Tips and Tricks to Engage with the New Blackboard Collaborate Ultra - Presenting Effective Webinars -Grant Beevers, Blackboard

Grant Beevers, Snr Manager, Solutions Engineering APAC

Tips and Tricks to Engage with the New Blackboard Collaborate Ultra - Presenting Effective Webinars

Grant Beevers

• Over 30+ years in education and training

• Held various roles with government, corporate and educational sectors

• Majority of time with large multi-national eLearning companies such as SmartForce, Skillsoft and Saba

• More recently, with a number of private RTOs such as AIM, the Endeavour Learning Group, and the Study Group

• Passionate about helping organisations get the very best out of their learning technology investments, with a focus on instructional design and collaborative learning technologies.

Planning and Delivering an Effective Webinar

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This session offers a set of best practices you can apply to your webinar events to make you more effective at planning, administrating, delivering, and benefitting from them.

Single most important tip:

Approach your work from the audience’s perspective

4 Stage Process

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• Initial planning

• Content preparation

• Delivery style

• Follow-through

Preparation

1. Main functional roles involved in producing a webinar

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Preparation

1. Plan event timings

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Preparation

1. Plan event timings – General rule of thumb

• Marketing and general informational webinars - 60 minutes max

• Training and educational webinars – 90 minutes max

Preparation

1. Plan event timings – 2 person delivery, 60 minute presentation

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• Start 2 minutes after the hour to account for late arrivals • Spend 1 minute on introductory technical remarks (explaining the web

conferencing controls and how the audience can interact and provide feedback)

• Let the first speaker talk for 20 minutes• Take 2 minutes for an audience poll • Let the second speaker talk for 20 minutes • Spend 13 minutes on audience Q&A • Spend 2 minutes on closing remarks and action items

Preparation

1. Plan event timings – other things to plan for…

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• Rehearse the presentation• Manage content• Plan group rehearsals• Set up your environment• Maximize audio quality• Maybe use a checklist• Have a backup plan

Presenting

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2. Techniques to make delivery more engaging and effective

• Keep your energy level up• Use enthusiasm• Vary voice pitch and delivery speed• Address individuals• Script opening and closing paragraphs• Simplify slide design• Focus attention• Interact with your audience

Working in Blackboard Collaborate

• Pre-Load content

• Know your expected audience numbers

• Use of Video

• Practice switching between functions

• Have a moderator and/or co-presenter present

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Post-event Considerations

• Announce the call to action

• Respond to priority attendees

• Distribute materials

• Choose a location for the event recording

• Contact no-shows

• Analyze effectiveness13

In Conclusion: My Top Tips and Tricks

• Pre-load content in advance (persistent content Sept)

• Chrome provides the most optimised experience

• Join 15 minutes before a session

• Use a holding / welcome slide

• Use an ice-breaker while waiting for others to join

• If doing a webinar, have a 2nd moderator to manage the chat back channel

• If app sharing, using a second monitor

• Don’t forget to record!

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Questions