Liveblogging the mergecast

I'm going to try my hand at liveblogging, using the EDUCAUSE broadcast of the Blackboard-WebCT press conference / "town hall" Q&A session. Someone on the BLKBRD-L list at ASU called this the "mergercast."

Here's the URL.
http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=96040

I've got my headphones and a fresh pot of coffee. T-40 minutes. Time to get a few things done before the fun begins. (Ironically, I'm working on a report for the college's Distance Learning Committee on the costs and benefits of upgrading to Bb Enterprise! Paging Ms. Morissette, Ms. Alanis Morissette)

T-minus-15: Sound check, refresh coffee, quick trip "down the hall."
T-5: What do I expect? Not much news, really. I expect a recap of how wonderful each CEO thinks the other is, their firm committment to their customer base and to continued product improvement, etc. etc. Corporate spin - seen it before, and I've got the hip waders on.

The real interesting stuff will be the Q&A session.

"Reporters only: Dial the following number to participate in the Q&A: 866-753-8247, conference code 3973210697. " I'm reporting, right?

Here we go - the mic is live... hey - there's thumbnail video, too! Background murmurmurmur, announcement asking folks to please take their seats and set pagers to vibrate. Rebuffering - must be several folks logging onto the data stream. I hope they've got enough outbound bandwidth.

Melissa Chautner Sr. VP of PR. Some questions we may not be able to answer.

Chasen: Bbs mission is to enable educational innovations everywhere. uniting will help meet mission. Two eliearnig pioneers.
Many common traits - both background in academia. Both focused on cuttiong edge products - Bb's list is longer. Communitis of practice . Proud and Excited. Meeting with several clients in town hall and 1-on-1.

Carol Valone: Marks an achievement in e-learning history. Enable collaboration across the globe at a critial time in elearning - worlds largest communty of practice - further innovation. Since 1997. greatest innovations yet to come...

Interuptted by a call. They took a few questions, it seems. but said nothing really.

Chasen - new system will be developed over time - over short term will continue to compete until merger closes in early 2006

Valone - we'll be having town hall sessions with clients and look forward to meeting with you.


That's it. Even less than I expected!

Update: Laura Little is similarly nonplussed.