PROMOTING INTERACTION in C#

Reader PDF 417 in C# PROMOTING INTERACTION

hroughout this book, we have discussed the importance of encouraging interaction in your virtual presentations This chapter is dedicated to guiding you in enhancing your interaction with attendees and the interaction between attendees Interaction is critical to any presentation We are social animals, and we typically enjoy working with others These interactions also encourage doing Both interacting and doing provide your attendees with opportunities to internalize the information in your virtual presentation and make it their own Interacting is easy when the other parties are in the same room; it s a bit more dif cult when they are not But we successfully interact virtually

with people all the time We send e-mails, write notes, talk on the telephone, text message, and some of us even Skype So in promoting interaction in virtual meetings, we are only enhancing skills that we rely on every day

Very few speakers are so polished and compelling that people will stand up clapping or wave their arms in the air To consistently affect people in that way, you would need to be a politician, a religious leader, or Tony Robbins Most of us need to earn that type of intensity, and we do so by creating meaningful interactions with our audience As we all know, dynamic interactions do not just happen We plan them, ne-tune them, and practice them until they are predictably fantastic

Enticing attendees to participate in your virtual meeting by including polls or typed questions and responses is a step in the right direction, but remember to frame these questions in terms of their value to the audience, not to you If you start your presentation with a poll asking people to provide you with sales-oriented information, you put them on the defensive Make sure that you have given value to your listeners before you demand value from them Each time you ask for information, tell them how answering your question will bene t them: This step will help me customize our session to make sure that I address the things that you want to hear about If you receive typed comments or questions from the audience, refer to the questioner by rst name, putting a personal touch on the communication and letting attendees know that you are truly paying attention to them as individuals

The Truth about Polling Do not expect 100 percent participation in the polls Give participants adequate time to respond, but do not slow down the action It is a bit like waiting for a bag of popcorn to pop First you hear bursts of popping, and then it just trickles down to a gradual halt Close the poll when the responding trickles down You also do not want to give participants a chance to change their answers when they see that they have given an unpopular one Some seasoned virtual presenters keep the results of the poll hidden until the end of the poll It s boring when everyone agrees

When you are planning your virtual presentation: 1 Close your eyes and imagine that your audience is in front of you What would you do if you were face-to-face with an audience Keep this in your mind s eye until you can feel the activity and experience its energy 2 Now imagine what you would do if you and the audience could not see you or each other How would you use your voice, your words, canned demonstrations, or outside materials to achieve the same effect Gather your imagination until you can feel yourself in the middle of it You are observing the attendees and reacting to them Then ride it out in your mind See how it goes Fine-tune it and play it out 3 Once you have done and completed all this, write it down Good interactions also need to be rehearsed and ne-tuned So before the big day, rehearse interactive activities with friends and colleagues just as you would presentations and demonstrations, and smooth out any rough spots