JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD
President
Comtech Services, Inc.
710 Kipling Street, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80215
303-232-7586
joannhackos Skype
www.comtech-serv.com
From: Scott McGrath
[mailto:]
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 2:23 PM
To:
Cc: 'Barbara Erbes'
Subject: [chairs] TC
Teleconference Services questionnaire
Reminder of the Teleconference questionnaire.
If you have replied – thanks.
If not, here is your chance.
Scott…
Chairs,
We’ve heard the dialogue on the Chairs list about the problems
Committee teleconference costs pose for members – both for international
participants who dial in and for member organizations who volunteer to host
calls.
OASIS is investigating options for funding Committee conference calls
out of member dues. We have
conducted a preliminary analysis based on postings to our central events
calendar, information from our member databases, and the service quotes of
several service providers. This
research indicates that the annual cost of providing fully internationalized
services for every call of every Committee, could exceed 10% of our total
operating budget (over 250,000 USD annually).
In light of the extraordinary costs involved, it is vital that we take the
time to fully understand the expectations and circumstances of all our
Committees, so that we might identify alternatives to manage costs while still
addressing the majority of your needs.
To that end, we’re asking a representative of each OASIS Committee
to spend five minutes answering the following 16 questions on teleconference
usage. We appreciate that in many
cases, the best you can offer is an educated guess.
That’s fine. Any information
you provide—even if it can’t be verified by detailed tracking or
reports—will be helpful to us.
Only one reply per TC or Sub-Committee is needed, so please coordinate
your responses with co-chairs and secretaries.
Thank you in advance for your time,
Scott McGrath
Director Member Services
OASIS
Committee Teleconference Requirements Questionnaire
Committee Name: DITA
Translation Sub-Committee
(If you chair more than one Committee or Sub-Committee, please
fill out this questionnaire separately for each.)
About your
teleconference use:
On average, how many teleconferences does your Committee hold each
month? 4 per month
How many minutes does your average teleconference last? 1 hour
Approximately how many minutes was the longest call your Committee held
in the past year? 1 hour +
About your
teleconference callers:
How many callers typically participate in your teleconferences from:
___8__ North America
___4__ Europe
____2__Asia
____0__Australia
__1___Other South America
Do you believe the expense of international (country-to-country)
calling is a limiting factor for OASIS Members to participate in the Committee
you chair?
If so, can you cite specific examples? So far we’re using the DITA TC call-in
number, which I suppose is supported by IBM.
About your existing teleconference support
Does a member of your Committee provide teleconference hosting? If so,
which member(s)? IBM
If you are generally pleased with the service your Committee uses most
frequently, can you tell us the name of the provider (and why you like them)? Don’t know. Just called “The
Conference Center.” Works well
If you are not pleased with the service your Committee uses, can you
tell us the name of the provider (and why you are dissatisfied)?
Does the teleconference service provide toll-free IN-COUNTRY OR
INTERNATIONAL TOLL-FREE? access in some areas? yes
Does your teleconference service provide local numbers in more than one
country? ??
Can you offer any advice about other services you tried and
discontinued? We use Skype, Raindance
and AT&T at our company.
About future
teleconference use and support
Given your current situation and the impact to OASIS in doing so,
do you think OASIS should provide teleconference services, funded by member
dues? At present, we’re
fine.
If OASIS could provide only limited resources to solve the largest
problems inhibiting member participation, what do you think reasonable bounds
would be? Set a fixed amount for
the year.
Indicate your acceptance of the following suggestions, on a scale of 1
to 5
(5 Meaning you would accept the idea, 1 being you would not accept the
idea)
_4__OASIS
would provide international service with in-country dial-in for all
Committees, all calls.
_3__OASIS
would provide a local dial-in line for the country in which the majority of
Committee members reside, others members pay their international rates to
dial-in.
_1__OASIS
would continue to encourage member organizations to host Committee calls and
covers the costs only when a Committee is unable to identify a host.
_2__OASIS
would encourage Committees to use free conferencing services (such as freeconferencecall.com)
_5__OASIS
would not provide any teleconference service that will have a budget impact
Any other comments or suggestions:
