Presenter Guide for NAGT webinars

Webinar Timeline and Responsibilities

• Schedule webinar: Ideally, webinars should be scheduled at least two months in advance (but at least >1 month).
  • We generally aim to have all webinars occur between 11ET/10CT/9MT/8PT and 4ET/3CT/2MT/1PT to try and maximize participant availability.
  • Also try to avoid Wednesdays from 2:30pm-3:30pm ET (1:30-2:30pm CT) as this is SERC's standing office meeting
  • Information needed from the presenter(s): 
    Items 1-4 by 2 months before (at least 1 month before). Look at past webinars for ideas. Send to NAGT Webinar Committee contact and SERC staff.
    1. Title
       1. Should be a bit catchy and interesting so people are more attracted to register and attend
    2. Presenter name(s) and affiliation(s)
    3. Summary (75 - 100 words)
       1. Again, should be a bit catchy and interesting so people are more attracted to register and attend
       2. The aim is the "sell" the webinar so people quickly see how it applies to them
       3. Sometimes starting with a question can be helpful "Ever struggle to engage students in math?"
    4. Short description (~200 characters with spaces)
       1. This is for the NAGT newsletter - perhaps the first sentence of the Summary or the most exciting sentence of the Summary
    5. Webinar goals (3-4 goals, these can come later, by a month before the webinar)
    6. Relevant image for webpage (optional but a very good idea to attract interest)
    7. Resources (optional and can be posted after webinar, same time as recording)
• Planning meeting: ~1 month prior 
  NAGT Webinar Committee contact person will schedule a meeting with the presenter(s) to discuss webinar outline and how to make the presentation interactive (tips below).
  • Make a plan for who will do what webinar advertising/recruiting.
  • Also finalize any remaining webinar information as listed above.
• ADVERTISE the webinar: one push ~1 month before and another ~0.5-1 week prior to webinar
  • Presenter(s) typically have the best knowledge of the intended audience and should actively recruit to their networks and relevant email lists.
  • NAGT committee member should also send announcements to relevant SERC and other emails lists.
    • Ideas: GSA and AGU Communities, SERC emails, personal networks or organizational email lists
  • SERC support staff will include the announcement on NAGT webinar email list and in NAGT newsletter (if possible on the given timeline).
• Funding for the webinar: If the presentation is associated with a funded award or organization, paying NAGT for the cost of the webinar is a valuable way to contribute.
  • SERC support staff will handle webinar website, registration, participant reminder emails, and Zoom room on behalf of NAGT.
• Practice run: ~2 - 4 days prior to webinar
  • Practice run of the webinar to check technical issues (with SERC support staff and/or webinar committee member)
• Webinar

Tips for Speakers about Interactive Webinars

Typically webinar presenters create a PowerPoint/Slides presentation that the audience sees during the webinar. Often, you, the presenter shares their screen of the presentation for easy slide transition. In addition, Zoom also has a handful of features for increasing audience engagement. These are chat, nonverbal feedback, polling, and screensharing. We can also gather some information before the webinar from the registrants if that is helpful.

Pre-Webinar

• Moving beyond a PowerPoint - because of the digital nature, you can include more multimedia or screenshare the website if that helps the listener understand something particular about the website and teaching, modules, etc.
• We can add a question or two to the registration form, although we should keep them relatively short, if could facilitate an aspect of the webinar.
• NAGT Webinar Series Template NAGT Webinar Series Slides_template.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 1.5MB Nov22 24)
  • NOTE: The final slide needs to be updated for timely info and upcoming webinars.

During the webinar

Interaction options within Zoom

• Polling allows you to pose multiple answer/yes-no questions to the audience and receive immediate feedback during the webinar. We can set up specific multiple choice/single choice polling questions and answers before the webinar, and then you can choose to start the poll at any time. Responses are immediately counted, and you can choose to show those to participants or not.
• Chat box - allows participants to ask the presenter (you) questions and also discuss topics with each other. This allows for conversation without requiring people to talk via audio. This often works well when asking participants for examples of what they do. Getting discussion started early is helpful as well.
• Nonverbal feedback provides a means for audience responses and interaction that is temporary, doesn't require typing into the chat, and can be counted. This includes responses such as yes, no, and hand raising, which are options in the Zoom interface
  • Incorporating pauses in the presentation for questions and comments always helps with audience participation.

Examples of good interactive webinars

Breakout Rooms

How do they work?

• The best option is to Auto split participants among the number of breakout rooms wanted. There is an option to assign participants to rooms before the webinar but that requires knowing exactly who will be attending and for webinars that is completely unknown
• Once split, people can get moved between rooms by the host, for instance if the leaders want to be split among the rooms, they can be sorted before the breakout rooms are launched
• Click the 'Open the breakout room button' and a popup then appears for the participants to agree to join the breakout space
• Closing the rooms
  • Close all rooms button tells all the rooms that the room will automatically close and return everyone to the main room in one minute with a countdown, and also gives everyone the option to return anytime
• The breakout room assignments remain the same based on their configuration when closed. So if folks were to return to the same breakout rooms, participants will already be sorted based on the previous sorting.

While in the breakout rooms

Can they be recorded?

• Recording of the breakout rooms can be done by an individual with 'Host' or 'Co-Host' permissions assigned before entering the breakout rooms. Once in the breakout room, they need to click the record button and the recording is automatically saved to their local computer. Although generally breakout rooms are not recorded due to the informality of the typical discussions there.

Chats

• Chats can be saved before everyone leaves the room OR if someone carefully goes back into the rooms at the end
  • Are chats automatically saved?

Timer

• There is the ability for the host to send a broadcast to all breakout rooms from the main room and a little bubble temporarily pops up with the message, which could be used to indicate how much time is remaining. The Host can also do a verbal broadcast.
• Because screen sharing shows whatever is on someone's screen, one could bring up a clock or timer on their desktop if they wanted to.
• Sharing ideas in breakout rooms. We have seen Google Docs or Google Slides most frequently used during breakout rooms for folks to contribute ideas, edit, and generally share.