Additional Resources
It's a Whole New Virtual World
Remote training and meetings are a workplace reality. Salesforce.com expects 20,000 people at the upcoming Dreamforce conference. Another 10,000 will be viewing CEO Marc Benioff’s new vision of the cloud via streaming. In June, Cisco Systems launched Cisco Live! with 12,000 in attendance and another 6,000 taking virtual breakout sessions.
More and more of us spend increasing amounts of time in virtual meetings and training sessions. It's a trend that's likely to continue. So, how can you make these virtual sessions more effective and productive?
• Preparation! Preparation! Preparation! Log in at least 15 minutes in advance to:
√ Load slides and check sound and video.
√ Assign participant privileges for annotation and chatting.
√ Enter a welcome message in chat as well as provide instructions for the warm-up activity. Send the message to "All Participants."
√ Turn on Thumbnails in View for your slides.
√ Have a readily available tech support resource. If something malfunctions for a participant, you don't want to stop the virtual session to address it.
• Don’t Go It Alone! Co-presenting has several benefits:
√ Invite a colleague to the meeting to share both your presentation as well as the host key. If you come prepared, and “Plan B” is suddenly required, it can be activated immediately. For very important meetings, ask yourself, “What will I do if my computer crashes, the network goes down, or my phone dies?”
√ One presenter can focus primarily on content while the other manages participant needs.
√ You can shift roles for different sections and consequently provide a disruption of the pattern and a refocus by participants.
√ While the primary presenter is speaking, the second person can type participant responses on the slides.
• Mingle On-Line! If the participants know each other, schedule time for social interaction, i.e., invite everyone to join early, start the meeting 15 minutes early, and have a time for connection with the webcam turned on. Until everyone is familiar with the concept, some moderation may be required to avoid chaos! Apply the same concept during breaks! Balance efficiency and social interactivity if you want the group members to connect with each other.
• Break the Ice! Greet people as s/he logs on and have something for them to do immediately. Some possibilities include:
√ Have a map so they can identify their location.
√ Ask people to list four buzzwords that annoy them.
√ Complete a sentence, such as, "The best part of my day is…"
√ List two words to describe yourself today.
• Say Cheese! By starting with your video camera on, you can create human interaction from the beginning. The webcam helps people connect, focus, and reduce multitasking. Depending on the webinar tool, participants might need to be reminded that they can change the views (6, 4, or 2 video streams) and choose who they want to see if there are more than six participants.
• Keep ‘em Focused! Provide a slide with "ground rules” at the beginning and ask people to focus on the meeting without multi-tasking. (Having the webcam turned on helps this process.)
• Get Oriented! Introduce and provide a brief demonstration on the use of the annotation, feedback, and chat tools. Encourage participants to practice as you explain each tool.
• Get ‘em Engaged! Encourage interaction.
√ Pose questions that require a "Yes" or "No" response.
√ Include questions that require people to “raise their hands.” (A short explanation might be required.) You can also use the “raise hand” feature for ad-hoc polls. (On some platforms, only the host sees the results, so mention the tally of each poll.)
√ Use silence to allow participants to formulate their responses. Wait twice as long for a response as you would in an instructor-led training session— sometimes three times longer. Get used to short moments of silence and pauses.
√ Include questions that require people to type answers into the chat function.
√ Post comments to white boards.
√ Administer polls to survey responses.
√ Call on people by name. State the name first, pause briefly, and then ask the question. This process avoids responses such as ”Sorry, I missed that. Could you please repeat the question?”
√ Use webcams so everyone can see who is speaking. (If cameras are not already on, ask the person who is speaking to turn their camera on.)
• Keep slides engaging!
√ Annotate and capture information by typing participant comments directly on the slide.
√ Use highlighters, pointers, and arrows to help focus attention on particular parts of the slide.
√ Change slides frequently to keep an energetic pace.
√ Disrupt the pattern by inserting video clips, or have a hot link to a brief video that people watch in a breakout session, and then return to the training room for discussion and comments.
• Keep your presentation engaging!
√ Use vocal variety as the foundation to a compelling presentation. Articulate clearly. Change your pace and maintain high energy.
√ Stand when you present if possible to increase your overall energy and conviction.
√ Invest in a high-quality headset to increase clarity and decrease background noise. As a speaker, ensure you have no background noise and ask those individuals who are in a noisy environment to mute their phones. If they don’t do it, mute them through your hosting web tool.
√ Tape your sessions and listen back for vocal quality.
√ Make sure you have sufficient bandwidth if using VoIP (Voice over IP),(minimum of 3,000 DSL line) and ensure that no applications (email, backup, software installs, etc.) compete for bandwidth.
• The Shorter the Better! Keep meetings and training programs as short as possible. If a training program is two-hours in length (probably the maximum), consider a 5-minute bio break halfway through.
If you want to be successful, preparation and high levels of interaction are keys to making virtual sessions more effective and productive. It really is a "brave new world" and you have to be brave to be successful in it.
To summarize, remember the acronym: V. I. R. T. U. A. L.
V - Voice Matters. It is the most important style element you offer in a virtual presentation. Use vocal variety to keep people engaged—and stand while presenting to increase your overall energy.
I - Interactivity is KEY! Interact with your audience by asking frequent questions and using the chat and polling options. The more interactive the presentation, the more memorable it will be!
R - Read your Audience! Many virtual platforms have an indicator that tells you when your audience loses attention to the screen. Energy is dwindling? Re-engage them by asking a question, taking a poll, or asking everyone to give a one-word answer.
T - Track your audience's participation. Make a list of participants and tick off who has participated. Call on those less active.
U - Understand your audience's level of experience with virtual training. Educate and inform when necessary. Provide the ground rules. Educate how to use the tools. Have a partner to assist those having technical difficulty while you maintain the focus on the agenda and active involvement.
A - Annotate, Annotate, Annotate! Use your pointer, text, and other tools to keep your visuals alive—and your audience engaged.
L - Listen! Let them know you hear them by commenting on their participation, comments, and questions. Paraphrase. Use their names.
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