Pro Web Live, an Inside View

No doubt you've heard the buzz about Pro Web Live, which delivers live seminars by top pros like Aaron Martens, Jason Christie and Edwin Evers into your living room, and maybe you've visited the site and seen the list of pros and schedule of seminars.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a closer look that gave me a sense of just how cool and personal these sessions will be. I sat in on an early testing and training session that was designed to help the pros learn how the whole thing will work and to gain feedback from visitors using various types of browsers and computers and with internet connections of all speeds. Several similar sessions are planned because site administrators are determined to work out any bugs and to make certain presenters have a full understanding of all they are able to do before any sessions begin.

Martens, Christie, Dave Lefebre, Shaw Grigsby and Ott Defoe were all "in the room" during that session, and it was pretty cool how much it felt like we were all sitting together because of functions like a chat room, attendee list and question-and-answer area. I mostly stayed in the shadows, just watching to see how everything worked so that I could offer feedback, but I did chime in briefly after Lefebre noted that I was signed in.

The session I attended included no seminar. Instead, they were talking about all the options the pros would have for putting illustrations on the screen, sharing documents, linking to products they discussed and interacting with attendees, and it looks to me like each seminar will be a seriously cool experience. Seems ideal for a handful of friends to sign up for together and put on a big screen, timed perfectly, of course, for the session to begin shortly after the steaks come off the grill.

Below is a cool little teaser. Visit the Pro Web Live website to learn more about how it all works and too see the list of speakers, topics and dates.

Industry Updates & Weather Watching

Deadlines, distractions and a fast-moving clock kept me from finding my way to the blog world yesterday, but it was an interesting day in the fishing industry. Two new ventures by bass pros were announced, and while there's a bit of overlap in names and faces, the two companies seem to be otherwise unrelated.

Timmy Horton announced Profound Outdoors, a new lure company with lures created by a team of bass pros that will utilize a grass roots approach to sales. You can read the release on Timmy's facebook page, and if you look there, you'll see by the comments and shares that the announcement created a lot of buzz and a lot of questions. Timmy also reported on his page that he hopes to have the Profound Outdoors website live today, and I suspect that will answer a lot of questions, both about the structure and about the lures themselves.

The other announcement by a team of noteworthy pros was the creation of Pro Web Live, which brings home delivery of pro seminars via the internet. These are specific seminars at slated times, delivered with an exclusive feed and with the opportunity to ask questions live. This is the news that Dave Lefebre had mentioned a couple of days ago.

Related to Dave, I've been watching the weather in western Pennsylvania because I'm supposed to do some ice fishing with him in a week and a half. They are finally getting good, cold temperatures, but too much snow is keeping the ice that exists pretty insulted, which makes it tough for it to thicken properly.

I've also been watching weather around the Santee Cooper lakes, where I would have been catfishing yesterday had it not been pouring rain. I might get to try that one again next week, but if I'm going to do that, I'd better get back to writing fish stories.