Before you start planning ask yourself if your project would really benefit from a videoconference or if the project can be done within the school using another medium. If you cannot see a benefit, other than it would be cool, then you may want to reconsider.

1. The first step is to come up with a project idea that would truly benefit from video conferencing. With video conferencing being fairly new to the K-12 arena, this may be the hardest step.

2. The next step is to find partners to participate in your project. Depending on the content of your project, you will want to invite either additional classrooms to participate or an expert/content provider. There are a few directories of video conferencing sites available on the Internet. If you are interested in doing many projects using videoconferencing, you may want to sign up for a couple of listservs dedicated to discussing projects and finding partners. The Learning Space listserv is dedicated to K-12 educators. Another listserv is hosted by Pac Bell. You can also find content providers at their site: www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/directory.html. The Pac Bell listserv is open to anyone interested in videoconferencing. (The majority of users are people from higher ed).

3. The easiest way to share information with other participants in your project is via the web or email. Be sure to get email addresses as well as other contact information from all of your participating classrooms.

4. Set a date. Sometimes it is easier to do this before you get your partners, as their first question will often be "When?"

5. If you are scheduling a multi-point (more than two sites) conference you must schedule it through a bridge. In the St. Louis area many schools use CSD. In out-state Missouri, many schools use MoreNet. Be sure you know what rate your partners are able to connect. The industry standard is 384k. Be sure you know how to contact all partners.

6. If you are working with other schools, be sure to include a project timeline. If participating classrooms are going to be responsible for sharing information, they need to have plenty of time to prepare.

7. Create a conference day agenda. You want to be sure to give everyone involved an opportunity to participate. You might even want to rotate the order in which schools present so everyone gets a chance at being 'first.'

8. Be prepared for the worst and have paper copies of all materials in case your equipment fails in one way or the other.

9. Have a good time!