Webinar Wire

Demos to Mixed Local and Remote Audiences – Tips to Handle Combination Situations

Posted by Peter E. Cohan February 25 2009 8:13 PM EDT

What is the strategy for handling situations where you are face-to-face with one group of customers and other participants are connecting remotely?  Treat the entire session as if it is a Remote Demo.

Yes, this will force you, as the presenter, to remain at your laptop computer – but it also means that you’ll remember to use the mouse for all of your movements (to point, annotate, highlight, etc.), as opposed to hand motions or using a stick or laser pointer.  We have to bear in mind that anything done outside of the collaboration software won’t be seen by the remote audience.

Here are some additional tactics to consider in these “mixed” situations:

-         During your introduction, be sure to have everyone at each location introduce themselves (if the total audience is less than ~20 participants) – ask:

o   What is your name?

o   What is your job title?

o   What one thing do you want to make sure we accomplish today?

-         If possible, ask a remote participant to be an active “host” to serve as a conduit of information to you:

o   Are there delays – latency – with the collaboration tool displaying your software or presentation?

o   Can they hear your voice adequately (can you hear theirs, as well)?

o   Can they see the full screen?

o   Does anyone have a question or are confused, based on their expression?

-         All “pointing” needs to be done via the collaboration software – so that both the face-to-face and remote audiences can see what you are pointing at…

-         Don’t use physical props, unless you can use the sound the prop generates to communicate the idea effectively over the microphone/phone system.

-         Repeat questions that are asked from audience members – for both groups.  It will likely be difficult for every audience member to hear all of the other audience members…

-         Remember to continually engage the remote audience, in addition to those who are face-to-face with you.  Causatively ask the remote folks specific questions, to keep their attention.

-         If you choose to engage in a mock “role-play” scenario, choose a remote audience member as the first participant.  Add a local participant to the role-play, in addition, if the scenario supports it.

-         Similarly, invite a remote audience member to “drive”, if appropriate – this will serve to engage both local and remote participants.

-         For ad hoc work, use the collaboration tool’s whiteboard capabilities – or use a blank PowerPoint slide, if the collaboration tool lacks whiteboard functionality.

-         Capture “Good Questions” in a Microsoft Word document as a “Not Now List” or “Parking Lot”, so that both face-to-face and remote audiences can see and participate in the process.

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Stunningly Awful Remote Demos - The Top Ten List of Inflicting Pain at a Distance

Posted by Peter E. Cohan February 23 2009 11:30 PM EDT

3 comments

You are watching someone else’s demonstration, via WebEx, and you are getting bored.  Someone comes into your office – you mute the speakerphone and chat with your colleague for a few minutes.  She leaves and you return back to the demo, still in progress, and un-mute the phone…

After another few minutes of listening listlessly, you receive an email message – you flip over to email, respond to that message, then you idly review your Inbox – while the demonstrator’s voice drones on about, “Another really nice thing about our software is all of the file types we can handle.  Let me show you…”

Does this sound familiar?  Has the demo made a strong (positive) impression with you?  Likely not!  Now turn the situation around and imagine that it is your organization delivering the demo to one of your prospects…  Ouch!

If your organization’s Remote Demonstrations are not as successful as you wish, consider using this list as an assessment tool.  If these items “ring too true” then you may want to contemplate making some changes…

The Stunningly Awful Demos (“SAD”) Remote Demos Top Ten List:

1.      Don’t Learn the Technology:  “Gosh this is boring…”

Assume that delivering a Remote Demo is just the same as presenting face-to-face.  Ignore all of the tools and capabilities that the folks at WebEx, Live Meeting (Microsoft), et al have implemented to enable you to increase your level of interactivity with your customers.

By all means, do not set up a session ahead of time with a colleague from your own company to try out the capabilities and get feedback on what works well. 

Instead, simply assume that your audience is paying rapt attention as you describe the seven layers of security associated with logging-in to your application…

2.      Don’t Test the Technology ahead of time:  “Sorry, we can’t seem to join the meeting…”

Schedule a Remote Demo for, say, 11:00 AM with the customer – preferably with a large audience – and spend the first 15 minutes “joining” the WebEx or Live Meeting session.  This will ensure that your audience is bored and already contemplating leaving for another meeting or back to their desks to “get some real work done…”

To maximize the potential negative impact, don’t have your customer test their firewall or network/computing infrastructure to make sure that the collaboration software will work in their environment.  Leave this until the start of the meeting to increase the possibility of technical challenges.  After all, many IT groups are absolutely delighted to see their end-users downloading unknown components onto corporate machines…!

Along the same lines, pay no attention to screen resolution.  It is best to find out that the audience can only see a fraction of your screen fifty minutes into the demo…

3.      Present to a Large, Unqualified Audience:  “Why are we here…?” 

Dramatically decrease your success rates by presenting demos to large, unqualified audiences – even better, encourage your customer to include people from multiple, disparate sites and time-zones.  For the greatest (negative) impact, launch right into your demo without any mutual introductions, review of objectives or, God forbid, any brief qualification of any new players.

4.      Use a Speakerphone:  “What…?”

To maximize miscommunication, use a speakerphone on your end.  That way, you can appear to be yelling into the phone when you are speaking directly into it – and your voice will fade to a mumbling whisper when you turn back to your screen during the demo. 

5.      Use a flat, monotonic, Passionless Voice:  “Yawn…”

You’ll have your audience sleeping peacefully in no time with this approach!  Nothing says “boredom” like a flat, passionless voice presenting from a speakerphone…

It is always best to assume that your audience knows you intimately, can see your eloquent gestures and hear your subtle changes in tone.  And by all means, don’t work to compensate for the inability of the audience to see you by putting more energy and dynamics in your verbal delivery.

6.      Move your Mouse Rapidly:  “Where’s the Dramamine…?”

“Oh my God, he’s got ‘Zippy Mouse Syndrome’…!”  Few things excite an audience as much as trying to track a mouse moving like lightening via a web connection – and lightening is a good analogy.  The mouse appears briefly, then disappears, only to appear again in a flash somewhere else on the screen.  The element of surprise is high, enabling customers to play Mouse Location Bingo.  “I wonder where the mouse will appear next?” 

To add to this effect, make sure to click much faster than the collaboration software can keep up.  This will enable you to finish the demo a good ten minutes before your audience does…! 

Even better, your “voice-over” will be several screens ahead of what your audience is seeing, proving to the audience how skilled you are with your software.  This strategy will also help prepare for your next career in fortune-telling…

7.      Eliminate Interactivity:  “Any questions so far…?”

Visualize that you are presenting to an audience of cardboard cut-outs.  This will help ensure that you minimize any possible interactions with your audience.  Don’t draw them into the demo, don’t make it a conversation, and absolutely don’t use any of the tools that might generate real interactivity:

-         Don’t ask specific questions, such as, “Can you see my mouse pointing at the logo?”

-         Don’t use the highlighter, arrow or pen tools, as they only mess-up an otherwise pristine screen.

-         Don’t ask the audience to change their seat colors, raise their virtual hands, or use the chat dialog – doing so would only interrupt your flow.

-         Don’t offer to let someone in the audience “drive” – this would be far too exciting for the audience and might risk real engagement.

If you must ask a question, remember that the safest question to ask in a Remote Demo is, “Are there any questions so far…?” The sound you typically hear in response to this question is the sound of crickets in huge, open meadow…

8.      Don’t use an Agenda or Roadmap:  “Where is this going…?”

It is best if your audience has no clue as to your overall plan for the demo – that way, every topic will be a wonderful surprise.  To ensure this effect, eliminate presenting any agenda or demo roadmap from your meeting.  And, by all means, if you make the mistake of sharing an agenda at the beginning of the meeting, make certain to never show it again! 

Even better, present your demo as a long, complex story, with multiple fictional characters and a storyline that braids together several storylines.  Jump back and forth between these characters as you present the benefits to their counterparts in the audience.  Make sure that you move seamlessly from section to section, module to module, while applying the other techniques in this list.

This strategy should have your audience lost by the ten minute mark (“Who was the character named ‘Bob’, again?”).  Even better, the lack of any clear demarcations between demo segments will ensure that once lost, your audience will never be able to rejoin the story.  The good news is that they will be able to use the time in the demo to do their email, since you can’t see that they got lost...!

9.      Point at Your Screen with Your Finger:  “If you look right here…” 

Yes, audiences are clairvoyant – they can accurately visualize your every motion and gesture via a speakerphone.  This is why pointing at your own screen with your finger (“If you look right here…”) is such an effective approach in Remote Demonstrations.

As an exercise, practice developing this and related skills by gesturing broadly when you are talking on a cell telephone while driving in a car.  Your audience will mysteriously be able to visualize points you are making…!  For extra credit, practice your remote gesturing while on a cell phone driving on the freeway or autobahn during rush hour.

10.  Follow the advice in the Stunningly Awful Demos Top Ten List: 

If you do manage to generate interactivity and engage your audience by ignoring the previous nine items, you can still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by following the devastating advice found in the Stunningly Awful Demos Top Ten List article.  Here are the key items to keep in mind to maximize your chances for failure:

§   Present a Linear Demo from beginning to end - “Where is this going…?”

§   Start with a Corporate Overview - “Death by Corporate Overview…” 

§   Don’t reconfirm the Time Constraints for the meeting - “Sorry, we’re out of time…”

§   Show as many Features as possible - “…And another thing you can do is…”

§   Show the same demo, regardless of the Customer’s Depth of Interest - “One for all…”

§   Let Questions interrupt and take control of your demo - “But what about…?”

§   Let Bugs and Crashes consume you - “Gee, it’s never done that before…”

§   Limit the time you show your big Pay-Off Screen - “Ta-da…  Any questions?” 

§   Avoid Summarizing - “And the next thing is…”

Practice and perfect the items on these lists and you’ll join the hallowed ranks of the Sales Prevention Team at your organization.  In any case, following these “Top Ten” SAD Remote Demo guidelines will certainly increase the probability that your demos will not help you achieve your goals. 

When you do these ten simple things, you should expect your audience to say, “That was a Stunningly Awful Demo!”

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Bad News For Travel Budgets = Good News For Webinars

Posted by Larry Kilbourne February 20 2009 11:13 PM EDT

2 comments

By Larry Kilbourne

A recent business journal article calls attention to a study released by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives showing that over 70% of its member companies are planning to cut corporate travel expenditures by 10 - 20% in 2009.  The cost impact, they say, could exceed $2B.  That's not small change - talking either money or plans!  The association noted that this downsizing in travel is a major shift from corporate plans a mere five months ago.

In a similar vein, The New York Times reports that a survey conducted jointly by American Express and Meeting Professionals International shows that 7% of meetings scheduled to be held in 2009 have been cancelled, while attendance at those remaining will be down.  And Rachel Wimberly at Tradeshow Week noted just yesterday that President Obama's warning to financial institutions to avoid Vegas 'junkets' on the taxpayers' dime is likely to further depress the convention economy this year.

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Ethics And Legality Of Lead Sharing

Posted by Ken Molay February 17 2009 9:52 PM EDT

1 comment

Debra sent in a tricky little question. Her company hosted a lead generation webinar that included a guest speaker. The speaker asked for a copy of the contact list generated from the webinar, since he helped generate the leads. Debra wants to know if there are legal implications to sharing the leads -- and either way, what are best practices and guidelines in this area.

Standard disclaimer here: I am not a lawyer and my understanding of the legal implications of any business process is to be discounted, disregarded, disputed, and disparaged.

Your self-study resources include:

• Full text of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (21 pages)
• FTC Summary of the CAN-SPAM Act for businesses (1 page)
• ConsumerPrivacyGuide.org

My read on the subject seems to indicate that there is no breach of the CAN-SPAM law inherent in the process of sharing the leads with your partner. Of course both of you have to adhere to the basic tenets of the Act. That means things like allowing recipients to opt out of further communications from you, not mailing to people who have opted out in the past, and not using deceptive subject lines to fool people into reading your email. So far, so good.

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The 10-20-30 PowerPoint Rule

Posted by Ken Molay February 11 2009 7:32 PM EDT

Todd wrote in to share a video of Guy Kawasaki talking about his 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule. I have been aware of "Guy's Law" since his original blog post in 2005. The video is essentially a live reading of the same points he made on his blog.

Guy is a fun and accomplished presenter and public speaker. Heck, the man invented the concept of product evangelism, so he should be good at spreading enthusiasm for his points of view! The video is less than two minutes long and well worth watching. It's a great example of an irreverent, conversational presentation style, delivered succinctly, powerfully, and with personal warmth.

The 10-20-30 rule has received regular reference and reverence by bloggers and pundits since its appearance. It works well because it is easy to remember and summarize: Presentations should have 10 slides, should last 20 minutes, and should have font sizes at or above 30 points.

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Teaching Small Groups Via Webinar – Part 2

Posted by Michael Schwartz February 6 2009 7:30 AM EDT

In this second of two parts I will provide tips and techniques to teach a small group via webinar in which the participants are from the same location and join the session as a group in a single conference rooom.

On-site coordinator: Identify a reliable, organized ‘partner’ who works with the group that will attend the webinar.

Logistics: Your on-site coordinator is responsible for reserving the meeting room and assures you have an internet connection, LCD projector, screen and speaker phone with multiple speakers if possible. Your partner also copies and distributes worksheets and handouts before and during the session.

Dry run: Schedule a short practice session with your on-site coordinator a day or two before the webinar. Use this session to familiarize your partner with his or her duties during the webinar and troubleshoot any technical difficulties.

Content: The learning objective and material to be covered should be sharply focused to fit into the webinar time frame.

Number of sessions: The amount of material to be covered will dictate whether one session or multiple sessions are necessary.

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Teaching Small Groups Via Webinar – Part 1

Posted by Michael Schwartz February 5 2009 10:16 AM EDT

For 13 years I conducted newsroom training for newspapers located in several states. Much of the training was on-site, but I also developed a 'Distance Learning Program' that included conducting classes for small groups through webinars.

The topics ranged from journalism skills-based topics such as writing more clearly and alternative story forms, to management skills such as efficiency and how to be effective as a new editor.

I conducted single sessions, as well as classes that required up to six sessions to complete.

I used two models to conduct the classes:

#1 – A class in which participants joined the session from different locations.

#2 – A class in which participants were from the same location and joined the session as a group in a single conference room.

Here are some tips and best practices I learned from teaching these two different types of small groups in a webinar environment.

In this first of two parts the tips and techniques relate to teaching a small group via webinar in which the participants join the session from different locations.

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Put The First Name First

Posted by Ken Molay January 28 2009 12:49 AM EDT

1 comment

I was reading a post by George Page on the AccuConference blog and particularly appreciated one of his tips. Although George was talking about audio conferences, his advice on the use of first names applies just as well to web conferences.

If you are going to ask a question of another presenter or an attendee, state their name at the beginning of your sentence instead of the end. To quote George's example:

Incorrect:  "What were last week's numbers, Mike?"

Correct:  "Mike, I've got a question for you: what were last week's numbers?"

The second version gets their attention and lets them know that the subsequent words are addressed directly to them. It can help reduce pauses between speakers and might help you avoid the embarrassing response of "What was that? I wasn't listening."

Good call, George!

Excuse me.

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Giving Demos Via Webinar

Posted by Ken Molay January 20 2009 4:39 PM EDT

We've made it to the last question in the Webinar Top Ten FAQ list! We're finishing with whether live demos are a good idea for the webinar environment.

Answer: They can be. But all too often, they aren't.

First of all, the majority of software demos, just like the majority of PowerPoint presentations, are designed and delivered poorly. There are learned skills and best practices you can apply to demos, whether delivered on a stage, on your laptop to an individual sitting next to you, or on a webinar. This post isn't going to talk about ways to make the demo itself a better one. If you're looking for resources on that subject, try The Second Derivative, where Peter Cohan has workshops, books, and a blog on the subject.

When you decide to include a live demo as part of your webinar content, you face challenges that aren't a part of showing one in a room-based setting. Let's take a look at some of them:

1) Many web conferencing applications show a screen share session inside a window of their own console frame. That means your viewers have distractions drawing their eye from the demo. The worst situation is when you have scroll bars in your demo and your viewers have scroll bars in their local display window. It gets very confusing trying to figure out who gets to control which section of the display!

2) Even the best web conferencing screen sharing algorithms will encounter lag times and difficulties with smooth repaints. That means that the lovely animated shrinking windows and smooth page scrolling in your application that you want to show off instead comes out as jumpy, choppy sequences of images. You may leave a bad impression in the minds of your viewers if smooth motion is a key point for your software.

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Charging For Web Events

Posted by Ken Molay January 19 2009 4:54 PM EDT

1 comment

We're rapidly running down the list of Top Ten Webinar FAQs. Today's topic is whether to charge for web seminars and how much to charge.

I have taken heat on this issue in the past. I wrote a post on the subject on The Webinar Blog that received quite a few comments. Paul Colligan even wrote a post in response where he referred to my "silly blog post." So I wrote a follow-on post with more thoughts on the subject.

The fact is that it takes more planning, more technical integration, and more administrative attention to run a webinar with paid registration. You have fewer technology vendors to choose from if you want a complete, integrated do it yourself registration/payment/delivery system.

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