Слайд 1Dan Freeman
PLEASE NOTE: We will be doing audio checks every few
minutes, but between audio checks we will not be broadcasting. If you do not hear anything right now, please wait for the next audio check.
Welcome to
How to Run Great Webinars
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 2Use the Chat Space to ask the presenter questions and discuss
with your fellow attendees.
If you do not see the chat window, please hit the “Chat” icon in the upper right-hand corner.
Chat Space
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 3Click on the “Send to” pull-down window beneath the chat space,
private chat user “Host.”
Need Help?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 4Q and A Session at the end.
Type questions into the chat
whenever you have them.
Depending on how many questions we have, we may not be able to answer all of them.
Note: Make sure your chat is set to “Send to: All participants” when you ask a question.
Q and A Sessions
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 5Audio Broadcast: Calling Using Computer
(Streaming Through Your Computer Speakers)
Two Options
for Audio
Calling in and Listening via Phone (Note: This is a Toll Number)
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 6To call in, Select the “headset” icon above your chat box
to open the “Audio Broadcast Menu.” Then click
“I will call In.”
Calling in
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 7If you are having audio problems,
you can reconnect by clicking
“Communicate” > “Audio Conference…” at the top of your screen and then selecting either “I will call In” or “Call Using Computer.”
Audio Problems
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 8In Order to Disconnect the Audio Broadcast, select the “headset” icon
above your chat box to open the “Audio Broadcast Menu.” Then select the “Disconnect Audio” Button.
Disconnecting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 9Hear an echo?
If you are listening to the Audio Broadcast and
you hear an echo, make sure you do not have two broadcasts running simultaneously. If you do, close one.
Audio quality decreases?
If your audio quality decreases, you can try stopping the broadcast and reconnecting by clicking “Communicate>Audio Conference…”
Troubleshooting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 10You’ll receive an e-mail within 24 hours of each session giving
you access to full archive, which is an audio/video rendering of the event
If you want your own copy of the slides, we’ll post them to slideshare. The URL will be in the follow-up e-mail.
Materials and Archive
for Today’s Event
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 11Save 10%!
Go to the ALA Store:
www.alastore.ala.org
Enter Coupon Code:
LIFM10
Expires: 09/12/2015
Special Offer
Слайд 12In Order to Disconnect the Audio Broadcast, you must hit the
“Stop” Button.
Disconnecting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 13Online Learning Manager, ALA Editions/ALA TechSource
Produced and facilitated hundreds of webinars
Holds
an M.S. in Library and Information Science
Dan Freeman
dfreeman@ala.org
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 14Poll:
What is your level of experience with webinars?
Tuesday, August 11,
2015
I have been a webinar instructor/facilitator.
I have attended webinars.
My institution does webinars, but I’ve never attended.
This is my first webinar.
Слайд 15Defining a Webinar
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Mirriam-Webster: “a live online educational presentation
during which participating viewers can submit questions and comments”
Interactivity not limited to Q & A
Purpose not limited to education
Though events always occur live, recording can be equally important
Слайд 16Why Webinars
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Webinars are convenient:
Distance no longer a factor
in scheduling
No travel time required=easier to squeeze into tight schedules
Those who like to be quiet in meetings can do so without the fear of looking bad
Ability to record event; make it available later
Слайд 17Why Webinars
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Webinars are affordable*:
Cost of travel eliminated
Many low-cost
platforms; some free platforms
No printing, no paper
You can speak to a big group without the need for a big room and the equipment it requires
*If your goals are more ambitious, cost can go up….we’ll get to that soon.
Слайд 18Webinars vs. In-Person Events: What do You Think?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Better?
Worse?
Different? How?
Pros? Cons?
Слайд 19Webinars vs. In-Person Events
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The Key Difference: They arent
that different.
The advantages and disadvantages of each are minor and cancel each other out
The disadvantages all have an advantagous flip-side.
Bottom Line: If you are comfortable in a webinar format, you can teach and learn just as effectively as you can in person.
Слайд 20Webinar Cons…and Pros
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Con: You aren’t staring out at
the sea of faces, so you don’t really know how engaged your audience is
Pro: Less pressure
Con: There is a camraderie factor with in-person sessions that doesn’t exist online
Pro: People are there for the stated purpose only; no side chat, fewer distractions, more focus
Слайд 21Webinar Cons…and Pros
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Con: People are not as engaged
with your material because they don’t have physical documents with them.
Pro: That isn’t really true.
Con: Some people are more comfortable than others with the online format.
Pro: For those people, there is an additional layer of learning going on and they are likely to leave more comfortable than they came.
Слайд 22How to Choose a Platform…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 23What do you want to accomplish with your webinars?
Tuesday, August 11,
2015
Just hold meetings?
Teach to small groups?
Teach to large groups?
Hold events for your staff or consortial members?
Hold community-wide events?
Start small with plans to expand into something bigger?
Слайд 24You cannot choose a platform before you have a clear idea
of what you want to accomplish.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Hold meetings, have focus groups, talk to everyone you can talk to…
Make sure all interested parties have all bought into:
Size
Scope
Purpose
Ambition
Budget
PUT IT IN WRITING!!
Слайд 25A Side Note…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
A lot of this stuff sounds
obvious, but please don’t discount it.
Running a webinar includes lots of small but crucial steps
Check out The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.
Слайд 26How to Pick a Great Platform
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 27Step 1: What features are essential to you?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Capacity
(more on this in a moment)
Video with webcams neccesary?
Is VoIP with headsets good enough, or do you need for people to be able to call-in?
Is it important to be able to load documents in multiple formats (PDF, PPT, MS Word, etc)?
Related: Do you need to impress the audience?
Слайд 28Be sure to consider which features you want, but do not
need.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 29Step 2: Determine whether free is an option
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
How
big is your audience?
If your audience is small enough for free platforms, how likely is it to outgrow that platform?
Do the free platforms have the features you need?
How important is technical reliability?
Слайд 30How much do you need to impress your audience?
Tuesday, August 11,
2015
How big is your audience?
Who are the people in your audience?
How formal is your presentation?
What’s the purpose?
Teaching?
Trying to justify funding?
Just a meeting
Слайд 31Consider a free-trial
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
GoToMeeting
Instant Presenter
ON24
Adobe Connect
Слайд 32Things to remember about free products
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Technical support is
minimal at best, probably nonexistent.
You might not have access to your recording…make sure to find out in advance.
If a for-profit company distributes a free product, the free product is the lowest priority in terms of resources, bandwidth, etc.
Free products are subject to disappear or completely change their interface without any notice
This makes practice sessions even more important!
You and your audience might be subject to promotions when using free products—examine whether or not this is the case before using them and weigh whether or not it matters.
But most importantly…
Слайд 33Free products are a really good deal! If you can use
them, you should!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
There are a lot of free products that are really good!
If you are getting started with webinars and you aren’t sure where your webinar program is going, minimal commitment
Obvious benefit to your budget
You will look very smart to your boss or your board or whoever you are trying to impress
If you are trying to justify funding, using a free product underscores the worthiness of your funding; shows you are anything but a frivolous spender
Слайд 34Exploring a couple of free products:
This is not an exhaustive
list.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 35Google Plus Hangouts
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Pros:
Cutting edge; has tons of bells
and whistles, interface really impressive
Technical reliability very solid for a free product; backed by Google’s power
Has pretty much every feature you can imagine: Video, Screen Sharing, Chat, Ability to share YouTube videos live
Слайд 36Google Plus Hangouts
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Cons:
Always a work in progress so
the interface and features change constantly
So many bells and whistles that there is a bit of a learning curve, and all users must have the same basic knowledge to use…bad for low-tech users.
You must join Google+ to use.
Слайд 37Google Plus Hangouts
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The Hangouts-On-Air Feature
Broadcast your hangout live
on the web so anyone can see
It appears like a YouTube video, you can just embed it in your webpage
It gets instantly recorded and stored on YouTube.
Check out American Libraries Live
Слайд 38Google Plus Hangouts
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Bottom-line:
Really good for small conferences
Really good
for webcasts
Don’t use it if you need to assemble a huge group
If you are using to impress someone, make sure you have a really good handle on the technology
Hangouts On-Air a really cool and unique tool with incredible potential
Слайд 39Anymeeting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Fee-based service that includes a small-capacity free service.
Слайд 40Anymeeting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Pros:
Gives you pretty much all the features you
would want in a premium product
Free product is truly an unlimited free product…not a free trial or severely limited version of the paid product
They make their use and placement of ads very clear
Слайд 41Anymeeting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Cons:
Any way you slice it, the ads are
a distraction.
You don’t get your recordings with the free verson.
Слайд 42Anymeeting
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Bottom-Line:
A very impressive free product.
HUGE capacity for
a free product
Great set of features
Слайд 43OpenMeetings
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
An Open Source Tool
Code is open—users can modify
the product itself
100% free (donations always suggested)
Collaborative document editing, whiteborard drawing
Слайд 44OpenMeetings
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Disadvantages
Constant changes, constant bugs
Security concerns with open source
No
customer service
Слайд 45Step 3: If free isn’t an option, start exploring fee-based products
Tuesday,
August 11, 2015
Start by asking how much you want to spend and how much your willing to commit
Think about price in terms of capacity, because that’s the first thing that’ll become a deal-breaker
Explore what’s out there; don’t limit yourself to the big names.
Wikiepedia has a great resource for features: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software
Слайд 47Contact the Company Schedule a Sales Pitch
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The sales
pitch will allow you to see the product in action.
The sales pitch will allow you to ask questions of the company reps.
The sales pitch will give you the experience of being a webinar attendee—it’s great practice!
Слайд 48The Sales Pitch is Extremely Important
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
It will probably
be a pain to get everyone to agree on timing, but it is well worth it.
It’s more than due dilligence; it’s a neccesary component of buying a product.
It gives you the opportunity to get multiple sets of eyes on the platforms.
Equivalent of a test drive.
Слайд 49After the Sales Pitch…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Get all stakeholders together for
a debriefing
Think of it like a focus group
(If applicable): Put it to a vote.
No consensus? Get more sales pitches; considering bringing in outside voices.
Patrons Involved with the Library
Faculty
IT Staff
Don’t rush it! You can get more sales pitches.
Слайд 50Once You’ve Made Your Decision…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Start training; get as
many staff members involved as possible
You can’t have too many staff members trained to run a webinar
Use the documentation and training provided by the platform—it’s probably really good!
Run as many mock sessions as you possibly can
If you can, run short mock sessions and run them frequently
Слайд 51The Mock Session
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
As you begin to experiment with
your new platform, the picture of your ideal session will emerge
Document that and recreate it
Get as many people involved in the mock sessions as you can
Have people participate in all roles—presenter, attendee, host, etc.
Слайд 52Practice, Practice, Practice
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The technical aspect of running a
webinar is always going to be a series of many small steps.
It’s not likely that any of these steps are going to be a huge challenge, but there are going to be a lot of them and they will all be essential.
You need to be able to complete these steps without thinking about it so you can focus on your content, not the technical steps.
Before you actually do a live session, you should practice enough that you can launch and prepare the session without looking at a cheat sheet. That being said…
Слайд 53Make Cheat Sheets!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Having documentation is absolutely essential:
It gives
you a checklist of everything you need to do to launch so you can think about it less
It is a training tool so you can ensure that others will be able to run an events
If there’s some emergency and an untrained person must run the event, the show can still go on
Слайд 54Take Note of the Pre-Event Features
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Registration Page
Registration form—what
information do you want to collect?
Reminder/Confirmation E-mails? Write a template.
Register as an attendee to get the experience.
Слайд 55Take Note of the Post-Event Features
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Easy to ignore
but important
Does the platform give you the ability to send a follow-up email
Write a template for you follow-up e-mail?
Is there a survey tool? If not, create an account at SurveyMonkey
Слайд 56Building Good Documentation
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Create the documentation with the person
who has no experience in mind
Use checklist format
Use screenshots when possible.
Слайд 57Running the Event: 1 Person or 2?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The ideal
way to do it: 1 Presenter, 1 “Producer”
Producer is responsible for technical aspects:
Launching event; ensuring all settings are correct
Handling audience techinical questions
Troubleshooting
Слайд 58Develop a Plan for Tech Problems
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
You need two
types of tech problem plans:
A plan for the common problems individual attendees may experience
It may take some time to figure out what these are
A plan for a major disaster
Слайд 59Develop a Plan for End-User Problems
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
It might take
some time before you can figure out what the most common problems are going to be, but you can get a good grip on that by running lots of practice sessions.
Write a script(s) that you can paste into chat. Here’s one of ours:
Sorry you are having a problem with your audio. I'm assuming you are listening via the audio broadcast. If you're audio got interrupted, wait 10-15 seconds, and it should come back.
Be prepared to deal with people who are angry/stressed/panicky
The best approach is a customer service approach, even though the people attending probably aren’t customers.
Слайд 60Develop a Plan for the Disaster
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Disasters can take
a lot of forms, but the bottom line is that we’re talking about a situtation where your event gets severely disrupted or terminated.
The first step in building a disaster plan is accepting the possibility that this could happen.
You can mimimize the possibilty, but not eliminate it.
Слайд 61Develop a Plan for the Disaster
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Before deciding what
you will do, examine what you can do:
Does your platform give you a way to gather the e-mail addresses of all participants? If so, get that together as part of your preparation.
If the event “dies”, can you quickly relaunch?
Given the size of your group and significance of your event, what’s the possibilty of rescheduling?
Слайд 62Develop a Plan for the Disaster
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Develop template e-mails
to send to participants:
We just crashed; please re-join
We will need to reschedule
Keep in mind that people are generally pretty understanding when these technical problems occur.
Слайд 63Questions?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 64Delivering an Awesome Presentation
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Our scope today is webinars
for librarians
In your follow-up e-mail, you’ll get access to Maurice Coleman’s webinar on presentations (more general).
Слайд 65How Long Should Your Presentation Be?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Ideal length of
a webinar: 60-90 Minutes
Not enough time to cover everything? Break it into multiple sessions rather than stuffing it all into one long session.
Warning: If you make your session longer than 90 minutes, people will disengage!
Слайд 66Start with a quick technical intro
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Spend 1-2 minutes
going over the interface
Outline the most common technical problems; how to troubleshoot and who to ask for help
Include info on how to participate via chat…not as obvious to some as to others.
Explain the benefits of the webinar format (recording, chat, Q and A, etc…)
Слайд 67Get Right to the “Meat” of Your Topic
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Avoid
long preambles; introduce yourself and your topic, then dive right in
This illustrates a key difference between in-person and online presentations—there is less socialization, people are there to get down to business
Because you have less ability to charm people than you do in person, you want them to get their “money’s” worth
Слайд 68Engaging a Webinar Audience
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Your ability to know that
the audience is engaged is different from what it is in-person.
Best strategy: assume they are engaged and proceed accordingly.
Keep in mind that every audience has its own personality and the chat space is not neccesarily an indicator of people’s engagement.
Слайд 69Engaging a Webinar Audience
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Get your audience involved from
the start—that means before the event even begins:
Pre-event surveys/readings polls
Opening the event with a poll or an open-ended question
Using the “warm-up” time to encourage attendees to chat amonst themselves.
Слайд 70Engaging a Webinar Audience
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Always ask your audience about
their level of experience with your subject matter.
This will get them talking, since they are there to learn about this topic regardless of experience
You need to know where they are coming from; even tiny snippets of info are valuable.
Слайд 71Remember that You’re Talking to a Library Audience
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Use
library-specific language and anecdotes, even if your training is about something that isn’t library related.
Encourage the group to talk about their jobs. Ask them where they work. What type of library?
Talk about your own library experience (as it relates to the topic) as much as possible
Слайд 72Build Interactivity Exercises and Tools into Your Event
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Polls
Exercises
Open-ended
Questions
Слайд 73Avoid Silence
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Talk while people are engaging in an
exercise or filling out a poll
Don’t wait until everyone has submitted their answers to comment; start right away
Слайд 74Always do Q and A
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Ideally, add a break
for Q and A in the middle of your event
Make sure you have a strategy for handling questions beforehand (producer or no producer)
Keep an eye on the clock
Слайд 75The Visual Component of Your Presentation
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The visual component
of a webinar is usually a slide deck
This is much more important in a webinar than an in-person presentation
Without slides, it’s just a voice
Слайд 76Building Your Slides
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
You don’t need design sense and
you don’t need artistic ability.
Base your slides on your outline
Include images to keep it interesting (more on this in a moment)
Слайд 77Building Your Slides
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
While most webinar platforms will recognize
PDFs and Word Docs, it’s best to work in PowerPoint because:
PowerPoint is universal (more or less)
It’s easy to export to other formats from PowerPoint
Stick with “common” fonts
Слайд 78How Many Slides?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
The number of slides you use
will vary heavily depending on your presentation style
A general guidelines is one slide per 90 seconds, but your results may vary!
Think of your slides from an attendee perspective—do you have enough to keep it interesting?
Using charts and graphs? Slow down!
Слайд 79Images on Your Slides
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Don’t go too text heavy—use
images, even if its just ClipArt
There are TONS of sources of free images on the web:
Wikimedia Commons
FlickR (check CC license)
OpenClipArt.com
You don’t need to spend a ton of time worrying about relevance, colors, etc.
Слайд 80Using Screen Sharing
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Use it; don’t abuse it
Great tool
for demo’ing software, websites
Not a great tool for sharing your slides
Mind the lag!
Слайд 81ALWAYS do a Run-Through
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Too short? Not a big
deal?
Too long? Cut the fat!
Cut your intro, cut your preamble, cut audience interaction activities (but not all of them)
Слайд 82Assessing Your Event
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Simple, easy and very helpful
Most
platforms have built-in tools
Many free tools available; I recommend Survey Monkey
Include a survey in your follow-up e-mail
Слайд 83Assessing Your Event
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Multiple choice questions:
How useful was this
event?
How effective was the instructor
Open-Ended Questions:
How could this event have been better?
Were there areas not covered that you felt should have been?
Слайд 84Assessing Your Event
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Don’t take it personally! Remember, people
are anonymous, so they might be mean!
Filter out the meanness and focus on the actual substance behind it.
If you are really sensitive, have a colleague study the survey results and convey them to you, but…
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the survey!
Слайд 85Putting the Assessment Into Action
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
When you view the
survey results, try to jot down immediate notes about how you can translate them into actual change in your presentation
Keep your notes with you when working on revisions or a new presentation
Слайд 86Closing Thoughts…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Always wrap up with some closing thoughts
They
don’t need to be profound; just avoid the sudden ending
Слайд 87My Closing Thoughts…
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Webinars are here to stay; the
technology will change.
The ability to run a webinar is a marketable skill that will only grow more important
You can teach/learn just as effectively online as you can in person
Слайд 88Questions?
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Слайд 89Contact me anytime with questions, comments, etc.
Dan Freeman
dfreeman@ala.org
Tuesday, August 11, 2015