Silent Webinar

A few weeks ago I co-hosted a webinar with Sara Ismail-Beigi and Jonathan Thomas Meenach, two students from Bowling Green University’s Masters of Organization Development Program. The first thing we talked about in our planning were our own experiences as both leaders and participants in other webinars. Here’s the short list we developed:

• There was some technology glitch every time
  • Presenters took the lead in several areas:
    • Picking the date and time
    • Defining the content to be covered
    • Talking anywhere between 90-100% of the time during the session
    • Leaving us to figure out how to apply what we’d learned “offline”

The list was sobering. The power seemed all out of whack. The ones supposed to learn had little, if any, power, save for signing up and joining the webinar.  We agreed that list was all stuff we wouldn’t subject participants (or ourselves) to again. The assumption busting began… It was pretty easy. We turned every one of these assumptions on its head. Here’s how:

1. Participants picked the date and time for the session. We sent out a note describing the webinar, including a survey monkey link that offered up a half dozen dates and times when we could hold the session. A week later we went with the high vote getter.
2. They defined the content – an issue, problem or situation where they wanted to get “unstuck.” We designed the entire session around participants’ issues and needs, not ours. The purpose of our 90 minutes: To make real progress on a real issue in your real life — and to learn how to do it again.
3. We talked less than 10% of the time. Then came the weird part. We asked a series of questions to help people work through their own issues….and said nothing for several minutes after we’d asked each question. After what seemed like forever (actually 3 minutes) we’d call out, “We’re going to move on in about 30 seconds so please start wrapping up your answer to this question.” People asked a few questions and shared an insight or two in a chat box, but they themselves were the main attraction.
4. People worked through their real issues in real time and identified real actions – all during the actual webinar. Ten questions, 90 minutes. You can check out the actual webinar slides here. We had ambitious but achievable desired outcomes for the session:  Ideas for how to get “unstuck” and moving forward in a good direction from a situation that’s been frustrating you in your life or work
5. Be confident that you will get better, faster and easier results in this same situation
6. Have a set of specific tools that will help you get “unstuck” from similar situations in the future

The feedback at the end of the session was a resounding, “Yep, we got that done!” A definite comfort for those of us “presenting” as we had no idea what, if anything, was happening on the other of the line for 90 minutes. People said they had really moved the needle on real issues – at home, with work, and even in how they chose to see their own life. Next time you’re in a learning situation see if you can identify the assumptions you and others are making. What would happen – for you and others — if you flipped them on their head?