Five Tips for Delivering Virtual Keynotes

The Spokesperson Newsletter from July 15, 2020

Five Tips for Delivering Virtual Keynotes (or Playnotes!)
Hello facilitator friends!
The last few weeks I have delivered several Virtual Keynotes/Playnotes to a variety of audiences.  Yesterday I lead one for 12-14 year old teens with a focus on leadership, We had so much fun!  So far the main platform I have used is Zoom, so my experience is based on their features, but whether you are delivering a keynote or any other presentation, here are a few tips on working with a large audience in a Virtual format: Use the Chat Box often.   When you ask a question, encourage them to type a response in the Chat Box.  This helps keep participants engaged and you get instant feedback.  In the first few minutes of your meeting when you are waiting for everyone to arrive, ask them to type in where they are viewing from today, or use the interactive polling feature.Call people by name.  The smiles that light up on people’s faces when they hear their name called out is completely amazing!  Get them moving.  Incorporate activities that require some kind of movement to them.  In yesterday’s session I did a modified version of Have You Ever with various levels of risk/comfort zones geared towards 12-14 year olds. There is a sample of this activity in this video recording at the 54:43 mark.  This is from the first Virtual Team Building Activities session I lead back in March.  (We did not record yesterday’s session for public viewing because it was with kids.)Use breakout rooms.  This is one of my favorite features on Zoom, and why I prefer this platform.  I’m sure the other platforms will eventually add this feature, too (or at least I hope they do!).  Small breakout rooms are so valuable for allowing participants their opportunity to discuss or debrief their experiences.  You can also use them for creative gallery photos and other ways to let participants have some fun!  (Look at these smiles!)Let them Debrief!  Create a custom slide with good debriefing questions for participants to discuss in breakout rooms.  Make a jpeg of the slide and add it to your website so you can put a link to the graphic in the chatbox.  Send participants into breakout rooms and ask one person to link to the graphic and share their screen so everyone can see it.  Here’s an example of one slide I used yesterday to debrief the ‘Have You Ever’ activity with the teens:  
(If you click on the photo, it will also take you to the website view.)
Hopefully these tips are helpful!
Now I have a question for you…  What type of webinar content would be helpful to you right now?  I”m happy to create more useful content for everyone, but I’d love some feedback on what would be the most helpful at this time.  Click on this link to add your response!  I’m using Poll Everywhere to gather this information, so you’ll be able to publicly see what other people are responding with as well.
Last week Chris Cavert and I met up to record another new episode of our podcast, ‘Ask Michelle & Chris About Team Building‘  This week we tackled: “What are the Pros and Cons of Using Blindfolds?”    You can listen to, download and access the show notes to this episode and all available episodes at this link.  
Best wishes to you and your loved ones to be healthy, safe and to be virtually connected.  

Have fun out there, 

Michelle        
Michelle Cummings
Owner/Trainer/Big Wheel
Training Wheels  
www.training-wheels.com