Communicating Effectively over the Access Grid

1. Communicating Effectively over the Access Grid Ariella Rebbi, Boston University

2. Introductions • Please wave when I say “hello” to your site and introduce yourselves. Tell us a little bit about your experience with the Access Grid!

3. The Access Grid (AG) • Group-to-group collaboration across high-performance networks • Individual site installations often called “nodes” • Often used to support large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and training • Large events mean lots of planning and prep • Smaller and/or less formal AG events often require little if any planning and prep

4. A Team at Each Node • All staff work closely together, especially if any issues arise during the course of the event (technical or otherwise) • This is as true for speakers as for tech staff • This is true both of staff at a specific node, and staff at all participating nodes • A text-based back channel is used for communication among staff

5. Section One: Personal Performance Tips on Preparing and Making an Excellent Presentation!!!

6. Who’s Your Audience? • Remember that your “virtual” audience is very much real. In some cases remote audiences vastly outnumber the audience which is physically in the same room with you. • How is giving an Access Grid presentation different than just talking to a group of people in a room?

7. Making the Most of your Presentation(your link to your virtual audience) • Maintain confidence; maintain camera “eye contact” (your connection to the outside) • Work with your node’s technical staff to ensure the camera is placed well • Speak clearly and slowly • Work with your technical staff to learn appropriate microphone use • Don’t “eat the mic” • Use high-energy delivery!!!!!!! • Watch for cues from your audience

8. Making More of Your Presentation • Pause if anything disrupts the event. Be sure to inform your “virtual” audience what is happening • Work closely with your node’s support staff if problems of any kind arise • Your node’s support staff can convey messages to remote audiences through their node’s staff (also by using back channels)

9. Communicating Directly • Remember to tailor your presentation for the audience and group dynamics of the whole event, not just the people in your physical room • Remember possible cultural differences in audiences, since AG technology makes it possible to communicate globally.

10. Communicating Carefully (designing your distributed documentation) • Design slides/presentations carefully, use legible fonts • Keep presentations strong and simple • Ensure that you or your node operations staff have tested your slides in the appropriate tool

11. What about PIGS? • PIG stands for Personal Interface to the Access Grid and is usually operated by a single person. • If you are presenting with the PIG make sure you are familiar with running the software before your presentation. • Make sure to set up your camera and audio levels appropriately so that your audience can hear and see you clearly

12. Shared applications available on AG software. • Shared Browser Application. This allows for a shared web browser to be seen by all sites. When a site clicks on a link to a new page all sites running the shared browser will display the new page. • Shared presentation application. This allows multiple sites to view Powerpoint presentations including animations. (Please speak with your AG node-op to see what is available and how this differs from AG1 DPPT.)

13. Shared applications available on AG software – continued. • Image Viewer: Shared viewer for many common image types. • Movie Player: Share movies across the Access Grid. Currently works best on single-machine nodes. • Shared RasMol: Visualization tool for proteins, nucleis acids, and small molecules.

14. Their Mileage May Vary • When designing presentation materials: • Realize variance of screen sizes and monitor colors across remote nodes • Remember to talk to your local node staff about your options for distributed applications – BUT PLEASE – try and speak to them as early as possible so you can have ample time to set things up.

15. “What Should I Wear?”Visibility is important on the Access Grid • In general, avoid patterned, busy, or detailed clothing • Choose solid, bright colors that will translate well over the AG technology • Consider your lighting (work with your production/technical team) • Ensure there are no lights behind you or any source of lighting (such as a window)

16. Questions?

17. Section Two: Event Facilitation Techniques Common Sense Strategies, Applied to Access Grid Events

18. Planning Ahead • We’ll cover several facilitation techniques today. When choosing one, ask yourself: • What is the format of this event? • How many people and sites will be participating? • How is this group accustomed to interacting? • Which technique best fits my personal style? • As you become comfortable with the AG, you may have additional, excellent ideas to try

19. Common Sense Facilitiation Techniques • At the beginning of an event, let your event participants know how you’ll be handling questions and comments • Three recommended techniques: • Just Speak Up • Raising Hands • Passing the Floor

20. Just Speak Up • In small meetings, it may be most appropriate for people to just speak up whenever they want to speak • AG audio is pretty clear • A sharp intake of breath tells you somebody wants to say something • This usually feels quite natural, but important to make it explicit

21. Raising Hands • Good for many medium-sized meetings • Ask people to raise their hands, and wait until recognized by the chairperson before they speak • Relatively intuitive, since people are accustomed to doing this in many settings • With this facilitation strategy, it is crucial that all participants can easily be seen in video streams

22. Management Through Text Based Back Channels • Frequently used, but we do not generally recommend it • Not transparent to meeting participants • Relies heavily on node operators – we feel that meeting participants should be able to communicate freely without assistance

23. Passing the Floor (a great technique for large events) • Recommended for large, formal events • One AG site in each event is considered the “main” site • Usually the site with the main speaker or largest audience • Sites which are not “main” are “remote” • Each site needs a Master of Ceremonies (MC) • A Speaker may double as an MC

24. Passing the Floor • At any given time, one site has “the floor” • The MCs work together to pass the floor around to each site in turn • Each site needs (their own) strategy for local management of questions • Raising hands • Standing in line at a microphone • etc, etc. . .

25. Questions?

26. Section Three: A Practice Session

27. Practice is Important! • Practice before an event if: • The event involves a large number of participants (say, 50+), or a large number of participating sites (say, 8+), or most sites are new • The event is high-visibility, or high-pressure • Once you get the hang of it, you won’t need to practice as often • Today we’ll practice the most complicated technique we’ve discussed: Passing the Floor

28. Volunteers Please • Four sites: • Main Site A, with Speaker/MC and audience • Remote Site B, with MC and audience • Remote Site C, with MC and audience • Remote Site D, with MC and audience • Any other sites will simply observe

29. How We’ll Practice • We will run through the lecture example which we saw earlier • Italicized notes on each slide give detail on what should happen at each step • Suggested topic: Your Favorite Dessert!!! • I will now “pass the floor” to the MC/Speaker at Site A so they can begin the practice session

31. Lecture Facilitation Speaker/MC at Site A gives presentation… REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

32. Lecture Facilitation Speaker/MC at Site A explains that questions will be solicited from sites in the following order: A, B, C, D … REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

33. Lecture Facilitation REMOTEB 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 one’s hand or lining up at a microphone Speaker/MC at site A solicits questions from local audience at Site A MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

34. Lecture Facilitation Site A Speaker/MC “passes the floor” to Site B MC REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

35. Lecture Facilitation Site B MC solicits questions from local audience at Site B; Site A Speaker/MC answers them in turn REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

36. Lecture Facilitation When all questions have been answered, Site B MC “passes the floor” back to Site A Speaker/MC REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

37. Lecture Facilitation REMOTEB The Site A Speaker/MC next “passes the floor” to the Site C MC MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

38. Lecture Facilitation The MC at Site C solicits questions from the local audience at Site C, which the Speaker/MC at Site A answers in turn REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

39. Lecture Facilitation REMOTEB The MC at Site C“passes the floor” back to the Site A Speaker/MC. . . MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

40. Lecture Facilitation REMOTEB . . . Who in turn “passes the floor” to the Site D MC, for Site D local audience’s local questions, which the Speaker/MC at Site A answers in turn MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

41. Lecture Facilitation And finally, “the floor” is returned to the Speaker/MC at Site A REMOTEB MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

42. Lecture Facilitation REMOTEB The Speaker/MC at Site A thanks all MCs and audiences, and closes the event. MAINA REMOTEC REMOTED

43. Practice Over  • The Speaker/MC at Site A should now pass the floor back to me to conclude the practice session

44. Thanks, and Any Final Questions?

45. AG References and Thanks! • A special thanks to Jennifer Teig VonHoffman from Boston University • For more information on the Access Grid: • http://www.accessgrid.org/ • For AG documentation: • http://www.accessgrid.org/agdp/ • Or email Ariella – ariella@bu.edu