Or, Training by Web Conference: Episode 3

Refining our Web training sessions at work has been a challenging experience. We have had to work with some international callers whose local phone companies won’t let them dial any United States area code but 801, so calling our audio conference bridge was out of the question.

In addition, we are using WebEx conferencing software. Trying to juggle its functionality while demonstrating an application takes practiced skill.

Here are three suggestions for teaming up to make your training by Web conference more manageable.

I: Let the Presenter Just Present

In WebEx, the host or leader of the meeting is by default also the presenter, but he can give the presenter role to someone else. (The host role can also be passed around.) The leader of the meeting, or the individual whose account is being used to run the meeting, has the ability to vary the privileges of the attendees, such as whether each can take notes in the Notes panel or send private chat messages to other attendees. With an integrated audio conference, the leader can also mute attendees’ phones to reduce background noise and echoes and then unmute them when they have questions or comments.

We discovered that all of this was difficult for one person to juggle. We began having someone other than the presenter run the meeting and act as host. It has made presenting much easier when all I have to think about is giving the information. I don’t have to worry about whose phone is muted or try to assign privileges as each person joins the meeting.

II: Provide Multiple Voices

No, I’m not talking about trying out your celebrity or Looney Tunes impersonations. The host can take a minor part in interacting with the attendees by doing some or all of the following:

  • Welcoming each attendee.
  • Asking for introductions once the meeting has started.
  • Introducing the subject matter and the presenter.

Again, this helps the presenter focus on her responsibility to teach and train rather than having to switch gears and go from greeter to presenter.

In one of our sessions, the host greeted the attendees, and the product manager for the project, with whom the attendees were a little more familiar, gave a welcome and introduction once we started the meeting. He gave a good explanation of the purpose of the training and our expectations.

Multiple voices help keep the attendees’ attention engaged because they don’t have to listen to the same person for an hour. If two people can smoothly co-present, that will add interest.

III: Have SMEs on Hand to Field Questions

Remember that you may be providing training as a technical communicator because you’re one of the people who understand the application as a whole, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a test lead or business analyst in the meeting to help answer questions that the attendees will have (because they will have questions).

Best is to have a stakeholder or customer along for the ride as well, because he can answer those business and policy questions that the end users may have about their everyday use of the product.

Sharing the load when it comes to running Web conferences has increased our effectiveness as we have provided training. One of the benefits of Web meetings is that you don’t have to have your leader or host, the presenter, and SMEs in the same room. While it helps, so that you can respond quickly to technical difficulties or other problems, the fact that they can instead join from their offices or homes adds to the convenience of this method of conferencing.

In case you’re wondering how we solved the problem mentioned in the first paragraph about the restricted callers, our quick-thinking test lead called the audio conference from a desk phone, then conference-called the restricted caller. Another reason to have backup.

Related posts (auto-generated):

  1. Training by Web Conference: The Saga Continues…