Virtual presentations that work

Website design By BotEap.comExecutives from Fortune 100 companies are leading their organizations to hold more meetings using electronic conferencing software (eg, Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, WebEx). Technical communicators worry that the limitations of the medium will severely diminish the effectiveness of their presentations. They want to prepare themselves to develop and run electronic meetings that are engaging, interactive, and motivating.

Website design By BotEap.comI believe that it is not the medium that creates convincing communication; are the communication strategies used. Electronic meetings have several inherent drawbacks (eg, lack of visual feedback, more difficult social interaction), but they also have strengths (eg, the ability to collaborate over long distances with no time limit). Flexibility and creativity allow technical communicators to duplicate all the benefits of a physical meeting in a virtual meeting.

Website design By BotEap.comBelow you will find a large number of ideas that are useful for organizing virtual meetings.

Website design By BotEap.comgain attention

Website design By BotEap.comStart your virtual meeting with a thoughtful introduction. Introduce yourself and, if time permits, invite participants to introduce themselves. Ask them to share background information, including professional and personal interests and hobbies. Post your photo and, if possible, photos of the participants. Use innovative methods to collect and share background information from participants (eg, match unique experiences to the right participant).

Website design By BotEap.comset relevance

Website design By BotEap.comSurvey participants to determine their background and interest in the topic. Use a wide variety of media. These can include animations, background information, current events, cartoons, articles, thought-provoking questions, quotes, and stories.

Website design By BotEap.comCurrent information

Website design By BotEap.comIncorporate the same types of multimedia presentation that you would use in a face-to-face presentation. Use different types of media, such as text, graphics, animations, video and multimedia presentations, illustrations, diagrams, schematics, models, audio presentations, and concrete objects. Constantly refer to the meeting schedule you presented at the beginning of the presentation and provide summaries of the content throughout the session. Present the information in short chunks and in a logical flow while varying the pace and format every five to six minutes.

Website design By BotEap.comIt incorporates compelling communication strategies that include:

or Storytelling

o Guest speaker presentations, which can be virtual

or Simulations

or Analogies

or Tasks

o Case studies

o Discovery learning

o Examples and non-examples

or Experiments

o Graphic representations

o Tips and hints

Ideas

or Mnemonics

Games

o Physical models to represent relationships

Website design By BotEap.comSupport your main ideas with graphics whenever possible. Keep the information simple, especially if you’re using PowerPoint. Be careful with colors, white space, and fonts; limit your use of different fonts and colors.

Website design By BotEap.comTell the participants what you are going to say, tell them, and then tell them what you have said. This should be easy as you have a lot of means to play with. You can set the stage in a multimedia presentation, then introduce the topic via a whiteboard presentation, and finally review the topic in a discussion using chat or a poll feature.

Website design By BotEap.comAllow participants to download documents instead of handing them out. Be sure to use PDF files, as they display and print more predictably than other document formats. Use the board as you would a flip chart. Point, highlight, draw, and write on the board. Consult websites and other resources; use them as valuable sources of information, references, and exercise materials. Present information from another point of view (eg, customer, competitor, user, and engineer). Anticipate and prepare for questions from participants. Build job aids that extract relevant information.

Website design By BotEap.comRealization of demonstrations

Website design By BotEap.comUse case studies related to real life situations. Ask participants to explore controversial issues. Ask participants to share their own experiences related to the content.

Website design By BotEap.comShow photos or video presentations of highlights from demonstrations, and use drawing and text tools to highlight and label. Use screen sharing to demonstrate computer applications and drawing tools to label and highlight sections of the screen. Select examples and activities that reflect the environment in which the participants will apply their new skills.

Website design By BotEap.comfacilitating practice

Website design By BotEap.comIncorporate practice to maintain engagement and interest. Assign participants to groups and ask them to collaborate on specific tasks. Group size should not be more than four participants. Assign and rotate roles within each group to ensure sharing and cooperation. If applicable, summarize activities completed outside of the meeting. Encourage lively presentations of no more than five minutes in length. Encourage participants to use the board. Use case studies, role plays, and simulations that mimic real life activities.

Website design By BotEap.comIf the participants cannot interact with the actual systems, provide links to training databases or test sites. Show participants’ screens if you want them to demonstrate their use of the applications or share information as part of interactive exercises or demos.

Website design By BotEap.comInstigate and manage debates

Website design By BotEap.comOpen discussions with a provocative comment. Brainstorm ideas by asking a leading question on the board or in a chat window. Conduct structured discussions by including a proposed outline for the discussion. Keep the discussion on track by clarifying the topic of the discussion and the topics you hope to cover. Closely manage discussions. Use the microphone, whiteboard, chat window, or email as media in the discussion. Assign students “interesting” roles during discussions. Always end discussions by restating the objectives of the discussion, summarizing the results, and noting how the results relate to the next topic.

Website design By BotEap.comEvaluation of the commitment of the participants

Website design By BotEap.comUse frequently asked probing questions to check understanding, arouse participants, determine their level of engagement, or determine where participants stand on particular issues. Ask questions that are clear, relevant, short, and challenging. Use the polling capability to ask true/false or multiple choice questions and see how many participants selected each option. You can keep these results to yourself or share them with all participants. Include questions with a degree of difficulty that matches the level of the audience. Avoid comments that are brief or abrupt. Participants may interpret such comments as angry. Have groups use assessment materials and instruments located in a shared binder to complete the basket exercises (for example, completing customer service transactions in a variety of situations).

Website design By BotEap.comDevelop and carry out exciting and motivating activities

Website design By BotEap.comCreate constructive conflict or “creative abrasion” by:

o Ask leading questions

o Represent other points of view

o Explore the content in a new context (eg, in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the author used the metaphor of a farm to illustrate the dangers of unbridled capitalism)

Website design By BotEap.comExtract positive results from difficult situations by:

o Direct the question to the group

o Ask the group for solutions or methods to find solutions

o Call specific participants to help

Website design By BotEap.comBuild suspense by creating activities (eg, discussions, games) where the results are not predictable. Also feel free to change the rules while activities are still in motion. Do this by using chats, selective emails, and multiple shared folders to provide different groups with different rules and instructions.

Website design By BotEap.comEncourage the collaboration of the participants by creating group activities. Allow groups to communicate through chat areas or emails. If you’re bold, you can have groups set up their own virtual meetings to work together. Be sure to assign a leader to each group.

Website design By BotEap.comGood luck and enjoy!

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