• Virtual Training Design

    How to Enhance Your Images in PowerPoint for a Web Conference

    Last post I wrote about fundamental concepts regarding using PowerPoint slides in a web conference.  This post covers ideas to enhance images to make your images and slides look professional.  Note that these tips are written for PowerPoint 2007.

    1. Outline your images

    Once you’ve found the right images to represent the key concepts and ideas to include in your PowerPoint, you can give them a polished look by applying a “picture style.”  Simply click on the image and you will see the Picture Tools feature activate at the top of the screen.  Select one of the picture styles that you like.

    2. Remove the background from an image

    If your slide background color is not white, placing an image with a white background won’t look right.  But it’s easy to remove the image background to make it blend in with your slide.  Click on the image and the Picture Tools feature will activate.  Select Picture Tools > Recolor > Set Transparent Color.  Then click on the image background you wish to remove and it will disappear.

    3. Incorporate text onto images

    One way to make images more appealing and professional looking is to select an image that contains space to write text.  For example, to convey the idea of something brief, select an image of a person holding a blank card.  Then click Insert > Text Box and draw a text box on the image.  Write something such as “Use limited text” in the text box. You may need to resize and recolor the text to improve the visibility of the text.

  • Virtual Training Design

    Creating Great Slides for Web Conferences

    Whether you are facilitating a web conference for a sales event, virtual classroom training or a knowledge sharing event, you will need  PowerPoint slides to support your content. You don’t need to be an expert in PowerPoint to put together a good slide deck, but when developing your slides, keep these two concepts in mind:

    1. Use a Lot of Slides

    Using a minimal amount of slides in an in-person setting is a good practice, however the opposite is true in a web conference. Since participants cannot see the speaker, the slides provide a place for participants to focus and maintain their interest.  When converting content from a face-to-face setting to a web conference setting, I typically increase the number of slides between 30-50%.  More slides doesn’t mean more content – it means the same content (or less) spread out over more slides.  Try to only cover one key concept per slide.  When you rehearse your web conference ask someone to observe and see if the ideas and concepts you are describing are supported by the slides you are showing.  If you start to go off on a tangent either eliminate the tangent or create slides to support it. Slides for a web conference should also include:

    • Slides for transitions (starting a new section, doing a wrap up, etc.).
    • Slides with instructions (ground rules, instructions for exercises, instructions for next steps, etc.).

     

    2. Use a Lot of Images

    Aristotle said that ‘the soul never thinks without an image.’  Apply this thinking to your slides and see where you can support or replace text with images.  If you don’t have images readily available, you can search for pictures in PowerPoint by going to Insert > Clip Art. Type a keyword and click Go.  For the best search results, use this feature while you are connected to the Internet.  For more ideas on how to find good images check out Steal this Presentation.  Slides 23-32 cover images, however the entire slideshare is worth viewing.

    In addition to images of key concepts you should also include photos of:

    • The presenters
    • The participants
    • The materials (if you will refer to materials that you mailed to participants such as a workbook or job aid, display an image of the item when referring to it).

    These concepts are a starting point for developing slides for your web conference.  Next time, I’ll blog about advanced techniques for PowerPoint.

  • Online Facilitation

    Maximizing the Application Sharing Feature in a Web Conference

    Web conferencing tools like Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx and Zoom and others allow the host to share his/her screen with the audience. When the host shares his screen it means that participants in the web conference view the host’s screen as he navigates the web or to an application such as Excel.  The host retains control of the screen and participants watch as he performs a specific task.

    Here are a few ideas to make the most of the application sharing feature in a web conference:

    • Log into an extra computer as a participant: Since the instructor view and participant view are usually different in application sharing mode, it helps to have an extra computer next to you.  Log into the extra computer as a participant so that you can glance at the participant view and make sure everything is ok.
    • Optimize your screen: Test the application sharing feature before using it in a live session and make a few changes to optimize your screen.  By optimize I mean make the screen as clear as possible for your viewers.  If you will be showing websites while in application sharing mode, remove all toolbars you don’t need.  Does the audience really need to see your bookmarks toolbar?  Better to remove all the unnecessary toolbars in your Internet browser for a cleaner look.   Also, experiment with the text size and zoom options in your browser or in the application you are sharing and see if you can make any adjustments to improve the clarity of the screen.  Check the extra computer next to you to see how the screen changes as you make adjustments.
    • Avoid ‘Antsy Mouse Syndrome’: Keep in mind that while you are sharing your screen with participants, they can see your mouse moving on the screen. A presenter suffering from antsy mouse syndrome constantly moves his mouse as he speaks which is very distracting.
    • Practice: Practice the steps you will follow when you are in application sharing mode so that they are fluid.  You want to avoid clicking around needlessly which will confuse participants.  For example, if you plan to navigate to a section of a web site that you will demonstrate, note the path you will click through in your speaker notes or leader guide.

    The application sharing feature is a powerful feature, and when used properly it can greatly enhance your web conference.

  • Online Facilitation

    Tips from ASTD TechKnowledge Participants

    I am at the ASTD TechKnowledge Conference in Las Vegas Nevada and what an amazing week it has been. Today I made two presentations on “Facilitating Virtual Events,” one to a virtual audience and one in a traditional meeting room. In the spirit of knowledge sharing, I collected best practices and tips from both audiences and have posted them here. Any other good tips out there?

    · Applaud volunteers profusely
    · Rehearse in front of my dog
    · Don’t read your slides verbatim
    · Don’t put ALL content on slides. Slides should reinforce what you are saying
    · Use your National Public Radio (NPR) voice
    · Don’t limit interactivity to verbal questions. Ask for hand raises. Include electronic click questions, free text response questions, etc.
    · Create competitions to add some fun
    · If you plan to record, make sure people agree to be taped. Remember that every form of recording is discoverable in a court of law.
    · Participants should close all other non-applicable applications to enhance performance and reduce if not eliminate band-width issues.
    · Help presenters with developing their own interactive solutions by providing coaching feedback on their rehearsals/teach-backs
    · Give a “door prize” ( a gift certificate or book) for participants who complete pre-work (verified by us)

  • Online Facilitation

    How to Sabatoge

    I recently came across a humorous posting on the Boing Boing blog by Cory Doctorow on a 1944 CIA Simple Sabotage Field Manual with tips on how to sabotage the workplace. This resurfaced manual sounds eerily familiar to meetings I am in at work with tips such as

    “- Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
    “- Haggle over precise wordings of com­munications, minutes, resolutions.”

    I started working on my own list of tips to add some humor to the web conferencing planning process:

    How to Sabotage a Web Conference
    1. Send unclear meeting instructions to enrollees
    2. Do not begin or end the session on time
    3. Do not practice or rehearse your session prior to the actual live delivery
    4. Speak for long periods of time and do not move your slides frequently
    5. Do not engage participants via polling, chatting or other interactive features.

    The list could go on and on, but I’ll stop there. You get the idea!