Communicating Effectively over the Access Grid Ariella Rebbi, Boston University

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Questions?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Section Three: A Practice Session

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

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

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

Lecture Facilitation Speaker/MC at Site A gives presentation… MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation Speaker/MC at Site A explains that questions will be solicited from sites in the following order: A, B, C, D … MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation Speaker/MC at site A solicits questions from local audience at Site A Please note that some protocol will be in place at each local site for how to indicate that one has a question, ie by raising one’s hand or lining up at a microphone MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation Site A Speaker/MC “passes the floor” to Site B MC MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation Site B MC solicits questions from local audience at Site B; Site A Speaker/MC answers them in turn MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation When all questions have been answered, Site B MC “passes the floor” back to Site A Speaker/MC MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation The Site A Speaker/MC next “passes the floor” to the Site C MC MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation The MC at Site C solicits questions from the local audience at Site C, which the Speaker/MC at Site A answers in turn MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation The MC at Site C“passes the floor” back to the Site A Speaker/MC... MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation... Who in turn “passes the floor” to the Site D MC, for Site D local audience’s local questions, which the Speaker/MC at Site A answers in turn MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation And finally, “the floor” is returned to the Speaker/MC at Site A MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

Lecture Facilitation The Speaker/MC at Site A thanks all MCs and audiences, and closes the event. MAIN A REMOTE C REMOTE D REMOTE B

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

Thanks, and Any Final Questions?

AG References and Thanks!  A special thanks to Jennifer Teig VonHoffman from Boston University  For more information on the Access Grid:   For AG documentation:   Or Ariella –