As Mary said, Matt did a great job presenting his material. I agree that the combination of short presentation followed by discussion was a good mix. In my own presentation, I found that losing sight of the conference room while web-touring or showing slides quite disarming. One minor point I would like to make is that with such a large group it may have been advantageous to engage with half the group for one question and then the other half for the next question. It seemed to take a long time for everyone to respond to each question and the effect of this was to slow down the presentation. That said, interest was maintained throughout the session. I suppose this is one of many examples we have seen throughout the program where we have transfered our usual face to face presentation style into the virtual world only to discover that there are adjustments we need to make, and as Matt pointed out, it relates to lack of feedback.
It was also interesting to note how relaxed everyone is in the room after only six meetings. It demonstrates how quickly and easily people adapt to using the technology.
Google Groups is very quiet this week and I suppose that is to be expected as the program draws towards its conclusion next Wednesday. It has served its purpose as a method of communicating between sessions and as a place to post announcements about upcoming meetings. However, on the whole there has been very little chat. I believe that because we conducted weekly sessions in the virtual conference room there was no necessity for people to chat in between. It's possible that if the meetings had been monthly or even fortnightly there may have been more activity in the forum. Nevertheless, the quality of the posts was high which was great to see.
Looking forward to our final face to face session next week to hear what our participants have to say about their experience in the program from the viewpoint of a small business professional. (Ann)
Showing posts with label online meeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online meeting. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
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."
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."
Friday, August 15, 2008
Hosting can be shared
In the past, our online training sessions have been very structured, and we've always tried to make sure that each online meeting room only ever had a single 'host' - or administrator - at a time. Partially, this was so that we didn't have any contention regarding the various features and settings one can manipulate as a host, but also because it was easier to visualise - a presenter manages the room as a host, while participants have no extra control. However, we discovered this week that it was actually advantageous to have two hosts in the room: the original presenter, along with a second, more technically able user, who was able to provide quick support for the presenter, who may be more focused on their presentation.
From a presentation point of view, this is a great feature, as it basically allows a presenter to get on with the task of presenting, and be backed by a technical user able to make live changes in the background. This might include allowing users into the meeting, changing speaking privileges for noisy users, or simply bringing up the noteboard and editing it with some live information.
We asked MegaMeeting about this feature, and whether they recommended it, and, as usual they got back to us within a few hours of us e-mailing them, basically confirming that there were no issues as long as there was good communication between the Host and the Moderator. (Sam)
From a presentation point of view, this is a great feature, as it basically allows a presenter to get on with the task of presenting, and be backed by a technical user able to make live changes in the background. This might include allowing users into the meeting, changing speaking privileges for noisy users, or simply bringing up the noteboard and editing it with some live information.
We asked MegaMeeting about this feature, and whether they recommended it, and, as usual they got back to us within a few hours of us e-mailing them, basically confirming that there were no issues as long as there was good communication between the Host and the Moderator. (Sam)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Week 5 - Show and Tell
This week was for our groups Online presentations in teams of two. We commenced with a great demonstration of how to make up a beautiful floral posy and this was followed by a survey, just to make sure we were paying attention! A great example of how to teach new techniques to remote staff or to demonstrate a feature to clients. Our next presentation was about the relative merits of groups environments eg Google groups, verses a forum, referring to the car detailing industry. The second team produced a podcast on making podcasts - we all listened to this and then returned to the Online meeting room, to finish up with a discussion and several polls about health and the benefits of healthy living, an important topic for busy business people. We were then shown the participant's website, and how to obtain more information on an ongoing basis.
After just a few online sessions, our four presenters, all small business people, were each able to run an online meeting, and use this to show off something about their individual businesses. With the team interaction and the text chat going on, it was a really interesting and fun session, and one that raised the confidence to a new level.
After just a few online sessions, our four presenters, all small business people, were each able to run an online meeting, and use this to show off something about their individual businesses. With the team interaction and the text chat going on, it was a really interesting and fun session, and one that raised the confidence to a new level.
Session 5 - a few technical tips
Week 5 session of the group came off mostly without a hitch! The presentations were very interesting, and it was great to see everyone get involved with the technology. However, from a technical point of view, setting up to host a room turned out to have a few more intricacies than we expected.
For instance, the Online Meeting room that was set up for us did not have "auto-accept clients" ticked, and the host (who was busy preparing to present) had to approve everyone who came into the meeting. Additionally, one of our presentations was very visual: however, it was remarked that it was fairly difficult to see the full detail of a floral presentation, as the video from clients is usually fairly low-quality, to conserve bandwidth. A feature that all of us forgot about was the ability to turn on high-quality video for one specific user, so that all other users could see them in a higher resolution. This is something available under Host Options.
There was another issue when we tried to swap the role of Host, however, we soon decided that it was easier to all move to a different online room and so were able to keep the meeting on track, without further problems. (Sam)
For instance, the Online Meeting room that was set up for us did not have "auto-accept clients" ticked, and the host (who was busy preparing to present) had to approve everyone who came into the meeting. Additionally, one of our presentations was very visual: however, it was remarked that it was fairly difficult to see the full detail of a floral presentation, as the video from clients is usually fairly low-quality, to conserve bandwidth. A feature that all of us forgot about was the ability to turn on high-quality video for one specific user, so that all other users could see them in a higher resolution. This is something available under Host Options.
There was another issue when we tried to swap the role of Host, however, we soon decided that it was easier to all move to a different online room and so were able to keep the meeting on track, without further problems. (Sam)
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