30 Blogposts of Summer #12 Flying Blind

A few weeks ago I wrote about accepting an offer to do a presentation for the teachers of Palm Beach Florida via video conference. Today was the fateful day so I thought I'd give a short update on the experience.

As one could surmise from my first post, I was anything but confident with this arrangement. The Superintendent of Palm Beach wanted a strong technology presentation, and I feared what it would look like if the connection didn't work. So I took a couple of hours the week before and recorded the presentation as a video that they could use if the live feed didn't show up. This bit of preparation made the ensuing craziness a little less stressful.

A couple of technical notes, rather than Skype, we used Google+ Hangouts. I was able to use my camera and then send shorts of the screen while I narrated the presentation. I also connected my iPad into the group, so I could use this as a secondary camera and see the audience. We did a run through last Friday and everything went smoothly. After that I practiced with the iPad and my desktop to work out a few rough spots. I came in early today to set up the connection, and everything seemed to be going great.

The last 15 minutes before the presentation, however, were horrific. Suddenly they couldn't get my sound. I unplugged and plugged my microphone, only to have the entire connection go dead. Finally we got back together, but I could barely hear anything on their end, and every time I asked “Can you hear me?” I received vague responses (note to tech support, if your speaker is asking if you can hear him or her, the answer to that question should be your priority). Eventually, though, we seemed to have things ready and I started.

I planned to start with a camera shot of me to do the introduction, move into the Prezi, and then periodically come back to the camera for longer points. On their end, there was a shot of the audience (though it was in near darkness), and I could hear them in case there were questions.

Moments into the presentation there was terrible feedback on their end. Every time there was any pace or volume in my voice, it would start a feedback loop with the audience microphone. I tried to move ahead slowly, distracted by the technicians trying to fix the problem. Eventually the only solution they could devise was to turn off the sound there. The feedback was gone, but I was flying blind.

I did the entire presentation with no visual or audio cues, pausing periodically where I hoped there would be a laugh, even suggesting that they call out answers to my “flying cars” question. At one point I paused and asked if someone could indicate whether they were hearing me or not, as I had a concern that I was talking away while they weren't hearing anything. The moderator gave me a thumbs up, so I went on. At the end I thanked them and said I would take questions, figuring they would turn the sound back up, but it never came on, and after another thumbs up from the superintendent, I signed off.

Later the Superintendent wrote to say that it went well on there end and that there was laughter when I had hoped. I am happy for this, but I still feel disconcerted by the experience. I wonder if it would have been better for them to show the video, since I had no more interaction during a live performance. If I were to try this again, I have a definite sense of what to look for to make things better, but I can't think that this will ever be a preferred method for me. Without the cues of people's faces or their laughter, I felt like I was talking to myself and I didn't know how to react.

Was it a failure? No. I was able to do my entire presentation and I learned a lot along the way. Was it as good as it could have been? Definitely not! Would I do it again? Hmmmmmm

Image Credit: '09/06/2010 (Day 4.160) – Take A Bow' http://www.flickr.com/photos/95492938@N00/4684847574

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