This document provides best practices for conducting effective web conferences and facilitated discussions for practitioners. It discusses preparing high-quality content by establishing clear learning objectives and ensuring presentations are tailored to audience needs. It emphasizes the importance of rehearsals and having backup plans. When facilitating, it recommends actively engaging participants through discussion, sharing resources, and using social media. The document also provides tips for technical aspects like lighting, audio quality, and recording options to create a professional online experience.

1. Best Practices for Conducting Web
Conferences and Facilitated
Practitioner Discussion
Jerry Buchko, M.A., AFC®
Martie Gillen, Ph.D., MBA
Michael Gutter, Ph.D.
Molly Herndon, M.S.
Barbara O'Neill, Ph.D., CFP, CRPC, AFC®, CHC, CFEd, CFCS

2. Purpose
• Provide best practices to increase the capacity of
financial counseling and education professionals
– Conducting web conferences (webinars)

3. • Launched in 2012
• Active online teaching community comprised of
– Cooperative Extension faculty
– Military family service professionals from the DoD, branch services
– Non-governmental organizations
• Federal government grant-funded program is a collaborative effort of
– eXtension
– Cooperative Extension
– DoD
– NIFA, USDA

4. Who is our audience?
● Personal Financial
Management
Program Managers
(PFMs) working
with service
members
● Extension
Educators working
with military
service members
Financial counselor passionate for helping service members courtesy of Joint
Base Myer-Henderson Hall. CC BY2.0.

5. Military Families Learning Network
Personal Finance
• Monthly web conferences offer credentialed
participants the opportunity to earn continuing
education unit (CEU) credit at no cost.
• Since 2012, the MFLNPF Concentration Area has
provided certificates for more than 10,000 AFCPE
CEUs to more than 6,000 personal finance web
conference participants through the delivery of 64
online web conferences on a wide variety of
personal finance topics.

6. • Link for webinars presented by all MFLN concentration areas:
http://www.extension.org/pages/62581/military-families-learning-
network-webinars
• During live webinars, viewers can use All Partners Access Network
(APAN), YouTube Live, or the Adobe Connect app.
How to Access MFLN Webinars

7. 2012-2016 MFLNPF Webinars
• All webinars are archived at learn.extension.org
• First webinar: 2/2/12- Housing and Foreclosure for
Military Families
• Last 2016 webinar: 12/6/16- 2016 Personal Finance
Year in Review
• Total of 64 webinars in five years (14 webinars per
year)

8. Making Webinars Succeed
• Received 2014 AFCPE Outstanding
Educational Program Award
• Expert presenters
• Continuing Education Units

9. MFLNPF Webinar Course
Online Course Repository: Register, then search for "MFLN Personal
Finance​"

10. Get up!
1. Have you used online, digital video and audio
tools? Which ones?
2. Have you presented a webinar and/or live
streaming broadcast?
3. If you have presented a webinar, did you do so
within an organization? Or as a solo
practitioner?
Video published on YouTube.com by v4ngos

11. Creating a Webinar
CCO Public Domain via Pixabay.com

12. Theory of Change
Collaboration
Participants connect across disciplines,
organizations, and geographic locations
Andragogy
Active and Experiential Learners
Adaptability
Adaptive, Multidisciplinary, Holistic
approaches to learning and service delivery

13. Content Preparation
• Begin with learning objectives: start with the end
result in mind
• Who will deliver the presentation?
– Financial practitioner? Military finance
expert?
– What will the delivery style be?
– Will there be an honorarium or speaking fee?

14. Content Preparation
• What type of presentation best compliments the
content?
– Engaged participant discussion?
– Technical, straightforward instruction?
• How will you gauge your success?
– Evaluative data? How will the data influence
your programming?

15. Content Preparation
• How will you gauge your success?
– Evaluative data? How will the data influence
your programming?

16. Content Preparation
Use 4:3 aspect ratio for slide/page size (as a rule
of thumb)
Photo by Infographe_Elle. Morguefile
license.
Use clean, clear images

17. Content Preparation
● Consider a pre-webinar task: read-ahead
materials
● Make slides and handouts available to
participants
● Target your materials to your audience
(professionals versus consumers)
● Consider the CEU approval requirements

18. Delivering A Webinar
CCO Public Domain via Pixabay.com

19. Webinar Rehearsals
• Presenters and anyone who will be facilitating. COLLABORATIVE
process. Feedback.
• Slides reviewed for clarity, consistency, content accuracy.
• Takes place within the webinar environment itself.
• Two weeks before the webinar/event date itself, so that there’s
plenty of time for needed changes to content and/or technical
preparation.
• The more prep & rehearsal, the greater likelihood of positive
outcome.

20. • Moderators and engaged
participants working the
chat pod to answer
questions, stimulate
conversation, provide
resources.
• Calling participants by
name when responding to
chat pod comments
• Activities spark
engagement: putting
money in a jar, using the
whiteboard
Facilitating Discussion
Photo by Firm Bee via Pixabay.com CC0 Public Domain

21. • Have a backup plan: exchange scripts or speaking
points with other members of your team
• Have scripted Q&As to help start the discussion or
keep it going
Facilitating Discussion

22. “Just in Case”
• Exchange cell phone numbers “just in case”
• Have a glass of water handy
• Have IT back-up support to troubleshoot
“issues”
• Use two monitors in the event of a “freeze up”
• PowerPoint slides on one
• Webinar platform on the other

23. Continuing Discussion
• Engagement
• Wrap Arounds
• Learner-Centered
• Coordinating with other areas of practice
• Resource lists
• Social media: share resources, recordings

24. Facebook Live

25. Common Webinar Features
& Tools
Photo by Jerry Buchko. Used
with permission.
Photo by Jerry Buchko.
Used with permission.
Photo by Molly Herndon. Used with
permission.

26. Fundamental Challenges
Within a shared organizational space, you usually benefit from a
relatively greater degree of standardization & control
• Participants are using roughly the same equipment &
software
• Have received roughly the same level of training in using
these tools
• Accessing webinar on a shared, managed network with in-
house IT support

27. Outside of a shared organization space
•You may not have direct control over the webinar software
tools & networks you’re using
•No standardized level of network access, equipment, available
tools, and training of the presenters, facilitators, and other
participants
Each of these becomes a potential point of friction and
breakdown, so understand and prepare for them
Fundamental Challenges

28. Calibrate Your System Display(s)

29. Webcam Controls
Become familiar with how they work to
fine tune your video image

30. Lighting
Light positioned in front & slightly above
the face to remove any harsh shadows
on the face
Webcams generally require more light intensity
(lumens) than you might expect, e.g. 3200-6400
lumens (equivalent to ~ 200-400 watts)
Diffused lighting (to
reduce shine &
harshness)

31. Find or craft a background that
will be pleasant, professional,
but not too busy or distracting
Composition
Wear solid
colors; avoid
wrinkled clothes,
busy patterns,
and stripes to
avoid distraction

32. Use a Headset with a Built-In Microphone
Preferably wired USB rather than wireless, with noise
cancellation capability
Photo by Jerry Buchko. Used with
permission.
Mute, block, or otherwise address any potential
unwanted ambient noise
Learn where your mute
buttons are - on the
headset, on your
system, within the
software (because
sneezes, coughs, sips of
water, etc)

33. Audio Controls
Become familiar with how they work to
fine tune what you hear & what you’re
broadcasting for your audience to hear

34. Livestreaming and
Recording
There are many options for live
broadcasting and recording for
webinars
You can use video capture software/apps to create
a video file that can then be uploaded & shared
Some webinar & broadcast services will have
recording capability built into their service

35. Your Tips
What tips can you share?
What did we miss?

36. Upcoming Event
2016 Personal Finance Year in Review
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET
Presenter: Dr. Barbara O’Neill
https://learn.extension.org/events/2815

37. Andersen, Maria (2010). Tips for Effective Webinars. eLearn Magazine. Retrieved
from http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1710034
Ayres, Meryl (2016). 6 Quick Tips for Looking Good on Camera. Wistia Blog.
Retrieved from https://wistia.com/blog/looking-good-on-camera
Britton, Shelby (2013). Six Tips for New Webinar Presenters. The Adobe Connect
Blog. Retrieved from http://blogs.adobe.com/adobeconnect/2013/12/six-tips-for-
new-webinar-presenters.html
Currier, Alyce (2016). You Can Look Snazzy on a Webcam. Wistia Blog. Retrieved
from https://wistia.com/blog/snazzy-on-webcam
Digital Trends Staff (2016). How To Calibrate Your Monitor For The Best Viewing
Experience Possible. Digitaltrends.com. Retrieved from
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-calibrate-your-monitor/
Energystar.gov. (2016). Color and Mood. Retrieved from
https://www.energystar.gov/products/lighting_fans/light_bulbs/color_mood
Resources

38. Hendrix, L., Poling, M., Robinson, J. & Kiss, E. (2016). Zoom Meetings & Webinars:
Best Practices and Arkansas Tales from the Trenches. eXtension Learn. Retrieved
from https://learn.extension.org/events/2821
Hobby, David (2007). Strobist: How to Improve Your Cheapo Webcam's Picture
Quality. Strobist Blog. Retrieved from http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-
to-improve-your-cheapo-webcams.html
Hoffman, Chris (2015). How to Calibrate Your Monitor on Windows or Mac. (2016).
Howtogeek.com. Retrieved from http://www.howtogeek.com/236490/how-to-
calibrate-your-monitor-on-windows-or-mac/
Montana, South Dakota, and Idaho Cooperative Extension (2016). Webinar Training
for Educators Worksheets. Retrieved from
http://www.msuextension.org/solidfinances/documents/webinarbestpracticeswo
rksheets.pdf
Resources

39. PresenterNet.com (2009). Seven Tips for Creating a Great Webinar. Retrieved from
http://www.presenternet.com/information/7tips/GreatWebinarTips.pdf
Zoom Meetings & Webinars: Best Practices and Arkansas Tales from the Trenches
(2016). eXtension Learn. Retrieved from https://learn.extension.org/events/2821
Resources

40. Connect With Us!
Dr. Martie Gillen
Principal Investigator
mgillen@ufl.edu
@MoneyMattersMG
Molly Herndon
Social Media Specialist
mollyh2@extension.org
@MFLNPF
Dr. Barbara O’Neill
Outreach Coordinator
oneill@aesop.rutgers.edu
@MoneyTalk1
Jerry Buchko, MA, AFC®
Practitioner Consultant
jerry.buchko@gmail.com
@JerryBuchko
Michael Gutter, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
msgutter@ufl.edu
@mikegutter