Tips for Successful Online Meetings
Tips
for Presenters:
Before the Meeting
·
Attend an online presenters workshop or complete an online
tutorial.
·
Develop an outline of your meeting, with a script or notes
of what you're going to say.
·
Make your meeting interactive, engaging the participants and
requiring them to respond to you, the content, or each other. Keeping your
virtual meeting or classroom interactive helps the participants to stay focused
and tuned in. Build interactive techniques into your presentation.
·
Build well-designed slides.
·
Have someone proofread your slides.
·
Practice, practice, practice! Hold a
practice or test meeting and run through the presentation with a colleague.
·
Reserve a conference bridge for the audio portion of your
web meeting.
·
Send out invitations for the meeting to participants.
·
Send copies of slide presentations to participants before
the meeting in case you run into technical problems.
·
Locate a site where you can conduct your web meeting away
from noise and distractions. Using an office or room with a door is ideal as it
will eliminate background noise and minimize interruptions.
·
Print the Do Not
Disturb sign and post it on your door or cubicle.
·
Be organized with your notes, as shuffling and rustling
papers can be annoying to others and doesn't lend itself to a professional
delivery.
·
If you're using a headset, position it so the microphone is
not directly by your mouth. This will help the volume be normal and eliminate
the sound of heavy breathing.
During the Meeting
Establish
the meeting ground rules:
·
Expectations and guidelines
·
How and when taking questions
·
Time frames
·
Etiquette reminders
·
Call on by name
Listen
to Your Voice
·
Your tone of voice should always be warm and friendly. Have
a smile in your tone. To do this, you may want to place a small mirror on your
computer monitor to observe yourself. If you are frowning, so is your voice.
·
Vary your voice inflection to avoid sounding monotone.
·
Be enthusiastic in your presentation. If you are energized
and enthused over the information, your participants will be also. It will also
be easier for them to stay tuned in.
·
Eliminate fillers such as "uh", "you
know", and "uh'huh" to improve the quality and professionalism
of your presentation.
·
Pay careful attention to your pace and enunciation. Our
natural tendency is to clip our words or drop off the ending. Audiotape
yourself for ways to evaluate and improve your delivery.
·
Don't have too much dead air during your presentations -- it
makes the audience uncomfortable.
Use
Courtesy Phrases
·
Ask your students instead of telling them what to do. This
avoids sounding authoritative which, without body language, can easily be
misinterpreted. Examples of helpful phrases are:
·
"Will you now..."
·
"If you will, click on..."
·
"Please look at the next screen..."
·
Be courteous and take responsibility when a misunderstanding
arises. "I must have misunderstood you" rather than "You must be
confused."
·
Paraphrase questions to check for understanding and ensure
that everyone has heard or "tuned back in" before responding.
·
Common courtesy phrases such as “Please” and "Thank
You" are always appropriate.
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