Methodological Manual for Webinar Support

A methodological manual for Webinar support: a step-by-step guide

A methodological manual for Webinar support: a step-by-step guide

Copyright Š 2013 International Training Centre

A methodological manual for Webinar support: a step-by-step guide

Index

Index

Index

Introduction

1. Before 1.1 Planning Team Objectives Time Materials Announcement and Registration Number of participants Pre-webinar reading Reminder e-mails 1.2 Production of content General tips for slide-design Specific tips for webinar-slides Other materials besides presentations Objectives Agenda Q&A 1.3 Preparation of the presentation Script Screenshot of slides Rehearsal Plan B

6 8 8 8 10 10 10 11 13 13 13 13

2. During 2.1 Start of presentation Necessary preparations before Basic logistics 2.2 During the presentation Silent moments Interaction with participants General presentation tips The spotter 2.3 End of presentation

3. After

22 22 22 22 23 23 25 27 28 28 30

13 15 16 17 18 19

3.1 Post-event

30

Alternative modalities to present the content

31

Annex 1. Communication with participants

34

20

Annex 2. Webinar template

35

Annex 3. Webinar event checklist

36

Resources

40

20 20 21 21

A Socratic Webinar Twitter

Websites Books

31 33

40 40

W

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

ebinar, web seminar or web conferenc-

As demonstrated in figure 1 below, the whole process of

ing all refer to a synchronous, interactive,

delivering a single webinar consists of 3 stages: before

online learning event. A webinar is a useful,

(planning – production – preparation), during (presen-

cost-effective technology to allow participants to join a

tation) and after (post-event). This manual will provide

seminar or conference easily and quickly from almost

you with a step-by-step guide on how to conduct an

everywhere in the world, making travelling unnecessary.

engaging webinar.

The methodology has many other benefits including: the possibility to bring participants from different locations into one group and the option to include a keynote speaker who is unable to physically attend a conference or course. Webinars can be archived to distribute to participants or to recycle your training.

Plannig Production

Figure 1.

A five-step program for a webinar. Adapted from Ken Molay, webinar success.

Preparation Presentation Post-event Synchronous remote training, like webinars, cannot replace all face-to-face learning. In some cases it is necessary to have faceto-face contact. Webinars, however, can be very useful.

In this guide, the advantages of webinars will become clear.

8

9

Before a webinar yourself, attend one! It is important to understand the participants’ perspective on

synchronous online learning so you can anticipate their

During

reactions.

The facilitator(s) (also known as trainer(s) or knowledge expert(s))

Prepares and presents the content, uses training methodologies and tools.

The moderator

Manages introduction (and possibly the closing moments), summarizes questions for Q&A, deals with latecomers, directs the transitions between the different facilitators, categorizes the questions and assists the facilitator(s) in answering them.

Technical assistant

Provides technical assistance and makes sure the software is working, helps participants with their soft- and hardware issues.

Participants

Attend the webinar.

Here are some links to recordings from webinars that were conducted for the ILO: https://ilo.webex.com/ilo/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=21415687&rKey=D421188463FC5439 https://ilo.webex.com/ilo/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=20612232&rKey=F6ADEC218C0C4C9B https://ilo.webex.com/ilo/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=20021792&rKey=59FB283BC88409DA

After

1.1 Planning In annex you can find a timeline of the communication with participants (annex 1), the webinar template (an-

During

A

first key-rule is that if you have never followed

Please notice that the different roles do not have to be fulfilled by different persons. For example the moderator can also be the technical assistant. Further, if the number of participants attending is very small (e.g.

6) than a moderator might not be necessary.

After

Before

1. Before

nex 2) that will help you setting up your webinar and the webinar event checklist (annex 3).

Participants

Team In a webinar there are a certain number of key roles or responsibilities that can be identified. Those roles are:

10

11 Facilitators

Before

Before

Objectives Like in a traditional learning or training situation, it is

>>Record the webinar (if you want to archive/distribute the webinar afterwards)

essential to have (a) clear key goal(s) / objective(s) in mind that you want to reach with your webinar.

Establish if you want / if it is necessary to record your

Time

you can archive the webinar.

It is important to schedule your webinar at an appropriate time. This means considering all time zones in

Announcement and Registration

which possible participants can be located.

Announce the webinar. The announcement should

Do not schedule a webinar with a duration of more than

include:

1.5 hours. The ideal time period for a webinar is about

• Topic of the webinar

an hour.

• Date and duration

1

During

During

webinar. If so, create / determine an online-place where

Materials

• Participants prerequisites

Determine which materials you need. Keep in mind that

• Fees (even if the webinar is for free, state it)

the required materials depend on the kind of software

• Related picture

you are using. A possible list of materials is:

• Target group

After

After

• Maximum number of participants

• A webcam

12

• Audio technology

Set up a registration process. Make sure the registration

• Headphones

page works before sending it to possible participants.

• A clock

Take registrations beyond simple a RSVP. The informa-

• One of the following technologies: Web-Ex, Adobe

tion enquired can be useful to analyse the participants

Connect, WizIQ, Go-to-Meeting or Elluminate, which

in terms of (additional) learning needs and expectations.

will allow you to:

It can also allow you to find out the digital literacy level

>>Share your desktop

1 See also Annex 1

13

Before Number of participants

on using is too difficult for the digital literacy level of

Determine a maximum number of participants you want

your participants, consider changing it. However, be

to include.

During

careful of requesting too much information. Participants may be put off if they have to fill in too much personal

Pre-webinar reading

information (e.g. fax number). Ask yourself the ques-

If you are planning on asking your audience to do some

tion, “Do I really need to know this to make the learning

pre-webinar reading, determine which documents to

event more successful?”

send to them. You can attach the documents with the

Invite participants to your webinar by sending out invita-

confirmation email. Make sure the documents are in

tion emails. Make sure that as soon as the participant

PDF, this way the page-numbering will be the same for

has been registered, she or he receives a confirmation

everyone and you can easily refer to the page during

email. The confirmation email should contain:

your presentation.

Keep in mind that the greater your audience is, the less interactive your webinar. You will not be able to call on your participants.

However, there are others way to engage your audience (see 2.1 Presentation).

During

Before

of your participants. If the software you were planning

• Start time

Reminder e-mails

• Duration

Send out reminder e-mails to participants two hours

• Pre-webinar reading

before the webinar will start. This e-mail should contain

• Contact information

the link to the webinar, the duration and the start time.

2

After

After

• Link to webinar

• Log-in details • Enrolment confirmation

1.2 Production of content General tips for slide-design Structure your content in a way that is easy to follow for the participants. A clear structure also helps you to 14

2 See also Annex 1

15

Before Specific tips for webinar-slides

When designing the content of the webinar, always keep

However, in some way presentations for webinars are

your audience in mind. A good-slide design in a syn-

different than from presentations used in a traditional

chronous learning environment is not so different than

classroom. Specific tips for webinar-presentations are:

when you would teach or give training in a traditional

• Open with a grabber slide, a visual that will grab the

classroom. General tips for a good-slide design are:

participants’ attention, and/or with a hook. A hook

• Be consistent in style and fonts

preferably contains the word “you” and might be a

• Keep the information large and clear

catchy fact, a statistic or a challenge. Afterwards,

• Use high contrast between text and backgrounds

introduce yourself.

screen

and apply simple slide transition (you never know the

• Do not overload the participants with bulleted slides

quality of the connection of your participants, which

• Use (simple) images and graphs (but avoid trivial

operating system they are using, etc.)

pictures)

After

• Avoid using too many (or too complex) animations

• Highlight the main points

• The slides have to be readable on different screens, from a 10 inch screen to a 30 inch monitor • Keep it visual: use a higher amount of slides than you

After

• Do not overload the participants with text on their

During

Before During

deliver the content in a confident way.

would use in a traditional classroom. You slides have to be compelling otherwise you face the risk that your webinar turns into a ‘podcast’. Participants will get distracted if they have to look at the same slide for a long time.

• Highlight what you want people to look at (e.g. by creating a grey rectangle set to 40% transparency and having it cover everything on the slide, then select the items 16

you want to highlight and click ‘send to front’)

17

Before

Before

• Avoid slides that you only want to show for a few seconds (due to the slight time lag between clicking on the slide and attendees seeing it) • Share a photo of yourself and your name near the beginning of the presentation (but not on the first

During

During

slide). Especially when you are introducing the team, it is nice to put a face to a name.

• Start your presentation with a general information slide(s) that contains: >>The beginning and ending hour of the webinar >>The conference dial-in number >>What to do in case of (technical) problems

Objectives

>>The objectives of the webinar

Provide information about the learning objectives and how you are planning to reach them.

Other materials besides presentations Webinars do not only include presentations and (some-

After

After

You can opt to use looping slides so the participants have something visual to look at while they wait for your presentation to start.

times) a video of the facilitator. You can also integrate other materials like YouTube videos, audio, graphics …

This way your webinar becomes more compelling and participants will less likely to get bored.

Make sure to test the materials first before starting the webinar! It might happen that your connection is not strong enough to support a YouTube video.

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19

Before

Before

Agenda

Q&A

Make sure you provide your participants with an agenda

Schedule ‘Questions and Answers’ (Q&A) moments.

of the webinar.

Keep in mind to show a slide indicating that you are taking Q&A otherwise your attendees will be ‘stuck’ on

During After

example:

After

During

the slide you were showing before taking questions. For

Do not wait with your Q&A moment until the end of the webinar. Q&A can be powerful to (re-)engage your participants. It also gives you information about how well they understand the content and about if they were paying attention or not.

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21

Before

Before

1.3 Preparation of the presentation

Rehearsal

Script

ing is the most effective way to establish a time-frame

Create a script for the webinar. Knowing what you are

for your webinar. Always schedule more time than you

going to say and when can be helpful to avoid filler

think you will need. Participants will schedule their

words. It does not need to be a fully written script, bullet

agenda according to the timing of the webinar. If you

points can suffice.

go too much over time, your audience may have other activities scheduled and will tune out. It can be useful

Screenshot of slides

to construct a time-table based on your rehearsal. That

Make a screenshot of 15 slides in the SlideSorter view

way you know how much time you have for each part.

During

During

Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more! Rehear-

and send this to the participants. This way it is easy for them to follow if you refer, during your presentation, to a

Plan B

previous slide e.g.

Have a plan B! Things can go wrong (You can proofread sible). It is important not to panic during the webinar if something goes wrong. Plan for technical defects and

After

After

and test everything twice to prevent it as much as pos-

in case it is impossible to go through with the webinar, make sure you have a way to reach you participants.

Creating a Skype account can be a possible solution. By reviewing all things that possibly can go wrong you are as prepared as you can be.

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23

Before

Before

2. During

2.1 Start of presentation

be answered and make sure you do).

• If you leave the program, please send a chat to the

Necessary preparations before

moderator when you leave and when you return.

ticipants to log-in 15 minutes in advance.

Explain if the webinar will be reordered and archived or

Right before you start your presentation, hang a ‘do-

not.

not-disturb’ sign at your door. You do not want to be interrupted during your webinar. Therefore it is also important to close your e-mail, all instant message

2.2 During the presentation

Do not forget to hit record when you are planning on recording the webinar.

During

During

Log-in at least 30 minutes in advance and ask the par-

programmes, etc. on your computer and turn off your mobile phone.

Silent moments

Basic logistics

Dramatic pauses in webinars do not have the engaging

At the beginning of the webinar, go over some ground

effect they might have in face-to-face teaching. Instead,

rules with the participants:

your audience might start to wonder if they lost the con-

• Turn off e-mail and phones and clear other distrac-

nection or if something else went wrong. Since you do

1

tions away from your training area.

not have direct face-to-face contact with your audience,

• Participate.

you need to use your voice to constantly re-engage then.

• Raise your hand if you have an immediate question

A good alternative to long pauses is chunking. Chunking

or comment (or send your questions to the moderator

can be defined as speaking in short bursts of words with

if the number of participants is too big).

silence in between. Besides avoiding dramatic pauses,

• Be patient and wait for a response to your chat messages (Assure the participants that all questions will

After

After

Avoid dramatic pauses but use micro-pauses instead.

chunking has three additional advantages: it makes you sound authoritative, it helps you to eliminate your filler words (“euhm”!) and it allows you to speak at your

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1 Adapted from: Hofmann, J. (2004). The Synchronous trainer’s survival guide. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

normal speed with the extra advantage of giving yourself

25

Before Interaction with participants

want your participants to think of you as an inspiring

Another way to (re-)engage your audience is to interact

and engaging person instead of someone who talks in a

with them. Interaction creates a psychological band

dreary way.

between you and your audience, which is implicit in

Let the participants know when you are going to be

traditional classroom teaching and training but rather

silent for a short time, For example, when you want to

difficult to establish in a webinar session. Collaborate

give them time to think you can say something like, “I’ll

instead of just lecture. You are a facilitator not a pre-

let you read what Bill Clinton has to say about Kiva”.

senter! Learning objectives are more easily obtained

During

Before During

time to think and your audience time to process. You

when you involve the participants. The webinar has to be a learner-friendly environment in which learning as a social process can occur. There are various ways for interacting with the participants: • Calling on them by using their first name or consider • Using polls or a quiz (be sure you are not asking things you already know based on the registration for instance).

• Encourage the participants to use the chat room (e.g.

This technique is only possible if the number of participants is rather limited (a maximum of 15 participants).

After

After

introducing them (or use self-introduction)

to post questions or the share ideas).

• The chat room can also be used for peer assist. If the number of participants is not too high (a maximum of 20 participants), you can pair them and let them talk in a private chat (e.g. Mike and Sandra can talk together and Yu Sun and Paola can talk together).

26

Think about the pairs beforehand. You can use this

27

Before

Before

for when you want participants to share best practices, brainstorm or reflect about a topic. Afterwards you can have a collective debrief by using the whiteboard for example.

• Ask them to raise their ‘hands’ or click on a smiley to

During

During

indicate their emotions.

• Using a collective whiteboard (e.g. participants can mark their years of work experience on a timeline).

General presentation tips Maintain good body language. Do not pace or have

After

to your audience). When you start pacing or having distracting movements your audience will notice it because

After

other distracting movements (even if you are not visible

it can have an effect on your voice. It can help to use

28

When you decide that you are going to have your face visible make sure you take into account the following considerations: - Is your (or your participants’) connectivity strong enough to allow your face to be visible?

- Pay attention to your body language (see ‘general presentation tips’ below) and look into the camera.

a remote control even though you are sitting behind a computer. It will remind you of the feeling of presenting to a face-to-face audience. Or you can also simulate an Regularly provide participants with constructive feed-

audience by talking to an inanimate object, like a teddy

back and help them find personal meaning and value in

bear.

the training material.

Do not breathe into the microphone and maintain the

By having your face visible at all time in a corner of your

right distance so that you will be heard clearly and no

presentation you might also engage your participants.

background noise will come through.

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Before

Before

Do not cuddle latecomers. If you spot a latecomer, welcome him/her by saying something like, “Hi John, Watch the time (see also 1.3)! It can be useful to have a clock close to you (since you might not always be able to see the clock on your computer).

can bring you up to speed.” You do not want to recapture everything that already happened. The moderator can bring the latecomer up to speed or advise him/her

During

During

welcome! Please contact our moderator Linda so she

to follow another session on another time.

The spotter It is useful to have a spotter. A spotter is someone (a colleague for example) who is logged in to the webinar as a participant. The spotter can signal you if something

Provide the participants with:

is going wrong on the participants’ side.

• Contact information webinar (you can take their remarks into account

2.3 End of presentation

when you are doing your next webinar or you can find

After

After

• A survey or feedback page so they can assess the

out which information was not clear for them) Review and summarise the key points. Make time for a last round of Q&A.

• A link where they will find the archived webinar (you can also include this in your ‘thank-you’ e-mails) You also have the possibility to schedule a feedback moment into your webinar (e.g. the last five minutes of the webinar). Foresee at least five minutes at the end of your webinar for the feedback survey.

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3.1 Post-event

Alternative modalities to present the content

Send out ‘thank you for attending’ or ‘sorry we missed

A Socratic Webinar

you’ emails to participants.

The Socratic webinar is based upon questions and lis-

The ‘thank you for attending’ emails should include:

tening. The webinar starts with a question, regarding the

• The presentation in PDF

predetermined topic, which is raised by a participant

• The link to the archived webinar

or by the facilitator. It helps if the facilitator is a subject-

• Contact information of the facilitator

expert on the topic. If the questions are prepared by the

• Answers to questions that were not answered during

facilitator, do not share them with the participants in ad-

the webinar • Additional resources (you might have mentioned

vance. Good questions for a Socratic webinar start with “What is”, “Is”, “Why” or “Should”. Try to avoid ques-

some during the webinar or you just discovered an

tions that begin with “How”, “Can” or “Will” since they

interesting article related to the topic)

will likely not constructively stimulate the conversation.

During

During

Before

Before

3. After

Take about 15 minutes for every addressed question.

So, you can address 3-4 questions in a webinar of an hour’s duration.

participants. If you want everyone to contribute, a maximum of 15 participants is advised. However, if you want

After

After

To make the most of the webinar, limit the number of

some participants just to listen, then you can include more (up to 30) participants.

The ground rules of a Socratic webinar are: • It is not a discussion but rather an exploratory conversation in which the participants (and the facilitator) try to build on each other’s ideas.

• One person can speak at a time. Participants can ask the permission to speak by raising their virtual hand.

30

Participants are only given the permission if they are

31

Before

Before

able to repeat what the person before them said and

Twitter

if they are capable of summarizing the last 10-15

In the registration process you can ask for your partici-

minutes of the conversation. Listening is important in

pants’ Twitter username (or if they do not have a Twitter

a Socratic webinar.

account yet, you can suggest they make one). Also

In a traditional webinar, silences are not promoted (see

the webinar.

2.2 during the presentation). However, in a Socratic

During the webinar you can interact with participants

webinar a silent moment can occur. It occurs that par-

through Twitter and also after the webinar additional

ticipants are cautions and not eager to speak first. Let

ideas or information can be shared.

During

During

provide the participants with the hashtag you will use for

the silence be for a while. Somebody will not tolerate the silence and will step forward to give his/her answer or opinion to the question.

Do not let a particular participant dominate the converto all participants. Call on the person who has not spoken yet. By assuring that you hear from everyone, you

After

After

sation. Make sure you more or less give the floor equally

will get more participation and interaction.

As a facilitator, you can take notes during the conversation. After the webinar, you can share the notes with the participants.

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33

Annex

Annex 2.

Webinar template

Annex

Annex 1.

Communication with participants Announcement of webinar / invitation emails • • • • • • • •

Topic of the webinar Date and duration Maximum number of participants Participants prerequisites Fees Related picture Target group Name of facilitator

Reminder email (2h before) • • • •

DURING

Registration process (at least 2 weeks in advance)

34

Link to webinar Start time • Link to archived webinar Duration • Contact information Screenshot of slides • Survey or feedback page

Title of your webinar

Summary of the topic

What are your learning objectives?

What do you want to achieve by the end of the webinar with your participants?

BEFORE

• Beyond RSVP

‘Thank you’ or ‘Sorry we missed you’ emails (within 48h after webinar)

Confirmation (or refusal) emails • • • • • • •

Link to webinar Start time Duration Pre-webinar reading Contact information Log-in details Enrolment confirmation

AFTER

Collaboration and interaction • • • • • •

Polls Quiz Chat Questions Call by name Raise hands

Structure of your webinar (methodology - process) Presentation and other resources that you will use throughout the webinar Timing of the webinar

Resource persons (Facilitator, presenter, …)

Additional notes and tips about the webinar 35

Annex

Annex

Annex 3.

Webinar event checklist EVENT DATE:

16

Prepare response mails “webinar, do not forget”, “It’s today”, “thank you for attending”, “Sorry we missed you”.

10

Create post-event questionnaire

7

Establish the technical support team for the upcoming webinar

7

Prepare the moderator questions in advance together with some polling questions

5

Presenter preparation

3

Conduct a dry run with the preparation team

1

Send out reminder email to registered participants

Showtime

Three hours prior to webinar re-send the webinar invitation link where participants can access

Showtime

Make sure there is a back up team available through Skype or usual telephone in case of technical problems. Assign someone with this specific role.

EVENT TIME: NAME OF EVENT: # of days until event

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Task due date

Responsible party

Task

Comments

Pre-requisite

Identify target audience

Assist in promotional targeting and in selecting the right presenter and moderator

Pre-requisite

Identify the objectives of the webinar

Make the objectives SMART http://itcilo.wordpress. com/2008/11/22/educationalobjectives/

Pre-requisite

Identify presenter and moderator and make sure you have an internal back up

25

Schedule presenter

Make sure presenter is familiar with the WebEx environment.

25

Schedule webinar date and time and activate the WebEX functionality

Secure date and time with participants. Take into account timezones.

22

Receive presentation or materials from presenter

Ask also for speaker introduction, 200 word webinar description, short professional biography plus photo, Q&A that will be addressed.

20

Create an appealing eIf possible make it graphically invite for your participants appealing.

20

Track and monitor the confirmations and registration links

Does everything work?

Agree with the presenter with the pedagogical flow of the webinar. Has the content of the presentation been reviewed?

Who’s opening and closing the dialogue? What to expect during the webinar? How to moderate the discussions?

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Annex

Annex Showtime

Take the first 10 minutes the time to welcome everybody and make sure everybody has full technical access to the webinar.

Set up a short icebreaker where everybody can introduce him or herself

Showtime

Conduct webinar Conduct Webinar / Public & Private Chat Features

Keep your presentation interactive by using both private and public chat, messages can be sent with the click of your mouse without having to type each message

Showtime

Conduct Webinar / Polling Questions

Create a poll to ask the audience, get instant feedback during the event. This will allow you to make any adjustments required to make sure you are getting the appropriate message to your audience. This is also going to be very useful information to have and it will help keep the attention of the audience because they have an action themselves to take care of.

Showtime

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Conduct webinar

Conduct Webinar / Annotation Features

Bring attention to important points in your presentation. When showing a PowerPoint slide use the annotation feature in Webex to highlight important bullets that you want to make sure your attendees take notice. Or, place a check mark or star next to each bullet so the audience follows along. It’s important to have a good speaker but also have action in the presentation to keep the audience engaged.

Showtime

Conduct Webinar / Share Active Content

If you want to show a tool, a website, a project document try to demo it live to the audience.

The more active you can keep the presentation the more likely you will keep the audience engaged.

Showtime

Conduct Webinar / Record Webinar

Record the event - not everyone will be able to make the time you schedule but they may still be interested in viewing your presentation. Archive the seminar and make the recording available for future playback.

Showtime

Monitor on a regular base the attendance

Ask people at regular intervals something (to raise their hand, to vote, …)

Post-showtime

Send thank you for attending emails to everyone.

Post-showtime

Send “Sorry We Missed You” e-mails with link to review presentation Link to recording of presentation (if appropriate) given to webmaster.

Post-showtime

Do an after action review with the team

http://itcilo.wordpress. com/2010/02/01/the-afteraction-review-aar-capturingknowledge/

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Resources

Resources

Websites http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1595445 http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1595444 http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-skills/how-to-conduct-engaging-webinar/ http://www.timeatlas.com/news/opinions/webinar_tips_for_presenters_and_attendees#.UkGAqTami6M http://blog.hansdezwart.info/2013/05/27/how-to-chair-a-socratic-webinar/ http://www.click4it.org/index.php/Webinar http://www.communiqueconferencing.com/webseminarwhitepaper.pdf http://webinar2learn.eu/upload/files/0/27/metodyka_EN_FINAL.pdf http://www.bethkanter.org/webinars-prof-dev/ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjjom1_delivering-powerful-interactive-webinar-with-ucirvine-extension-2010-fall_news http://facilitate.com/support/facilitator-toolkit/docs/Designing-Interactive-Webinars.pdf http://www.brightcarbon.com/blog/webinar-presentation-tips/

Books Hofmann, J. (2004). The Synchronous trainer’s survival guide. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

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http://ecampus.itcilo.org/