Virtually Anything Is Possible

Virtually Anything

Is Possible By Pamela Harmon, PRP

If you are determined to resume life as was usual pre-2020, please change your mind! 2021 is not looking much different than 2020, so Parliamentarians must make plans to continue to educate and promote the use of parliamentary procedure in the virtual environment. During 2020, the NAP Sounding Block Unit, Dallas, Texas, provided a virtual RP study for over 60 individuals, and held the first virtual Institute and Symposium in Texas. The success of the virtual Institute and Symposium can be attributed to four important steps: • Designing a game plan. • Identifying key players. • Holding practice sessions. • Executing the plan on event day, as designed and practiced.

Game Plan

Determine the chairman of the event and committee members. The chairman must be detail oriented, committed to seeing that the overall program takes place, and able to lead a large committee of other dedicated members. The committee must set goals, e.g., to provide training for over 300 persons interested in parliamentary procedure. Decide the date and time the event will take place. Keep in mind, we are all busy. We don’t want to take over the attendees’ entire day but do want to efficiently provide an event that will increase their parliamentary knowledge. Is there to be a cost for attendance? Is there a cost for the technology used, such as Zoom? Does the technology offer everything you need in order to execute the event, like breakout rooms? Will thank you gifts be provided to the presenters? As with all events, develop a budget.

The Players

The players consist of subcommittees and presenters. Determine the types of subcommittees needed, such as technology, publicity, door prizes. Make sure the subcommittees have their own game plans, and are clear on their assignments. They should also work with other subcommittees that might overlap. For instance, the technology committee should work with the presentation committee to ensure final presentations are received, or that each presenter knows how to share their screen and unmute themselves. All subcommittees should have a plan that includes deadlines. The publicity committee should develop a flyer and distribute it to the community. Use of social media for event promotion can pay dividends in attracting virtual attendees from across the nation. Ask unit members for a list of names and email addresses for those that might be interested and benefit from learning parliamentary procedure.

Determine who the presenters will be for the event. Ask Registered Parliamentarians and Professional Registered Parliamentarians in your unit if they will conduct a workshop.

It might be helpful to determine the topics beforehand and let them choose. Give the presenters a deadline to give a draft of their presentation. It is helpful to ask a PRP to review all presentations and offer feedback to the presenters.

Practice

Every successful team must practice to win. Schedule a date and time for mandatory practice at least three times. It is amazing what you find out when you practice. Maybe you thought you knew how to share your screen, but when asked to do the task, something goes wrong.

Develop a complete Run of Show. This means a detailed outline of who does what and the time that they will do it. The more details the better. Provide the Run of Show to each presenter and those working the media. Have one or two persons observe the Run of Show and give feedback. Remember, this is what the audience will see. A smooth, well run, timely event means just as much as the content being shared with the audience. Don’t do just one Run of Show, do three if necessary. Be open and patient to have one on one instruction with those who need it.

Execute

It’s time to win. You have planned and practiced. Everyone is in place, and you should be ready for a successful Institute and Symposium. The win involves all the steps you’ve done so you can be confident it will be a success. It is important to start on time and end on time. The production crew of technology hosts should go online at least an hour before the event is to begin. Have the presenters ready and online at least 45 minutes before the event begins. Have all other participants online early as well, e.g., those doing the welcome, introducing presenters, providing music, giving out door prizes.

Make sure to give all attendees an opportunity to provide feedback at the end of the event. Provide the link to the evaluation form or a QR code to scan and complete in real time. You will receive more feedback if you play music, and allow couple of minutes for completing the survey at the end of the event.

In the end, there can be hiccups at the event. You can’t begin to think of every scenario but be prepared as much as possible. What will you do if the presenter loses internet connection and cannot log back in? Does the technology committee have a copy of the presentation and someone else to take over? Hopefully, that does not happen, but it is a good idea to be prepared. 2021 may not be much different than 2020 but we can continue to educate and increase parliamentary knowledge throughout our communities. The Sounding Block Unit’s 2020 Institute and Symposium was a success! Virtually anything is possible.

Pamela Harmon, PRP, is Secretary of The Sounding Block Unit in Dallas, Texas. She has served 35 years in federal service as Supervisory Accountant with the Department of Agriculture.