Briefing Online Open Day 7 February

Dear staff colleagues and teachers, students, alumni and relations,

Thank you for contributing to the first (fully) online open day of the Royal Conservatoire on Sunday 7
February! In this briefing you are referred to as participants, where we refer to new students who attend
the online open day as visitors.

Through this briefing we would like to inform you about the upcoming Online Open Day and the three
programmes that will be offered in it. Current program information can be found at:
www.koncon.nl/onlineopenday

What is special is that only a few colleagues are at the Royal Conservatoire and other participants fulfill
their role from home, in order to limit travel movements and visits to the building.

Program stream 1 - Youtube stream (including use of Teams)

There will be a continuous live stream via Youtube (link), from 11 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. It includes a general
kick-off by Henk van der Meulen and during the breaks of the program we show information about studying
in The Hague (videos) and Amare. In the program itself, various departments present themselves by
means of interviews and showing some video fragments from projects.

Support
The YouTube livestream is supervised by Mark Borneman (Marketing) and Siamak Anvaritutunchi (EWP).
In preparation and accessible on the 7th via Teams Chat.

More information via Appendix A.

Program stream 2 - Microsoft Teams "Meet the departments + Q & As"

Online sessions are scheduled throughout the day via Microsoft Teams, which can be viewed (and clicked)
for visitors via www.koncon.nl/onlineopenday. A colleague from a department is involved per session,
sometimes several colleagues and even students join. Visitors are free to browse these sessions and visit
you. Our tips and tricks for using Teams for this can be found later in this briefing.

The Q&A session takes place via Microsoft Teams. The teachers and staff who are present are directly
invited to these sessions via their @koncon.nl account. The link to these Teams events will be shared on
www.koncon.nl/onlineopenday so that visitors can get in and out.

Support
Between 11.15 am - 2.45 pm Roos Laan (Marketing) is online and can be reached via Teams chat, should
you run into problems. Sanne van den Bosch (Marketing) will be your backup from 3 pm - 6 pm.

More information via Appendix B.

Program stream 3 - Online Try-outs

The Classical, Early Music, Vocal and Jazz departments offer students the opportunity to plan 1-on-1
online introductory and try-out "lessons" to prepare for possible application and admission. Some
departments organize all this on Sunday 7 February themselves, other departments plan separate sessions
in the month of February. More than 85 students have already registered for this.

Registrations
When writing this briefing, over 250 students have already registered for the Online Open Day, in addition
to 100 students who previously indicated that they would like to be kept informed about registration
information. Both groups have been involved via newsletters in recent weeks, referred to department
information and all interviews with students and alumni on www.koncon.nl/apply-now. To date, registrations
are in line with last year (Bachelor) and slightly ahead of last year (Masters). Via the Education Service
Center (Daphne), department heads have an overview of the registrations via the Osiris Dashboard.

We can imagine that you have questions about this briefing. Feel free to ask them in the run-up to Sunday
7 February via m.borneman@koncon.nl.

Warm regards and thanks for everyone's participation!

Mark Borneman, on behalf of Team Marketing and Communication

Appendix A - Youtube livestream

There will be a continuous live stream via Youtube (link), from 11 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. However, it is important
to know that the participants who present themselves here use Microsoft Teams, because everyone is at
home in their own environment. We do our best to outline how this works (technically).

1. You will be invited to a Teams event at the same time as the live Youtube timeslot. Make sure you
are logged in beforehand via your @koncon.nl account, for example by logging in to
www.office.com with your @koncon.nl account. This way, you don't accidentally enter the Teams
conversation as a "guest".
2. You log in to this Teams event at least 15 minutes before the time slot starts.
3. In this Teams event you see and hear your fellow speakers, and you also get a live picture of the
feed being sent to Youtube, so that you can see what is being switched / broadcast to the outside
world.
4. If you are speaking or participate in an active conversation, your camera and microphone are on,
you must actively manage this yourself and we cannot take care of it for you (so be sharp!)
5. If you are not (yet) participating in the conversation or are not an active part of the conversation,
your video and microphone are turned off. Normally, you might be used to just turning your
microphone on and off in Teams, so this requires a little extra attention.
6. The stream towards Youtube only shows that part of Teams where the videos of those who are in
conversation are visible (see red box in the example). Depending on who has their camera on, 1,
2, 3 or more people are visible there.

7. Head of departments can indicate in advance whether they want to show video fragments during
this presentation. We ask you to select a maximum of 3 clips that are not too long (1.00 - 2.00
minutes each). You can search for existing videos or live streams via the YouTube channel of the
KC and indicate which video and which specific fragment (with time code) you wish to use. Please
send this suggestion and the sequence of fragments to m.borneman@koncon.nl no later than
Friday evening 5 February so that we can prepare. The director must pre-edit these videos and
cannot start from Youtube itself.
8. During the broadcast of video clips, your image and audio are not visible or audible to the live
stream viewers. The director (Mark and Siamak) also give you a signal when the fragment is
almost over. Pay attention! In the image that directing shows you, you can see that the video is
starting, but we cannot let you hear the audio of the fragment (due to the risk of audio feedback).
Video and audio can of course be heard in the livestream for visitors.
9. Any communication between yourselfves or with direction (Mark and Siamak) can be done via the
chat function of the teams conversation, which is not visible externally to the visitors.
10. The livestream takes place for visitors via Youtube, where they also have the opportunity to use
the chat function. If relevant questions are asked here for the ongoing conversation, then the
director will answer those questions in the Youtube chat itself, post them in the chat function of
Teams, or pass them on so that they can be addressed in later Q&As.

Then some more tips:

1. We have already partially completed the above form in the Online Open Day of the School for
Young Talent, which you can view here.
2. It is good to realize that you only talk to each other in Teams and have no video interaction with
viewers / visitors during your broadcast. It may be smart to address this as well, as well as the fact
that we obviously regret that we cannot speak to the prospective students in person.
3. The language of the presentations and Q&As is in English (excluding Docent Muziek).
Technical preparation:

1. Test your internet connection in advance (preferably with a network cable than via WiFi). You can
test your internet speed via this link, for example. A download and upload speed of 10Mbit per
second (mbps) is recommended. A higher number is better in this case. The internet use that may
take place at the same time within your household also has an impact on your connection, of
course.
2. Make sure your computer is set up to go online via Teams. Use the Teams desktop app to
participate, or - if you use the browser - log in with your @koncon.nl account via www.office.com
before going to https://teams.office.com or click on the link you have been sent. This way you
prevent logging in as a "guest", like normal visitors, with limited functionality in the Team
conversation.
3. Make sure your sound card settings are correct and test your setup with built-in microphone or
external microphone (eg in earphones), for example by calling a colleague shortly in advance via
Teams. Also test whether you hear the other person correctly. The use of earphones / headphones
is preferable to the use of the speakers in your laptop or computer.
4. Remember to face a light source (no window or light source from behind). It starts to get dark
around 4.30 pm and you may be dependent on a light source in your home.
5. Friday 5 February from 1400 - 1530 hrs + 1630 - 1700 hrs it is possible to do a technical test with
the direction (Mark and Siamak). This is also possible on Sunday 7 February from 0930 - 1030.
Please indicate in advance whether you want to use this option, so that we can reserve a time slot
for you.
6. Please check that your face is in the middle of the webcam image and that your background is not
too disruptive. Better not use a blurred of image background as this can feel less personal to the
viewers or can distract from the conversation.
Appendix B - Teams Q&As

In addition to the continuous live stream on YouTube (Appendix A), there will be many Q&As via Teams on
Sunday 7 February, with one or more staff colleagues, teachers and students present.

Anyone who is active in these Q&As will receive an invitation via their @koncon.nl e-mail address, which
will also make it visible in your calendar. For example, you can surf in a browser to
https://outlook.office.com or https://teams.office.com and log in with your @koncon.nl account and
password to view the agenda item and log in.

It is difficult to predict in advance how many and when new students or other interested parties will enter
this conversation. It therefore makes sense to regularly welcome new names / faces and indicate which
topic or question is being discussed.

1. By clicking on "show participants" (marked red below) in the Teams meeting, you will see an
overview of attendees, where you can turn off the visitors' microphone or withdraw a raised hand.
Visitors must always turn on a microphone themselves, even if you have turned it off.
2. By clicking on the chat symbol (marked in green below) it is also possible to speak to each other
via chat, or, for example, to share a link or your own e-mail address.
3. By clicking on the three dots on the screen (marked orange) it is possible to see multiple people in
the picture at the same time.

4. If you want to show a presentation, you can share your screen for the group (marked in blue
below). It is not possible for visitors to share their screen. If you work on a Windows computer, it is
also possible to check that you want to share the audio from your computer.
5. Displaying high quality video is unstable in Teams (also in other video chat apps). If you want to
show something to the entire group of attendees, you can use the Sync Tube application, for
example, where you can start and stop YouTube videos for an entire group at the same time. You
can find a short explanation for use here.

6. If you want to share high quality audio with your group of visitors, there is a plugin called Listento.
The use of this plug-in requires quite a lot of technical knowledge of so-called DAW environments
such as Logic, Ableton, Pro Tools etc. but it functions very well. You can test the plug-in free of
charge for 14 days.

7. If you are unable to answer a question in the Q&A due to time, or because the question is very
personal, there is of course the chance to contact the student / visitor concerned later. Do not ask
students / visitors to share their e-mail address in the chat, because it will then be visible to all
participants and possibly misused. Provide your own email address, or that of your study
coordinator or department head, in the chat, so that people can contact you. All departments and
contact details can also be found at www.koncon.nl/apply-now.

8. For those departments that expect to receive large groups of participants in their Q&A and need to
schedule 1 on 1 conversations, the possibility exists to send visitors / students not directly to a
Teams Q&A, but to a chat program where a moderator can handle the questions on behalf of your
department (to be provided by the department) and, if desired, can initiate personal contact with a
department head, coordinator, teacher or student who is online for this purpose in Teams. If you
want to make use of this, please contact m.borneman@koncon.nl no later than Friday 5 February
to receive an explanation.

9. The language of instruction for the Online Open Day is English. Of course, you can also speak
Dutch in a 1 on 1 conversation or chat with a Dutch student. For the conversations in Teams,
however, it may be that halfway through interested students come in who do not speak Dutch and
cannot follow the question and the answer.

10. The end time of the Q&A will be communicated is not set in stone. If you have a meaningful
conversation, the Teams event will not end itself until you end the call yourself.

11. The links to the Q&As will be placed on www.koncon.nl/onlineopendag before the start of the
online open day. Visitors who are not students can also use the links, unfortunately we cannot
separate that. For the general public interested in the explanation, this does little harm, but does
require extra attention if personal matters are discussed. It is possible to remove visitors from the
meeting if they are disruptive.
Technical preparation:

1. Test your internet connection in advance (preferably with a network cable instead of WiFi if you
can). You can test your internet speed via this link, for example. A download and upload speed of
10Mbit per second (mbps) is recommended. A higher number is better in this case. The internet
use that may take place simultaneously within your household also has an impact on your
connection, of course.
2. Make sure your computer is set up to go online via Teams. Use the Teams desktop app to
participate, or - if you use the browser - log in with your @koncon.nl account via www.office.com
before going to https://teams.office.com or click on the link sent. This way you prevent logging in
as a "guest", like normal visitors, with limited functionality in the Team conversation.
3. Make sure your sound card settings are correct and test your setup with a built-in microphone or
external microphone (eg in earphones) by calling a colleague via Teams shortly beforehand. Also
test whether you hear the other person correctly. The use of earphones / headphones is preferable
to the use of the speakers in your laptop or computer.
4. Remember to face a light source (no window or light source from behind). It starts to get dark
around 4.30 pm and you may be dependent on a light source in your home.
5. Please check that your face is in the middle of the webcam image and that your background is not
too disruptive. Better not use a blurred of image background as this can feel less personal to the
viewers or can distract from the conversation.

Why do we use Teams and not Zoom or other applications?

There are many solutions for entering into an online conversation with each other and with new students.
Because Microsoft 365 and associated Microsoft Teams are managed through the HdK ICT department
and seen as the standard within the HdK, this platform is being used. All participants can log in securely
with their @koncon.nl and will not be asked to create new accounts or participate with private e-mail
addresses. Visitors are asked to create an account or can participate directly in browsers such as Chrome
and Edge, even without registration.
In addition, prospective students immediately learn to use the Microsoft and Teams environment that is
also used for other online teaching applications within the Royal Conservatoire.