Tips for New Leaders Fast Path Series

Transcription

1 Tips for New Leaders Fast Path Series Centra Software, Inc. 430 Bedford St. Lexington, MA

2 Limitations on Warranties and Liability Centra Software, Inc. reserves the right to make changes in information contained in this document without notice. In no event shall Centra or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of or relating to this documentation or the information contained in it, even if Centra has been advised of the possibility of such damages and whether arising from tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise. This document may only be reproduced and distributed in whole for use by licensed users. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form for any other purpose without the prior written consent of Centra Software, Inc. The software described in this documentation is copyrighted and is confidential information and a proprietary product of Centra Software, Inc. U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. If Entity is the United States Government or any contractor thereof, all licenses granted in the License Agreement accompanying this product are subject to the following: (i) for acquisition by or on behalf of civilian agencies, as necessary to obtain protection as commercial computer software and related documentation in accordance with the terms of this Commercial Software Agreement as specified in 48 C.F.R of the Federal Acquisition Regulations and its successors; (ii) for acquisition by or on behalf of units of the Department of Defense ( DOD ) as necessary to obtain protection as commercial computer software and related documentation in accordance with the terms of this commercial computer software license as specified in 48 C.F.R of the DOD F.A.R. Supplement and its successors. Centra is a registered trademark, and Centra Body Language, Centra 99, Centra Agenda Builder, Centra Business Solution Provider, Centra Choreography, Centra Conference, Centra emeeting, Centra Knowledge Server, Centra Knowledge Center, Centra Knowledge Composer Pro, Centra Knowledge Object Studio, Centra Knowledge Object Suite, CentraNow, CentraOne, Centra Producer, Centra Recorder, Centra Symposium, Centra Instant Meeting Room, Centra SmartConnect, Centra Speed Scheduler, Centra Web Safari, Centra Training and Education and Centra Adaptive Connectivity are trademarks of Centra Software, Inc. All other product names mentioned in this manual are the property and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, and are used for identification purposes only Centra Software, Inc., 430 Bedford Street, Lexington, MA USA (781) or (888) All rights reserved. Printed in the USA Tips for New Leaders Fast Path Series

3 Table of Contents About this Document... 1 Other Sources of Information... 1 Managing the Session... 2 Surveys... 3 Markup Tools and Whiteboard... 4 Text Chat... 4 Interactivity... 5 Application Sharing and Web Safari... 6 Breakout Rooms... 7 Pre-class Leader Preparation Checklist... 8 About this Document This document is for new CentraOne Leaders and anyone coaching or training new Leaders. It lists the most common errors made and offers suggestions to avoid mistakes. While there is no substitute for practice and preparation, these tips and techniques can help new Leaders deliver a smoother, more effective session. Other Sources of Information For further information, please see: CentraOne online sessions. Refer to for a complete listing of online sessions. Recommended classes: CET120A & B Leader Training CET200 Application Sharing and Web Safari CET201 Using Breakout rooms Fast Path to Success With Centra: Best Practices, Tips and Techniques in Live elearning. Download from Page 1

4 Tips for New Leaders Managing the Session Use the following suggestions to avoid common errors when managing a session. Forgetting to Begin the Session CentraOne 5.3 Add a note to a pre-class Leader checklist (sample attached to this document). Put a sticky note on PC monitor CentraOne 6.0 A Begin Session reminder appears on the CentraOne 6.0 interface, which should help avoid this error. But if the Leader flips though the content before the event, this action cancels the begin session reminder. In this case, use suggestions from CentraOne 5.3. Forgetting to Hold Down the Ctrl Key When Speaking Practice more and keep finger over ctrl key. If problem persists, set Lock to Talk in the beginning of the session. Set concurrent speakers to 2, which allows Participants to speak. Try the voice activation setting in the Audio Wizard. Remember, this setting transmits all sounds, so be sure to mute the audio (click the microphone in the audio panel) to avoid broadcasting coughs, interruptions, under-the-breath-comments etc. Ignoring Raised Hands Look at the Participant panel each time you move to a new slide. Practice scanning the entire interface. Train your eyes by dragging the mouse over the interface and following it with your eyes. Trouble Navigating Agenda and Dealing with Folders Leaders may skip over folders that are actually slides (Nesting Allowed option), or skip slides within folders because the folder is collapsed. In Pre-session, expand every folder. Use the Next button only to click through the Agenda. Be consistent when creating the Agenda-- use the Nesting Allowed feature or use the Empty Folder feature in Agenda Builder to create all folders. Page 2

5 Overwhelmed by Client Interface Practice presenting and record the practice session. Focus on using audio, navigating the Agenda, bringing up tools and marking up slides. Review the recording and evaluate your performance. In session (or practice sessions) ignore feedback and Text Chat messages. Take a break every 20 minutes (or appropriate spot in the material) to review chat messages and feedback. Immediately clear Participant panel after every question. Always remove microphones. For small classes, consider leaving Participants with microphones. Give them permission to talk whenever you are not talking. Print your presentation and add notes regarding use of tools. Limit tool use to Yes/No, Raise hand, Whiteboard and Surveys. Limit content to PowerPoint (GIF/JPG) and Evaluations. Limit the number of Participants in the first few sessions. Surveys Use the following suggestions to avoid common errors when using Surveys. Trouble Creating Surveys Create Surveys before class Create questions, type into a word processor, spell check, then copy and paste the questions into the Survey tool. Accidentally Closing Survey Tool CentraOne 5.3 Closing the Survey window removes the Survey and returns to the Agenda. To avoid this, open the Survey tool before beginning the session and drag the Survey window to the bottom of the screen. In session, the Survey window does not cover up the Survey making it less likely for the Leader to close the window by mistake. CentraOne 6.0 Create Surveys in Agenda Builder whenever possible. Page 3

6 Markup Tools and Whiteboard Lecturing to Slides without any Markups Use an assistant to remind you or mark up the slides for you. Add a sticky note to the monitor right next to Symposium window reminding you to markup every slide. Let Participants take turns highlighting the slides for you while you talk. They can use the red ball or check mark. Use a writing tablet. Rehearse using markups and playback the recording to evaluate. Trouble with Markups Set Line/text color, line thickness before the session for both Agenda items and Whiteboard. Do not use the same color for mark-ups as the text on the slide. Do not use the thinnest line thickness. Limit the number of markup tools you try to use while you are getting accustomed to marking up. Text Chat Ignoring Private Chat Look at the Text Chat icon each time you move to a new slide. Open the Text Chat window and move it to the lower right corner of the desktop. Select the Private tab. Practice scanning the entire interface drag the mouse over the interface and track with your eye to train your eye. Overwhelmed by Text Chat Turn off public chat to force Participants to send Private Chat or tell Participants you will only respond to questions sent in Private Chat. Leave chat window open and move it to the lower right of the screen so it doesn t cover the Participant panel. Scan each Private Chat for emergencies. If the message is not urgent, ignore it until you are ready to answer several question at once. Every minutes, stop and answer all questions in Text Chat using audio. DO NOT respond to chat via chat. Do not try to answer every question as soon as it is received. Page 4

7 Interactivity Not Involving the Audience / No Interactivity General Know your content very well. Before class, identify spots for interactivity and create Leader notes. Simple techniques to add interactivity to a lecture: Instead of going from 1 slide containing a bulleted list to a second slide containing a bulleted list, go to the Whiteboard before the second slide. Have the class generate or brainstorm the content on the next slide by giving them a good, open-ended question about the content. Then move to slide 2 and review the points. Before moving to slide 2, turn the bullet points on slide 2 into Yes/No (True/False) questions. Have Participants vote (or guess) with their Yes/No buttons. Then move to slide 2 and review. If appropriate, on slide 2, give everyone microphones and have them check (with markup tools) the most significant bullet point. (Phrase appropriately based on content but script before class.) Give Participants microphones and let them check off the top 2 items they use or are interested in the most. You Ask, Are there any questions? and No One Responds Ask people to click Yes if they have a question and No if they do not, rather than having them raise their hands. Turn a piece of information from the presentation into a Yes/No question and have students vote. For students who voted, call on someone and have him or her justify his or her answer. Ask a question or call for a summary of what was just said. Have all Participants raise their hands. Say, I m thinking of a number and that number was X. Give that person a microphone. For instance, if you thought of the number 3, give a microphone to the person with a 3 next to his/her name. Round robin Have everyone raise his or her hands. Go around the room in this order (or reverse order) and have each Participant provide one piece of information they remembered from the presentation. Text Chat ask an open-ended question (scripted before the event) and have Participants respond via chat. Call on a few people to elaborate. Text Chat have everyone write at least one piece of information from the presentation in Text Chat. Or, call on people and ask them to elaborate. Note: When calling on people, make sure they are in the session by asking them to click yes/no/raise hand button. The silence from calling on someone who has left his/her desk can be awkward. Prepare and script these interaction points before class. Page 5

8 Application Sharing and Web Safari General Attend the online Application Sharing class, course number: CET200. Performance Issues If sharing the desktop, change the desktop to a solid color. Remove any background images. Set the color of title bars to a solid color. Simplify the application (remove any unnecessary tool bars and close unnecessary window). Limit mouse movements, drag and drop, and animations. Confusion Between Web Safari and Application Sharing Ignore Web Safari and only use/learn Application Sharing. Before the event begins, open a browser, type the URL and go to the web page. During the event, Application Share the browser. Sizing the Application to Fit in the Participants Media Window Use two computers in Leader s delivery room. Enroll a dummy Participant into the event and attend from the second machine. Now, the Leader can see what the Participants see. If you do not have two computers: 1. Open the Symposium interface. 2. Open the application window you want to share. 3. Size the application window to the size of media window (place upper left corner of application at upper left corner of media window and resize.) 4. Move application to upper left corner of the desktop. 5. Bring Symposium to the front. 6. Host the application in pre-session mode. Losing Audio During Application Sharing Use Lock to Talk and set concurrent speakers to two or use voice activation. Page 6

9 Controlling Access to the Shared Application Allow only one Participant to access the application at a time. Do not touch or move the mouse while a Participant uses the shared application. Getting Access to a Participant s Application During Application Sharing Before the event, click on your microphone so a green box appears behind it. This allows you to use a shared application from any Participant in the event. Alternatively, set the Appshare Control to Microphone also allows Appshare control. Controlling Remote Application Sharing General Consider delivering a few basic sessions before introducing remote Application Sharing. CentraOne 6.0 Give yourself access to the remote application by clicking on your microphone to display the green box. Breakout Rooms General Consider delivering a few basic sessions without Breakout Rooms. Only introduce Breakout Rooms once you are comfortable with the rest of the interface. Page 7

10 Pre-class Leader Preparation Checklist Before teaching a session online, have you: Setup your delivery area (close the door and post Do Not Disturb sign, turn off your phone, setup notes, water, clock, ). Setup a second Participant machine in the delivery room so you can see what the Participants see (Enroll a dummy Participant, login as Participant and click the Attend link). Close all non-essential applications they can interfere with performance. Set appropriate monitor resolution for Leader (1024 x 768) and remote host (800 x 600) machines. (Optional) Coordinate roles and responsibilities with Co-presenter. (Optional) Setup the remote host machine(s). Print Enrollment report (View Enrollment) for attendance and notes. Click Lead link to start Symposium/Conference/eMeeting. Check Audio by running Audio Wizard. Verify setting for voice activation. (Optional) Set number of concurrent speakers in Tools > Session Options. Launch application(s) to share. Create Surveys for session. Type greeting, contact, and technical support information in Chat. Check URLs used in the event. Import any PowerPoint slides. Move to first item in Agenda. Set default markup colors and line thickness for slides and Whiteboard. Check Participants' audio as they enter the event. Click Begin Session button when ready to start the session. Verify that the recorder started if recording the event. Page 8