Week 7 - eCommerce meeting

Our last formal group online meeting was with a presenter, Matt Freedman on the topic of eCommerce and Online Payment, areas where Matt has considerable experience. The online session was conducted as presentation plus discussions, and this worked well, as everyone (in the group of 10 attendees) was able to participate and share their own knowledge and perspectives. I think this is an excellent style for small groups where there already is a significant expertise level, and the online format provides the virtual room where a topic can be reviewed collaboratively.

Matt's comments reflected positively on the meeting format, although, as a frequent presenter to real time groups, he found the presentation somewhat challenging as he did not see the participants until the discussion resumed. This presentation used a more interactive approach than our previous, and this, I found well suited to the online meeting format. (Mary)

Matt Freedman commented: "It was a pleasure leading a discussion and presentation on eCommerce and Payment Systems for Small Business online meeting this week. The information covered was pretty broad, and each of the participants compared their experience with eCommerce both as a user and consumer but also how they are currently use it in their business or how they might use it in the future. It was a different experience presenting online compared to being in front of a live audience. You don’t get the same feedback from the audience as you can’t see their faces while you present, so you just have to imagine them and keep going. I also found that in this medium doing a short 1 or 2 slide presentation then a discussion, then back to another 1 or 2 slide presentation was a good mix of interactivity and information as you don’t tend to get the level of questions during the actual presentation component that you would in a physical seminar. I found the discussion part very engaging, and found it was easy to connect with each participant in much the same way as you would if you were in the same physical room. The definite bonuses were the text chat that went on in parallel with the voice chat and that everyone seemed very comfortable in their own environments (homes/offices) and people were more likely to dress casually, eat, drink, take notes which you are less likely to get in a classroom."