Technology & Learning
Community

From the Facilitator

March 1999

Pointers for Getting the Most Out of an Online  Conference
by Jim Shimabukuro, Associate Professor, English, University of Hawaii- Kapiolani Community College, and co-facilitator of the Teaching in the Community College (TCC) Online Conference 

1. Set aside time. The vast majority of participants and presenters continue with business as usual during the online conferences. They log in and participate before, after, and between classes, meetings, etc. Many spend only a few minutes a day during the conference online; they wait until the weekend--after the conference is officially over--to log on, bypassing the interactive sessions and settling for browsing the logs of discussions in the various forums. Ideally, you, as participant or presenter, would either stay away from campus or lock yourself in your office throughout the conference, devoting your full attention to the various activities.  

2. Make the most of the interactive opportunities during the conference days. This means planning ahead: "Attend" all of the presentations that interest you prior to the start of the conference if the conference posts papers early. (For example, in TCC the presentations webpages will be opened approximately one week before the opening of the conference.) Interact with the presenters: send them private email. This allows you to use the time during the conference itself to join the synchronous or asynchronous discussions that are scheduled for the presentations that you've attended and for other forums, panels, etc. that might interest you. Participate by asking questions or commenting. 

3. Don't lurk. Perhaps the most important advice is to actively participate by joining and sending messages in the online presenter chats, keynote and open forums, panels, roundtables, etc.; by visiting the virtual "hang-out" spaces, such as TCC's Coconut Cafe, for informal chats; by taking a number of web tours (if offered); by participating in the preconference activities; by volunteering to host a forum, panel, or roundtable; by sharing your expertise in one or more forums aimed at online skills that you've mastered. At a traditional face-to-face (F2F) conference, your physical presence is sufficient to give you a feeling of being a part of the event. Because of the nature of the virtual world, you won't get this sense of "belonging" unless you send messages and interact with other participants.  

4. Network. Because most of the activities are asynchronous, you'll be able to attend far more than you would at a F2F conference. In fact, you'll be able to attend all of the presentations--your time being the only limiting factor. You'll also be able to browse the logs (archives) of the synchronous events that you aren't able to fit into your schedule. This means that you'll be able to identify key individuals and follow up with email correspondence. Write to presenters or participants who have posted messages that interest you. Develop a network of professional friendships that will last beyond the conference days.  

5. Prepare. Be prepared to participate in Email forums: use logical subject headers to facilitate discussions; don't include  quote) long messages in replies unless they're absolutely necessary; identify yourself by including your organization, position, and field; know how to subscribe to and unsubscribe from a conference list; know how to set to digest if this is an option you'd like to take.   Web-based activities: know how to log on to the conference website, how to navigate through the various web activities, how to participate in asynchronous web discussions; know how to upgrade your web browser, if needed, to fully participate in the various media; know how to download and set up drivers for different web functions.   

Live-chat activities: know how to participate in webchats or MOOs; know how to download and set up, if necessary, upgrades or drivers for chats; join the preconference sessions devoted to chatting skills if you need instruction or guidance.  Contingency planning: locate a second system just in case your primary computer goes down. Do this before the conference. Make sure you have access to the system during the entire period of the conference, and spend at least an hour becoming familiar with the system's Internet features.   

 Learn how to convert your time to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is used in many online conference schedules.  You can use any of several online time converters, such as: http://www.hilink.com.au/times/  http://swissinfo.net/cgi/worldtime/  http://poisson.ecse.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/tzconvert

6. Know your skill level. You don't need to have mastery of all the various Internet skills to get a lot out of the conference: basic email and web skills are sufficient to participate in the key activities.  However, livechat activities do require special skills.  

7. Be open to the positive differences of this relatively new medium. Don't expect the online conference to be exactly like a F2F conference. You'll be disappointed. It is different. Discover the strengths of this virtual medium--the differences that are advantages.  

8. Have fun: Explore. Discover. Experience. Learn. Teach.  

© Jim Shimabukuro 1999