Facilitator+Orientation

=TCC 2008 Facilitator Orientation - Tips, Tricks, Hints and Instructions=

from Alan Selig, Bert Kimura, and others

Thank you for volunteering to be a session Facilitator during TCC2008. Experience in past years has shown the value of having a facilitator present to help the session presenter(s) in the live events of the conference. This is in addition to having a tech support moderator from LearningTimes available. You will need to be comfortable enough with the Elluminate platform to put others, who may be first-time participants, at their ease.

The role of the facilitator is to host the session. That means most of your work is at the beginning and at the end, including welcoming participants, introducing and encouraging the speakers, monitoring what's happening during the session, and helping to wrap up the session on time. Your input on what works well this year and what needs improvements for next year will also be very useful at the end of the conference.

You will not need to address technical issues such as connectivity, or problems with microphones or uploading presentations, etc. This is the area of expertise of the Learning Times staff and they will be present in each session. They will handle those issues and will also give a brief introduction to the session “room” and its elements at the beginning of each session. This is especially important on the first day of the conference. By the last day most everyone is experienced with the room and the Learning Times moderator may abbreviate the intro or leave it out entirely.

If you are able to attend one of the orientation sessions for presenters or facilitators before the conference starts, you will get an excellent introduction to the session platform and its various features.

Prior to the start of the conference:
This year we are using this Wiki to schedule session times and facilitators through the conference. This should reduce the number of emails you receive during the last week leading up to the conference. It will also provide an easier way for you to track your responsibilities during the conference. There will be some unavoidable last-minute rescheduling of sessions. If the new time/date is not possible for you let me know (alan.selig@gmail.com) and we'll get a new facilitator for that session.

We recommend you try to login at the Elluminate demo first (a day ahead) to make sure you have all the right Java modules: http://www.elluminate.com/support/

If you have IT problems related to the loading of the modules, please see: http://www.elluminate.com/support/ or http://www.elluminate.com/support-portal/

If IT problems can not be resolved you will need to contact your University/School IT department. Some universities in Africa Faculty at universities that use a firewall have reported problems related to proxy settings - so please try this ahead of time so you will be prepared for the day of the event.

To learn to use Elluminate go to: http://www.elluminate.com/ or http://www.elluminate.com/support/docs/learn_about_elluminate.jsp

Before a Live Session begins:
If the presenter has provided a paper or other resource in conjunction with their session, find time to read it before the session begins. You may be surprised at the number of participants who don't do this. Think about a question or two you might want to ask toward the end of the session if the group participation is lacking. Participation is usually strong in these sessions but it doesn't hurt to be prepared and the presenter may thank you later if they don't have to look at and listen to dead space when the presentation is finished. You may also be able to respond to a question in the chat area by referring the person to the written materials in the conference resource area.

Look at the presenters bio in the general information area of the conference. This will help you do a very brief introduction at the beginning of the session.

Get to a session at least 15 minutes before it is scheduled to start. This will allow you to make sure your headset is working properly. Use the audio setup tool if necessary. Then as other attendees begin to arrive welcome them verbally or through the chat box. Encourage them to use the audio setup tool if they have a headset. This interaction reassures participants (especially novices) that they are not lost but are in a room that is live.

If you do encounter difficulty with logging in to your session15 minutes prior to the start time, please send a quick message to help@learningtimes.net. Staff are monitoring messages and are able to respond to you quickly. Provide a phone number as well so they can contact you. If you encounter network or other communication problems, here's a toll free phone number to call: 877.586.6546, x804

When you enter a room you will be listed as a participant. Identify yourself to the Learning Times moderator who is there and he/she will promote you to moderator status.

Ask the presenter(s) if there is anything specific they want in the way of an introduction, or if they want to do that themselves. Offer to be of help during the session in whatever way will be most useful to the presenter. This may include watching the chat area while the presentation is underway. Some presenters like to focus on the presentation and appreciate having someone else pass along to them any questions that come up. This frees them from having to read every entry in the chat area, and there is usually a lot going on there. Other presenters are comfortable with multitasking and won't need help with this. If there are multiple presenters in a session they usually divide these tasks among themselves.

Another way to organize questions is to ask people to click on the “raised hand” icon toward the top left of the session window. If the presenter wishes to use this feature the participants will even be numbered in the order they raised their hands.

Ask the presenter if they would prefer attendees ask questions through the session or hold all questions until the end. If they want to hold questions to the end, ask how much time they want to reserve for questions and answers. Then you can remind them at 5 minutes before that time block begins that it is coming up.

Tell the presenter you will be sending time reminders when there is 10 minutes remaining in the session (all sessions run from the top of the hour to 15 minutes before the next hour), at 5 minutes remaining, and at 1 minutes remaining.

At the start of a session:
Sometimes there is a slight delay as the presenter and moderator get all the needed materials in place. If you notice the group has been sitting patiently you can ask “Where in the world are you right now?” or “What did you eat for your last meal?”, etc., as a way of keeping people's attention until the presenter is ready to go.

After the Learning Times moderator has finished his/her introduction/explanation and turned on the recording software, you will be asked to introduce the presenter and begin the session. Keep this intro very brief (time is precious). However it is good to welcome the presenter and express the thanks of TCC, University of Hawaii, LearningTimes and Osaka Gakuin University., for the presenter's participation in the conference and for the participation of everyone present for the session. Point out that more detail found in bios and images section.

As the presentation unfolds:
Use the emoticons and the chat area. This will demonstrate to the participants how these can be used by them as well.

Sometimes the Learning Times personnel are covering several sessions at the same time. You do have the ability (if you were made a moderator in the room) to adjust microphone levels for other speakers. If someone is too loud or too soft and the moderator is “away” you can make needed adjustments.

Any movement during the session (through PowerPoint slides, out to websites or other resources, etc.) will be handled by the Presenter and the Learning Times person.

Be calm and patient but firm with speakers and participants.

As much as it is within your power, keep the session upbeat and moving along.

If the presenter plans to wait until the end for questions you can monitor the chat area -- As questions appear you can reply and share that information there. Ask attendees to hold those questions until the end.

If questioners are using the raised hand icon, they often forget to click the icon a second time to remove themselves from the list. You have the ability, as a session moderator to remove them. This helps avoid confusion. Just be sure you remove only the one person and not everyone who has raised their hands. If you are uncertain how to do this, ask the Learning Times moderator.

There has only been one occasion (to Alan's knowledge) when session attendees were behaving in an inappropriate fashion. Derogatory comments in the chat area were aimed at the presenter. If such a situation should arise, you can have a private chat with the Learning Times moderator. The two of you have the power to exclude session attendees from the chat area or from the session entirely, just as people can be escorted out of a face-to-face conference session.

If attendees are taking up the chat area (and session time) with private conversations unrelated to the session, remind them (via a chat message directed to them rather than to everyone in the room) that all chat conversations are seen by the presenters and moderators. It is distracting to presenters if unrelated conversations are happening during the session. Let the people know the Luau Lounge is available in the main area of the conference site, for people to meet and visit with each other.

In the Middle of the Session:
About 20 minutes into the session, record the number or participants who are present. You will send an email with this information to Bert (bert@hawaii.edu) at the end of the day.

Toward the end of the Session:
Presenters are (hopefully) enthusiastic about their subject. They will have more knowledge than can be shared in the allotted time. So it is very important that you help them keep track of the time. Please notify them, via a moderator-only chat entry, when there are 10 minutes remaining, 5 minutes remaining, and 1 minute remaining in the session.

At the end of the Session:
You should create a formal end to the session at 15 minutes before the end of the hour.

Thank the presenter (again on behalf of TCC, University of Hawaii, LearningTimes and Osaka Gakuin University.) Encourage attendees to express their appreciation through the Applause emoticon or in the chat area. Remind participants that the next sessions will begin in 15 minutes. If the conversation has been particularly spirited and the presenter is willing, the dialogue can continue within the room. Remind them as well that the Luau Lounge exists for ongoing informal conversations.

You do not have to stay in the room until everyone else has left. You can set an example by leaving the room for the next session you are planning to attend.

After the Session is Concluded:
Let Bert and/or Alan know how the session went; especially, if there were difficulties or you have suggestions for other facilitators.

At the end of each Conference Day:
Send an email to Bert (bert@hawaii.edu) with the names of the sessions you facilitated and the number of participants in each of those sessions.

At the end of each day there will be a “Happy Hour” gathering in the Luau Lounge, providing a place to relax after your hard work today. We'll also have the chance to compare notes and polish our work as facilitators so everything will go even more smoothly the next day. I know some will not be able to attend but if you can, even for part of the time, drop by the Luau Lounge and let us know how it went for you that day.

Thanks again for volunteering for this role in TCC 2008.

Alan