Communicating Effectively over the Access Grid

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Communicating Effectively over the Access Grid

• A Training for Speakers and Masters of Cermony,
  in Preparation for SC Global 2001

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Many Thanks

• These slides are based in large part on slides
  developed by Sherine Mansour of Sheridan College
• We are grateful to Sherine for all her help in
  preparing us for SC Global 2001

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Todays Agenda

• Introductions
• Overview of SC Global and the Access Grid
• Personal Performance
• Event facilitation strategies for SC Global
• Practice sessions

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Introductions

• Your name
• Your organization
• Your role in SC Global (giving a talk, moderating
  a BOF, producer at a node, etc)

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SC Global 2001

• The SC Conference (www.supercomp.org) is the
  premiere technical and industrial meeting for
  high-end networking and computing and
  computational science.
• At SC2001, we will create SC Global, the first
  truly global technical conference on the Grid A
  multi-national and multi-cultural meeting place
  for communication and discussion of ideas
  relating to high-end computing and communications
  and their impacts on science and society.

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The Access Grid (AG)

• Group-to-group collaboration across the Grid
• Often used to support large-scale distributed
  meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars,
  lectures, tutorials and training
• Experience with previous large-venue AG events
  suggests that a series of preparations is
  necessary for these
• However, speakers, facilitators, and others
  conducting meetings and other smaller events over
  the AG often need little, if any, training and
  orientation

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The Production/Technical Team

• Each AG node will have a production/technical
  team to manage the nodes participation in SC
  Global
• Team members must work closely together,
  especially if any issues arise during the course
  of the event (technical or otherwise)
• Production/Technical team concept originated
  during Chautauqua conferences in 1999 has been
  refined and improved based on our experiences
  since then

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Section One Personal Performance

• Tips on Preparing and Making an Excellent
  Presentation

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Making the most of your presentation

• Maintain confidence - maintain camera eye
  contact
• You may need to work with the technical staff to
  ensure the camera is placed well
• Speak clearly and slowly
• Work with your technical staff to learn
  appropriate microphone use
• Use high-energy delivery
• Look for physical cues from audience (remember
  there is an audio delay over the AG)

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Making the most of your presentation (2)

• Pause if technology fails, or if other events
  temporarily disrupt the event -- be sure to
  inform your virtual audience what is happening
• Work closely with your Producer and Technical
  Director
• Remember that your virtual audience is very
  much real and in some cases will vastly
  outnumber the audience which is physically in the
  same room as you are

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Communicating effectively over the AG

• All speakers should learn the strengths and
  limitations of AG technology
• We strongly encourage nay, require
  participation in the Mega-Cruise, the week of
  October 16
• Find ways to repeat who you are, what you are
  speaking about and where you are speaking from to
  include all late-comers
• At a minimum, end your talk with a brief mention
  of your name, your organization, the subject of
  your talk, and where you currently are

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Communicating effectively over the AG (2)

• During the event, explicitly state how
  participation will be facilitated
• More on this later
• Remember to tailor your presentation for the
  audience and group dynamics of the whole event,
  not just the people in your physical room
• Your communications style and apparel should
  reflect the dynamic youd like to create for the
  event this is particularly important for
  discussion-intensive events, such as BOFs

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Communicating effectively over the AG (2)

• Design slides carefully keep presentations
  strong and simple
• All visual aids should be pre-tested and basic in
  nature during lectures
• Remember that your slides will be seen on a
  variety of screens, in a variety of sizes
• Ensure your PowerPoint slides are compatible with
  Distributed PowerPoint
• DPPT Guide listed at http//www.accessgrid.org/agd
  p/guide/
• Test slides locally using dppt before event

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Motivating your audience virtually

• Be animated in your delivery - you dont have the
  luxury of in-room body language
• But stay in camera range please!
• Remember possible cultural differences - know who
  you are speaking to when possible
• Reduce and try to completely eliminate all
  detractors (pauses filled with um etc)
• Pretend you are speaking to one person
• Invite audience participation and interactivity
  when possible (with explicit statements of how it
  will be moderated)
• Watch your audience for cues.

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And finally.what should I wear?

• In general, avoid patterned clothing, especially
  busy, detailed patterns
• Choose solid, bright colors that will translate
  well over the AG technology
• If possible, seat yourself, or stand under bright
  light
• Work with your production/technical team
• Ensure there are no lights behind you or any
  source of lighting such as a window

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Section Two Event Facilitation Strategies for SC
Global

• An Overview for Masters of Ceremony and Speakers

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Several Types of Events

• Primarily discussion
• Birds of Feather sessions
• Primarily lecture
• Talks
• Workshops
• Tutorials
• Other
• Panels
• Art

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A Kit of Simple Facilitation Tools

• Each event will have a Production Plan, developed
  by the Producer in collaboration with the speaker
  or moderator and the SC Global Production Manager
• All Production Plans should draw from the same
  kit of tools, developing new ones only if
  necessary
• Consistency of facilitation will make it easier
  for people inexperienced with the AG to
  participate in SC Global.

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Sample Facilitation Tools

• One AG node in each event is designated as the
  hub node, usually the site with the main
  speaker, BOF leader, or panel moderator
• At any given time, one site has the floor
• The Master of Ceremonies at the hub site passes
  the floor to the Master of Ceremonies at the
  other sites, who pass the floor back to the hub
  site when they are finished

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A Basic Example Lecture Production Plan

• Denver Convention Center, University of Michigan,
  Juelich, and University of Manchester are
  participating in the session. The speaker is
  physically located at Denver, which is designated
  as the hub site.

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Lecture Production Plan
MC at Denver introduces speaker speaker gives
presentation
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
MC at Denver explains that questions will be
solicited from sites in the following order
Denver, U.Mich., Juelich, U.Manch.
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
Denver MC solicits questions from local audience
at Denver
Please note that some protocol will be in place
at each local site for how to indicate that one
has a question, ie by raising ones hand or
lining up at a microphone
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
Denver MC passes the floor to U.Mich. MC
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
U.Mich. MC solicits questions from local audience
at U.Mich. speaker answers them in turn
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
When all questions have been answered, U.Mich. MC
passes the floor back to Denver MC
Please note that a Production Plan may indicate
that each site has a pre-determined amount of
time for questions to ensure all sites get a
turn, if time is expected to be tight
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
The Denver MC next passes the floor to the
Juelich MC
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
The Juelich MC solicits questions from the local
audience at Juelich, which the speaker answers in
turn
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
The Juelich MC passes the floor back to the
Denver MC. . .
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
. . . Who in turn passes the floor to the
U.Manch MC, for U.Manch local audiences local
questions
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
And finally, the floor is returned to the
Denver MC
Please note that if time permits, additional
rounds of questions may be entertained.
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Lecture Production Plan
The Denver MC thanks the speaker, all MCs, and
all audiences, and closes the event.
U. Mich.
DenverHUB
Juelich
U. Manch.
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Section Three Practice Sessions
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A Dry Run

• Volunteers, please, for the following roles
• At one site MC, Speaker, others will act as
  participants
• All all other sites MC, others will act as
  audience members
• Do a dry run through the Lecture Production Plan,
  modifying it as needed to reflect the number of
  sites involved, with the trainer coaching MCs and
  the Speaker as needed (but not the audience
  members!)
• Use previous slides as a guide if desired

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And finally, your cheat sheet

• Half-page handout with highly-condensed summary
  of important points of this training
• Will be available from Production/Technical Team
  at all nodes during SC Global