Information for Online Workshop Participants
If you are signed up for an online workshop please take five minutes to read this page.
​
Workshop not a Webinar
The session will run in the format of a workshop rather than a webinar so I would like you to actively participate in discussion and exercises so that your experience is just like that of a face-to-face interactive workshop. The tips below will help to make sure you have everything you need for a good session.
​
​
Workspace
Make sure you are in a comfortable working space where you can see the screen, think, speak, listen, and have table space to do some work. Although many people are working from home, try to find a well lit, quiet space away from interruption and background noise. Also make sure you have got pen and paper ready in case you want to take any notes.
​
​
Computer
Use a desktop or laptop computer rather than a mobile device such as tablet or smart phone.
​
​
Webcam, Microphone and Speakers
You will need a web-camera, microphone and speakers to participate. Although many laptops have these features built in, using headphones with microphone built in will cut down on background noise.
​
Zoom Online Meeting Platform
Zoom will be used as the online meeting platform. Please download Zoom Client for meetings before the workshop. This should not require any administrative permissions on your computer.
Meeting Invitation
If I have been sent your email address I will send you a meeting invitation that contains the link to the meeting. If you accept that meeting invitation, the link will download into your online diary so you can easily find it. This should avoid frantic hunts for the right email with the link, moments before the workshop starts. Alternatively, this meeting link may be sent to you via a contact in your organisation.
​
​
Join the Meeting
When you are ready to join the meeting, just click the link. You will see a dialogue box that asks “Open Zoom.US?” as shown in the picture below. Click the button that opens Zoom.US and you will be ready to join the meeting.
It may ask for a password that will be in the meeting invitation that you were sent.
Basic Operation of Zoom
We will spend the first few minutes of the workshop getting used to the main features within Zoom so don’t worry. Please feel free to log into the meeting early (even days early) to test that things work. Please note that Zoom works differently on different devices, operating systems, and web browsers, so the layout that others see won’t necessarily be the same as yours.
Important features that will help you get the best from the workshop are:
-
Gallery and Speaker View. Gallery View allows you to see the videos of all the other participants who are in the meeting at once, with a yellow outline around the video of the person who is speaking. Whereas, in Speaker View you will see one large video of the person who is speaking. You can choose which view is best for you during the different parts of the workshop. The options for Gallery View or Speaker View are shown when you hover your cursor in the top right corner. The picture below show gallery view and the button to switch views is in the top right corner.
-
Muting and unmuting sound in case of background noise. When you move your cursor you will see a menu bar as shown below. On the far left you will see a picture of a microphone. Click on this to mute or unmute yourself. This is also a dropdown menu next to it for more options, including testing your microphone and speakers. One handy tip is that while you are mute, you can hold down the space bar if you want to briefly unmute to make a comment.
-
Changing your display name. If you click on the 'participants' button in the main menu bar shown above, you will see your name. Click on your name and you will get the option to change your display name. Change this to whatever you would like others to refer to you as in the workshop.
​
-
Using ‘chat’ feature to receive shared documents. On the main menu bar, you will either see a 'chat' button with a speech bubble or a button the gives you more options, in which you will find the 'chat' feature. I will mostly use this to share documents with you during the workshop but you can also use this to exchange text messages such as questions.
​
-
Breakout room. This option is only available to me as the host but at times I may divide the participants into breakout groups. When I do this, you will see a dialogue box that you must click to join the breakout group.
​
-
Slides view. Throughout the workshop, I will frequently share my screen so you can see slides that I am referring to. You can choose to either view just the slides or the slides and the video of the participants. To do this find ‘view options’ dropdown menu when I am sharing my screen with you. This will appear as a drop down menu on the right of a green bar, as shown below, that tells you whose screen you are seeing. Choose the 'side by side mode'. You can change the proportions by sliding the dividing bar left and right.
-
Sharing your screen. There may also be times when you want to share your screen with others in a breakout group. You will find the ‘share’ button in the middle of the black menu bar as shown above.
Test Zoom
You can use the button below for a test Zoom meeting if you want to try it out before you join the workshop.