A major environment consulting firm trains thousands of geographically remote EPA stakeholders on water regulations and other topics using MediaPlatform WebCaster.

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Case Study
Tetra Tech’s Cost Effective Outreach Webcasts for the Environmental Protection Agency
A major environment consulting firm trains thousands of geographically remote EPA stakeholders on
water regulations and other topics using MediaPlatform WebCaster.
Introduction
Managing water resources in the United States is a tremendous
challenge that involves balancing the needs of communities
with industry and government. The stakes are very high,
though, with precious and limited fresh water supplies at risk,
potentially affecting the health of millions of people. At the Tetra Tech (NASDAQ: TTEK) is a leading
heart of water management are a number of complex federal provider of consulting, engineering, and
regulations that govern how water resources are managed, technical services worldwide. Tetra Tech is a
how wastewater is handled, and how the environment and diverse company, including individuals with
expertise in science, research, engineering,
public health are protected along the way. construction, and information technology.
The company’s strength is in collectively
Tetra Tech, Inc. a 14,000‐person environmental engineering providing integrated services—delivering the
best solutions to meet its clients' needs.
and consulting company, uses webcasting to support EPA in its
Tetra Tech is renowned for its leadership in
efforts to educate federal, state, local and tribal agencies; water‐related services for public and private
watershed practitioners and environmental organizations on clients. Engineering News‐Record (‘‘ENR’’),
the complex issues and evolving science surrounding water the leading trade journal for the industry, has
ranked Tetra Tech the number one water
quality and watershed management. To reach the most
services firm for the past eight years, most
stakeholders as possible in a way that is cost‐effective, Tetra recently in its April 25, 2011, ‘‘Top 500 Design
Tech uses MediaPlatform WebCaster software to conduct its Firms’’ issue. Tetra Tech, which had revenues
EPA training webcasts. of $2.6 billion in 2011, employs 14,000
people in 330 offices worldwide.
The Challenge: Reaching a Large Audience with Custom Webcasts
Tetra Tech’s webcast team faced a number of challenges in helping the EPA deliver its training and
outreach programs. The agency’s goals included reaching as many people as possible, presenting
training from multiple internal and external experts, interacting with the audience, certifying
attendance, and making archived versions of webcast available on‐demand. In technical terms, Tetra
Tech’s webcasting solution needed to convert a phone signal into streaming Adobe® Flash® audio so
that phone‐based presenters could have their voices seamlessly integrated with a streaming visual
presentation over the Web. The presentations had to be available on virtually any browser, operating
system or mobile device. Each presentation required a different look and feel, document downloads
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2. and interactive features, such as surveys and polls. Finally, the Tetra Tech team needed to be able to
coordinate multiple presenters and ensure a smooth experience for a geographically distributed
audience.
The WebCaster Solution
Tetra Tech started its EPA webcast program in 2005
using traditional web conferencing tools. In 2010, the
company chose to upgrade its capabilities with
MediaPlatform WebCaster software. WebCaster is a
cloud‐based platform that enables Tetra Tech to
address all of its webcasting requirements and
challenges. WebCaster presentations feature multiple
presenters on the phone, synchronized PowerPoint
slides, surveys, polls, and Question and Answer.
Totally Custom Webcasts A Tetra Tech‐produced EPA webcast, using
“At Tetra Tech, we like to provide our clients with a MediaPlatform WebCaster software, featuring
custom tabs for slide download and closed
fully customized, professional webcast product from captioning.
cradle to grave,” says Amber Siegel, Public Outreach
Specialist at Tetra Tech. “Our webcasts are great because all of our clients each have different needs
and this system can accommodate those needs. Everyone has their own program, color schemes, and
logos. Working with the WebCaster system, we are really able to customize the look and feel of every
single event. And, with WebCaster we can preview everything in the system and make changes along
the way. We can show our clients what the audience console is going to look like before we put it on.
This gives us a lot of control and allows clients to make last minute changes easily.”
Tetra Tech has been able to educate thousands of individuals
At Tetra Tech, we like to provide
on various water topics, including Clean Water Act regulations.
our clients with a fully Not only do webcast participants listen to the live broadcast,
customized, professional but the archive is accessed by thousands from the EPA website
webcast product from cradle to overtime. Audience members have expressed appreciation for
grave. Working with the the cost effective training capabilities of the Tetra Tech
WebCaster system, we are really webcasts. “These webcasts have been a great resource for
able to customize the look and small towns with no budget for travel or time to be gone.
feel of every single event. Thanks,” said a Tennessee based webcast attendee. An EPA
stakeholder in Washington commented, “This was my first
Amber Siegel webcast. I learned a great deal of information that will be
Public Outreach Specialist extremely helpful in getting my program up and running. The
Tetra Tech videos were very useful and should be included in future
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3. sessions. More web casts would be great. This is a wonderful way to learn about new rules, regs,
programs, and resources without having to travel to attend training.”
Overseeing the Production with WebCaster
Tetra Tech has a proven production management
process for its EPA webcasts. A dedicated production
team handles all the details of the process, from
speaker orientation, invitations, registration, template
customization, “day of” logistics, and archiving. On the
day of the webcast, some presenters go to Tetra Tech’s
Fairfax, Virginia, office where the webcast team is
located. Other presenters remain remote. The
WebCaster production management interface enables Tetra Tech's webcast production team in action at the
the webcast team to switch between multiple company's Fairfax, Virginia center.
presenters in real time.
Team activity flows through WebCaster’s production
management interface. Shown in the figure, it enables
multiple people to perform separate production roles
simultaneously. One team member is responsible for
question and answer review and selection while
another changes the PowerPoint slides. A third team
member manages communication with the presenters
and a fourth handles technical support issues from the MediaPlatform WebCaster’s production management
audience. interface, which enables multiple production team
members to collaborate on the presentation of a live
webcast.
Archiving and Certification
WebCaster is able to generate a certificate of
attendance automatically to confirm that an audience
member has viewed an EPA webcast. The example
shown in the figure typifies the kind of certificate that
the system can produce. WebCaster also enables Tetra
Tech to distribute PDF versions of the slide presentation
to audience members. After the live presentation, the
webcast is archived so that others can watch it on
demand. Tetra Tech also provides Section 508‐
compliant transcripts and closed‐captioning for those
with visual impairments for each webcast in order to
meet federal requirements under the Americans with Example of an attendance certificate automatically
generated by WebCaster for an attendee of the EPA
Disabilities Act. Stormwater Program Webcast Series.
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4. Conclusion
Tetra Tech considers its EPA webcasting program to be a The net effect of this effort has been a
success in helping the Agency reach its objective of cost‐ significant improvement in local
effectively training numerous remote stakeholders.
knowledge about water management –
“A 2‐hour webcast can reach thousands,” says Adrianna Berk,
where it matters. At the same time, the
Senior Environmental Scientist and Webcast Program
Manager at Tetra Tech. “The net effect of this effort has been
ability to train people remotely using
a significant improvement in local knowledge about water technology has enabled Tetra Tech to
management – where it matters. At the same time, the save thousands of tons of CO2 emissions
ability to train people remotely using technology has enabled by reducing air and car travel for
Tetra Tech to save thousands of tons of CO2 emissions by trainers and attendees.
reducing air and car travel for trainers and attendees.”
As an archive posted on EPAs website it can reach thousands Adrianna Berk
more at their convenience, including an international Senior Environmental Scientist and Webcast
audience at a relatively low cost. Project Manager
Tetra Tech, Inc.
About MediaPlatform, Inc.
MediaPlatform, Inc. delivers best‐in‐class webcasting and media management technology to global
enterprises and digital media producers. MediaPlatform’s webcasting software enables high‐impact
presentations for lead generation, corporate communications and training. The company offers
organizations the ability to take advantage of scalable cloud‐based computing, as well as on‐premises
deployment, to present and manage rich media. With media management tools built on its platform,
the company helps clients derive long term archive value from their investment in media content.
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