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 slang or muttering allowed.
2. Engage your audience early: Set the tone for an interactive session by engaging your audience early. Weave early interaction into the first few minutes of your session by asking participants to type their location into chat, respond to a poll about their background, and “raise” their hand if they can hear the audio clearly.
3. Annotate while you speak: Most web conferencing tools include a pointer as well as annotation tools like a highlighter and other writing tools. Use these annotation tools generously but wisely as you speak to emphasize key information. Bob Mosher from LearningGuide Solutions is a master of this technique. You can feel Bob gesture as he uses the annotation tools to circle or highlight parts of the screen while speaking. I highly recommend observing Bob deliver an online session if you ever have the chance.
4. Use interesting slides: Add images and color to your slides to make them visually appealing. As a rule of thumb I like to cover one concept per slide. This means that you may increase the number of slides as you spread out your content over more slides, but not increase the amount of content.
5. Rehearse your session: Practice your session with a mock audience to fine tune the timing and flow of your material. Try recording your session and listening to yourself if you cannot rehearse with others.
6. Know your audience: Learn as much as you can about your audience before you begin your webinar. Information such as their experience level with the topic, native language and experience with webinars will help you shape how you deliver your information. If you can’t find out this information ahead of time, run polls at the beginning of the session or post questions in chat.
7. Start and end on time: Most of us are working on overdrive these days so respect your participants’ time. Plan to start and end your session on time and think about the factors that will allow this to happen. For example, send clear instructions and reminder emails to participants, join the session early to get everything prepared and rehearse so that you can ensure the material + interactions can covered in the time allotted.
8. Observe other facilitators: Whenever possible, observe other online facilitators and note what you like and don’t like about their facilitation technique. Note how they engage the audience, how they present information on the screen and what they do in general to maintain your interest. I’ve also gathered many great ideas from in-person presenters who use techniques that can be translated to the virtual meeting room.
9. Try something new: By observing other facilitators you will undoubtedly come across new ideas and techniques. Take a chance and try something new in your next session. If it works, you’ve added a new idea to your toolkit. If it didn’t work as planned, gather feedback on what happened and how to improve next time.
10. Celebrate your successes: Just like traditional classroom facilitation, mastering the art of online facilitation is a continuous process. Sometimes it may feel that participants don’t appreciate all of the planning and behind the scenes work that goes on to design and deliver a successful webinar. Celebrate your successes by reviewing the positive feedback participants may have posted in the chat area or in the session evaluation and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
