Conferencing @ Your Computer

The ins and outs of virtual conferences

By Steven Bell & John D. Shank -- Library Journal, 3/1/2006

Last year we presented at teaching and learning conferences in Illinois, Hawaii, and California and at national audiences for programs sponsored by PALINET and the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). We didn't earn any frequent flyer miles and did not neglect our primary library jobs. In fact, we never left our libraries. We were in our own offices, miles apart, while we conducted all the sessions.

That's the beauty of virtual conferencing. It saves time and money, provides expanding opportunities for professional development from any computer connected to the Internet, and allows you to access archived content. It eliminates worries about creating backloads of work while you take time to travel for learning.

Since 2004, we have participated in well over 100 virtual conferencing and workshop sessions, most about one or two hours long. Some of these sessions were individual segments of longer series, while others were one-time events. We've gained expertise with a variety of conferencing and online learning software packages and what it takes to be virtual presenters who deliver rewarding sessions to audiences through these different modes of visual and aural communication.

Talk to the monitor

A virtual presenter enters a rather strange world. After our initial sessions we shared a renewed appreciation for non-verbal communication, and we've heard this from the many colleagues who've been participants. Imagine making a presentation while sitting at your desk and talking to your computer monitor. No one else is in the room. There is no audience with whom to make eye contact. The body language and hand gestures used for emphasis, to indicate excitement or disbelief or simply to connect with an audience, are rendered useless.

As a virtual presenter you have no idea if you are reaching the participants. Are they are even listening? Are they checking email during the presentation? In the meantime, a host of distractions can turn a presenter's train of thought into a train wreck. A presenter has to forget about what is happening at the other end of the presentation. There is nothing a virtual presenter can do about it. Eliminate any thoughts about whether the audience is having technical difficulties or some other challenge that may interfere with the presentation. The good news is that the conferencing software works well for most attendees, especially those who prepare and test before it's time to log in for the session. There are actions that will result in greater control over the session and the attendee's experience. When done properly they can contribute to a great learning experience for everyone.

Preparing for the virtual

As a virtual presenter it's important to think about how to engage the participant so that he or she will be less likely to drift away to office distractions. Every presenter hopes to get the audience activated, and in face-to-face (F2F) situations there are time-tested methods, from group activities to discussions to online and media demonstrations. Depending on the virtual conferencing software being used, there may be a number of ways to migrate those F2F techniques to the online setting.

Dan Balzar, online professional development specialist at the 21st Century Information Fluency Project housed at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), is known for his ability to engage his attendees creatively in a virtual space, using a variety of software tools. According to Balzar, a synchronous virtual conference session or webinar gives the facilitator the amazing opportunity to drop right into the learners' environment at their own desktops. He says that “the most effective way to honor the participants' time is to engage them in concrete, practical activities such as skill development, project design, or brainstorming.” In many educational settings, says Balzar, “we are focused on 'covering the content,' but I like to think of synchronous sessions as events where participants are actively involved in 'uncovering the content.'”

While we're no fans of overwrought or redundant PowerPoint presentations, it is critical in the virtual environment to provide visual stimulation and cues for the attendees. Presentation slides allow the attendee to follow the session better and enable the presenter to adhere to the strict scheduling and time limits that dominate the online conferencing world. But bad slides are still bad slides online. A virtual presenter who drones on through slide after slide provides only a monotonous soundtrack to a series of bullet points, and it's sure to disappoint attendees.

The way to activate the audience is to build some interactivity into the slides. We always begin a virtual presentation with a map of the United States and then ask our participants, using one of several drawing tools that come with most conferencing software, to indicate where they are on the map. It immediately helps to create a small community out of a disparate group of individuals. It can also stimulate some exchanges among participants (e.g., “How's the weather there?” or “I worked near your town a few years ago”). But we want to do more than promote conversation. We want to get our attendees thinking and participating, which requires a virtual presenter to get to know different conferencing software products and how to use them to the best advantage.

Brave new software world

There are several software packages designed for virtual conferencing. They range from basic one-way (e.g., “we show, you watch”) online training products to fully featured software that offers a dizzying array of tools for conducting presentations and engaging participants. Among the products we have used are Centra, WebEX, HorizonLive, and Elluminate. Among these, Elluminate is the conferencing software we've used most frequently, and it is representative of the better conferencing software products. Among its tools are VoIP (Voice over the Internet Protocol), a chat utility, instant polling, web touring, desktop application sharing, a whiteboard, and session archiving. These can be used to achieve an active online learning environment.

Here are some techniques that have worked for us:

• Plan one activity for participants for every five slides of presented material. We find that polls and questions keep participants involved and lead to discussion opportunities.
• Keep a chat session running. Conferencing software usually has a chat function. It is stimulating to have participants engage in the chat room. We recommend that you employ a colleague to serve as the “voice of the chat” so the presenter can stay focused. This person can stimulate discussion, respond to questions, and report good questions back to the presenters. Every presenter should serve as a “voice” to understand better the importance of this role to the session.
• Build live demonstrations into the presentation. Bring up web sites that relate to the topic and review them for participants to reinforce points. Desktop application sharing is a technique that is particularly valuable for demonstrating software or a better flowing web display. When a presenter goes into desktop sharing mode, whatever the presenter does on his or her computer is broadcast to all participants.

Richard Sweeney, university librarian at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, was first a virtual conference presenter at the 12th national ACRL conference in April 2005. Sweeney, who has given hundreds of F2F presentations, found it challenging to keep the audience engaged without the physical exchange of cues that happens in F2F programs. However, the participant chat added value to his offering. “It was certainly engaging to see through the chat how participants responded to us, and their continuous comments, discussion with each other, and questions certainly made up for the loss of visual and audible information.”

Use of the representative techniques described here will allow a virtual presenter to develop a dynamic product that will keep participants involved and active. The key is to provide a good mix of slide-based lecturing and alternate learning techniques. It helps to keep an initial session simple. Try the most basic tools first, and then build up to a more diversified array of tools as confidence grows.

Your first virtual conference

If you have yet to participate in a virtual conference or workshop, you will soon, and it will be invaluable as a way to find out what presenters do and fail to do in developing good virtual conference experiences. To get the most out of the experience, practice before the conference begins. Attendees are often late or fail to attend owing to technical issues that could be easily resolved ahead of time. Most conferencing software offers test areas so that participants can confirm that their computer is compatible with the software. If any applications are needed, they can be downloaded and installed in advance.

Testing in advance will allow you to determine if the conferencing software offers VoIP. If it does, get a headset—inexpensive and available at any office supply store. The microphone will allow you to speak and engage in the discussion more fully, and the earphones will help you concentrate. The day of the session you'll be glad you can answer affirmatively when the presenter asks those with microphones to “raise their hands”—and so will your presenter, since a more engaged discussion is possible when the majority of attendees are equipped with microphones.

Virtual conferences enable better active participation opportunities because they offer chat and voice communication. Each attendee is anonymous, and there are no public speaking pressures. This allows those who might typically stay silent at F2F conferences to share their thoughts or debate other participants. Be prepared to get involved in the discussion.

The great advantage of the F2F conference is that it removes participants from the everyday workspace, enabling full concentration on learning. The pitfall of the virtual conference is exposure to routine work distractions. Temptations abound to answer phone calls, check email, and deal with people when conferencing from the desktop. When getting away from work is not an option, by working at home, for instance, at least isolate yourself. Find a space where you can participate without the usual distractions. If you must, block out space on your calendar, stay in your office, shut the door, and commit to keeping all other browsers and software closed.

As the assistant librarian for instruction, reference, and information literacy outreach at Louisiana State University at Alexandria, Debra Rollins is from a small academic library with a small staff and budget to match. Time and money for travel to conferences is limited. “Virtual conferences connect me with recognized specialists and librarian peers and are a satisfying means for achieving continuing professional development,” she says. She likes the virtual conference environment because it provides easy access to speaker materials through transcripts of the proceedings, and live chat sessions give her opportunities to participate. “I would have to work much harder to get the same level of support and interaction at a live conference,” she says. It can still be hard for Rollins to find financial support to attend virtual conferences, so she looks for opportunities to replay archived sessions available at no cost.

Not for everyone

We all have different expectations of conferences and equally different learning styles. Much in the way that some students are poor candidates for online learning, not all librarians are well adapted for virtual conferencing. For one thing, as Rollins observes, don't expect to have the same levels of social interaction and networking that occur at F2F conferences or workshops. Some learners do best in social environments where they can share with other students. Virtual online software offers features to minimize isolation, but some librarians find anything less than being in a physical room talking and listening to others unsatisfactory.

There is tremendous value to making personal contact with colleagues and vendors, and that is an intangible asset that cannot be duplicated in the virtual setting. However, professional connections can be made in virtual spaces. We have observed individuals within our own virtual sessions reaching out to each other to exchange ideas, and that often concludes with the exchange of email addresses. Though it's less common, some virtual programs offer online communities that attendees can join to continue building relationships with conference colleagues.

Virtual conferences are still rare. Teaching and learning programs offered through online communities like WebJunction (www.webjunction.org) and Blended Librarian (blendedlibrarian.org) are more common. However, we expect that owing to their ease and convenience, virtual library conferences and workshops will be more available, particularly as librarians gain greater exposure to them. The ACRL model of creating a hybrid conference, with a mix of physical and virtual programs, is a good way to introduce more librarians to virtual conferences.

Removing barriers

Virtual conferencing can open up opportunities for professional development. It removes the barriers of time and space from the meeting experience. Librarians can easily experiment with virtual conferencing, with little risk, because of the typically low cost and minimal investment of time. When you attend your first virtual conference, also give some thought to being a virtual presenter. Many librarians have a message worth sharing but never present because of insufficient travel budgets, time constraints, or other obstacles. Virtual presenting allows librarians to transcend those barriers. We all want to expand our professional horizons. Virtual conferencing makes it possible right from your desktop. How much easier can it get?