Dynamic WebCast Meetings
eLearning Forum, a community of practice interested in elearning and the issues surrounding its adoption and practice, holds regular webcast meetings of its members. Most webcast vendors currently assume a one-to-many metaphor--virtual lectures--or one-to-one--virtual coaching with an emphasis on formal planned presentations. But remote meetings can take other forms, particularly a mix of both formal presenations and open discussion.
Based on experiences with webcast meetings at eLearning Forum, the following are some strategies for making remote meetings work:
Don't make remote users feel like second class citizens
Don't overuse Powerpoint
Project the remote session on a central screen to remind everyone that there are remote participants
Have a 'remote participant advocate' in the main meeting room
Make archives accessible and usable (divide into chunks, label for content)
Don't sacrifice in-room technology
Make all in-room participants use a microphone when speaking
Voice-over-IP is good
Other important things:
Don't have one person run the meeting and the technology
Practice before the 'real' meeting
Make sure your network connection is good and reliable
Post a phone number for backup and support
Test everything
Posted by dcoates at February 15, 2002 08:33 AM