Merry Christmas! (and office opening hours)
GuyKat would like to thank all friends and clients for a memorable 2012. But we're now out of here!
The office is closed from 5pm on Friday 21st December and will reopen at 9am on Wednesday 2nd January.
We're looking forward to 2013 and will be sharing a big announcement about a new strategic partnership early in January.
In the meantime the entire team wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
DevLearn 2012
The GuyKat contingent managed to avoid the worst of Hurricane Sandy and make it to Las Vegas for this year's DevLearn 2012 conference. To keep up with the lastest eLearning technology changes, to meet the major software vendors, to talk about industry issues and best practice with peers from across the globe DevLearn is the place to be. Every serious eLearning professional who can be is there.
Adobe Learning Summit 2012
Monday saw the Adobe Learning Summit in Las Vegas. The lion's share of GuyKat production is done using Adobe tools, given they'd scheduled the event the day before the DevLearn 2012 conference it made sense for us to be there.
These summits are always great for signposting the way technology is drifting. Vendors share their roadmaps, latest thinking and showcase alpha version products. Unsurprisingly there was quite a bit of focus on how to output content to HTML 5 During the panel session the Adobe folk came under some fire from the audience over their mixed messages on long term commitment to Flash. Whilst every vendor is shouting that their latest products output content in both Flash and HTML 5 the ugly reality is that dual-output workflows force you to 'dumb down' to the current lowest common denominator of supported features. Whatever vendors boast the fact is the feature sets the main development tools currently output to Flash are not fully supported in HTML5. So whilst HTML5 may well represent steps forward in the future developing for it at the moment feels like taking several steps backwards.
It's clear that Adobe are grappling with this and there were a few teasers and show-and-tells of products in development to ease the issue. The next few years of transition between technologies are going to be a pain in the backside for the industry. The first vendor that can get a product to market that truly delivers the full feature set of an Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline product in HTML5 output will clean up. Such a magic solution still looks years away. In the meantime, whilst the technology gurus grapple with this, GuyKat are going to continue to create our full featured content using our existing technologies. We see no advantage in being 'bleeding edge'. We can and will develop for the iPad when specifically commissioned to do so, but given that the overwhelming majority of our content is intended to be consumed on the desktop, we'll develop for that environment without compromise.
One thing that did excite at the conference was some demos from the fabulous Aussies from Infosymantics. They develop plug-ins for the Captivate platform to extend out-of-box functionality. We've used their stuff in the past to help us rapidly reduce the development time for things like drag-and-drop games. They gave some cool demos of what they're working on. Safe to say, as soon as these are released we'll aim to be the first to implement them and we're looking forward to be able to ramp up our output another level without any impact on development time or cost to the client.
Does audio enhance eLearning?
Last week one of our developers (Hannah) was at an eLearning industry event. A straw poll was taken and the majority in the room were against using audio (e.g. spoken narration) in the modules they create. This surprised us and caused a bit of discussion in the office. For us, audio has always been at the core of what we do. Our best corporate material would lose its magic without it.
It's true there are times when use of audio isn't an option. Some clients want training delivered in an office environment where headphones aren't available. Multi-lingual materials create a huge overhead if you have to do separate audio tracks. Single lingual packs, for instance in English, that have learners for whom English is a second language will be better delivered as text enabling true self-paced learning. The alternative may be having the pace dictated by a narrator they struggle to understand. Some subject matter and individual learning styles may also lead you to conclude audio isn't appropriate for a particular course. Indeed, we're putting together a pack for a client at the moment that has no sound for a number of these reasons.
But all that said, we can't imagine why without a specific reason you would exclude audio by default! For our bread and butter corporate 'knowledge share' style eLearning, thoughtful narration, with a good UI enhances eLearning immeasurably. If you do it right there is no need to surrender a sense of the learning being self-paced.
Just imagine the impact that would be lost from >THIS QUICK LOW-TECH DEMO< (click link) if we didn't have sound!
Audio and narration is something we work hard on. It isn't always appropriate, but more often than not it is.
If you're interested in working with us to put together eLearning that makes full use of the spoken word please get in touch. It's what we do.
VEGAS BABY! GuyKat will be at DevLearn 2012
This October GuyKat Solutions will be represented at DevLearn 2012 in Las Vegas. Hosted by our professional body 'The eLearning Guild', DevLearn is the premier global conference for showcasing the latest learning technologies and thought-leadership. Our clients can be assured that the tricks we pick-up in October will enhance their content in November. We aim is to stay at the forefront of learning innovation. Always.
If you're going to DevLearn and our interested in meeting to discuss collaborative opportunities then please contact us directly or give @guykat a shout on Twitter.
We've Upgraded to Captivate 6.0!
Most of our client-base frankly don't give two hoots about the technology we use to make our eLearning. They just care that it is engaging, brilliant and just works.
But there are some closet geeks out there who do wonder what we use. Our primary development toolkit is Adobe Captivate. Well, to be very precise we use the whole Adobe eLearning Suite - but 90% of what we do is in Captivate. Over the last month we've upgraded from Captivate 5.5 to Captivate 6.0. This has some features that allow us to shorten our workflow. In turn this means we can deliver output of the same or better quality more quickly. What's not to like? Well, as with all technical upgrades it turns out that there are some teething issues with version 6.0, so we're still developing in 5.5 for all existing clients until we're 100% satisfied Adobe have solved some glitches with backward compatibility. However, all our new clients starting on a clean slate will now get the benefits of our newest tools!
GuyKat MD named in '42 Under 42'
In a massive 'fail' for our PR department we somehow missed this report from April that our founder Guy McEvoy was named by Insider Media as one of their '42 under 42' for 2012. This annual list identifies 42 people under the age of 42 who are "rising stars" in business in the Midlands. It is thought we didn't notice because we don't subscribe to their paper and they didn't think to tell us. Guy said; "I suppose it's nice to get recognition, even if you don't clock it for six months. I see they're having a gala dinner for this year's list in November. I hope they remember to invite me."
GuyKat MD at Downing Street
GuyKat founder and MD Guy McEvoy was at an event at 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister yesterday. Topics discussed included the outlook for small business in 2012 and how technology advances can enable economic growth. Guy believes that there are huge opportunities for more effective eLearning across every department of central Government.
Whilst most folk casually walked into the building with a cool air of 'I come here all the time', Guy behaved like an out-of-town-provincial-yokel-tourist let loose in the big smoke. He literally held up the passage of government by shamelessly blocking the door to get 'the photo'. Guy's moto is "If you don't get the photo, it didn't happen'.
The Prime Minister was eventually able to leave the building through his own front door and was only slightly late for his meeting with the President of Pakistan.
2012 'Most Promising New Business' Awards
We were delighted to be named as finalists in the award for 'Most Promising New Business 2012' presented by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce at their Annual Gala Dinner at the ICC hosted by Lord Heseltine. We offer our hearty congratulations to 'Soul Tree Wines' who were named the winners, but remain chuffed with our nomination and the team had a good night out!
GuyKat Shortlisted for Top New Business Award
We're delighted to announce that GuyKat Solutions has been shortlisted by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce for the 'Most Promising New Business' 2012 award
The winner will be announced at a Gala Dinner at the ICC, hosted by Lord Hesletine. Five other short-listed businesses from the region will be competing with us for the top spot.
Guy McEvoy said; "It's always nice to get some recognition. We know we're doing well but it's flattering when other people notice. I'm looking forward to a good night and wish the other nominees the best of luck"
The Dinner will take place on 25th April. More info about the awards can be found at the BCofC Website HERE.