Facilitation

What Web Conference Facilitators Can Learn From the Movies

September 10, 2010

Many years ago, someone in the movie theater business got the great idea of showing something on the screen to entertain the audience during the lead up time to the movie start time. This meant that those who arrived to the movie early had something to watch to entertain themselves. Advertisers also seized on this [...]

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Steps to Improve Audience Engagement in a Web Conference

September 10, 2010

Why is it sometimes so difficult to get participants engaged in a web conference? Well, one obvious reason is that it’s a different environment for participants. Just as facilitators need to get used to facilitating in a live virtual environment, so do participants. We’ve all grown up learning in a traditional classroom environment where the [...]

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Using Your “Peripherals” When You Facilitate a Web Conference

February 19, 2010

In one scene in the movie The 40-Year Old Virgin, Jay (Romany Malco) gives advice to Andy (Steve Carell) about spotting women in a bar.He starts by explaining that you have to “use your peripherals” by looking straight ahead, yet observing what is going on all around.He describes this subtle, yet important technique that allows [...]

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Ten Resolutions for Webinar Instructors

January 13, 2010

It’s January so it must be resolution time. Here are ten ideas to think about as you get ready to facilitate webinars and other online events this year. 1. Focus on your voice: The facilitator’s voice carries extra weight in a virtual environment, so focus on inflections, pace and rhythm. Speak clearly and purposefully. No [...]

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How to Keep Your Cool Online

December 13, 2009

Picture this: A project manager with a geographically dispersed team, who was somewhat new to conducting meetings via web conference, decided to facilitate a project kick-off meeting using a web conference. Her goal was to get the team on the same page and make a good first impression. As the meeting started, she lost her [...]

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Two for One

October 25, 2009

This week I had a unique opportunity to attend a web conference with Bob Mosher of LearningGuide Solutions where I also served as the session producer. He presented a session for Metro DC ASTD members on “Informal Learning – Are We Missing a Huge Opportunity.” Bob encouraged us to think about how to establish a [...]

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Podcast and Job Aid on Web Conferencing

August 28, 2009

Recently I was interviewed by Charles Gluck for a podcast by the Metro DC Chapter of ASTD. The podcast covers suggestions and ideas for improving web conferences, the roles of the facilitation team, and how to calculate carbon emissions savings when traditional training is delivered via web conference. You can listed to the podcast by [...]

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Chatting It Up

August 24, 2009

I remember the first time I taught a course via web conference many years ago. My co-worker and I were both new to the technology, and it was the blind leading the blind. We noticed the chat feature and promptly turned it off as we decided that we didn’t want people chatting while we were [...]

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Overt Operations in the Virtual Classroom

July 31, 2009

My last post focused on using your mouse deliberately for any movement on the screen. What else needs to be executed in a deliberate and overt manner in the virtual classroom? Nanette Miner shares excellent tips on deliberate language in her article, The Non-Drowsy Virtual Classroom in T&D Magazine this month. Miner suggests, “… language [...]

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An Antsy Mouse

July 28, 2009

I attended a web conference today where the presenter was sharing his screen with the audience and demonstrating various features of a web product that shall remain unnamed. He was a fine speaker, however, he had a frustrating habit that I’ve seen with many web conferencing presenters – I call it antsy mouse syndrome. The [...]

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Darlene Christopher is a Knowledge and Learning Officer at the World Bank Group in Washington DC where she produces global elearning products for synchronous and asynchronous environments. Read more about Darlene.

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