Online conferences are conducted entirely over the internet. Presenters and attendees participate directly from their computers, through a website that allows participants to watch video presentations, participate in online discussions by typing in ideas and comments, and join in live video events that allow questions and answers in real time.

Like traditional face-to-face events, online conferences provide presentations by leading experts, interactive workshops, discussion forums, networking opportunities, and many other resources such as a library of articles and white papers on important topics.

An online conference is accessible using any standard web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) and you may log in and participate at any time that fits your schedule, day or night.

The What Works! Conference is designed to honor the existing strengths of early childhood education and care providers, and to explore innovative ways to apply these strengths in preschool classrooms and other care centers in these times of budget cuts and legislative gridlock in California.

If your work involves early childhood education and care, this conference is for you:

• preschool teachers
• daycare providers
• volunteers in early childhood care settings
• parents and other family members of preschoolers
• preschool administrators and other staff
• staff of organizations that certify preschool teachers
• early childhood education specialists from agencies and community groups

The What Works! Conference will run for 3 weeks, from October 26 through November 14.

The pre-recorded speaker and panel presentations that will be rolled out over the course of the three weeks may be viewed at any time (24/7) after they are introduced into the conference website.

Four interactive workshops will be broadcast live in the evenings during each week of the conference, and these may be either attended live (pre-registration required) or viewed as recordings after the actual event.

The conference fee is $79. This fee is waived for members of the California Teachers Association, members of our sponsoring organizations, and all preschool teachers and daycare providers.

A few days before the conference site opens (October 26), you will receive an email with the URL (internet address) for the conference website, and your login ID and password. An overview of conference events will also be included.

These notices, and all announcements about the conference, will come from this email address: sqldba@icohere.com. In order to prevent these notices going to your spam mailbox, we suggest placing this e-mail address in your e-mail address book. We ask, however, that you do not send any e-mail to this address, because it will simply disappear into cyberspace.

The amount of time spent at the conference will vary, based on how many presentations and/or live workshops you choose to attend and also how much time you spend afterwards in the discussion groups, as well as whether you choose to explore all of the rich materials in the Shining Examples and the Resource Library.

You can break up your time in the conference any way you like. We suggest that attendees look at the conference schedule and block out time on your personal calendar to listen to the welcomes and the keynote session, and the panels that you wish to hear. Then you can decide whether you also want to register for any of the live workshops.

Here are some specific estimates of how long these conference events will take:

• The pre-recorded welcome presentations and the keynote address Framing the Issues last for approximately 1 hour altogether.
• The pre-recorded panel discussions last for approximately 45 to 60 minutes each. (There are three panel sessions altogether.)
• The live workshop sessions will be held for 1 hour per week, per workshop. (There are four workshops altogether.)

Most of the conference events will be pre-recorded and can be viewed at your convenience. Even the live workshops will be recorded and available for anytime viewing after they occur.

Optionally, you can join in the discussions online about any of the conference events after you have viewed them. Or you can enjoy reading the discussions posted by others if you couldn't listen to a particular presentation. So you really do not need to miss anything, even if you can’t attend all of the events.

All participants will have full access to the conference website for 6 months following the end of the conference, which includes all presentation archives, discussion threads, video recordings, library resources, and other tools.

Our online conference platform can be accessed through any firewall because it is html-based, doesn't require any proprietary downloads and only uses standard port 80. All presentations are delivered using Macromedia's Flash technology, which is also accessible through firewalls. If you're still concerned about firewall access, click here to perform a test. If you can view and hear the presentation, you'll be able to access the conference just fine. If you experience problems, contact support@icohere.com and we'll be glad to help you.

To participate, all you need is an Internet connection (at least 56K recommended), web browser, and Adobe's free Flash player. If you're using Windows you'll need either Internet Explorer version 6 or later, Netscape Navigator version 6.2 or later, or Mozilla Firefox. If you're using a Mac, you'll need Safari, Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later, or Mozilla Firefox.