PalacePresents allows event moderators to include audiovisual elements in presentations, including live audio broadcasts as well as interactive graphics and animation. The auditorium feature also allows moderators to filter and prioritize questions, conduct panel discussions, invite participants to ask questions or join the presenter on stage. In the past, Internet events were restricted to text-based dialog, in which speakers interacted with participants through the exchange of questions and comments in text.

Imagine Games Network, the most visited game center on the Internet for computer and video game enthusiasts, will celebrate the arrival of PalacePresents with weekly interactive events for the game community at the Imagine Games Network Palace. The events will include live interviews with the editors of PC Gamer, Boot, Ultra Game Players, and Next Generation magazines, as well as game presentations by representatives from LucasArts, Namco, Westwood, EA Sports and Sega.

"PalacePresents allows us to leverage the popularity of our game network for interactive events between game developers and gamers. The software is perfect for our needs because it allows us to host events for large crowds in a graphical environment gamers are used to. Now people can explore the entire Palace while remaining in contact with the man of the hour," said Eric Marcoullier, Web director for Imagine Games Network.

House of Blues, a multi-dimensional entertainment company with clubs in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans, will use PalacePresents to broadcast interactive concerts and interviews with award-winning musicians.

"Our goal is to convey the visual and auditory experience of the House of Blues to a large, enthusiastic audience on the Internet," commented Marc Schiller, vice president of new media at House of Blues. "With PalacePresents, we can broadcast a performance and invite fans to interact directly with the musicians on the stage as if they were actually at a concert. It's a rich interface for both the artists and the fans, and it reinforces the fact that we're here to establish a community."

"The flexibility of PalacePresents makes it an ideal tool for any organization that wants to use audio, video, or customized Web pages to host real-time, interactive events on the Internet," commented Mike Maerz, president and CEO of The Palace. "From live interviews with celebrities, to corporate training with slide shows, the possibilities are endless."

PalacePresents has two basic elements -- the client and the server. The auditorium feature is now part of The Palace 32-bit client. It replaces the beta version which was available in mid-March. The final version represents a complete rewrite of the software. The PalacePresents server software comes with the latest version of PalaceServer. Both are available for download from The Palace homepage, http://www.thepalace.com.

With the new 32-bit client, users who enter a Palace where an event is being sponsored are prompted by a dialog box inviting them to participate in the event. Upon joining the event, an additional window is launched which contains the event stage as well as an embedded Web browser where the moderator can post graphics, video or Web pages that correspond with the presentation.

Audio streaming capability allows participants to hear the presenter's voice and other audio elements such as music while they watch the avatars (participants' on-screen representations) on the stage within the PalacePresents auditorium. Users can also chat with other audience members and submit questions to the speaker, just as they would at a live lecture or concert. The auditorium is accessible from all rooms within a server, and the visual aspect eliminates the linear constraints and confusion associated with text-only chat. At the conclusion of a PalacePresents event, users are given the option of printing or saving a log of the session.

On the server side, the event moderator has access to special controls that allow for the complete management of the online event -- the tools to organize participant questions; invite remote guests to the stage; control the output as it is pushed to the embedded browser; and invite participants to join the stage.

PalacePresents supports the major industry-standard multimedia APIs. In addition, the multimedia functions of the stage area and embedded browser have been closely integrated to support and optimize Progressive Network's Real Audio and Microsoft NetShow 2.0 technology, a platform that streams live and on-demand audio and video across the Internet and Intranets.