Testimonials
First time on Citcen- it’s been very practical. Thank you everyone!
Thank you very much to all the organisers, I would certainly join in again!
My first time too! Thanks so much, All
It’s brilliant to join from the Highlands!
Enjoyed it from Lisbon!!
This has been great – I have been able to link in from Northern Ireland – thank you
Great resources! Thanks so much for sharing
Loved it in Norwich and will be sharing loads of what I have found out with my team.
Fantastic afternoon thank you!
Detailed tips to make your online CEN a success
Useful things for your speakers
1. If possible, schedule a practice session to trial the presentation software and any videos or interactive components in the week before the live event.
2. Ask speakers to provide their slides in advance in case there are any technical issues so that as host, you can screen share their slides for them (often not necessary but can prove to be a stress busting back-up plan).
3. Allocate a presentation ‘buddy’ who is un-muted and has their camera on during the speaker’s presentation to provide them with checkins and feedback on technical elements as required.
4. Provide speakers with the chance to check-in to the meeting 30 minutes before it goes live – to settle nerves and check presentation and videos work as planned
5. Schedule a tea break in the middle of the session to give eyes, ears and bums a break.
Tips for organisers
1. Think of a hashtag # for your tweeting.
2. Mute attendees automatically when they arrive. The host can then explain how the event will run and talk through how to mute/unmute & stop/start video. This will ensure everyone is familiar with these functions. This also reduces background noise for the speakers (e.g. people drinking/sneezing/rustling papers etc.).
3. Think about how to notify speakers when they have 5/2/1 minutes left & ask the speakers what they would prefer. For example, arrange to have an auditory alarm to beep at specific intervals or someone can speak up to let them know.
4. Allocate a speaker buddy so that everyone can be muted during presentations except apart from the speaker and them. The buddy can then alert a speakers if something was difficult to see/hear and the speaker can check with the buddy if they are concerned something isn’t appearing as it should for the audience.
5. During the Q&A after a presentation identify one person to chair the questions that attendees put forward in the chat box. This makes the conversation easier to manage.
6. Advise speakers and attendees to open a tab in a new window for when they wish to screen share. Everyone will be able to view your web browser window if you share, so open a new browser window for sharing to avoid confidentiality issues.
7. Use the chat function to relay or reiterate important information to attendees – e.g. adding web links the speakers mentioned. (Ask speakers to send through any key links in advance)
8. You may choose to record the meeting so that those who are unable to attend can watch the event later on your private YouTube channel. Confirm with speakers in advance that they are happy to be recorded and advise them how the recording will be shared.
9. Potential roles for organisers to consider allocating for the meeting:
- Speaker buddy & tweeter
- Tech Guru
- Meeting host
- Person responding to chat messages
10. The structure and format we used:
- 3 speakers, 4 committee members and 35 attendees
- Our event lasted 3 hours in total.
- We organised 3 talks and 2 group activities (an ice breaker and a brainstorm session).
- We had a 15 minute comfort break half way through the event.
CIT CEN Toolkit 