adobe connect custom pods

Question

I'm trying to make a custom pod for Adobe Connect using flex. I am trying to modify the basic chat window described in the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz4vRIBTy3k

I am aiming to create some buttons to update the status of a person. I have tried to use the method setMyStatus(status:String):void as outlined in the SDK documentation but I can't get the application to actually make the function run. Any help appreciated.

I have added the SyncConnector.swc to the resource library provided in the SDK.

Full code here:

<mx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
    import com.adobe.sync.events.SyncSwfEvent;
    import flash.events.MouseEvent;


        protected function syncMessageReceived(event:SyncSwfEvent):void
        {
            if (event.data.msgNm == "statusUpdate")
            {
                setMyStatus(event.data.msgVal);
            }
        }

        protected function sendMessage(event:MouseEvent):void
        {
            var customStatus:String = "status";
            setMyStatus(customStatus);
            connector.dispatchSyncMessage("statusUpdate", customStatus, false);
        }


        public function setMyStatus(status:String):void
        {
            status = "speechAgree";
        }

    ]]>
</mx:Script>

<components:SyncConnector id="connector" syncMessageReceived="syncMessageReceived(event)" />
<!--<components:ConnectionEmulator bsyncConnector="{connector}" />-->

<mx:Panel title="Status" top="5" right="5" bottom="5" left="5" layout="vertical">
    <mx:Button id="btnAgree" label="Agree" click="sendMessage(event)" />
</mx:Panel>