Teaching to Somebody And Nobody

At one point, I felt like a radio deejay. Who is listening in? How am I sounding? Am I speaking too fast, or too deliberately? Are they still there?

You will need to engage your imagination. You need to hallucinate that your audience is there, in front of you. There is no way of getting feedback, or interaction except for the audience who are physically there with you. Feed forward leads to feedback, which leads to more feed forward - that is the process of 2-way, communication complete with real-world distractions like a distraught customer on the phone, an urgent meeting to attend, and worries of unmet sales targets.

Yesterday, I taught a class that video-casted over a wide geography so as to maximize its student reach. In principle, I taught on a large stage, and the session beamed over 30 locations throughout the country via a network of video-conferencing. However, I had no clue how the other students were responding. I was used to interacting with actual people, face-to-face, or at least, a Skype-based coaching opportunity or meeting. I like more control over my teaching environment, where technology does not become my hindrance and mislead me. I prefer walking on stage and off stage, and being with my students.

To add to this cauldron of challenges, my students were constantly migrating in/out of the auditorium. I had to stay focused on my delivery, which was in Mandarin and the occasional local dialect. Thank you, Mom for leading me the way to effective bilingualism! Rapport was every bit as important as my sharing of information and anecdotes of my personal and professional experiences. This was my first ethereal audience, drifting like lost souls. I had a few epiphanies, I assure you, however it was based on confidence, clarity and my commitment. I channeled my concerns into actions. It was better to do something different to get different results.

This singular event led me to explore how I can be more effective in my presentation of such a class. I received feedback that the students would benefit more from the training if I stayed more to verbal presentations. What I did was involved my immediate audience with activities and exercises: discuss, write, ask, respond, practise and do the exercises. However, based on this format I had to adjust my style – I spent some time expressing my influence more like a talking head, supported with PowerPoint slides. I eventually decided on the TED style that worked better.

This was my first presentation that I allowed to be recorded, which was a shift in my mindset. I am unsure how effective future salespeople will find this archived 5-hour session, as my students enjoyed my personalized coaching as I moved around the auditorium.

In the weeks to come, I will share with you different interventions with Social Media Tools 2.0 in the process of classroom and online teaching. Let me know which modality you would prefer me to focus on.