When you watch a basketball game on TV, you’re focused on the action taking place on the court. You probably don’t stop to think about how you’re always watching the game from just the right angle, or how the coverage always manages to catch the best plays.

The secret behind that fast-paced coverage--and the fast-paced videos that help you relive great games--is an unseen group of people who direct all the cameras and sources at every second of the action to make sure you get the best view possible.

That’s exactly what Christian Carmona used to do for the National Basketball Association, and it’s strikingly similar to what he does now for Infinite Conferencing’s clients.

Christian was a freelance video editor who worked with professional basketball teams until the NBA chose to thin its video ranks after the 2004 season, in anticipation of a possible lockout. “Infinite Conferencing was looking for someone with editing experience, and they thought I’d be a good match,” he recalls.

A Natural At Coordinating

With his experience at coordinating multiple sources to produce compelling content, Christian was a natural to work with companies that use operator-assisted lines and Web recording.

“Many companies want to have their presentations recorded, whether it’s a PowerPoint slide or involves application sharing,” he explains. “Sometimes, it’s pretty basic, but other times, it requires extensive editing. We’re good about getting the recording out to them shortly after it has been completed, so they can send it out via email or put it up on their Web site.”

As an operator, Christian’s role is to be the point man for all the details so clients can focus on messages. “We take care of all the responsibilities,” he says. “They tell us they’re going to have a conference on a certain date, with 100 lines and a PowerPoint presentation. We make all the arrangements, greet the callers, lead them into the discussion, and help if they’re having problems viewing the presentation. All they need to do is show up and make the presentation, because we take care of everything else for them. They can concentrate on the actual presentation rather than what is going on behind the scenes.”

He says that companies of all sizes and types use operator-assisted lines for everything from meetings to webinars and sales training. “We have some calls that involve just four or five people, and others that might involve anywhere from 100 to 300 lines.”

Christian says the largest conference call he worked with involved nearly 600 lines, and the most complicated was a training program for a large financial services company that also had “breakout rooms” into which participants were divided into separate conference rooms.

“They were paired up with another participant to discuss certain things. The moderator would say, ‘Let’s bring everyone back into the main conference,’ and we’d round everyone up.”

“Most companies use our Web feature, which is really simple,” he explains. “They log onto our Web site, upload a PowerPoint presentation, and then tell their clients to log in at a certain day and time.” The application sharing feature allows participants to view whatever appears on the moderator’s desktop, which is ideal for software training.

Operators like Christian frequently also serve as moderators for phone and Web conferences, particularly when there’s a question-and-answer portion.

“It’s very simple for the operator to explain how the participants can go about the Q&A,” he says. “As a moderator, I listen for the questions, interact with the client for a couple of seconds, and then go on to the next question. The system makes it simple for the speaker to interact with the client, and go back into the presentation when they need to.”

A polling option is another way Infinite Conferencing’s system allows and encourages participant involvement. “The moderators can throw out questions, and in a Web conference, the participants can view the questions,” Christian explains. “They participate, and the results get sent back to the moderator.

“The moderators can then disclose the results or simply talk about them, depending on what they want to do. It’s a great feature that allows the moderators to interact with the participants.”

While Christian now follows discussions instead of bounce passes, and has to anticipate where the next question--rather than shot--will be, he enjoys the same things about his work. “I’ve always enjoyed editing, so when it comes to editing webinars or audio files, I really like the technical part of that.”