What works / what doesn’t?
Some ideas from the online club:
- Polite applause doesn’t work . The meeting chair can be heard but not the general audience. We find it useful for all attendees to put their hands clearly into camera view and use large clapping or waving gestures.
- Benefit from body language is less dramatic if you are sitting & you need to rely more on voice emphasis (pace and modulation). You also have to look at the camera while speaking, not the screen, so you can’t see your audience. There is very little energy from the attendees because you don’t get visual feedback so you need to rely on your own energy and confidence.
- There’s the technology! The video-conferencing services we have tried are certainly good, but they can’t perform miracles when the internet speed of one or more attendees is challenged.
- Being the moderator (equivalent to a chairing a traditional meeting) brings with it extra responsibilities. Firstly you need to ensure the correct participants can speak or present from their computer screens at the right time.Then there’s the issue of timing – we have the person who is timing set their background to yellow and then red to let speakers know when they have a minute to go / their time’s up. This timekeeper also clicks on the Hands Up option in Zoom so that they can be clearly seen at the top left of the screen for the whole meeting.
- Most online meeting platforms also have an inbuilt Instant Messaging function – they’re useful for stating the title of a presentation, assisting people who do not have significant experience in their role (eg chair) but sometimes people don’t notice they’ve been sent a message. If you are doing a powerpoint presentation or watching the camera when you speak then you may miss a message on the screen.
Where are we now?
We maintain our enthusiasm and are continuing to learn.
As well as allowing members to develop a skill that is valuable for business, the online club allows members of Rostrum who have re-located and no longer live near a club to continue within Rostrum wherever they are in the world.
If you have an interest in becoming part of the on-line meetings, contact Chris (online@rostrum.com.au) or talk to your Rostrum Zone Webmaster.
Here is a very early video of Rostrum’s online meeting – we have come a long way!