Organizers say the online content is allowing them to reach a new audience who may not have the money or time to attend the annual conference in person and it has not taken away from the event’s in-person attendance, which has been growing steadily each year.
The quality of an online event is largely determined by the ability of presenters to engage virtual attendees. Educause, a nonprofit association for information technology leaders in higher education, recognizes this need and developed comprehensive resources to help its presenters increase effectiveness. An online “speaker concierge” service provides links to best practices, presentations, Twitter tips, and a free subscription to order five books about presentation skills. The resources are available to the speakers at the Educause Annual Conference, which had 63 sessions streamed online in 2012, and to speakers leading exclusive online sessions, of which there were 40.
Last year the organization also began offering one-on-one training for speakers leading an online session. “[The speakers] can meet with one of our experts to run through their slides and get feedback on their slides, polls, and content,” said Victoria Fanning, director of hybrid and online meetings for Educause. “The speakers have found the one-on-one consultations to be an incredible professional development opportunity.” The consultations last about 45 minutes and take place in the same virtual “room” where the speaker will present during the conference. About 45 of the 88 online speakers took advantage of the service last year. For this year’s conference, scheduled for October in Anaheim, California, Fanning plans to provide speakers access to technical tutorials ahead of time, so the training session can focus on the content of presentations.
Educause also provides a “hosting and facilitation kit” to encourage groups of people to gather to experience the online conference together using just one purchased log-in. The kit includes items such as promotional flyers as well as information on how to set up the technology, suggestions for food and beverages, and tips for facilitating discussions. In 2012, the online conference garnered 400 log-ins from 14 countries; many of the sessions had multiple people participating, including one group of 200 people in Canada using a single log-in.
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