Engaging Isolation - What I've Learned Delivering 250 Webinar Hours during COVID times
•
3 likes•860 views
In this workshop I will share my experience as a full-time trainer since the COVID-19 outbreak, discussing the techniques I tried, what failed, and what worked, how delivering workshops changed, and what must you do to adapt to today's savage training environment. This is not a sales pitch, but I really want to help you during these times. Agenda: - Impactful content type - Ideal group size - Ways to adjust the content to remote audiences - Engaging techniques that really work - Critical Timing: tricks for better time-use - The art of asking for questions - Ways to persist your impact after the session - Building trust that Online Does Work! - When and How to gather significant feedback? - Marketing your webinar Target Audience: The discussion is not technical (doesn't involve many programming concepts), so anyone interesting in delivering, facilitating or contracting effective online training sessions is invited. Also those preparing to deliver a talk at a conference can benefit from many ideas
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (14)
Similar to Engaging Isolation - What I've Learned Delivering 250 Webinar Hours during COVID times
Similar to Engaging Isolation - What I've Learned Delivering 250 Webinar Hours during COVID times (20)
More from Victor Rentea
More from Victor Rentea (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Engaging Isolation - What I've Learned Delivering 250 Webinar Hours during COVID times
- 1. @VictorRentea1victorrentea.teachable.com victorrentea.ro victorrentea@gmail.com . Engaging Isolation What I've Learned Delivering 250 hours of Webinars in COVID Times
- 2. @VictorRentea2 me 2000 – First large program (AI-game) 2006 – Earn a living in Java Highly-certified ☺ PhD(CS) 2012 – First internal training 2015 – First independent training 2020 – Gave up my full-time job (Lead Architect at IBM) ... 61 more followed My Life 2016 – First conference talk ... 43 followed > Lead 7 Projects > 500h+ of pair-programming VictorRentea.ro victorrentea@gmail.com
- 3. @VictorRentea3 me 2500 training hours 2000 trainees 12 topics, very technical (list at the end) My Passion 30 webinar days after COVID In-house for 40 companies victorrentea.ro On Teachable for anyone victorrentea.teachable.com VictorRentea.ro victorrentea@gmail.com
- 4. @VictorRentea4 4 30 webinar days after COVID What have I learned?
- 5. @VictorRentea5 Preparing the training - No of participants: 12 .. 20 - If you take less than 12 you won't have enough answers to engage the audience. - Someone in a training with more than 20 participants might feel they are not important - (25 if they are seniors or highly motivated to learn) - Too few- no questions - Less slides. More code. - At the beginning of the training session, have the participants vote what subtopics they want us to focus more. Start with those topics. - Keep begging for questions. - How to motivate them to engage: "I'll tell your boss if you actively participated. I will mention him your name if you ask/say smth, even if it's the most 'stupid' possible idea." -- I keep saying there are no stupid questions
- 6. @VictorRentea6 Key Skills for being a trainer real-life experience (confidence, best practices) comfortable explaining (pair programming, brainstorming) public speaking (internal talks, communities, conferences) avid learner This is where you find trainers
- 7. @VictorRentea7 Number of Participants 12 ... 20 too few answers "I'm not important" Harder to tailor to their need + if more experienced or highly motivated How many projects?
- 8. @VictorRentea8 8 Hours 4h/day 8h/day x twice the days Mid-Seniors Mid-Juniors Never 4h PM ≤ 2h/day for internal, informal
- 9. @VictorRentea9 Prep-Call with 1+ Leads adjust the agenda gather intelligence
- 10. @VictorRentea10 10 I wanted to build a Webinar, but it turned out a Talk Questions / Ideas / Problems: > type in chat [best] > ask at the end (Ideally with slide #) (tight on time, too much to say)
- 12. @VictorRentea13 13 Conception Chapters Book TOC Other Agendas Experiment First Slides with bullets Research Google around Even about your 'strong opinions' Copy entire agendas Detailed Points your brain Teach on other's slides bullets Plain text until here
- 14. @VictorRentea15 But first, 15 Let me tell you a story ...
- 15. @VictorRentea16 16 Moving from to Let me tell you a story ... Read Your Presentation! Try to tell it to someone else ...or to yourself. a story MILESTONE Speak to yourself Out Loud!
- 16. @VictorRentea17 a story vs prerecorded video a webinar = guided learning (highly time-efficient) = self-paced, non-directed studyrequire a clear, browsable agenda < 20% attendees review the slides Support for discourse Coursera, Pluralsight, Linda, Udemy ... < 5% employees use their corporate license
- 17. @VictorRentea18 Must-have for talks Slide Design ▪Concise ideas - Keeps focus on your speech, not on written words - Gives you freedom ▪4-5 rows/slide, few fonts, careful with colors ▪Evolution: bullets > progressive reveal > 1 bullet ➔ 1 slide ▪Meaningful animations ▪Use diagrams/ images / videos https://presentationpatterns.com/glossary/
- 18. @VictorRentea19 Observer Use easy-to-remember Analogies Careful with Multicultural Audiences! A quite tricky Design Pattern
- 19. @VictorRentea20 A Story Without Bullets Before: 31 slides After: 101 slides jPoint Conference Dry-Run
- 20. @VictorRentea21 Move from concrete to abstract Back to code, play some more 2/3 1/3 + = 2
- 21. @VictorRentea22 At start-up Trainees vote the topics most interesting Start with those! [hard] Insist on those!
- 23. @VictorRentea24 Rehearse! How much? Twice More Than Intended! 2-3 times for a training 5+ times for a talk Improve!Target: 90% Time Learn << In Full Voice Expressions Native, then Target language
- 24. @VictorRentea25 Rehearse! until It Sounds Like a Story Curious how much work it takes? For this 1h presentation I worked ~20 hours (my experience: 2000+ slides)
- 25. @VictorRentea26 Rehearse! Brainstorm the Complex Parts (exercises, pros/cons, best practices) with Colleagues Communities Conferences
- 28. @VictorRentea29
- 29. @VictorRentea30 Energetic music until start time Where are you joining from? Years of experience Your last brainstorming Bring a pen & paper and take notes. At the end, show us them. Or your doodle :) Monitor seniors for confirmation
- 30. @VictorRentea31
- 32. @VictorRentea33 Virtual Tour of your Workspace Show me your coffee TURN ON YOUR CAMERA! MANDATORY You (the trainer) should go first Warn them before 80 %
- 33. @VictorRentea34 Sometimes, the walls are stronger Break Barriers Down! Your Imposter Syndrome Their EGO Their Skepticism Their Shyness
- 35. @VictorRentea36 Timing 36 = Respect! Care for Their Time! ∑ Time of participants + logistics + prod impact >>> your prep-time/fee My No 1 Goal I AM TRUELY HONOURED TO HAVE YOU HERE Don't waste any 10 seconds Demos must work smoothly (give a break if it crashed) 35-45 min teaching / 10 min break
- 36. @VictorRentea37 ▪Show your face: know you, trust you ▪Change your voice to keep things interesting - Change volume, pace, inflection - Emulate dialog ▪Ask yourself the frequent question Engaging Speech Oh no, I dindn't knew that would break! My boy, you should handle those NULLs more careful.
- 37. @VictorRentea38 ▪Pauses [seconds] after complex ideas ▪Hand Gestures! Stand up if possible. ▪A pinch of suspense ▪Be calm Engaging Speech We'll talk about that in about 10 minutes. Stay tuned!
- 38. @VictorRentea39 at mid-interval (20mins) + when disengaged Reduce Stress with IT-related funny: Props Relax Them • Videos • Memes • Quotes Follow me for such content: 30K 4K 2K
- 39. @VictorRentea40 ▪ZoomIt (free for Windows) - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/zoomit + touchscreen = ❤️ ▪Windows Magnifier/Mac Equivalent ▪Paint - For the most challenging problems of all ▪Google Forms Engaging Tools
- 40. @VictorRentea41 MAIN STOPPER to start teaching ▪Don't learn by heart your discourse - You block => loose trust ▪Don't feel smart, but humble - Your experience might be biased ▪However, Confidence gives Comfort ▪Never pretend you know stuff Imposter Syndrome I am a colleague, and I want to share what I learned. Do I know everything? No! But I'd Love to learn it with you! IME
- 41. @VictorRentea42 People are attracted by the Learning Process, not by Knowledge Experts Source: TED: What Makes a Good Teacher Great - Azul Terronez A Great Teacher Eats Apples Aim to learn from your trainees Let one of the trainees teach you all 5-10 mins Google-up things openly [<10 s]
- 42. @VictorRentea43 Beg! for Questions via Voice or Chat better for multicultural, non-English native Feel Safe Wonderful question!! Thank you! Anything! Anytime! Complex Parts before Break Break-time, but I'm still here for questions 5-10q/4h Trick:
- 43. @VictorRentea44 "Ask any question or bring any idea, and I will praise you to your boss, no matter how smart the idea is." YOU Beg! for Questions Trick:
- 46. @VictorRentea47 ▪Pulse Check every break - A/V quality, teaching speed, next: exercises or slides ▪Quick Polls - Rate your understanding (1 to 5) - True/False ▪Gladiator Grading: "did you get it?" Asking Questions
- 47. @VictorRentea48 ▪What to cover next – Dynamic Agenda? [hard] - Use after lunch zZzZ ▪Call on people by their names - Don't demand, but praise or recall their ideas Asking Questions John!
- 49. @VictorRentea50 But in Reality... Persisting Knowledge
- 50. @VictorRentea51 Live Slides: ➢ Real-world Analogies ➢ Images + Videos (with message) ➢ Diagrams (animated) from scratch, live-coding (control focus) Humble, Open, Warm, Polite Exercises Persisting Knowledge Explain to us please! Real samples. Recall concepts (morning retro)
- 51. @VictorRentea52 ▪Type after me: K.O. ▪Individual Coding Exercises K.O. - Seniors=bored, juniors=dead ▪Group Exercises (breakout rooms) K.O. - Repetition (waste of time) + Hard to trace - Risk: blockage/monopole 30 % Homogenous Group/ Teaching a New Skill OK OK OK Exercises Less attentive Bored
- 52. @VictorRentea53 Homogenous Group/ Teaching a New Skill OK OK OK ▪Individual Questions OK - Match concepts - Single-option, True/False ▪Find the Bug in my code OK☺ ▪Remote Pair Programming OK - Gain traction Exercises With opened seniors
- 53. @VictorRentea54 Then, When Should They Practice Individually? Outside the Webinar! Before & After Work
- 54. @VictorRentea55 Pre-Learning: talk, article, book chapters Pre-Assignment A simple (1-2h) exercise requiring the target skills ➔ Raise problems Post-Warranty: 2 weeks support Follow-up questions, real-project advices, etc. Post-Assignment improve your pre-assignment Before & After Work 30-50 % >50 % 1 % 2 % REMINDER
- 55. @VictorRentea56 ▪Watch the parts you missed - Mandatory for international/time-zoned audience ▪Re-watch complex parts - Very useful for mid-juniors ▪Less attentive - "Neah, I'll watch it later" ▪Copyright Infringement - .torrent Recording IF DECLARED, MAY HARM They won't!
- 56. @VictorRentea57 After-Life What do you (the trainer) do after a training?
- 57. @VictorRentea58 After-Life What do you (the trainer) do after a training?
- 58. @VictorRentea59 Improve The Training Gather TODOs While Delivering Proves it's Alive 30-90 minutes < 5 sec/TODO After-Life What do you (the trainer) do after a training?
- 60. @VictorRentea61 FEEDBACK Face It ! Improve ! All of it! Study it the next day/ When you can use it to
- 61. @VictorRentea62 FEEDBACK Report It ! Improve ! honestly to your clients/managers + possible causes and how to
- 62. @VictorRentea63 Get it during the Webinar (70%), not after (30-50%)! Example https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-GJ5DHF9G7/ Unexpected negative feedback = BAD you didn't asked them enough Haters do exist (0.5%) FEEDBACK +NPS
- 64. My Curricula Hibernate/JPASpring FP with Java Domain-Driven DesignDesign Patterns Clean Code + Refactoring Unit Testing + TDD Java Performance DetailsScala❤️ VictorRentea.rovictorrentea@gmail.com rxJava anylanguage