Best Practices For Planning And Hosting An International Interactive Ocean Science Webinar Series

Abstract:

The emergence of a global pandemic has challenged educators and communicators to find alternatives to sharing ocean science. As webinars and Zoom sessions become ubiquitous, there is a growing imperative to make them more lively and interactive. However, many unknowns complicate the shift from traditional modes of in-person science communication to new virtual approaches. How much time and effort are required? Can we efficiently plan and manage events with a globally distributed team? How can we counteract “Zoom fatigue” with appropriate technologies? Knowing what to expect and how to proceed can help overcome resistance to hosting an interactive online event.

In 2020 Ocean Networks Canada created and hosted a series of online interactive webinars that offered a high level of audience involvement. Events were deliberately structured to include numerous audience engagement segments, rather than relegating interaction to a Q&A session. We used several online tools to facilitate engagement: Mentimeter, Sli.do, chat prompts, Zoom polls, and Zoom annotations. We followed each session with a 12-question survey to measure audience opinions on session duration, logistics, interactivity, and other key dimensions. Analyzing feedback allowed us to iteratively improve our webinars over the course of the series.

With this experience, we developed a methodology and a library of tried-and-true tools to execute an interactive live webinar event in less than 40 hours with a two-person team. Our approach demonstrates how to employ a coherent suite of best practices for interactive webinars that provide a rewarding experience for both the virtual audience and the presenter. Our methodology and resource library will be shared, along with analyses of audience engagement and findings from our post-event surveys. Participants can expect to leave this session with ideas of new tools to employ in their own hosting of virtual events and new perspectives on why interactivity is essential.