Roadmap to Hosting Professional Online Video Sessions ANYWHERE

1. Roadmap to Hosting Professional Online Video Sessions Anywhere : With the emergence of online sessions, a lot of us actually have to do one-on-one Zoom meetings with our bosses and her colleagues. And sometimes we even have to attend to online conferences, which we have really, really big audience. What do we do in those settings? It's very easy to think of it as being looking into a camera in the form of broadcasting. But that's not the case because nowadays with these online sessions that we're doing, it has to be highly interactive. Meaning you have to hold a conversation with the audience. How do we do that? It seems easy, but really it isn't. Let me give you an example of some of the things that are involved, which we will actually cover in this course. For example, how do you set up, how do you choose your hardware? What limitations are you working with? How should you dress? And what do you do with the parts that people don't see? What about your visuals for your presentation? Are you having a visual? And also how is your visual guiding your communication with the audience? Is it effective? And when it's rolling, what I call 321 action, are you actually engaging with the audience in a way it makes it interesting and meaningful for them. Is your goal attained after your session? And do you even know if that's the case? If it's not the case, what do you do in during the session? If things go wrong? What if you have to troubleshoot? Are you the person to troubleshoot? And if you are, what is it that you do? Attendance with online sessions is not like in-person sessions. It can easily be forgotten. And last but not least, there's the follow-up work, which is really just the beginning in this course, we can provide you a complete roadmap. So that way, you can confidently go through an online session with all the elements that you need to succeed. 2. What is An Online Session: In this module, we'll talk about exactly what is an online session in what's involved. I know it's still a bit of a mystery to some people in terms of how we should add, what are the things that's in this realm? And also, what are some of the expectations? Don't worry, we'll show you shortly exactly what that's all about. What the $1 million question. What is an online session? There's actually a lot of names for that. Some people would call it a web meeting, a web conference, online meeting, online conferences. There's actually a gazillion, different names that people use interchangeably. But here I'll actually use the word online session is more like an umbrella term. Instead of meeting up somebody in-person professionally, we actually do it over video conferencing softwares. So for example, things like Zoom, WebEx, Google Hangouts, or blue jeans. That's exactly what it is. You're meeting someone online. Basically, it's some sort of event, large or small scale, that's moved to somebody else's screen, somebody else's monitor via the Internet. Well, you're going to say, well, some are pre-recorded, right? Yes, Some are. And they can kind of fall under that category of online sessions in this case. But usually when people say online sessions, for the most part, they are referring to having some sort of interaction between the presenter and the people who are watching, known as the audience. There's some sort of dialogue or interaction that's going on and I'll cover more about that later on in this course. And of course there's casual ones too. For example, the app, there's one called house party, where you can add your friends and you can pretty much crash or place to drink and party. But we're not talking about those ones because those ones are more casual. In this course, we will actually focus on the more professional use ones. Situations like web meetings, presentations, product demonstrations, online conferences, voting at work when you have to make any decisions. And also for educators. For example, like if you're a teacher, tutor or a professor, or even coaches, sometimes you do not have the luxury of seeing your students or your clients all the time. And this also applies to webcast when the sessions are live, or it could be delay live or pre-recorded. It's the same with a webinar, kind of like the one that you're watching right now. It's in a situation where I am telling or sharing something but I don't get to see or hear everybody. It's usually some sort of feedback via other ways, maybe chat boxes pulling or some sort of quiz or something like that. Moving on, let's take a look at some of the traditional sessions that were used to also known as the offline events. So if you look at the picture on the left, we have the gentleman that's in a conference. Pretty much typical stage, typical huge audience, beginner stage, bigger audience. And then the one on the other side, we have a more casual stage, probably less audience, and also a smaller and also lower stage. That's what it happens to be. And we're very used to this format because there's a stage of some sort, some sort of platform. If you asked me for the speakers to be on. No, not all stages are actually like higher, but you get the idea, it's a place for the speaker to be. So we know whether the speaker and we have the audiences that are sitting or standing in front of them or around them to see what they have to share it and listen to what they have to say. But the thing is, with these traditional offline sessions, everyone has to be somewhere at a given time, right? We're also used to seeing like actual people, like physical people, were you have more cues to pick up even as the audience or as the presenter. There's a lot of physical and maybe non-verbal cues that you get to pick up. Bear in mind that although the physical setting has changed from the physical stage to what I'm doing right now, which is at home with my seven cats. But the logic really hasn't changed. It's still somebody that has something to share with a bunch of other people. Right? Now let's take look. There's just some examples here. So the things that I just mentioned, it's just to get everyone going. It's not an exhaustive list of some sort. So it comes on all sorts of sizes. These online sessions, if you take a look, There's the very common ones, the one-on-one online. The Zoom meeting, where your meetings say, for example, meeting with a colleague that you can't meet physically. It's a video call. Then give them live stream here with a press conference that maybe they'll have some sort of chat box with the audience where they can type in the replies. Are there comments? And then you see another one that's more like an interview that is streamed via some sort of a social media platform, for example, Facebook or YouTube. And note that it is going to be interactive for the most part, because otherwise, if there's no input from the audience. Is just a live broadcast, is a live stream. It's just the one-way communication. Now next you see a webinar, which as I mentioned, can be both recorded and it could be live. And then we have the other one is the interview at a studio where say the audiences can dial in and note that these videos can be shot for use for a later time and I'll talk about that later. Having all that said, ever noticed that there's one thing in common between all of these. You can probably guess what that is, is that the presenter has to be comfortable being in front of the camera. To some extent. It doesn't matter if it's a phone camera, if it's a webcam, or if it's like an actual professional camera that you're looking at right now. It doesn't matter, it's still a camera. And depending on how formal that event is and also depending on the format of that online session, I use those words interchangeably anyway, online session and the online events, the amount of work that we need to put into it can be actually quite different to some speakers who are used to speaking at conferences. They may already be very used to presenting or talking with a camera pointed at them. Usually at the back of conference room. They may be comfortable with that already. But There's a button. It's another thing. If you have to talk into the camera and through to the audiences that's on the other side. Like how I've talking to you right now. And I'll get more into that. A lot of people is going to ask is like both in everything from the waist up, it's the most important, right? Just the way that we dress, the way that we look above the table is all we have to care about, or at least more important than anything else. That's what they would think, right? That's true to some extent. But there's also another, but note that it's more than just looking great above the table. There's a lot more to that. I'll go into detail with that later. Don't worry, you would probably think the opposite is also true. What is under the table is less important, right? Well, that's not true. Again, it's more than what meets the eye. I will say that it's a transformers references in it. Now remember how I said there are some commonalities other than talking in front of the camera. There's one other thing that's common between all these online sessions is that somebody is delivering some sort of information to a group of audience, large or small, with some sort of goal in mind. Otherwise, it just becomes a random chitchat. Again, I'll give some examples. Non-exhaustive list. You have meetings where you're announcing something, discussing something, you got presentations where to introduce a concept of some sort. You have a webinar, which is to teach something to share some sort of knowledge. Let me say you have a product demo which you're showing the workings or the inner workings of something. Or you have a conference where usually it's some important people, people with a certain expertise or getting together and they're discussing something, bouncing ideas off of each other. I know by this time, a lot of you are probably thinking, oh jeez, what do I do in this universe like this new realm? It's like a new different world. Well, I'm sure a lot of you are here because to some extent, we think of the online world, especially in terms of our presentation or conduct in our so-called existence. I know it sounds really like philosophical. In this realm, It's a little bit of a mystery. We'll think of it this way. We're used to surfing and sending emails and doing whatnot, are doing video calls. But due to the emergence of video conferences, also known as online sessions. Well suddenly the reality or reality, this form of us is kind of shifting if you think about it. And the traditional in-person sessions in broadcasting and live streaming. The boundaries are now suddenly kind of blurred, which can actually cause some confusion in terms of what we should do, what is expected of us. But don't worry in the coming modules, we'll break this down for you step-by-step so that you have a much better grasp on in terms of how to exist in this pretty much online or cyber realm. So everyone buckle up and get ready and get ready to be reborn and to be prepared for this new world of ours. Now that you have a better understanding about what this realm is all about, in the next module, we'll make some comparisons with offline sessions so that you can understand this realm even more. 3. Online vs Offline: I'm often asked one question. Isn't online sessions just pointing a camera at somebody and broadcasting that. Yes and no. And that's what makes it so confusing. There's still a lot of confusion that's going on in terms of what makes an online session. So online here, not only are we going to talk about that, but we will talk about what has changed and what hasn't changed. Compare it to an offline session. You will gain a lot more clarity by the end of this session. Let me start with a question to you guys and girls think, when people say some things online, it means something that's on the Internet. Yes. No. Unsure. Yes and no. Let me know what your answers are before I actually answered that, let me share it and ask a few things. We have a typical meeting here. Note that there is a MacBook at the PEC and there's a video camera on top their screen. Note that on the back there's a video camera. Assuming that it is a live stream that is going on in that the attendees on the other side are able to respond in some way via a chat box or even Dallin. Is this an online session? Moving on, we have a typical conference. We don't have exactly a live stream, but we do have a camera man that is recording at the back. It's not uploaded anywhere, but this video might be used for a later time as part of another video. Is this an online session? Finally, this one. Alright, I'm sure a lot of you would probably come to an answer much faster with this format. Why is it asked her so obvious? Why is that? Is it because we're used to seeing how the software's look like, the Zoom meeting, webex, whatever it is that you're using. Is that why? Let's ask another question. And offline session that is being broadcasted online. What does that? It's actually still an offline event. Think of it is actually a one-way communication. If you do a Facebook Live or a YouTube live of something, but your banning the viewers from giving any sort of comments, are giving likes or dislikes. There's no interaction. So it's more like a broadcast or a webcast, which as I said, there's no interaction. But of course, when you start to allow them to have some sort of input, again, the lines start to blur once again. What makes an online sessions? So online. Oh, there's a few things for us to just get us started. Well, there's the run down the structure of the talk or this session can be quite different. Channel where it's shown. Is it on a streaming platform? Is it, is it being shown as a delay live or is it just a pre-recorded session? Also the presentation, if you think about it for an online session, you can do it well, kind of anywhere with a camera. Whereas for an offline session, you'd need a venue of some sort. And you need people as your audience, like physical people and made me, You need the camera. And in terms of the content, there's talking to you versus talking at you. It's more like Broadcasting versus having a dialogue. Think of it that way. It in terms of the script, the imagination, or the anticipation of the audience reaction is very important because you need to interject that into your performance. I call it a performance, your delivery. You need to interject that with your script or even your rundown for some sort of call to action are calling for involvement. There's the interaction. Is it limited or is it dynamic? Remember when I was talking about the Facebook Live, are you allowing people to have some sort of input? And last, think about it is the realm that we were talking about before is still the same people, the same speaker. I'm still the melody that I am and the audience, you are still the same person, but we're just in a different form. On this case, I'm in video form. And what hasn't changed the real-world versus online? What has not changed? What do these both worlds have in common? You guessed it. We're actually still we're still dealing with DePaul. It's just a different form of us. As I mentioned, it's conveying information to other people is to satisfy a need. Is to solve problems, to collectively do something together for the most part, or is connecting with people. Generally, it's some sort of interaction that we're looking for. But what has changed for the most part is that it's just harder to do the above right now because due to the online nature of things, the limitations are quite different. Because if you look at me right now, I'll just make one example is what you're seeing is only everything here. So what I'm doing below the table doesn't matter nearly as much. And you don't get to see as much of me compared to if I was standing on a physical stage, right? For example, if you look at a typical meeting, if we look at the content, the structure will look at the interaction. You kinda get a better idea of what I'm talking about. The content of a meeting would be the knowledge, the information that you have to share, your opinions, your thoughts, your expertise, your attitudes that you have, that you're bringing into a meeting. And now the interaction is the way in which the participants are somewhat like working together and working out to reach the goal of the meeting, to actually get over some sort of obstacle, have some sort of dialogue going. This is what's happening in that interaction. And we're listening to others, There's some participation. And then in terms of the structure, it is the way in which both the information and the attendees are pretty much like organized to achieve the purposes or the goal of your meeting. So something to bear in mind that you could be informing you can be on old consulting, it could be solving problems. You could be getting together so that you can make a decision together at the end. And I'll do another Example. Look at a conference, right? It's kind of like that. So people have common interests. They're gathering together in a setting so they can bounce ideas off to one another and to also share what they know. Interaction easily. Huge component is it's not merely just a speech they're giving. They learn from others and the answers are Q and A's, the other, other's questions that they're submitting through, maybe the papers and the box or sometimes through an app. And it's very important if these people are paying attention, because if everyone is falling asleep below the stage, then obviously that's not a very good interaction that you have that's going on. These conferences, they're structured in a certain ways and it makes, makes it much, much easier for the goal to be attained. So for example, they have breakout rooms, so you have the luncheons, they have the discussions, roundtables, panels, the what is it, the fireside chats, etc, etc. And these things happen for a reason. It's just so that you can interact much better with the crowd. Now that we have a better concept of what goes into these online sessions, in the next module, we'll go into details in terms of exactly what are the ingredients in this realm. 4. What Happens in This "Online Realm?": In this new realm, It's basically a platform for a different form of us to exist in order to interact. But how can we actually better prepare ourselves so that we can cater to our audiences better? That's exactly what this module is. Four here will actually break down what is involved. What are some of the limitations in some of the expectations that we are working with. Welcome to the realm of the cyberspace. Before I begin, I'm going to ask, how familiar are you with this face? Remember how I said earlier, it's a different form of us is a different realm. I know it sounds really philosophical, but it's more like a different representation of us. Therefore, we have to tweak some things here and there so that in order for us to survive and to exist in this world, so to say, to survive better. It is more like the video form of us, if you asked me, plus interacting with the same form of audiences, which is also an online forum of you guys and girls. Sometimes it's texts, sometimes it's videos, sometimes it's an audio or a combination of all of them, just like we're doing right now, but more like an extension of that. There's texting that we're doing right now. There's a voice calls. There's voice messages were also doing video calls, last kind of like that. So in these online sessions, There's one main component is I mentioned before, it's a interactions. Remember how I mentioned that there's a thing that didn't change in all these sessions is that we're working together with people. Specifically, we're actually interacting with them. Therefore, in this case, it really does matter if they are interacting or if they aren't putting in any input. The reason being is because this is not a broadcast. You're having a dialogue with somebody. So therefore, you have to be very sensitive to what it is that they want, what's their needs. If your message is being conveyed clearly, it's interesting to them. Is it appealing? You have to make it easy, you have to make it user-friendly, and you have to make it very encouraging for them to lift a finger, so to say, because it's very easy to ghost somebody in an online session, ghosting meetings disappearing, especially when there's more people in that online session. When somebody is not showing video, especially they kind of go unnoticed if they're not having any input because there's so many people and you can't tell if they're really, there, are not usually in these sessions to attain a goal of some sort, a project to convey a message, do something collectively, which takes us to our next slide. It's more than just how you look, you look at this setting right here. Obviously this gentleman here, he's at home, which is a blessing Anniston, because we can be white, relaxed frankly. That's not something that we want because it's still a professional delivery you're having. Yes, you can feel relaxed but you can't act relaxed. Small things suddenly matter. What people see in the frame. This square here. And we'll go into details about what to put in and whatnot to put in. A lot more work actually goes into what was a simple meeting or a simple presentation before. As I said, this is a different realm. It's also very limited and there's different ways of communicating. Sometimes certain elements gets lost in translation when you're moving on to the camera. Therefore, generally, we see and hear less of you as the audience. And you see and hear less of me as the presenter, more like a different side of each other that we're interacting with. If you know what I mean. When I said Lost in Translation, sometimes we have technical glitches. We have leggings in the Internet, something legs, something breaks. Just kinda the signal breaks. Or it's just the way that I'm presenting. Maybe it makes some people feel left out, which is kind of hard to do when you're on camera because I can't see where you are. There's nothing I can read from your face to see how inclusive you felt. In other words, is more than doing your ordinary performance in front of the camera. When I say performance, I know I said that word a few times. There was a reason why I said that more on that later. But do bear in mind that when you're the presenter at an online session, you're actually now a multi-task for Zander. You're moderating, you're presenting, you're doing demos, you're chatting on the chat box, you're doing tech kind of problem-solving. If somebody's having problem with their Zoom and, or actually sometimes you have to be entertaining as well because people want edutainment. I mean, we probably know that is not the funnest thing to be locked in front of a computer. For a very long time, so some entertainment does help. And also the attention span for both the attendees and the presenter can be much shorter. For the same reason, again, distractions at home. Children, There's pets, There's other people, there's a TV, There's a second computer for me. It's my it's my seven cats also, when I said you might have to be the tech support, it will lead into the question is, how tech savvy are you and how good are you at multitasking? And also how complex is your presentations rundown? Are you doing multiple things on the PowerPoint? Are you having multiple split screens that can get really complex, as I mentioned at the very beginning, being in front of the camera. So all these things all put together can be quite disastrous if not handled properly. This list does not end. Take a look. Presentations, and sessions have to be more entertaining. As you see the word edutainment, communication is now very limited. You see one-to-many. So in this case, one person, one melody is talking to many of you. But somewhat, I'm quite limited in the way that I can collect information back from you. In some conferences, maybe you can have people raise hands virtually, have a poll of text or a voice. For example, in this webinar, I think I can only submit quizzes for you guys to do. There's emails for you to submit questions, but I don't think there's anything live I can actually do. As I mentioned, things can get quite glitchy. As with all technology, please do have some sort of buffer because we can't expect technology to be perfect and working the way that we want it all the time. The talking head, remember this frame? Well, we're really focused because it's zoomed in to my upper dorsal and it can get a bit rigid as well depending on how you make your final video. But there are certain perks and there are certain limitations as well. Please bear in mind that a lot of these online sessions, our recorded. So in a way, you have to be doing a show performance one way or another. You don't have to be fake about it, but you know, you are performing something. So therefore, please be on your best behavior. I have actually a module on the etiquette, more like other conduct later on the presentation you're doing right now. If it's online, the end is only the beginning. Why am I saying that? It's because I want everyone who's doing a presentation, me inclusive, is to do it right? Once. It doesn't have to be perfect because nothing's perfect. But at least do it right that one time because people will wash the delay live many times. Your video we'll get shared. The course will be, will be taken from other people. So make sure that you do it right. Otherwise, it's just replicas of this wonderful thing. And sometimes this recorded video might become part of another video that's in the future. So really, really be on your best behavior. And lastly, you will ask what technology? Well, technology in this context, let's think about it is more like a tool that helps us survive and communicate in this particular online realm. A later we'll talk about some things to consider when you're selecting a streaming or a web conferencing software. But for now, let's think of it as a tool that help us display that different form of us. And there are certain things that you need to do in order to make sense on this platform or in this realm which will be covered in the later modules. This realm isn't that bad after all, I'm sure by now, a lot of your questions are answered in some of those suspicions that you had was the mystified. And in the next session, we will actually talk about how can you set up your space to get ready for this realm? 5. What Gear Do You Need?: Many folks asked me, isn't the biggest differentiation between online and offline sessions, the hardware itself. Yes, that's actually a big part of the equation. And a lot of people would ask me, what kind of equipment do I need to load up on? Well, actually the question depends on what you want to get out of it. What kind of results do you want? What kind of stage are you on and what kind of product are you thinking about making? In here, I'll actually give a spectrum of selections so that you can make the right decision in terms of how to select your hardware. What kind of hardware should I have? Well, I guess it depends on what kind of setup you need. Where are you, What kind of limitations are you working with? But what kind of parameters do you have? The question is, how equipped should we be? Let's take a look. For mobile devices. I'm talking about the phone or the tablet. In this case. There's pros and cons to each of these options. I'll go through some of them. There's, the purse is very convenient as an also, a lot of these platforms are already mobile-friendly. You can do this anywhere. You can take your mobile and just watch someone's stream. Or you can actually do a streaming anywhere. But the thing is when you're the person that's streaming or broadcasting, it can get really noisy. Background lies in noise wise. Another perk is that there's a little setup involved, maybe just an earphone and maybe like a tripod at the most because you're on mobile, it's also very good. That is cheap, it's fast and something that you can do alone. But the cons is that, as I mentioned, the noise level, the background might be too distracting and you probably can't use a virtual background if you are outside, if you're in a quiet room, yes, you probably still can do that, but not when you're outside. The mobile version usually is hard to multitask because they only allow you to do almost one thing at the same time on the screen. So sometimes it's trying to text outside of the net conferencing software would be impossible without hindering that experience. You need to answer the emails. If you need to answer to WhatsApp, know, the screen is so small because it's a mobile device, unless you're using a tablet. But seeing, looking at someone's PowerPoint would be a bit of a nightmare for people who's presenting. I don't even know if you can share a PowerPoint while you're on a cell phone. I've never tried that. But even my guesses, even if you can, that would be a bit of a nightmare. Seriously, your reception can be hindered because you might be at a place where they have no Wi-Fi or in public places, the WiFi is not that good. And if you're using your own data, that could actually pose other problems. If you don't have unlimited data, battery life can be an issue. So you might need a portable charger. It can overheat if your session goes on for too long with the Internet connection, things can become pixelated because your, your internet quality is not good. So your video quality starts to get compromised. Someone will actually ask me, well, with a mobile, what if I tried to squeeze more than one person in here? Yes, you can. But that would actually cause other problems because then you'll be further away from your phone. And the sound would actually get hindered because there's multiple voices coming from a distance, it can be quite distracting. Please make note that you might need your script or your top points somewhere else, because the small screen doesn't let you look at everything at the same time. And if you're using Bluetooth for your headset, you might run into the battery issue, you might run into reception issues, and you might run into a latency issue, which we don't really like because you have a portable charger, you need the charging cable, the tripod, not everyone has a tripod for their phone and neither what they bring it anywhere. I can suggest that you can use one of the stickies. You stick it onto a surface. You can find those in the stores. And another thing is you can buy a wide angle that you put on top of your camera. So that way you actually include more people without being very far. But again, that's something that you have to get on your own. I guess the good thing is with a mobile devices, you can play slap together this mostly by yourself. Alright, moving on is a computer and a webcam. The pro is that if you're doing things that are more than just a talking head, if you have a PowerPoint to share or if you're looking at a PowerPoint, this is great because now your screen is not much bigger. You're working with them that much bigger of a screen. It's better when you have multiple speakers as well. Because no longer are you limited to the limited display functions of a mobile. Now you can actually have all the little grids that we're used to seeing, say you're on a Zoom meeting. You can also take notes and email and maybe what's up someone and actually do other stuff while you're watching and or presenting. If you need to. Also usually when you're using a computer and a web cam, we can almost safely assume that you're probably indoors, there's less distractions. And also you probably have better internet because by this time you may be in your board room where you might have to land cable or at least better internet because it's not a public Internet. Now the downside is that you can't do this really anywhere anymore because you have, especially if you have a desktop, now, you're probably like in a meeting room of some sort. For you as a presenter, you need some sort of technology for the setup with a different mic and the different webcam if you're using different webcam, otherwise, the built-in Camm Can suck. If you're able to live with that, That's fine. And again, the multitask thing can be an issue. Let's take a look at this setup. That's the computer webcam. Yes. But you actually need a quiet room. So if you're using a meeting room, you probably have to pick some were not but soundproof, but hopefully it's soundproof. But if it's not, you need to be free of the distractions of people walking past the, the windows or the noise, we need to have decent lighting. Decent lighting isn't u-prime need an external LED or a ring light? The selfie lights will not do anymore. For the webcam, it would be ideal if you have an external one, especially if you have more than just yourself that's fitting in to that screen. Whereas for the mike, you can't use the headset anymore because now you're sharing the mic with everybody else. And depending on the reception of the mic, sometimes people may have to put it in the middle of the table and everyone kinda have to talk with their mouth close to it, which can become problematic if there's way too many people, it's just very annoying because you're sharing the mic, the microphone with everyone. You're sharing the speakers as well. So the speaker, the sound could go into the mic and then the mike and go back into speakers. They have this feedback and it gets really annoying. So you have to mute your mic. So when you're not using it, which is better to have someone to control that because you might be presenting with the quality of the Internet, you have more control. As I mentioned before, my preferred option is actually using the land cable because I'm old school and I just find it much more stable. But you can actually run into problems if you don't have a second pair of hands that's helping you be a secretary, a minute taker or tech assistant can become quite disastrous. Okay, Now this next one is the studio setting, the pro setting. The good things about it is that the internet connection is usually quite good because they have a crew that's taking care of that already. And the establishment that you're in is usually built for that. The microphone and the camera that you're working with by this time should be at a professional level, the lighting, it will be very good. It's probably more than a selfie and a ring light. They actually have the professional lights that you actually see in the picture. But another thing is you might be working with a teleprompter. This can be a pro and con depending on how much you'd like using a teleprompter. For me, I think it's an acquired taste. The good thing is that you can allow more people in that frame because you might have other speakers up sitting right next to you, which is good. So you can have a formal interview that looks really nice. And you're going to multi cameras that you can leave through the crew. You might just have to coordinate with them in terms of when to look at which one. And by that time you probably have a director of some sort, so you don't have to do everything yourself. Cons is that you can't be anywhere For sure. You're in a studio, you're spending more money. There's more people involved because it is a professional setup. And usually when people pick a professional setup is because some of that footage is either used for a later video or is recorded for some other purposes. And, or that is actually broadcasted either on TV or on a very high-quality stream. You need the hair and makeup in your full wardrobe to go with it. So pajamas under the table, that stuff will not fly anymore. Which actually means there's more time that we need to put in in terms of prep. And also, as I mentioned, not everybody is okay with a teleprompter. It took me a while to get used to it. And not only that, by this time you need a bit of a TV or camera presenting skill or skills to actually master surviving in the setup. And it can be quite intimidating for some people frankly, you have to pay attention to an extension of that. Is that what do you have to bring William to bring you? Maybe the script, but you have to be dressed up, ready to go. And I have to put actually more prep into the actual delivery compared to just a meeting and boardroom or something that you're doing on your mobile phone, which usually is a more casual setting. The reason why is because now it's more official. And as I said, it can be recorded for other purposes in the audiences. I actually have a different expectation of you when you're using this type of production to this production with this production value, the stuff that you make are not really that amature anymore. The script run down. It has to be very refined. And also you have to be aware of where to look, when and where which can get confusing for some people. And also you might need a moderator of source depending on if you're going to be that moderator and the presenter, or if you're going to the presenter and have someone else as a moderator. The last one is you might need a director too. I should take care of the tech stuff in all to also direct youth. So that way you can really just focus on delivering to the audience. Now that you know what kind of different equipments are involved for the different kind of setup. Let's find you a stage. 6. "The Stage": We're already used to the concept of having a stage wherever we go when we look at a performance or even at a corporate event, we see backdrops. We see certain stage of elevated or not for speakers to be in. But why is that? We never really asked that question. Well, it's to set up the platform for people to manage their expectations. In this module, we'll break down the different types of stages to satisfy a different array of audience and also to achieve some different purposes depending on what your goal is. Right? So in this module, we're going to talk about the stage that you're on. Now, let me make a comparison actin offline event. There's three elements. We have the stage, lighting and the sound is actually the same thing for an online session, but it's the same thing. It's the same elements except for it's tweaked a little bit. This think of it as more like a set that you're on, but I'll call that a stage. Alright, well, stage, let's first ask the question, why do we need one and what's in common between all these stages that you see. For example, here you see this gentleman has giving a lecture of some sort, this stage right next to him right here. It's a lady that's taking a video that's in her library. That's not the kind of stages that we're used to, but it's still a stage in this case. Same thing with the stadium, or even in a coliseum of sorts. It's just different forms of a stage. Alright, well, what does it form? It's a place to actually set the tone to set an image of some sort. It's rather like a focal point for the audience to focus their attention too, isn't it? It defines the roles of whoever standing on the stage and whoever is not a standing on the stage or sitting so that we know some of the expectations. It also sets the etiquette. What isn't, what is inappropriate. It sets certain parameters that we're working within. For example, a formal conference and a one-to-one chat. It dictates the way that we present our information, the language that we use, the movement, gestures, or even how we interact with the audience. Because in this case, I mean, size, I actually does matter if you're actually interacting with one person. The way that you script things is different than if you're asking from a group of 500 people to actually get involved into a pole is very different. The wardrobe is different. It has to be consistent with the stage to some extent, alright? Even though we're at home, but it's kinda like a dress code that it's setting for this setup. Think of it is actually like something that's 2D, like a TV show. For the presenter, there's only one place to look at, which is the camera. And we can't really move around too much because the camera is set somewhere for the audience. Also, there's one place for them to focus on, which is their computer screen. They can move around a little bit, but still, there's not a lot that they can do because they probably have to take notes and then they probably also have their cameras on. So they're also being watched as well. Now let's take a look at the background. In theaters back in the days. It's actually a painting that's up black to indicate the scenery is more for decorative purposes. Whereas at an online session, you might have, say, logos or branding purposes. It's also known as a backdrop in some cases, but it couldn't be in 3D form, which is the actual items that you put in this area here. Or it can be something that's 2D, like a board. If you have a foam board or it could be like a virtual background, which wish, then you'll have to use a green screen like what I'm doing right now. Oh geez, look at this picture. Oh snap. This gentleman right here is doing a pretty good job. He's got his he's got a shirt and tie everything. The glasses look very intellectual. Nobody is seeing his pajamas, but the drawers at the bank, it's giving away, it's an inconsistent image. If he wants to do the full package, forgot about the bag. But that said it doesn't mean you have to put something that's highly intellectual. If there's nothing that you want to put, just do a more neutral background. You don't have to get fancy at it, just as long as it's not distracting and it doesn't send in an inconsistent message. Sometimes I should tilting the screen makes a huge difference already. If you look at here, in this case, I use the two TVs. This is actually shooting for video that was talking about horse racing. And it's not an LED LED wall. You don't actually need that. Sometimes you don't even have access to that, but you do have access to the TV that's at home. It tells people about what you're setting is. And the best part about using and TV is you can actually monitor, is that you can actually design whatever people see on there, right? Even if it means you have to write it out, like spell it out, then do it. If it needs a bunch of Mono, mono brand logos, do it. Now that the stage is set, makes sure that you have the proper stuff that is needed so that people can see and hear you properly. In the next module, we'll talk about proper lighting just to make sure things are in the right setup. 7. Get that Lighting!: Proper lighting is very important. That's why they have a separate profession for this line of work. But don't worry, we're not going to go into that level of detail today. Instead, we'll make sure that your setup properly to portray yourself in the most appropriate way possible given the stage shot you're on. In this module, we'll talk about the different types of settings, and we'll talk about the different lightings, their limitations, as well as their different requirements. If you're working with a camera of any sort, doesn't matter if it's a mobile device, an iPad, a video camera, or if it's a webcam, you still need good lighting because it can make or break a video. It gives a whole different impression and it can actually make the difference between amateur and professional. It actually shows a lot of the details are imperfections on your face if the lighting is not done properly. So it's directly correlated to how good you look. Good lighting guests do the audience of favor. One of the most important parts of video making is that it actually sets the mood. Imagine having like white light versus yellow light. I think naturally we're kind of condition that one is warmer than the other. I think for the most part, yellow lights are used at home, whereas the white lights are used in the office. In a way it kind of insinuates you're setting generally, it directs people's attention in terms of where to look. Note they have a spotlight on a stage is kinda like that. It gives some sort of contrast. Think of it as like a highlighter or just the spotlight in a musical. Or even if it's just like a monitor or screen is still good to give some sort of focus. And it lets people see you clearly and get a good image that way it's almost like taking a nice picture. Not to mention that people are taking a screenshot, then that would be a much nicer screenshot. Not only is it visually pleasing, it's also a lot more clear if you take a look here, backlight. Well, I can't say don't use it, but depends on the situation. In a professional setting. I can't remember when was the last time I had to use backlight. Maybe if I have to protect my identity, baby, I have probably have to pair that with a distorted voice, but it does give that really dramatic look, but otherwise don't use it unless there's something very specific you're trying to achieve, is actually considered as bad lighting depending on the situation in corporate settings is almost always considered bad unless you're looking for a more dramatic entry. Now that's different. By the way, if that's, that's my cats. Alright, remember the three stages I was talking about the mobile computer and a pro studio. Here. I'll talk about the three stages with their different kind of setup. Alright, well, selfie lights, that's the best for mobile devices. The good thing is that it's very portable, please, quite cheap, getting cheaper by the minute. These things, you can try it by USB and it comes in all sorts of varieties. They can come in different colors. You can have the white and a yellow and the white and yellow, which is good. So you can play around with those. Some selfie lights actually even come with a wide angle lens that's built into it. It's also very good if you're doing like a headshot video where you're quite close to it, nothing but a talking head. The bad thing is that with the selfie lights, it's limited by distance because the light is so small. So if you get too far, it doesn't really do anything. The battery life is very short, and it can also make your phone tip over. So you probably need to secure your phone one way or another. You might need an additional mount. Actually, in some cases, depending on what kind of selfie light you're using. If you're using a wide angle, going back to the previous setup about mobile, you probably need longer headphone cord to match, but then if you're using that probably becomes a tripping hazard. If you're using Bluetooth, again, your batteries die faster. There's certain delays and backgrounds actually suddenly matter even more if you're using a wide angle, because if you're using a talking head, you just have to keep this little piece of background clean. But when you're doing a wide angle, there's so much more that people are seeing. She can get really distracting. You might have people like photobombing you. Maybe you're outside. Alright, now let's take a look at the external lighting. These come in all sorts of shapes and forms that you might have. The LED panels, you might have ring light. The pros is that there is definitely a much bigger coverage now, wider and bigger distance, longer distance between you and the camera, which means you can actually have more people illuminated. The good thing is that you're not confined to head shots anymore, but some setups like the ring lights. So I should let you clip a phone to the middle if you want. And the faces look beautiful with the ring light is just the way that they're designed is great. The columns is that if you're using a phone, you actually need a mic because of your distance, if you're using the built-in. Microphone, usually the result is not that great from my experience, you need an external power source for the ring light or for the LED panels. They do have some that doesn't use it. But again, the time is very short in terms of how long those can go. By this time, you actually need some pro skill set, lighting concepts a little bit, and technical concepts. It could be a bit straining on the eye. If you're looking at these panels for too long, you might have the problem if they become too bright and you're looking back at your notes and then you see blotches of color. It can be quite nauseated. Two, you need more space because you're cramming in all these things. If you're having a small conference room, that might be an issue. The size and the depth. The ceiling height can also be an issue, is you might need to adjust the angle of the light for optimal results. They can get pretty hot sometimes for girls like our makeup just melt. And even for guys like you could be sweating, your face gets all shiny and stuff and the list goes on. And the professional lighting, this is this studio environment. The good thing is definitely TV quality. Have more diverse set of different angles with different cameras. Multi speakers were interview format. You have all sorts of effects, intensities. They can get pretty fancy. And as I mentioned before, by this time you probably have the crew, the director and producer, and the tech crews, or you don't have to worry much about the setup itself. But the bad thing is, is that you need to spend more time on your hair and makeup so that it doesn't melt under there and it looks good with that lighting for girls, I'm sure you know the makeup that you need in front of these professional setting, it's actually a lot more heavier than the makeup that you wear for like a normal meeting. Again, it can get really, really hot, really fast over a prolonged period of time. It's almost inevitable that, that you don't sweat. You need to match this lighting with your presentation and what comes out of your mouth so everything has to be consistent. And as I mentioned, with the eyes strain in the previous one in this setting, it's even more so you can get the crew to adjust it slightly. But then for people who sensitive to light, especially people who got Lasik, they can actually really feel the setup is sometimes they might have to dumb it down, but then that can be done to an extent. And also you'll need more briefing or even rehearsal with a crooner director because insufficient briefing can result in a lot of problems. As now you are working with more people, working with more equipment. But don't forget daylight. That's a source of lighting. Do use it as much as you can. I know in the studio sometimes that may not be an option, but for your mobile devices or even for your meeting rooms, see if you can actually take advantage of that. It's easy on the eye, it's natural, it's comfortable. But the intensity can vary depending on the time of the day because of the position of the sun. And you might need to position yourself nicely as the window is. It's locked in one place, or sometimes it's because of the furniture that you have that's obstructing you. But do try to use a light as much as possible. Knowing what you know. Now, I would like you to hold the urge to jump onto your set and look at your setup to see if you have the proper lighting. Instead, please do proceed to the next module, which we'll talk about your audio and your sound setup. As weird as it sounds, it actually has an impact of how you should set up your lighting for this particular situation. If an online session. 8. Your Audio Matters.... A Lot!: It's more than what you see in the video. What you hear is also just as important is a huge part of video making or even the live stream. So in this module will not only talk about the quality of the sound that you're producing, but also what setup do you need given the budget that you have? Let's jump right in. In a video, you might think all the sound, it doesn't really matter, right? Actually, no, it matters pretty much the most. Why? Because just imagine the following scenario. You have two videos that are exactly the same in terms of content, except for one have really good visuals. But the audio is full of static, is noisy. It's actually all over the place. You actually probably can't sit through that because it's so distracting. But whereas if you got the same content and then you have the visual that's maybe in a lower-quality, like not HD, but at the same time, the sound is so good. You can actually sit through that one. I'll put in the example links below so you can actually take a look. Why is that? Well, because good sound actually adds emotion and it connects people to what it is that they're seeing that supports each visual and every cut in also defines the overall mood and the tone of your narrative. Ever noticed that too, in a studio setup, there's always a separate mic. The earphone is separate for the most part is because those mikes are usually pretty good. Well, let's take a look at what these gentlemen are doing. There's one on the left. He's actually stepping out of a restaurant when he's taking a business call. Well, why is he doing that? Because he can't hear me. Is it because the background sound sounds like he's partying or now? Well, it could be a combination of both. Then if you look at the gentleman on the right that's crossing the street. Very handsome guy by the way. Why can't he do a Skype meeting or a conference call while he's outside, while he's crossing the street? Well, even if he can hear his colleagues properly, they probably can't hear him properly. And as I said, the background noise can be so distracting to everyone. Of course, it's not suited to the occasion as well. Even though it might be quite possible to do it technically, but highly not recommended, please don't do that. And even when it's really quiet and you still don't want people to hear someone else's voices and your background. Why is that? They're not part of this call. Don't forget that there's other people in the meetings. We can't hear them even if we've done our due diligence is just because it's so noisy on that other side. And sometimes you just want to tell them to. But you can't. Therefore makes sure when you're doing these sessions, you can here and you can talk into the microphone clearly. Anything else is just fancy. That's why when the hearing, like the headphone and the mica separated, you will have feedback. Yeah, that's a problem. If you're using an external speaker, like not something that's plugged into your ears. It can be very, very daunting because the sound that comes out of your mic goes back into your speakers, back into your mic. And it's just like a really annoying feedback loop. But it does come with better benefits because now you're using a computer, there's more people that are range of reception. You can hear all the speakers, you can, everyone can hear all the speakers. You have better sound quality. That the most useful advice I can give is when in doubt, mute your mic first, mute it first. Okay. It's going back to those three setups that I was talking about. The mobile or a tablet in terms of sound, It's usually the 3.5 MM Jack headphones. Or if you're using Apple, I guess that's a Lightning jack that's after. What is it, the iPhone seven or eight. But the bad thing is that you can't really charge at the same time without using a splitter. And you can get fancy, you can get the more professional microphones that are using the 3.5 MM Jack or even lightening. They have microphone companies like sure, they make it so they can actually block out more of the background noise and stuff. But then the thing is once you plug that in, you don't hear anything. Now it's just a mike. You can't hear anything from anybody, so you might have to keep plugging it in, unplugging it, which isn't a good option. Lighting, as I mentioned, have to be adjusted if you are using the mic as a mic, which is an external microphone, because the lighting will have to cover that big of a distance as well. The best choice for my experience is using the headphone, just a little headphone because you have the hearing and the mike all in one unit, you get to control when you mute yourself. For those of you who is thinking about doing that in the bathroom, I think again, when you have the video off, the the echo you're having in the bathroom rarely does tip people off in terms of where you are. So please don't try to pull that off. Unless you want people to know that you're in a bathroom. Next one is the computer. Now some are more directional than others. The microphone, some cover a wider range and distance, so people don't really have to stick their most close to the microphone when they're talking, which can be a bit of a disaster. When you have separate speakers and you need to have distanced like a bigger distance between them, then you probably need more than one microphone, which can actually cause some other problem because then you need more technical knowledge in terms of hooking up to microphones with two input, you do have feedback issues because as I say, you might be using an external speaker. So you have to play around with that. When your microphone is too close to the speaker. Certain angle you might have feed. Again, you're stuck in one place is what the computer setup. And please don't move your stationary mix. The ones that are actually put on the table like a Blue Yeti. Would you drag that across a table? All because it's so sensitive, everyone on the other side OJ, so probably go deaf. It can be very bad for the computer setup in terms of controlling when you mute your microphone. It can still be you that's doing it, but sometimes it's handed over to another person. So communication is of utmost importance, almost utmost important. Let's look at the setup for the studio. This is when you leave it to the pros for the monitoring part, making sure everyone hears you nicely. Leave it to the crew just so that they can double-check and as you interact and no need to get your own hands dirty, which is good. They can monitor all of that. By the time you hear others. It's already nice and there's no feed, thanks to the crew and rehearsal. But the downside is that you're spending more time for Mike test before the session starts and now it's more than just Can I hear you or not. It's more like you need to tweak some things back and forth to make sure that your voice sounds great. Which usually requires other technicians that's using a mixer. It's more expensive. You need rehearsal, you need some sort of harmony between you and the crew. So communication, this is where it's the most important, is of utmost importance. I'll say that again. The mic is much more sensitive. Now, show for girls, if you have long hair, maybe your hair brushing against Mike. That can drive someone crazy. In this case, one of the biggest downside is that somebody else is controlling your mic. So therefore, please be on your best behavior because you don't know, sometimes due to miscommunications or whatnot, you don't know exactly when is muted and when it's not, make sure that you're on your best behavior. By this time. I'm sure you have a good idea about how to make yourself sound better and how to make it more pleasant for your audiences to hear you no matter which stage you're on. In our next module, we'll show you how to clean up everything and get ready to make your video. 9. Cleaning Up "Your Scene": In this space that we're in right now, what you put in and what you don't put it is very important because that's what people are looking at and that's what people are listening to. In this module, we'll give some guidelines and some reminders in terms of what things to put in and what things do get rid of because you don't need those people don't need to see it. They don't need to hear it. Before I move on, I want to just make a little bit of a remark about cleaning up your stage, your sound before you actually do any of the above that I mentioned. Let's take a look. I think this picture actually sums it up quite well. Put only what people need to see in that field of view where people get to see with the camera. So all the cats, the clarinet, the kids, everything those can go. What people don't need to hear, please try to block those out. Lighting, It's a backlight and hurricanes by the way. So let's get rid of that for mobile and tablet, especially turn on the Do Not Disturb modes because pop-ups can come up and it's such an obstruction when you're trying to share anything on such a small screen or look at anything. And it's the same with the computer that do not disturb mode will actually, it's, it's basically keeping all the pop-ups from coming up. What can possibly low into the room counts too. It's not just what you can see right now. So potential things that can actually come in. Please look at the link that I've sent below. It's actually some examples of some group sees that they even did it in professional settings with like Fox News and stuff. Don't forget about the reflections in the mirror and also Windows too, if there's somebody that's going to walk by, so make sure you can tilt your screen or at least make away so that if something happens where somebody decides to, I don't know, photo bomb outside, it doesn't become a distraction. Next is also the renovation upstairs and lunchtime in the office, the home setting where there's people coming in and out, make sure you are familiar with those schedules to some extent within what you can do so that you're working around it. You don't capture any of those noises. Make sure the amount of noise is kept to a minimum, as it can become very, very, very distracting and professional Is it comes up during your session. I sometimes have those problems when I'm actually recording with my cats jumping from some of the cat furniture. And it's the same logic. We only need to hear what we need to hear and nothing more hopefully, was with multiple people in a net meeting, the sound quality is already a bit hindered. The more people you have, the more far they sound. And sometimes it can sound not just far but muffled. It's just the way it is when we have more people. But the thing is, don't expect everyone to have the decency to mute the mic when they should mute the mic. So lots of background noise or being piled up in a lot of the meetings when there's a lot of people. So we don't need to add to that pile of noise. Please do turn off all your ringers, all your notification sounds, everything, even the vibrates, turn that off. By this time, I hope all of you are actually surveying around your stage and just make sure you're going through all the items and ask yourself the same question. Do I need it? When you're done with everything? Congratulations, you're finished. You're ready to make your video. 10. What My Home Setup Look Like: After going through all the details about the equipment, the lighting, the sound, and the stage. Probably by this time, you want to know what does my setup look like? Maybe the one that's at home or here in the studio. Well, let's look at that, shall we? Let's take a look at the studio that I was using. This is kind of like a hybrid, is not exactly a professional studio. This is my friend's office. But instead we put some pretty professional lighting and there as they're both photographers. So you can imagine the lighting that we're using is not just a layman, ones that we have at home. And as long as this scene is cleaned up and you can see there's food dishes, There's actually my coffee on the floor. That doesn't matter because nobody will actually see that it's not like we're shooting that low. Again, this relates back to communicating with the camera crew to make sure that they're not panning outside the area that you're thinking. Selfie time. This is my home setup. So you can see there's my camera ring light, additional light, my script. This is actually for the soundproof board. This is actually a soundproof board. Just some prompts at the back. It's not my cat. But these, just to show a little bit about what I'm doing. Sometimes shooting at home can be a bit difficult, especially when you're doing everything yourself. In my case, I had to wrestle my cats and make sure things don't fall over as I'm shooting. Not to mention that it becomes a major tripping hazard is everything at home is now on the floor. Yeah. I have a very small apartment. But other than that, as long as everything is in place, you are ready to go until somebody meows is you can see or a cat jumps into the whole scene like what you're seeing with my orange cat. That's when you have the cold cut and just do everything all over again. He can get kind of annoying. So having someone that can help you on the set actually goes along way for me just to do like for reshoots of like ten seconds each actually took me four hours. In this case, you probably notice on my floor is a little bit messy. That's okay. Because nobody sees that. If you pay attention, I do have soundproof boards in front of me no matter where I am. Because especially when you're at home or in a large place that you don't have soundproof board. That sound is so remarkable with the echo, with my level of post-production skills, there's no way I can fix it. So instead, I made it nice when I was recording. Oh, there goes my cat. What I told you about things that can come into the set. Anyway, that's it for the setups that I use. I hope you find it useful. And also just to take a sneak peek about what's behind the scenes for me. 11. How Does it Look from The Waist UP?: Looking good and looking professional is always very important when you're doing an online session. Doesn't matter if it's a streaming. It doesn't matter if it's just a one-to-one call. Doesn't matter if it's a pre-recorded or even a recorded session. Most importantly, is how pleasant Ru, to the eye and also are emitting the right vibe for the setting that you're doing. In this module, we'll go through the different types of settings will help you make a better decision depending on what kind of message it is that you need to convey. Oh, wait. Are we on air? Well, Thank God, I'm ready. Dress to impress is what we're talking about in this session. It's the same logic. If you're going into any meeting, any presentation, or any conference, It's how formal you should be or how not formal you should be depends on the occasion, but details do matter. The talking head and the upper tarsal format, they do matter. So let's take a look. There's some very obvious things that we need to pay attention to here. So this gentleman who's having a meeting at home, the waist up, this is in front. What's he doing that is so obvious. A shirt looks like it's nicely iron to ties in place. Smooth out the wrinkles, the colors. Look good. His Harish good. And it looks like doesn't have a shiny face. His glasses make him look highly intellectual. That's great. That's the obvious part. Now, not so obvious part is when you're doing these sessions, little things start to matter. How much your shirt is buttoned up, especially for girls. If you're not buttoning up all the way, ask yourself how many want to button up? Because sometimes it becomes a peep show depending on what kind of audiences you're talking to. So make sure that's kept at a decent level. Also, you don't want to wear it everyone out by having, I don't know, like a button pop or something hair having that done nicely as a monster, you're doing repeat meetings on different days. Make sure you do have different clothes so that you don't look broke or that you'd never left the office because as I said, sometimes these sessions are recorded. So you don't know when they're going to use which ones for when you have the same set of clothing. It looks like you've never left the office. They want say Buffett day to same outfit. Okay. And the third one is also not so obvious. Guys shaved makes sure you don't miss a spot. Because with the with the cameras, sometimes yeah. It does pick up stuff that you wish they do not see and especially with a good lighting becomes very apparent. Blemishes, dark circles. I might want to cover those. Makeup for girls in oily skin, might want to block those out just to be safe. Have some blotting paper and tissue ready. If you've got bloodshot eyes from drinking, make sure you have that eyedrops cap sticks for guys and also make sure you check your teeth for food that you don't have the spinach that's left from lunch. We don't need to know that you're yawning, you've been partying, you're tired. Let's not see the signs of that unless that's part of your professional image is a wine taster. If you need to, like, I don't know, burp or yawn, please do stop your camera and also unmute your mic because we really don't need to see any of this on top of the lighting, how it directs people's eyes to something. Having that contrast with your background matters. It directs people's eyes to the subject, which is used for better attention because the talking heads are already less stimulating when you're blending into the background. That's as unstimulated as it ever gets, unless you wanna camouflage in case he takes photos. That also depends on the event. It's good to have some sort of contrast. The waist down. Remember that gentleman we were talking about? Well, you're probably going to think, who cares if nobody sees it as long as it's comfortable? Yes. But it is party at the back? It is. Okay. But then the thing is to some people, when they're not dressed completely, they're not really acting professionally either. So they're relaxed at the same time when they're dressed, relaxed. So let's just try to put on something that's fairly decent so that you're mentally prep as well in case something happens, you have to get up, say the mailman came, there's an accident. Camera drops, you have to catch it, then we don't have to see you in your boxers. Therefore, the question is asked yourself, which stage are you on? Right back to the three stages we were talking about. Is it mobile? Is it computer? Isn't in a professional setting. Bear in mind lower resolution and less detail you'll see with the mobile devices also, depending on your bandwidth and camera quality. When you have smaller frame, like smaller fields of users, less coverage. So we get to control that we, you have a wider screen, you'll start having to cover your lower body because the camera is gonna be that much wider and no pan pro setting. Sometimes you have to wear the right shoes because who knows where people are going to do the full I don't know the full shot or they're going to take a picture. For me. I prefer to overthrow just in case it looks like we're ready to look good above the waist, but don't stop there yet. There's one more thing. How about what's below the waist? In the next part we will talk about the parts where people don't see why that's important. 12. What's Happening from the Waist DOWN?: What is happening outside the Cameron doesn't matter, right? Nobody sees it wrong. That's not true. We always have to prepare for other contingencies, not dimension that sometimes there's extras that we're going to shoot where you will actually see a little bit more than you thought. We'll go through some of that in this module and provide some examples of what not to do. There's the waist up and there's the waist down. And I know a lot of people make the same mistake. I do too. We actually don't care nearly as much as what happens below the waist when we're doing an online session. But please do still pay attention. I know this is one of the real life examples. I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of things. First of all, he probably didn't communicate correctly with the cameraman or maybe it was just like a spontaneous thing that they didn't tell him about. In this case. Remember, I told you in the professional setting because somebody else controls, are Mike left to be on our best behavior. The same actually actually applies when you're doing the camera because you're no longer the person that's in control. So be on your best behavior, which actually leads me to this question again. Which stage are you on? How much is the coverage, right? I prefer like over-prepared. In this example, if you take a look, alright, for my shooting, I'm actually not wearing any shoes, It's just socks, but my pants are okay because I have already communicated with the camera man that there's no way he's going to shoot Will low that laptop. So that's why I didn't have to wear shoes. But make sure that is actually communicated because sometimes guests might bring props that they put on the floor and then the camera would once again like a good look at it. And that's when they see everything. One more thing is just in case we need to shoot some extra footage for promos or for different variations of certain demo, whatever it is or making of the different topics with different speakers throughout the day. Make sure when you're doing that, you're matching your wardrobe accordingly. If you need some sort of continuity, make sure that that's consistent. And in case there's a major clash with somebody that's coming in, whatever it is that they're wearing, if you don't know, bring an extra set of clothes. Extra set of clothes. The reason why I say that is because sometimes you need to shoot some extras. And also when you're shooting like making all you don't want to look the same when I don't know when you're in other settings with different topics, with different speakers throughout the day, you might want to match them accordingly and you probably don't know what they're going to wear because sometimes they just don't tell you. So make sure you have a few sets of clothes in case you're having a clash with somebody else that's coming in. Okay. It doesn't hurt to have another set of clothes. And for guys bring extra ties, for girls, bring us all, bring a scarf, accessories. Tie your hair differently. Make sure you do have those. And that's about it. That was a bit of a kerfuffle, wasn't it? A trick question? But the thing is, I want everyone to be over-prepared in this case, because as you saw on the example, I'm sure we don't want it to be like him do it. And not only that, as I mentioned, there's always contingencies, There's always accidents. What if there's a fire? Well, if that happens, we know who's ready now. 13. Got a Storyboard?: Unless you're somebody that lives and works in the bubble, that does everything with perfection. Every single time. You actually need a rundown or a storyboard of some sort. This will make it easier, not only for you, but the people that are working with you as well. Don't forget, it doesn't have to be a very comprehensive one, but the concept of having one is very important. What is your story forward? A storyboard is actually a graphic representation of how your video is going to play out. Shot by shot, frame by frame. Usually scene by scene. It's made up of different squares that you're drawing out, which basically you can label in terms of what kind of, what kind of notes and what kind of details go in each of these scenes. That's what they do for movies. And of course, you can inject certain script or certain quotes into the scenes. That's what they've been doing all this time. By definition, that's exactly what a storyboard is. But do we really need all that? Making a movie, right? We're not, for, for the most part, we're not. But you don't have to be nearly as comprehensive, but you still have to bear that idea in mind. Also bear in mind that there is a spectrum of online sessions. The closer you are to the pro setup in the pro finished product, the more likely you will actually need something that's close to this. For now, I'll call this a run down, this run-down, and the storyboard, I'll use interchangeably. So what is, what is this rundown? Well, it's kind of a schedule as a timing and a duration of these events that you're having in the item list. Also, it contains the essential list of items that you need to do. There's some call to action. If you need people to do certain things, then you inject it into their people are also involved. So you need to write very clearly who's responsible for what and when. Notably that you'll probably ask for feedback in-between, you'll ask for some sort of discussion that's going on so you can gather more information, bounce ideas off of each other, where you can insert a PowerPoint in certain, with certain instructions or in certain parts. There's moments for a photos or videos that are recorded for later use. For example, if you mark this certain session of a video, then knowing that that is going to go as part of a formal or another video, you will actually be more meticulous and more careful about exactly what goes in as opposed to just the casual video chat. And you can download the rundown template that is in this session. Notes are usually sufficient for the mobile or tablet setting because usually it's shorter duration. Generally, it's only you in the frame. So chances are you can't be anywhere else. For the mobile and tablet setting, notes are usually sufficient because of the shorter duration. And also there's only you in the frame and chances are you can be anywhere. We talked about this before, not necessarily just a meeting room. It can be recorded, but we will know that it's usually quite pixelated due to the Internet problem and it can be noisy. So if you're outside, you probably just got all of the noise that's in the background, which may not be good for a recorded video for later use. For the computer and webcam setting, usually there's more people involved, for example, the ones that sitting next to you. So you have to define the roles of who does what on that run-down. And you need to talk about what and when. Like as part of those points at this time, this person talks about what for so long and blah, blah, blah. So it goes like that. The duration is usually longer because we have a tendency to sit in meeting rooms a bit longer. The number of people that I can accommodate as well. In the end, the setting, I mean, it's just more comfortable in this case, it might start to reach a point when things get pre-recorded for later use just because of the sheer quality when people are doing things in a meeting room, there's some sort of time constraint with most office schedules and liaising with other parties. There's usually sometimes the case of back-to-back meetings. So timing is important about the pro setting. Usually in these situations, things are recorded and you need to be super careful. So therefore, a script goes along way. You need to know the actual run-down and storyboard, which is closer to that end of the spectrum, the top that you're doing can be edited in the future. So pauses or followed certain directions for the director because they know best how it's going to be used, the script becomes even more important as others need to follow your speech or needs certain cues to display certain things or to take certain actions. Therefore, it's a good idea to take a peek at what other speakers need to say. So you have at least an idea about what's coming up. And not only that, you might have personnel that's responsible for tech or people whose dialing in note-taking for making your deck and for directing is not just really you anymore. By the time you're using this professional setting, it always, never is just you. And you might have multiple cameras at this point, which can make the equation even more complex. You might have to mark down when it is that you look where because it can get really confusing and some people actually get lost, even with the director or the camera man, there are queuing you, but still can get lost because there's so many things we're juggling. Now that you have the storyboard or the rundown for you and the crew to follow. Which is great because across different settings we still need that. So everyone is on the same page. But how about the people that are watching? Don't forget your audiences. In our next session, we will have the visuals That's cater to them. 14. Visuals for Attendees: We need something for the audiences to look at unless you're doing a voice-over. But that's not what we're talking about here, is part of your visuals. There's a lot that goes into what everyone is seeing. I'm sure it's more than a talking head video too. But don't worry, we'll take you step-by-step in terms of what to do in each of these settings doesn't matter if you're doing a talking head video or if you have a presentation that's going on, Let's jump right in. Good old girl visuals. Is it a PowerPoint presentation you're doing or is it just a talking head video you're doing? Considered the stage that you're on for one. Is it a mobile in a cafe or is it a computer that's in a meeting room? Or is it a studio that's in front of a more professional setting? You actually don't, technically, you don't need a visual because your face is already the visual, right? That's true. But there's always a tension is actually a lot shorter for online sessions. Even if your stuff, your content is awfully juicy and interesting, you still need to make effort to keep your audience's stimulated and keep them entertained. We need to find ways to enhance that information absorption and also make it easier for yourself to convey that information to them. Because as I mentioned, the Lost in Translation element to a lot of that conveying of message actually gets hindered when we're moving things to a camera or even online, we need to have some visuals to enhance the audience experience overall. Alright, well let's take a look. Here's the good old mobile setting. Well, imagine the following. Trying to work a PowerPoint presentation, or trying to read somebody's PowerPoint presentation on a mobile screen is actually quite painful. I'm sure it can be done one way or another with some limitations, but it's just a headache. My point is looking at a PowerPoint as with such a small screen, it's a major headache. When our eyes can't take it. We basically just phase out. And given the above, actually most of the time when people are trying to use a mobile devices, it's usually meeting with another person or another bunch of person with no PowerPoint. It's usually not like a presentation either. It's more like a chat due to the constraints. Maybe at the end, there's no visual, but then we do have a talking head problem because if it's so noisy outside that people just can't focus on what they're listening to, the background noise and then they're also looking at that nice background that you have. So there's definitely some limitations. So when it comes to that, when you don't have a PowerPoint, you just kinda talk on and on and on and you need your notes somewhere else, which I mentioned before. Your screen is tiny. There's no way you can have presenter's notes on your PowerPoint. Let's look at the computer. If you're one of those people who like to put a lot of information on the PowerPoint. I suggest you show your scribbles on the screen as you go, like what I'm doing right now and let other people's scribble on it as well. If you want a dialogue to go on, assuming nobody is on a mobile device, otherwise, it's still very hectic. But even that don't put too much text because it's just a lot for people to take in. Just be considerate with the people who might be using a mobile device. Just a few more words on the PowerPoint, like now, show your face one way or another split screen it do a gradient screen, it doesn't matter. Some programs allow you to show your face while you're doing your PowerPoint while shop. Some don't, some paid versions do, some, some free versions don't let you. You can have a backdrop of some sort or virtual background when you happen to be the presenter with no PowerPoint or whatnot. So back to the stage module that I was talking about. Now the downside to this is the PowerPoint and operating a net conferencing software. It's happening in a multi-task way and hiccups come up, it can really be a problem even if you can. The audience engagement is definitely hindered because people can tell when you're multitasking, unless you really that good at it, that nothing is hindered. But usually that's not the case, especially on the web call when they can hear it and see you. There's definitely some giveaways. Recall talking to your friend the last time when she's like answering emails and she's talking to you on the phone? Yeah. Somehow feels like she's there but not there. Alright, let's take a look at the computer webcam. There's actually more to that on top of your usual decorate your usual PowerPoint. There's actually more people involved because they might be sitting next to you. You need to care who is doing which files and it can get messy sometimes, although as simple as it sounds, but with more people, there's just more room for error. If you have a backdrop, make it bigger and wider than you think, especially if you have more than one person in the camera, you just need to cover more area and more space just in case. The last thing you want is to have the backdrop covered here and they see like this ugly whitespace. You might have to move things around in the room if needed to accommodate. Next is the professional setting. Visuals are usually key by the tech team if they're using a virtual background and is directed by a director in terms of when it comes out and when you have to test it. So all you need is just a good rundown on a storyboard. The good thing about that is that you're very organized and it's usually quite fully scripted. The bad thing is, it's not really for everyone, especially those people who's either camera shy or don't have a lot of on-air experience. They may do okay. Talking into a camera. But as I said, when it comes to providing some sort of edutainment and some sort of multi-task. It can get pretty difficult. And room for real improvisation might be less than you think because the crew actually needs to keep track and approve of certain things that you say and do. So you can't really just kind of wing it, or it can be as spontaneous as you wish. Because especially for certain companies or for certain brands, certain sessions that you're holding. There's PR departments that have to approve everything and they also have to monitor everything. So be very, very careful about that. I'm sure you know by now how important it is to have your audiences in mind when you're designing your visuals for them as you're taking them on a journey. Don't forget, some of these visuals do not have to be complex. It can be actually quite simple. Again, it depends on what it is that you want to achieve, but do design it ahead of time. 15. How's Your Script?: When I say scripting your talk, I don't mean it's something that has to be word for word unless that's what works for you. What I mean, it's actually a guide, a road-map to your delivery, whatever it is that you want to share with everyone. One thing that I must mention is that with these scripts, it can be as comprehensive or it could be as brief as you like. But most importantly, at the end, I'll mention in this module, is where do you actually put it so that it looks natural? Alright, let's get into the part about scripting your top. I'm sure a lot of you are probably thinking, No, Nobody knows my stuff varies in me. Why do I need to write down what I say? Right? I know that's quite natural, right? But if you look at the picture, even for like an offline event, I know my stuff pretty well, but there's still a deck of cards in my hand. Why is that? Well, let's get back to the online session for now. You need to interject items in there. Remember some certain cues for yourself or other people, some directions, you can lose your train of thought easily. Add an online event because there's so many things we're juggling might be an attention labs. So it's always good to have some sort of notes. You just fell off the wagon. They can just go back to it. And if you don't need it, that's fine. But at least it's there. But it gives your delivery a good flow and some clarity to the overall presentation. Not only that, we know, we don't miss anything with the good PowerPoints. I don't think there's entire script that's there, but there's always some sort of cheat notes, unless it's a presentation you've done a million times. But even that, it's just good to have some notes because sometimes you might want to add things to it as you go or even just right before. So I think it's never hurts. Of course, stuff comes up and you can add as you go. Or sometimes a director might have a certain directive that you just can't remember that any or say a certain issues that have to be addressed in the Q&A, some contingency things, who knows, therefore, it's something happens. You can just come right back to where you left off. You don't have to look at it if you want. Although I think for some speakers, it's just nice. It makes you feel more comfortable if there's something there. But at least as I say, the option is there. And it makes transcribing a lot easier as well. If you are thinking about doing transcripts or subtitles for your videos, it gives you more wiggle room as a presenter. So you can have the resources to become more relaxed and that way you can do a better job. Why not? Mobile? You can get by with some notes and some top point. It's a good thing about it is that it's brief. Look away from the screen for too long isn't something that you'll get to do. And it's just weird on a mobile because if the notes is like right here, because it's not in the same device, you're kinda like looking away, which is really weird. But then that said the audiences a bit more forgiving. Even when you do look away, it is understandable, but just don't do it for like too long that you're reading off of here and you never look back. It's just weird. The cons is that it needs to be done on a different device or on a different piece of paper. That's where your notes are gonna be. What you're referring to the notes longer you look away from the screen, the less engagement you have is not that. You have to look at the screen all the time. But it's another problem when you're actually reading like a whole essay here. So you need to know your materials actually better as you only have notes when you have a mobile device. For the computer webcam, this case is more than just notes. Some are actually more fully scripted than others depending on how comprehensive your PowerPoint visual is. And it also depends on how well you know, your material. I find this very useful is because a lot of times the sessions are timed, it's good to stick to it too, for some sort of timekeeping purposes. It goes back to the cues again for inserting certain items, asking for feedback, asking people to raise hands a certain polls. And it does contain a note for follow-up or extended actions for certain teams or a future calls. Because when that feedback is coming in, you probably get to type those notes up somewhere, which is on the side. If you're doing it on a computer, just because there's a bigger screen, you'll see my cat here again. The positioning of where you put things suddenly matter. It's a nose can't be too far away from the camera unless you want to weird people out. Note that the notes in this case is actually just right below the camera. Keep it as close as possible because if I keep my notes here, my eyes are not deviating that far as opposed to if I put it at the bottom of my screen, I included a photo of my cat. It shows when, when someone, in this case, my cat, is looking at a cue that's off-camera. It just doesn't That's what I mean, when it doesn't look engaging in this case is q was this trait. But it's okay to do it for a little bit, but just not forever. If you look at a stage performance for an offline events, usual events, concert is actually the same. See where the arrows are pointing. That's actually where the monitors are. That's where the screen is, is positioned in a way that when they look at their lyrics or when they look at their script, it looks like they are looking at the people that's sitting in the front row. And the same logic is with news anchors teleprompter. It looks like they're looking at you, but if you look very closely, they're not. But if it takes a trained eye to be able to tell, there's an alternative. If you really don't have the luxury of having like a separate monitor, it works the same if, for example, this lady on the podium, right? You can actually check back every now and then to look at your monitor, but you have to choreograph it in a way that it doesn't look like you're really coming back like an old to check on your monitor all the time. So when people are walking back-and-forth with the pointer, they're changing the PowerPoint. Sometimes it looks like they're walking back and forth for no reason. But sometimes there is a reason is because they are making that rhythm. And also just when they're coming back, they kinda just stop intermittently and just take a quick glance at the screen and then go back and then just continue walking around on stage, which actually can look quite natural with some practice. Now that your cheat sheet is ready, it doesn't matter if it's a full blast script or if it's just some talking points. At the end of the day, it's up to you to decide how comprehensive it is. But don't forget a little goes a long way. 16. How to Select the Right Virtual Conference Software: One can easily get lost in ocean of the virtual conferencing software. But don't worry, in this module, we'll give you some guidelines. Having the end in mind will help you make better decisions in terms of how to pick one that is right for you, given some of the criteria, the limitations you're setting, and also your budget. Virtual conference soft worst, wow, there's a lot that's on the market right now. It's growing by the day. The good news is that we're not going to talk about each and every one of them here. But instead, I'll talk about some of the things to think about when you are picking the one that is right for you. So let's go right into the free and common ones that we see out in the market. And of course, they're subject to change all the time, whichever one's popular. And things are changing so fast right now. So do double-check. There's a Zoom and Webex. They have their paid and free versions, blue jeans. They're kind of afraid because they do have a 30-day trial. Skype is free, Skype business is not. So here it's Skype. There's Google Hangouts that is free. There is a paid version of that, which I'll talk about later. Some considerations. So it doesn't matter if you're picking a free one or if it's paid one is is it convenient to use? Is it easy to use? When I say convenient, I mean, like what platform isn't onset mobile-friendly available on Mac. Is it only on PC or is it cloud base? What is it? Has an interface for the audiences, for the presenter. Are you okay with it? Is it relatively cheap? I don't know. It depends on your budget, right? Some people want their things to be customizable, are the interfaces, logos, and some of the functions. Do they have to be customized to suit your needs? If not, can you live with a limited function in the rigidness of their platform? Okay, That's something to think about already. Yeah. Another thing is how about tech support? Are you okay with the live chat, submitting tickets when you're having any problems or do you need a person that's there like onsite? Because some problems can be quite urgent. How about security issues? If they recently had a security breach or some sort of scandal. Are you okay with that? But that, of course, you have to stay on top of the news audience size. Some of them, depending on what package you choose, they limit the amount of participants that's using that software, the functions as well. So that can be a bummer. Reliability, meaning how many people they can support joining your session and they can watch in the good-quality. They actually have that kind of guarantee for a certain number depending on what packages you select for the paid ones. And this usually applies to the larger online conferences or the larger online sessions with a lot of people watching their stream. For example, the Zoom meeting. Let's talk about the F31. Talk about some good, some bad. This is not definitive. Good is that you can have unlimited one-to-one chat is quite popular. The interface, I would have to admit it's quite clean. You don't necessarily have to download the software, especially if you're a participant and you can use the web version. But the breakout rooms, they got message chat box, so you've got Screenshare annotation. They have something called the waiting room, which in the free version is not customizable. The bad thing is that, as I mentioned, it's not very customizable in terms of their interface, in terms of their URL, is not too on-brand if that's an issue. So you have to live with the big Zoom meeting logo. There's no support tech support for urgent inquiries. So nobody to be there onsite with you, even if you want. They have a limit on audience size. They cut off after 40 minutes for the free version and they keep it under 100 for the audience size. And I think recently they have some sort of security breach. But the good news is that under paid version, for example, you can get something called a vanity URL. You can have an increased number of participants. You can have reporting tools, you can have Cloud Storage for recording purposes. We just kinda sweet. I'll give you an example here for the sum of the paid platforms. There's one called intra-domain that I use, which actually I'll go into later, but some other ones here before I go into that example are quite common as well. Their Skype for Business, There's Zoom Pro, blue jeans after the trial. There's WebEx paid, there's Google meet. Those are actually the paid ones. Especially like with Google Meet, you can actually have a smart participation. You can have faster interface. A quality is maintained so that you can have less dropout. So I was saying the example right, intro TO, just to mention a few goods and some downsides is that they're very customizable in terms of the logo, the interface, the function, the waiting room. You can customize those that you can get stats. You can get online support or sorry, on-site support, meaning it actual tech can actually come and support you on site, which I love the guarantee, a good streaming quality for a number of participants. And it depends on which package you're using. The downside is that you have to pay for it just with a lot of the more advanced function once you do have to pay for it. But in exchange, you aren't getting that flexibility in that customization and support as well. So I think it's a good trade-off. Now that we've gone through the general just in terms of what to think about when you're choosing your virtual conferencing software. There's actually other additional things to think about because some functions are more comprehensive, some brands actually offer additional services. So in the next module, we'll actually get right into that in case that's useful for you. 17. Other Considerations: One can easily get lost in ocean of the virtual conferencing software. But don't worry, in this module, we'll give you some guidelines. Having the end in mind will help you make better decisions in terms of how to pick one that is right for you, given some of the criteria, the limitations you're setting, and also your budget. Virtual conference soft worst, wow, there's a lot that's on the market right now. It's growing by the day. The good news is that we're not going to talk about each and every one of them here. But instead, I'll talk about some of the things to think about when you are picking the one that is right for you. So let's go right into the free and common ones that we see out in the market. And of course, they're subject to change all the time, whichever one's popular. And things are changing so fast right now. So do double-check. There's a Zoom and Webex. They have their paid and free versions, blue jeans. They're kind of afraid because they do have a 30-day trial. Skype is free, Skype business is not. So here it's Skype. There's Google Hangouts that is free. There is a paid version of that, which I'll talk about later. Some considerations. So it doesn't matter if you're picking a free one or if it's paid one is is it convenient to use? Is it easy to use? When I say convenient, I mean, like what platform isn't onset mobile-friendly available on Mac. Is it only on PC or is it cloud base? What is it? Has an interface for the audiences, for the presenter. Are you okay with it? Is it relatively cheap? I don't know. It depends on your budget, right? Some people want their things to be customizable, are the interfaces, logos, and some of the functions. Do they have to be customized to suit your needs? If not, can you live with a limited function in the rigidness of their platform? Okay, That's something to think about already. Yeah. Another thing is how about tech support? Are you okay with the live chat, submitting tickets when you're having any problems or do you need a person that's there like onsite? Because some problems can be quite urgent. How about security issues? If they recently had a security breach or some sort of scandal. Are you okay with that? But that, of course, you have to stay on top of the news audience size. Some of them, depending on what package you choose, they limit the amount of participants that's using that software, the functions as well. So that can be a bummer. Reliability, meaning how many people they can support joining your session and they can watch in the good-quality. They actually have that kind of guarantee for a certain number depending on what packages you select for the paid ones. And this usually applies to the larger online conferences or the larger online sessions with a lot of people watching their stream. For example, the Zoom meeting. Let's talk about the F31. Talk about some good, some bad. This is not definitive. Good is that you can have unlimited one-to-one chat is quite popular. The interface, I would have to admit it's quite clean. You don't necessarily have to download the software, especially if you're a participant and you can use the web version. But the breakout rooms, they got message chat box, so you've got Screenshare annotation. They have something called the waiting room, which in the free version is not customizable. The bad thing is that, as I mentioned, it's not very customizable in terms of their interface, in terms of their URL, is not too on-brand if that's an issue. So you have to live with the big Zoom meeting logo. There's no support tech support for urgent inquiries. So nobody to be there onsite with you, even if you want. They have a limit on audience size. They cut off after 40 minutes for the free version and they keep it under 100 for the audience size. And I think recently they have some sort of security breach. But the good news is that under paid version, for example, you can get something called a vanity URL. You can have an increased number of participants. You can have reporting tools, you can have Cloud Storage for recording purposes. We just kinda sweet. I'll give you an example here for the sum of the paid platforms. There's one called intra-domain that I use, which actually I'll go into later, but some other ones here before I go into that example are quite common as well. Their Skype for Business, There's Zoom Pro, blue jeans after the trial. There's WebEx paid, there's Google meet. Those are actually the paid ones. Especially like with Google Meet, you can actually have a smart participation. You can have faster interface. A quality is maintained so that you can have less dropout. So I was saying the example right, intro TO, just to mention a few goods and some downsides is that they're very customizable in terms of the logo, the interface, the function, the waiting room. You can customize those that you can get stats. You can get online support or sorry, on-site support, meaning it actual tech can actually come and support you on site, which I love the guarantee, a good streaming quality for a number of participants. And it depends on which package you're using. The downside is that you have to pay for it just with a lot of the more advanced function once you do have to pay for it. But in exchange, you aren't getting that flexibility in that customization and support as well. So I think it's a good trade-off. Now that we've gone through the general just in terms of what to think about when you're choosing your virtual conferencing software. There's actually other additional things to think about because some functions are more comprehensive, some brands actually offer additional services. So in the next module, we'll actually get right into that in case that's useful for you. 18. 3...2...1... Action!: Ladies and gentlemen, the event it's about to start in five-minutes. Can everyone please get ready and proceed to the board room? That's how everything starts, right? Well, in this module, we'll walk you through some of the housekeeping, what to do during the session. And not only that will show you how to end on a high note so that everyone is engaged. Everyone comes happy and they leave happier. Action. Think of it is more like a performance. When the cameras stars didn't come the show starts. Remember best behavior everyone. But before you do begin, just like with any events big or small, few minutes before you start, please do begin to do all the housekeeping. Make sure people are on. Do not disturb, turn mobile phones off, maybe vibrates, any disruption, get rid of that. Check the mix. Make sure everyone's cameras on, encouraged Q&A and how that could be submitted. Tell everyone to gather and get ready, thoughtful up, and tell them about the duration in what they're in for. Get ready to take notes. If that's something that they're in for, whatever requirements and general expectations you have. Say it here before you start for this housekeeping session. And as you start the meeting, how does they organize? Now, the reason for having a meeting differs between different meetings, but they do have a reason. So please perhaps start by recapping a summary from the last meeting. If you have any or any background information, talk about the main objective this time. Who's here? Introduce them. Who's not here. The ones that's here is get them to say hi is part of a mike check if they haven't done that already. Talked about the agenda items, most important things first, in case they had to leave early or if they fell asleep, which I hope doesn't happen. But the attention spans are usually longer at the beginning and it starts to drop. So put all the important stuff at the beginning. Do allocate the time for each segment and consider how many people there are in total. When you're designing the time, the time for each section put in the time frame. So like for example, nine o'clock to 915, just make sure you mark that run down. Mark who's responsible for what? Remember, in the rundown in the storyboard we've talked about that icebreaker still helps. It's a good way to find it. Rather not people's mikes worth or videos are turned on and just to get everyone warmed up. But of course, if you're doing like ten back-to-back meetings, you might wanna go a little bit easy on that. Have to be considerate about that to make sure your topics are intriguing. Instead of saying something like today's topic is, or I don't know, redesigning a package. Maybe say something like how to make it more enticing for our customers to feel the crunch of our companies cookie. The specific make it enticing, make it fun that do talk about what kind of special guests you have that's coming in. In terms of the presentation. I know there's a lot of other things that we can do to stay focused, stay organized. One thing is to actually turn it into like a semi dialogue. Do have good flow and do forecasts about the main topics and the subtopics that's coming up. If they ever need to walk away from their computer, they know from what time to what time you're talking about what? I hope they don't walk away from the computer, but sometimes they just have to go to the bathroom, right? Tell them which items are needed for them to be glued on the computer. So really do highlight those. Use more or less storytelling method instead of presenting, especially for online. Because if you're presenting for too long, sometimes it can get pretty tiring. For webinar. It's better because people can pause it for a meeting. It's not like you can pause it. Same thing for presentations. It depends on if it's live or not to use examples from the attendees so that way they can relate to it more and they feel more included. Avoid the multitasking nightmare. That's when you're actually doing a bunch of things. You're checking chats and then you're answering in your troubleshooting. You're getting someone to take. You like to do all all things but you're the air traffic controller. Horrible disaster. See if you can actually get someone to take some of those loads off of your hands so you can focus more on your top. If you need a moderator to actually help up. One, that way, you can actually free up more resources and is the same thing for your speakers as well. A rundown with coming in very handy. Remember the module talking about your run-down and your storyboard. And in case you have no moderate or no secretary, no note-taker, that rundown won't be there, lifesaver it. And I actually have an example here. You can take a look at the YouTube link that is provided. In the example section. He added some words of the titles after when you look at the presentations and you can see it likely you can actually have that as part of your deck like a presentation. Now, you can have that pre-recorded or you can have it live. Video title is good at and treating much like the way the topic is, how the meetings should be. Product repackaging. Not very interesting, but that is a good example. Do review from that, from time to time throughout the session. Make sure that you're checking for understanding and clarity. Ask people to raise their hand throughout the session. If sometimes interruption is not necessarily a bad thing, if it's not done too much. Because sometimes an online session, people just can't hear you. There's internet problems, their signal problems. When they interrupt you, maybe they're trying to tell you that something is wrong. So it's not a bad thing. Do take frequent breaks is attention spans are much shorter. Asked people to type in the chat box to comment as you go. Even if it's not like an avert question, it's just something to get that dialogue going and also so that you can cater your talk more to their wants and needs. And if it's a meeting, ask people to show their video. Because people are more likely to engage when they have the camera on people. Other people like to look at faces as well. It's just the way that we operate as for other people's opinions or even call them out. Sometimes, if you really need to, especially in a meeting, in a presentation, Do stop and do some polls, do some Q&A is get them to do some quick yes or no or guess some questions. I think that's kinda fun just to get them more involved in, more excited, to keep watching. At the end when you're ending your meeting, make sure you do a summary and make sure that everyone's on the same page, ask them to repeat back to you if necessary before you part. If someone fell asleep and see how you can improve on the future meetings, future presentations. Is it your structure and clarity to duration or the engagement that's lacking? Assign any follow-up work if you need them to take action. Is there any call to action? Do you have to apply this knowledge that you're teaching in this session here to their future projects. If it's recorded, they can replay if they fall asleep, but don't advertise that before they come in, otherwise, you will discourage that participation, but you can mention it. And once they come in, now that you have an idea about how to make everyone satisfied, including the presenter, let's talk about some of the to-dos and not to-dos as part of the etiquette. And that's exactly what we'll, we'll talk about in the next part that's coming up. 19. Make it Interactive: Having a good setup, having a good presentation is important, and having important things to say is also great. But how can we actually make it more diversified and interactive so that everyone can jump in on the conversation in this module will share tips and tricks in terms of how to better communicate with your audience and how to better call further action and their engagement as well. That's very important. As I mentioned, this is a two-way communication, right? Let's go everyone. Let's take a look. Let's have some fun and include everyone As part of our dialogue. Should wait. Just because you're talking to a crowd doesn't mean it's all about you, you, you, you, you, as the speaker. Here are some ways to include the audience. Is you go through your talk, your presentation, or even your meeting. That way, it doesn't sound like you're doing a One Direction communication, talking to your audience by just going up, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Which can get dull, really bad, unless all of your audience are raving fans, which is not the case all the time. Here are some ways to get at it. Of course, you can get very creative. So here's some items to get you started. First is that annotation function. I call it scribbling. If you have a PowerPoint or some sort of visual static, usually depending on the kind of video conferencing software you're using, you can actually annotate as you go. That way, you can highlight things, you can circle them, you can elaborate, you can underline. You can do all sorts of things to it as if you're holding a pen. That way, you can have them visualized for extra clarity as you go. Don't forget, you can actually turn on or turn off the functions for the attendees. Meaning you can invite certain people to collect, annotate with you, which is quite fun to, we can't expect everyone to be listening every second. So this way, it lets the audience know clearly what your progression is and where you're at. For the attendees. Everyone knows exactly what you're referring to. And it seems that confusion, it saves a guesswork and it saves you time. Alright, let's see your faces. Well, unless you're very good at voice acting or voice over it, adding a face almost always helps one way or another. Because as humans, we like to look at faces. It's easier for you to convey your message is now you're not just relying on your voice and other people are looking at something that is more than just a PowerPoint, just like me now, you can choose to use a green screen like I'm doing, or you can do a picture and picture, it serves the exact same purpose. This function is called spotlight. That's what they call it on Zoom, but on your software it's habit as well under a different name. What it does is in a group chatting session, in an online session, it highlights that speakers frame, meaning it makes it bigger for you to see. This way. It's easier to tell who's the one that's talking. Especially when you have a group of more than a handful of people. Sometimes people's voices sound white alike. In a video conference call, it's just nice to make it bigger. So it spells it out to you who's talking right now. Also, it makes it much more pleasant to the eye because now instead of seeing them as a square that's this big on the computer screen. Now there are about this fake depending on how you customize it. But it just makes it easier to read the cues, especially when they have a lot of gestures or facial expressions. And again, it takes the guesswork out in terms of who is that guy. When you are having meetings where ideas need to be exchanged, disgust in small groups, There's something called the breakout room. That's what they call it in Zoom. This is good for small group discussions. What happens is instead of having a gazillion table that's in a online session, talking all together at the same time or talking over each other, which gets really annoying, really fast and it doesn't do anything. You can divide them into smaller groups, which you can poke your head and each anytime you want, you can set a timer so everyone comes back in time. And not only that, by the time their bike, you have much more ideas and discussion points as a result. And you can also get inspired from there sharing also, win-win. Lastly, this is a function that I use all the time. I use it before, during and even after my sessions. That's the voting and polling function before the session, I like to use it just to ask, do people like about our agenda? Which parts do they like? Which parts interests them more and which parts interests them less for the parts that they're less interested in, but still important for me to deliver. I will find ways to especially spice it up so people can absorb more and be more engaged. Throughout the session. I will use to vote in polling session is to collect some information about the feedback, some of the feelings and opinions about the audience, and also their understanding at that particular point. Not to mention that I'll use it at the end just to get some general feedback, but feel free to use it in all sorts of ways. I hope that was enough to get you started. Of course, you can always improvise and you can always think of different ways to work your audience. Again, depending on what kind of software and you're using, the range or how dynamic you can be when you're interacting with them can be different. So get creative and at the end, don't forget, Work your crowd. 20. The Etiquette "They" Don't Tell You About: Table manners, business for maladies, social etiquette. We're quite familiar with these, aren't we? But how about our conduct for online sessions? How come nobody ever talks about that? In this module, we'll talk about how it boils down to being considerate of others, as well as being familiar about the inputs that you're putting into these sessions. Etiquette. Some actually goes a very long way. Well, think of it as a performance that we're doing now when the cameras on, as I said, all the time, the show starts, remember to be on your best behavior. These are some etiquettes for everyone, for the presenters and even for some of the attendees in these sessions in general, unless you're a spectator of the live and there's no input from you. Nobody sees from you, and nobody hears from you, then that's okay. These are just some basic and unspoken rules I found quite interesting and also quite useful. So let's take a look. Anyone remember walkie-talkies when people would talk without any visual cues? Because all you have is a voice and there's lots of background noise from the ocean or even from the control tower. And people who used to say over at the end of the sentences, meaning that they're actually done now and now it's over to you. Or they'll say roger that or copy that. Actually. Roger that they are actually I believe it stands for received. Well, we don't have to do that in a meeting or an online session, but do have that concept as well, especially in meetings online because it's good to tell the other person that you're done. It now it's their turn to have some sort of input. It manages everyone's expectation in terms of when is people's turns to talk. But to find a way for that. And just like with anything on camera, it has to be amped up, but a good 20%, sometimes 30%. And this applies to lighting, makeup, the colors, their energy level, just because what is normal in real life, even normal makeup in real life, it looks kinda doll on camera, so the colors have to be a bit more vibrant. It's kinda hard to keep it at an all-time high in terms of energy, it does take effort, it takes practice, it takes constant reminders and you have to watch your pre-recorded sessions over and over again. For the sessions, please refrain from eating or drinking. Highly recommended. Reason why I say that is because even when you sip something, that sound goes into your mic, not to mention crunching a cookie. If you really had to sip water or whatnot, make sure people don't see you and make sure that your mic is muted. Otherwise, if you don't, the spotlight function on Zoom, for example, when the mike picks up the louder sound that interrupts thinking that it's actually a dialogue in, they'll actually zoom right into you, making your square the biggest when you're actually taking a sip of your coffee. Not cool. That turns out to be the highlight of the day. Yay. There's just a lot of Mike disasters, as I said, with the packaging, with the crunches, everything. Please don't do that. If you're actually muting for the sake of drinking water mixture, if you are about to talk, you have to unmute yourself. And virtual backgrounds, please do go easy. It's very fun that you're in Miami or in space or whatnot for like a few seconds. But then it becomes a very, very distracting and quite unprofessional depending on what it is that you chose. But that's it. That's excluding. The monograms are the branding stuff, but this is only applying to the really fun virtual backgrounds. Show faces. I mentioned previously like how we like to look at faces. The presenter, yes, we'd like to see them, but also the audiences. It's just less encouraging when you are nothing but a black box with a name. It is a bit rude when everyone is showing their faces, especially for those who are rather quiet. It's kinda like a creepy dude that's hiding in the shadows throughout the meeting. You don't say anything, you don't show your face, you're kinda just hiding there, knowing that there's things that can go on at home. Some people want to mute or want to disable the video permanently. When you're thinking about doing that, make sure you're going to the cleaning up module that I was talking about before, makes sure your clean up, your scene. Next up. Make sure you stay in one place. It gets very distracting eventually, and we can't pay attention to anything else. But that nice moving background of yours. Can you imagine me moving my camera the whole time and you'll see nothing but my cats flying around. And frankly, when you're moving around like that, the background becomes much more visually stimulating than looking at the static PowerPoint or a head that's there. This eye-catching, yes. But in terms of content, there's no content to it. Negative attention. Oh, oh, there's one very good one. Look. Don't stare. To some people. It's hard to do that at the beginning because we have, some people have a tendency to look like way too hard, like into the camera. It's almost like the rigid they're staring right into it, which can make the person on the other end is quite uncomfortable. I know it sounds a bit intangible, but it's one of those things that you'll learn when you're looking at your playback and you can tell which is which. Just like with these photos, the dog on the left has a very soft gaze, whereas the one that's on the right. Not so much LDL use your camera is a mirror, please. I seen a lot of people will do that in meetings. Thinking is just like two seconds. Nobody is looking. Now. There's people looking. Please do not try to clean spinach from your teeth or double-check and see if that blueberry is there. By using your webcam and a mirror, not a good idea. And also when you're saying goodbye via chat or texts, please do have a habit of making that gesture. It doesn't you don't have to be loud about it. Sometimes in that situation, it doesn't allow you to talk. So just take some things I am going for now, everyone. I'll see you later and stuff like that, but just be polite about it. Just like at the beginning, how we introduce everyone to say who you are is the same when you leave or when you're leaving early. It's just general etiquette. And as I said, you don't have to be loud about it, but just don't hide and also do something to manage everyone's expectation in case someone's looking for you. If you're leaving in the middle text, if you're leaving at the end, maybe texts and, or voice, it doesn't matter. It depends on the situation. But to say goodbye, It's quite unspoken. But quite frankly, if you ask me, I think that list is a little bit detail oriented in quite long, but I'm sure at the same time, you know how important it is to not ruin all of your hard work. Building a professional image requires being consistent throughout your session. And it's also very important to review this module time again and again. You might have information that you want to add in details that you want to leave out depending on the image you want to portray. Please do review this session over and over again to better yourself in the process. 21. Troubleshooting: It's great when everything happens just the way that we want. But what if it doesn't? It's a good idea to be equipped just in case. That's the case, right? In this module, we'll go through some of the things to bear in mind as part of your crisis management in case things are going in the opposite direction. Hiccups, stuff happens. This world is not perfect, it's not perfect. And events, conferences, meetings, on or offline sessions, we can't expect everything to be perfect. But this one thing that we know that's for sure not perfect, is technology. There's always going to be some glitches one way or another that we cannot control at all. But that said, it's one of those things. If nothing happens, It's perfectly fine. But when something happens, it could be like the end of the world, your brand, your image, your whole project can actually be brought down in 1 second. It's a non-exhaustive list that I've compiled here, but it's good to have some general idea about some of the things that's common in some of these common hiccups, these common areas of hiccups, I divide them into five categories. There's technology, equipment failure, there's human error, There's interaction and external factors. So first, I'll talk about, isn't me, is the problem. Mind as a presenter from a technology standpoint, always test your equipment in, always have a backup in case some other platforms in case this one doesn't work for whatever reason. So you can just login to that second one and have everyone move over there. Sometimes rebooting doesn't hurt and that actually solved a lot of my problems in the past. The equipment failure, do you have an alternative camera, microphone, headset that's ready that you check your power sources. Do you have a technician that's around that can help you in terms of human errors, just like any presentations, keep the ball rolling. Don't dwell. Make sure you do have your script and your run-down that if anything happens, you can actually have your contingencies and you're already looking at the possibilities that you can have to keep things going. Make sure you don't get weird about it because it's a talking head that people are looking at. If you're getting weird about it, that is a close-up of you're getting weird about it. Interaction. Are you being coherent? Are you being clear? Interesting because this then there's external factors. An example that I put with the BBC news, when the child runs into the news anchors room at home, you can take a look. These things can be avoided. Now, this is when the hiccup belongs to the audience side. There's technology. Did you actually have a briefing or training for them to use the software? Save some time with troubleshooting when the meeting starts at lease. Also, if there is a tech staff that's in charge of this during your session, that would be right to buy them coffee. Double-check if anyone else is having such problems, don't forget reboot, reboot, reboot, double-check on the Internet connection if all else fails. Also, there's equipment failure, right? Using normal earphones actually help with most of feedback problems when they're hearing that feedback loop in terms of the sound, having a calling number would actually help if you want a quick fix, if anything happens. But then you would actually place them in a coal only situation where you cannot see them visually, human errors. You might want to mute the burst or restrict their screen sharing, or even limit their chat messages to be shown in certain situations so that people avoid that distraction. When I think muting the audience or the participants by default, I actually helps interaction find easier ways to get messages across clearly. For example, using that chat box, show the screen, do the scribble, co-adaptation, Raise Hand, et cetera, et cetera, external factors. Let me give you an example. Sometimes people would be showing their screens and they would have some pretty naughty things that they're, that they're viewing on that screen. For example, ****. And you might want to warn them before they're sharing their screen. There could be screaming children and of course ask them to clear the room. Born attendees in case of bad reception or whatnot, get them to flag you right away so you know what's happening. If they can't see or if they can't hear you. Some hiccups actually don't belong to either side. It belongs to everybody collectively. In that case, if you're having too much fun or if there's an overrun, then I guess having some timekeeping as good going off topic is a common problems. So in that case, use a moderator. You have too many people talking all at the same time. In that case, use the breakout room, go into smaller groups and have maybe around the tabletop to actually keep things in order? Or will we have way too many attendees in the stream quality hinders, especially in conferences. Now this goes back to the module, thus talking about selecting a virtual conference software to handle that number of attendees that you have. Another type of pickup is isn't none of us, it's nobody's problem. First, try the mass reboot. If still no use try the tech support, live ticket, actual person, whatever it is. Worst-case scenario, send an email, group texts to reschedule, doesn't matter if it's evil or grip tax the while waiting for it to come back up or to schedule again, very important is to mark where you left off and refresh everyone's memory. When you pick up again, next time, make sure you do that. Nothing is perfect. And we can't expect anything to be when we're doing our delivery one way or another, something is doomed to happen, big or small. What is more important is that we do have some sort of plan in some sort of anticipation when these things come up. So make sure that you do spend your time to think about the possible scenarios and how to react and how to provide solutions when these come up. 22. Attendance: Sometimes certain sessions are so important that you have to say it a few times. But how can you actually remind someone a few times or something that's about to happen without annoying them. That's exactly what we will show you in this module, is how to break it and gently, and how to do it in different ways so that people don't forget about your session. Oops, get someone forgets to attend the meeting. Oh, no. Okay, Let's talk about attendance in this module to avoid that, Shelly. Well, let's talk about why they need to come in. I think we need to tell them explicitly why it's important that they need to attend is that the topics, is that the problems that needs to be solved is that the input that we need from them? Is it the deadlines that we need to meet or what happens if they don't show up? Well, they get fired, were telling them it's equivalent to what kind of meeting it is if it was done in real life. And it's just not like a gathering of sorts. Send an email prompt. Just because someone's signed up to a gathering, a meeting, or a webinar, it doesn't mean they will remember, especially a webinar and certain meetings that have a somewhat casual title that might indicate is something that's optional. As with online, people are a little bit more relaxed for some reason and also there's more distractions. Please do have more than one email prompt is time approaches, but don't get to the point that is annoying. Because some sort of interesting topics that you will cover to keep their kind of anticipation going in these emails. Ask for some input in terms of what it is that they want to hear, what it is that they want solved or cover is the time approaches. Ask them open-ended questions or get them to participate in polls. You want to see their questions answered. That's exciting something for everyone to look forward to. Text messaging. Keep it short. Either have a text, not just a WhatsApp, It's very important to send the actual text message. Those ones don't get lost as easily. Also have a group message so others can help everyone stay in check is a conversation happens in there. Do that in WhatsApp. A lot of times details refer to the website or the email. Don't write an essay for your text message is just like a prompt. One more thing, make sure that they set it on their calendar. Turns out the prompts 30 minutes prior to start, so they know it's coming also in the email when they are booking for the meeting, for example, the Zoom should have a function where they asked if you wanted to book that session in a calendar with the whole login link and everything. Send them an invite on Google Calendar if that's what they're using in all they have to do is accept it, make it easy. I'm sure there's different forms and variations of these, but you get the idea. The above should be able to boost your attendance, is people will be less likely to forget their sessions with you. It seems like the work is all done. Videos are made, conferences are held, everyone showed up or most people showed up or down, right? There's actually one more session after this which talks about the follow-up work. So don't miss out on that. 23. Follow Up: We're all done. Everyone can go home right now. Not true. Sorry to burst your bubble. There's one more step to this, that is your follow-up work. We don't want everything else to go to waste, right? You put a lot of effort into it already. So everyone just get ready as this is the last module before we wrap everything up. What, it's not over yet. Well, now after your session is over, there's still follow ups that you have to do. Don't forget some people watched the playback which is recorded and it actually helps you make better next sessions in the future. You can also check and see if your goals are accomplished with this online session, just because you've finished presenting or had a so-called meeting. People. Meeting doesn't mean your point and your information is gotten across or absorbed. And it doesn't mean people are going to take action on it. Now, give people some time to have that information as seep and to actually settle and to absorb it. Why is it important? Well, some things need additional clarification. Usually as I said, it takes time to absorb, so do give it some sort of delay before you do that follow-up. Maybe there were areas to be improve from an attendee's perspective. And just because you did the same thing as you would in a meeting in front of the camera, doesn't mean everyone absorbs information the same. Online sessions tend to be more packed because there's the weird dead air. If nobody's talking for too long, it can get quite intense and quite hard for people to absorb all that information in such a short period of time. It's easy breeding ground for information overload. Therefore, make sure you take feedback, make it an ominous. And especially when you're high up and you need your subordinates to actually give you comments as what got their attention or what they can remember from the whole entire session, tell what's their user experience with the software and they need to change anything in the future for to make that better. We address or did you address their concerns? Are they clear of what is expected of them? Is there anything that they want to see in the future? Or just some general comments about your delivery or your presentation, or even your deck if your session is recorded is a good way for people who, who fell asleep, who wants to see it one more time, or who didn't show up in time to watch everything. It's a good way to get them to catch up on that. But I usually I think I said this, but I'll say it one more time because it's very important. Is that dunk, say that before the session. Don't promote it, say it after they come in. Otherwise, people would be unmotivated to actually come in thinking that, oh, I can watch reruns anytime. And in case there's no playback. Also make that known when done right, a good follow-up session can not only enhance the overall communication with everyone, but it can also better your future presentation and delivery. So make sure you do gather enough information so that you can build up on top of that in the future. 24. Extra help: As I mentioned earlier, as a speaker, there can be multiple things that you're doing at the same time. Not only are you presenting, controlling your deck, entertaining your audience, talking on the chatbox. You can even be involved in troubleshooting. And as you can probably imagine, you don't have to do all the above to feel overwhelmed. So it's always a good idea to get somebody to help if you can. You know what they said, two heads are better than one. In this case, multiple hands is better than just having your own. If you had the luxury of having extra help, you can actually handle some more complicated run downs. And the help would actually come a very long way that we can be more focused on your delivery. You can have a better experience for the users if they have problems that need to be solved during the session, and that will take it out of your time or rhythm. It's more professional depending on who you're having a meeting with or presenting to. So you're less of a one man band. If you got an extra set of hands, consider getting a moderator. Leave these things to them so they can help you stay on topic, guide the flow of your session. Intervene if they have to help him stay on topic, adhere to items, but keeping the discussions constructive. Call out people, if necessary, helping guide the bad speakers. If they have a habit of being all over the place. Or it just to make everyone talking contribute if needed. You can get a notetaker because information comes through video, phone, chat box everything Q&A is good to have someone take notes and to consolidate all of that if you need it, it turn it into a meeting minute or summary as you go. It's very good for your transcript as well. You can get a tech support. You don't have to get your hands dirty. You don't have to understand all of the technical details and usage and they can also troubleshoot as you continue on with your session. It can cost you a bit depending on what platform you use or if you have a tech support team at work, do call them in. If company have the IT department. Oh, jeez. Yeah. Definitely make use of that. Now that you have an idea about some of the help that we can get from around the office or as part of her crew. Now, go look around and see if you can get an extra pair of hands or multiple pair of hands to help you out. That way you can be more focused on your delivery. It just takes a load off of your bag.