Presenting a Live Meeting vs. a Real Meeting

I recently had the opportunity to present,  Nuggets Found by Mining the Default Trace, for SQLLunch.  This was my first time presenting via Live Meeting (or any on-line meeting functionality for that matter) and it was quite different.  I have presented technical contant at several user groups and SQLSaturday’s, and have spoken at many churches, but all of those times have been in the front of a roomful of people.  Presenting on-line is definitely different than presenting in-person.  Here are my first impressions:

Pacing

When presenting in-person you can tell by the attendees expressions and body language if you are going at the right pace, but on-line you don’t get that immediate feedback.

Personality

I’m not sure that your personality as a presenter comes across on-line as well as in-person.  Again, the lack of feedback from visual cues makes it hard to tell if your style and personality is coming through or if it is appropriate based on the audience.

Interaction

I thrive on interaction with the attendees and there is very limited opportunity for this on-line, at least with my limited experience.  I like to take questions throughout my presentations and tell some jokes and I found this more difficult to do in a Live Meeting

My Conclusion

I think Live Meeting and similar technologies are great even though I prefer to present in-person. I do enjoy being able to hear some great speakers through Live Meeting. 

Where I Think Live Meeting Fits Best

Remote locations to have some top speakers present.  Similar to where I use to live in northern New Hampshire.  Let’s just say that being 2+ hours from the nearest airport and 3+ hours from the nearest big city (Boston or Montreal) isn’t conducive to bringing in speakers from away, but Live Meeting would allow a group to have some top speakers.

For organizations like PASS to give a taste of conferences like the Summit through events like the 24 Hours of Pass.

Going Forward

As Co-President of OPASS, we are going to be having our first meeting with a Live Meeting presention at our January meeting with Andy Leonard (@AndyLeonard) presenting.  My co-President, Andy Warren (@sqlandy), is a big thinker and wants to try to send 2-way video so that the presenter can see the group and, if possible, take questions during the presentation.  We will be doing some testing before to see how and if we can make it work, and then try to make it work well.