Episode #179: Engaging Covid-19 Isolated Audiences

Once upon a time, isolation from our audience meant we were not getting our message through to them. We were a poor presenter or the quality of the message was sub-par, so the audience wasn’t buying into it. Today, our audiences are in isolation at home, either through Government mandated lockdown or company designated instructions. Our communication patterns have been totally displaced.

In many cases, the equipment solution has been to have people use their phones or their tablets, rather than laptops. That choice really limits the communication tools which are available and reduces messaging to very simple interactions. The danger here is that communication becomes one way and rather limited. Sharing data, especially visual data, becomes tricky depending on what hardware you are using.

Today’s technology is amazing, but still audio connections can be fragile and internet overload can make connecting to on-line meetings a challenge. This is all a new experience for us, so we are often losing communication opportunities because we are in the midst of scarcity thinking. We see the problems, the difficulties and we are locked into our normal ways of interacting, so we not seeing the opportunities.

There are technical limitations, but where possible, have some degree of visual communication with people sitting in isolation. Just seeing other people’s faces for a few minutes is enough to re-establish the personal connection. If you have the bandwidth to sustain that throughout the meeting, that is best, but if not, then at least have some visual exchange, before moving to voice only. Remember to look at the tiny, little camera itself and not the big screen in front of you. The location of the camera is usually set well above the screen, so we are in fact making eye contact with the screen, rather than our audience.

Our strong voice tone and speaking speed become very important. We need to be really clear, because often the audio connections can be rocky and people can miss part of what is being said. Sometimes the way people uses microphones is not very effective, so if you can’t hear people, ask them to get closer to microphone and to speak more loudly. This is why checking for understanding on a regular basis is important. We need to be much more conscious of this, because there may be little actual understanding and we are just waxing lyrically to ourselves and no one else, but we don’t have any way of knowing that.

Also tell people that if they missed something, to let you know, because you will repeat it. Normally, we wouldn’t make that request because we are all expected to be paying attention. In an on-line environment, the tech may be the issue, so we have to accept that communication cannot continue as business as usual. Assume people are not following you, rather than the reverse.

It also means that we have to be agile, to keep our place when we get interrupted. It is a bit like consecutive translation. You say something, the interpreter conveys that and in the meantime you have forgotten where you were with what you wanted to say, because your concentration and flow were interrupted. When we are making an on-line presentation, we need to be making notes of what comes next if we get interrupted, so that we don’t lose our flow and can pick up where we left off.

Normally, we speak, then we take questions at the end. In the on-line world, we need to build in opportunities for discussion at certain points in our talk. This is the best way to engage the audience throughout the talk. We just stop talking and invite comment from the listeners. Now they feel part of the proceedings and can have a sense of ownership of the discussion. We then pick up the threads of the talk and move in until the next scheduled interaction. Some technology handles this interaction live and in other cases, we are relegated to the dreaded chat box.

I don’t like the chat box all that much, because we are now focused on the typing of the messages which means a time delay. It is much better to have live comments, in real time, if possible. If you have to use the chat box, then slow down and adjust the time for the talk or the content quantity, because you will need more time for the delivery and response.

We need to switch the way we plan our talks, the amount of content for the talk and the way we deliver them, to cope with a different receiving environment compared to all being in the same physical room.

Free Live On Line Stress Management Sessions

On a separate note, we are running public Live On Line Stress Management classes, which will be free to all attendees on April 16th (Japanese) and 17th (English). We are also offering the same thing as an in-house programme, delivered Live On Line for our existing clients and for prospective clients. This allows us to help our clients and our community.

The registration process for these free stress management sessions is being offered on our website, so please go to this specific page: http://bit.ly/dale_stress_e