{"id":3510,"date":"2018-04-10T13:02:07","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/67.249.26.136\/wordpress\/?p=3510"},"modified":"2018-04-10T13:09:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T17:09:42","slug":"webinar-etiquette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/?p=3510","title":{"rendered":"Webinar Etiquette"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>If you\u2019ve led a charmed existence and never had to suffer the pain of \u201cparticipating\u201d in a webinar or a web conference\/meeting, you can stop reading now and consider yourself lucky. \u00a0Go buy a lottery ticket.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For the rest of you, I\u2019m sorry. \u00a0A well-run and -moderated webinar is a rarity. \u00a0As participants, we are subjected to legions of peers who have no concept of \u201cmute,\u201d and thus suffer an endless barrage of dogs barking, babies crying, doorbells and phones ringing, food chewing, drink slurping, and open-mouth breathing. \u00a0Here are my tips (pleas?) for both hosts and participants of webinars to avoid all of that.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div><em>Hosts<\/em>:<\/div>\n<div>Consider using the right tool for the job. \u00a0If all you need is audio, then a webinar is overkill. \u00a0There are lots of free conference call services. \u00a0Sign up with one and just e-mail your participants the access code. \u00a0Use a webinar tool only if you or your participants need to share non-audio information as part of the conversation, e.g., display a PowerPoint or share your desktop in order to show\/demonstrate something.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>If you do decide a webinar is the right tool, seriously consider forcing all participants to use webinar\/computer audio instead of telephone audio. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because it forces them to actually join the webinar! \u00a0I don\u2019t know how many times I\u2019ve seen it: an invitation is sent out. \u00a0The invitation specifies in the details of the event that there will be stuff to be seen. \u00a0A dial-in option is offered. \u00a0Users inevitably dial in. \u00a0When the stuff is put on screen, SOMEONE will pipe up, \u201cwait wait\u2026I only dialed in!\u201d \u00a0The worst for me is joining a webinar, headset\/mic at the ready, only to find that the only way to get audio is via phone. \u00a0Ugh.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div><em>Participants<\/em>:<\/div>\n<div>If someone has requested your participation in a webinar, then you should have the appropriate tools. \u00a0This includes a headset with a microphone. \u00a0Your computer\u2019s built-in speakers and microphone are fine for personal Skype\/Facetime, but on a webinar with more than 2 (possibly dozens of) people, it\u2019s not going to cut it. \u00a0In order to be properly hear and be heard, you must have a headset and microphone.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>If you are participating in a conference call, do NOT use a speakerphone! \u00a0Pick up your handset or use a headset. \u00a0There is no such thing as a good-sounding speakerphone, at least as far as the people on the other end of it are concerned. \u00a0This is especially true if you are the presenter.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>No matter how you participate, the mute button is your friend! \u00a0All participants should remain muted unless they are speaking. \u00a0This prevents feedback, buzz, and everyone participating from being assaulted with every belch, fart, slamming door, and ringing phone in the background. \u00a0If the moderator\/host of your webinar does not inflict muting upon you by default, have the courtesy to check your own control and make certain that it\u2019s active unless you are speaking.<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div>I sense I\u2019ve lost this battle. \u00a0People seem to be in love with their phones even when a phone is not the most appropriate tool for the job at hand.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve led a charmed existence and never had to suffer the pain of \u201cparticipating\u201d in a webinar or a web conference\/meeting, you can stop reading now and consider yourself lucky. \u00a0Go buy a lottery ticket. For the rest of you, I\u2019m sorry. \u00a0A well-run and -moderated webinar is a rarity. \u00a0As participants, we are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3510"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3516,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3510\/revisions\/3516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/romeyn.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}