Challenges Of All Meetings
First I'll give you the bad news, then the good news. Some of the challenges of online meetings are the same as those of in person meetings.
1 Somebody who said he would give a speech is too busy doing something else. (One rule is that they must check in early. A second is to tell you what meeting conflicts they have. If it sounds legitimate or important or unavaildable you can explain to the audience: John is on a flight from overseas and if he cannot call us that means his flight has been delayed. The third is to have a plan b. Find a substitute speaker.)
2 After all the efforts of the organizers, the numbers of audience members attending are disappointing. Why? Do you need more publicity? Better publicity? Or earlier publicity?
3 Some people arrive late at the meeting. Others leave early.
To take account of those who leave early, repeat or record early information for them. Get information from them before they leave. Ask them to leave contact details. Take a group photo.
Online meetings have their own challenges.
Problem - Sound
1 Sound quality can be erratic.
We started with Learncool. We tried Skype. We went back to Zoom. We wanted to know whether the problem was our end of the other end.
Eventually, by process of elinination, we discovered the solution to the problem and therefore the cause of the problem. When we switched off everybody else's sound to better hear the main speaker, the quality of the sound improved.
Meeting Program
Our second meeting was technically an improvement on the first. We had loaded up the program of the meeting onto the website.
Famous Quotations
I spent several hours creating the slides on Powerpoint to share. My themes were study and work. I had twenty quotations on these two topics. I found the quotations in two books I wrote, Quick Quotations, and Who Said What When.
The second of my books on quotations gave me the dates the person quoted lived and died. I went back to Wikipedia for portraits.
Feedback On What Was Good
The meeting was scheduled to end at 9 pm. But we had started late because of sound problems.
Janet said she enjoyed the fact that the topics were all on the same theme. She also enjoyed the language evaluation.
Shishir said he enjoyed the personal stories during the speechcraft, to illustrate the points.
Suggestions For Improvement
Add speeches and evaluations.
Do more publicity - such as a video. This can be made from recordings of the meeting.
By the end of the meeting we had fewer, so it was a pity we did not take a group photo at the beginning.
Fun Photos
However, we had great photos with stuffed toys. That was an idea I had copied from Singapore Online Toastmasters of which I am a member.
Meetings you can join:
Singapore Online Friday evening 9-12 midnight Singapore time
Harrovians Mondays 7-9 pm evening UK time
Braddell Heights Advanced Wednesdays 7-9 pm Singapore time
These meetings are in English. Other clubs are in French, Spanish, Mandarin, bilingual English and Malay, Tamil and other languages.
Useful Websites
Toastmasters International Find A Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, trainer of speakers. More on sound qulity in the next post. Please share links to useful posts.
First I'll give you the bad news, then the good news. Some of the challenges of online meetings are the same as those of in person meetings.
1 Somebody who said he would give a speech is too busy doing something else. (One rule is that they must check in early. A second is to tell you what meeting conflicts they have. If it sounds legitimate or important or unavaildable you can explain to the audience: John is on a flight from overseas and if he cannot call us that means his flight has been delayed. The third is to have a plan b. Find a substitute speaker.)
2 After all the efforts of the organizers, the numbers of audience members attending are disappointing. Why? Do you need more publicity? Better publicity? Or earlier publicity?
3 Some people arrive late at the meeting. Others leave early.
To take account of those who leave early, repeat or record early information for them. Get information from them before they leave. Ask them to leave contact details. Take a group photo.
Online meetings have their own challenges.
Problem - Sound
1 Sound quality can be erratic.
We started with Learncool. We tried Skype. We went back to Zoom. We wanted to know whether the problem was our end of the other end.
Eventually, by process of elinination, we discovered the solution to the problem and therefore the cause of the problem. When we switched off everybody else's sound to better hear the main speaker, the quality of the sound improved.
Meeting Program
Our second meeting was technically an improvement on the first. We had loaded up the program of the meeting onto the website.
Famous Quotations
I spent several hours creating the slides on Powerpoint to share. My themes were study and work. I had twenty quotations on these two topics. I found the quotations in two books I wrote, Quick Quotations, and Who Said What When.
The second of my books on quotations gave me the dates the person quoted lived and died. I went back to Wikipedia for portraits.
Feedback On What Was Good
The meeting was scheduled to end at 9 pm. But we had started late because of sound problems.
Janet said she enjoyed the fact that the topics were all on the same theme. She also enjoyed the language evaluation.
Shishir said he enjoyed the personal stories during the speechcraft, to illustrate the points.
Suggestions For Improvement
Add speeches and evaluations.
Do more publicity - such as a video. This can be made from recordings of the meeting.
By the end of the meeting we had fewer, so it was a pity we did not take a group photo at the beginning.
Fun Photos
However, we had great photos with stuffed toys. That was an idea I had copied from Singapore Online Toastmasters of which I am a member.
Meetings you can join:
Singapore Online Friday evening 9-12 midnight Singapore time
Harrovians Mondays 7-9 pm evening UK time
Braddell Heights Advanced Wednesdays 7-9 pm Singapore time
These meetings are in English. Other clubs are in French, Spanish, Mandarin, bilingual English and Malay, Tamil and other languages.
Useful Websites
Toastmasters International Find A Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, trainer of speakers. More on sound qulity in the next post. Please share links to useful posts.
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