I gave my first Zoom class in the spring, “As You Wish: The Power of Dialogue,” for a writing group in California. Since I have two writing skills ebooks on that subject, I had resources for the script I wrote. That was a plus because I needed two hours worth of something intelligent to say about dialogue.
I also needed a slideshow.
Hmmmm. My slideshow expertise rests solely on a long ago attempt to showcase my dogs in five slides. Since I used photos I already had, all I did was add the captions. This recent attempt needed witty captions that matched pertinent images that fit the content about dialogue.
Whew!
Script writing for a presentation and designing a slideshow was a new writing experience for me. My background is more of the “in person workshop.” I’ve presented at all types of writers’ conferences from local to national. In addition, I’ve given presentations about writing to every age level from first graders to senior citizens, book club groups to the Rotary Club.
When the Internet hit, I expanded into online writers’ conferences and workshops. This was done with email lectures and I became comfortable with this format.
I wasn’t eager to appear online because an experience in the early days of video chats with authors was not positive. Our librarian invited an author to join our book club session via the Internet. For some reason, the Internet connection kept freezing and the weird frozen faces of the author killed any desire I had to try the process.
Still, when my friend asked me to do a Zoom class, I thought, it’s been a decade since the fiasco at the library, surely Internet connections work better now. Fingers crossed, I took a chance and hoped my face wouldn’t freeze into a grotesque mask at any point.
Then face freeze became a moot point when I realized it’s all about the lighting.
Like lighting your area without creating unattractive shadows on your face. And if the lighting isn’t right, it will glint off your glasses’ lenses when you move your head. Removing my glasses isn’t an option. I’d have to hold my notes about an inch from my face if I needed to read anything. Then again, if my face froze no one would know because my face would be hidden behind my notes.
Like the trooper I am, I watched the rerun of my “As You Wish: The Power of Dialogue” Zoom show. While I didn’t do extremely well on the lighting, I did get most of my first Zoom class right.
Two sources indicated to me the content of the presentation was well received. I remembered to include the class in some discussion. And I only suffered the occasional “duh” moment as I tried to share information and register the disappearing and reappearing class attendants.
My positive experience with a Zoom presentation was aided by my dear friend who invited me to speak. She graciously sent me examples from past Zoom presentations she had made. They proved priceless as guides for how to create a Zoom presentation.
The tech guru who ran the slideshow portion contacted me prior to the big day with helpful information describing his part in the process. He also offered some general suggestions on making the Zoom experience positive for the attendees.
All in all, it was an educational experience.
One I’m apparently going to repeat in October.
Now if I can only figure out how to keep my glasses lenses from sparkling.
