.0, social networking, or Learning2.0 and asks if anyone is blogging the keynote right now. So I raise my hand...I'm the ONLY one! So he calls me up in front to promote elearndev.blogspot.com. But the best part was the $100 bucks..."who says you can't make money blogging". Actually, I'll send the money to a charity that takes PayPal.

Back to the keynote...Evidence-based Learning inspired by evidence-based medicine, but encouraged by evidence-based management.

Check out e-Learning and the Science of Instruction.
I'm thinking about the theories he is highlighting from the book and how they are supported in a complete learning ecosystem...a blend of formalized and informal learning methods/tools with just the right mix of user-generated content. Of course this is just what's going on in my head while he talks and demos some good interactive activities.

I love the points he is covering. Yet much of it is applied to what WE do today...create courses. My new task is to map this evidence-based ISD theory and apply it to the user-generated world of web2.0. Because my reaction to Kevin's msg is that some of this is what the "knowledge harvester" of the future will be doing. We will begin to monitor the social networks and pull out the nuggets that can benefit from applying the theories into more formalized activities, or learning nuggets.

Print design study: new learners should learn better from a magazine layout as apposed to a book style. Just a thought but they wanted data so they did a study...(cue drum role)...the answer is that the layout did not matter from a learning standpoint. Motivation still counts for more.

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curves: This will be the future study that he will be undertaking this year.
I can't wait to see the results of applying evidence-based learning in this space.

Vlogger session at eLearnDevCon2006

2006-08-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Cool new tool from Serious Magic called Vlog it!
Vlogit looks like a stripped down version of Visual communicator which is a little more expensive.
$50! You can't beat that! As Garin points out the coolest part of the software is the integrated tele-prompter. Yes, the other visual stuff is cool too.
When the presentation is over I will post some shots of the setup Garin Hess created. The lighting solution from Home Depot is a GREAT idea! $50 bucks for the lighting rig too. So, $100 gets you software and lighting. $20 bucks gets you the cheap green screen, but Garin is using the $200 folding screen but its very cool.
Then of course you need a video camera. But even the cheapest camera will do. You can even use a web cam when vlogging yourself.
Vlogit is just another example of how user-generated content is changing the landscape of learning.

Wikimania 2006 and Wikiversity

2006-08-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

As it just so happens, the Wikimania 2006 conferense is in full swing at Harvard. Fellow blogger and Intel colleague Josh Bancroft is blogging the event at tinyscreenfuls.com . Check out his flickr stream here. Sounds like lots of great conversations going on.

Also, Mark Oehlert over at e-clippings points me to the Wikiversity. Tons of wiki goodness here. Wikibooks is fabulous in and of itself but the addition of wikiversity makes me smile. My daughter is a big fan of our solar system and she loves this.

Get ready for a lively discussion on wikis at the elearndevcon2006. I'll be leading that discussion and look forward to your participation.

Wikipedia now RSS enabled on all pages

2006-07-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Wow! Can anyone guess what I'm going to say about this bombshell? Yea! That's right! Learning! Amazing opportunity to be completely connected to, and pulling, content that you are interested in as it is evolving over time.
There are still plenty of folks that just don't participate in the Web2.0 world and all I can say is that you are missing out. If we are to be the life-long learners we want to be, then you can't possibly have a better way of doing it than with RSS connections to the world. If you have a better solution, I'd love to hear it.

Symposium on Wikis

2006-07-14T10:39:00.001-07:00

Hi eLearnDevConers!
I just found this little nugget of "papers" on WIKIs. Its a huge topic to swallow in just 1hr, so I'm hoping to get the conversation started now. With your early feedback I can really target the presentation to your needs. The Enterprise2.0 movement is driving IT depts to implement corporate wikis. This is a fabulous opportunity for training departments to have impact and datamine for nuggets of information that can be formalized for new-comers.
Check out more of the conversation at the Corporate eLearning Development blog and give me a shout if you want to make sure that we touch base at the conference.

Symposium on Wikis

2006-07-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Wild about Brain Age - Let the competition begin

2006-07-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Need something to do in the evenings at DevCon? How about a Brain Age battle? If you have a Nintendo DS, we can have a Brain Age competition with up to 16 players using a single game card. If you don't have a DS, I'll have mine - and other assorted gizmos to share with you.

Brain Age is predicated on the idea that your brain is a muscle that needs training like any other muscle. Everyone knows you can prevent muscle loss with exercise, and use such activities to improve your body over time. And the same could be said for your brain. The design of Brain Age is based on the premise that cognitive exercise can improve blood flow to the brain. All it takes is as little as a few minutes of play time a day. For everyone who spends all their play time at the gym working out the major muscle groups, don't forget - your brain is like a muscle, too. And it craves exercise.

The first time I tried the game - my brain age was a whopping 82. I am now in the 20s and holding steady. I haven't cracked all the games - and don't even get me started about the Sudoku section.

Wondering what I'm babbling about? Check out the website (www.brainage.com) or read the WSJ article (http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1447130730772.html).

If you have the game, I'd love to hear your comments - I'm off to buy "Big Brain Academy" and test drive it.

Learning about Multifocal implants

2006-07-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na! That's the sound of the bionic man using his 6million dollar eye. Remember that one? Apparently we aren't that far from it. The latest in eye surgery is eliminating the need for bifocals and/or reading glasses.

My mother-in-law is an opthalmologist, and recently while helping with her web site she described the latest surgery that she does implanting multifocal or intraocular lenses in cataract patients. This is amazing to me. I figure that things will be even better by the time I need them.

This is actually cool in another way. How I went from not knowing, to knowing quite a lot in a matter of minutes thanks to my network, Google, and wikipedia. I got to thinking how this pattern has become so familiar over the past few years. You hear somthing interesting at dinner party, or chatting with family and friends, you "Google it" later, and check out the wikipedia for safe measure. That, in and of itself, gets me light years ahead of the ol' library days of my youth. And in very short order I'm connected to a network of contacts, and information: I'm an engaged, informed consumer.

Learn more at WebMD. Or if you are ever in Phoenix, AZ I can get you connected with the best surgeon in town. (shameless plug for my wonderfully talented mother-in-law)

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na I love making that annoying little sound.

Learning Trends: ISD down, Web2.0 UP...way up!

2006-07-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone is always asking for data around here. It used to be quite frustrating because it was incredibly difficult to get real data around learning in an organization. Its still impossible, IMHO, to get level four data specific to training, but I like trends. I like what can assumed from trends...its kind of soft data that tells a story, but you need to fill in the plot and the key players to complete the story line. Google trends is helping me tell my latest story.

Actually, maybe you can help me tell the story. Check out the pictures below and write a compelling plotline for them. Is this shocking to you? Is this just because Web2.0 is so hyped? Are you feeling sad that fewer people are searching for Instructional design? What do you think?

No vacancies in University Guest House Hotel

2006-07-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Just a note to let everyone know that there are no more vacancies in the University Guest House hotel. We've used up our room block. We still have plenty of room in the residence halls and you are always welcome to look for off-campus hotel accommodations as well.

Garin Hess | Executive Director
eLearning DevCon 2006
www.elearndevcon.com

eLearnDevCon2006 - Wiki session prep

2006-07-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

Life, the Universe and wiki

This is a great post to get you thinking about the power of wikis. Come with all of your questions to the wiki session. Check the schedule here.

You can also find out more about me at the Corporate eLearning Development Blog.
And those of you reading this at elearndev, then check out the eLearn DevCon 2006 Blog for lots of great info in preparation for the conference.

Security and WBT

2006-07-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

When developing WBT security is usually an afterthought, if thought of at all.

I am presenting a session on security considerations of WBT.

What are the questions that come to your mind when you think about security and Web-Based Training?

Authentication (Is the student really who they say they are)?
Authorization (Does this student have the permissions to do what they are requesting)?
Confidentiality (Is there anyone trying to get sensitive information about this student)?
Data Integrity (Was the information sent back to our LMS modified before it got there)?

Cheating?
Hacking?

Vlogs - how are they being used?

2006-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm giving a presentation on Vlogs (video blogs) called "Creating Vlogs for Your eLearning Effort" in which I'll be demonstrating how easy it is to create Vlogs (we'll create one live during the session). At the beginning of the presentation I'm exploring some ways that Vlogs are currently being used to support or enhance e-learning. I'd welcome any comments about any experiences any of you have had with Vlogs and even blogs in general as part of an e-learning education effort. What challenges have you had? What successes? What have you been able to accomplish with Vlogs you couldn't do with blogs?

By the way, if you're interested, here are a couple of interesting articles on Vlogging:

http://www.destinationkm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=1129 - on how we're all still trying to figure out how to use them productively, on predictions about how pervasive they will become, and suggestions on utilizing the creativity that spawns in what has traditionally seemed like the unlikely areas of organizations (quote: "The creativity of three genuinely inspired people working with limited time, equipment, and means can reach millions and create far more buzz than a million-dollar Super Bowl commercial.")

http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/archives/002454.html - a short but insightful comment on the what online mechanisms should be used for

Looking forward to this year's conference!

Garin Hess
Rapid Intake Inc.
www.rapidintake.com

What are you doing with html, xhtml, xml, etc

2006-06-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a session on building an xhtml/xml framework for course development.
I'm curious as to how you all currently use html, xhtml, xml, etc. Sometimes it almost seems as if people think that everything is going to Flash - but Markup Languages are of course still kicking strong and growing so I wanted to just get a feal for the types of things you're all doing with MLs. Are you just making static html pages, or using some xml? A little or a lot?

Brent Schlenker Intro

2006-06-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hi eLearnDevCon-ers!
Wow that's a little uncomfortable to say. Perhaps we should be eLDCers...no. Oh well, any other suggestions?
Anyways...I'll be giving a couple presentations at the conference on WIKIs and Learning2.0. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things have changed since last year. And if things haven't changed for you over the last year then I want to change that.
I want to help re-energize your elearning development career and introduce you to the challenges we face ahead as a community of learning specialists.
What is it that YOU see changing? I'd love to hear your comments and incorporate them into our discussion in August.
Cheers!
Brent Schlenker
Intel University, Learning Consultant, Professor, Blogger
Corporate eLearning Development (shameless self-promotion)

$50 discount if registered by July 3

2006-06-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

Register by July 3 for the last chance at an earlybird discount. $50 off the conference fees! That's the conference pass and all meals for only $749. Check it out at www.elearndevcon.com.

Guest House hotel

2006-06-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

We have blocked out rooms at the on-campus hotel, The University Guest House, for eLearning DevCon attendees. Some attendees are reporting that they are asking for rooms and are being told it is full. As of today, it is not full, but the reservation agent will tell you it is full unless you indicate you are with the eLearning DevCon conference. So...if you are registering, make sure to tell them you are with eLearning DevCon to get the right story.

Garin Hess | Executive Director
eLearning DevCon 2006
www.elearndevcon.com

Updated Schedule

2006-06-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

We've updated the Daily Schedule with a couple of minor changes. Download version 1.4 of the schedule now, or view it online at http://www.elearndevcon.com/schedule.htm.

Garin Hess | Executive Director

eLearning DevCon 2006

www.elearndevcon.com

Blogging on eLearning DevCon

2006-06-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

This blog is associated with eLearning DevCon 2006, a national e-learning developers conference being held:

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
August 7-9

The official conference website is www.elearndevcon.com.

Check back here for:

News updates
Changes to the schedule
Commentaries by organizers and presenters