CTRL Presenter Support

All fully online sessions will be held via Zoom. Prior to your session start-time, you should:

• Make sure that your audio and mic are working properly
• Double check that screen sharing works

Your session facilitators will join the meeting at least 10 minutes prior to the start time. If you would like more time to test your technology, please reach out to CTRL and let us know so that we can properly prepare.

If you are utilizing multimedia (videos, audio clips, etc.), we strongly suggest a wired internet connection to avoid any issues with buffering or low-quality media.

All in-person sessions will be “hybrid” in that there will be attendees in person and attendees joining the session via Zoom as it is streamed live.

CTRL facilitators will manage the Zoom room and streaming; however, here are some considerations for the use of audio-visual technology during your session:

• Always speak into the microphone when presenting information
  Share the microphone with any audience member asking a question or repeat questions/comments from the audience.
• Ask all participants, especially those in person, to state their name before sharing a question or speaking, to ensure broad accessibility of information.

Plan a session that is structured for engagement and interaction. In all of our events, CTRL aims to make space for interaction, collaboration, and connection among the AU community. We highly recommend reviewing our resource on Structuring an Effective Class Session or Presentation as you plan your session; below are a few key suggestions:

Make sure your content is structured for participant engagement
Lecturing can be an effective tool to deliver content; however, research suggests that most people can only retain information given to them in sections of 15 minutes or less. How are you incorporating interactive activities throughout the entire presentation? Note that just saving time for a Q&A at the end is not recommended as a form of effective engagement.

• Ideas for remote: chat check-ins, reflective pauses paired with rhetorical questions, breakout rooms, full group discussions, polls
• Ideas for hybrid in-person: ‘turn and talk’ paired with a chat check in, small group discussions paired with breakout rooms, polls (through PollEverywhere or Mentimeter)

Plan for flexibility.
Time goes quickly when presenting! We suggest preparing ahead of time for flexibility. What aspects can be cut, trimmed, or expanded, if needed? What segment can be skipped in the moment in case your presentation runs behind?

Get the most out of the first and last five minutes.
These moments are key to setting the stage for your session and ensuring that participants remain engaged through the workshop. How will you start and end the session to actively involve your audience? You might consider a thought-provoking warm up question for participants to reflect on in the chat or individually (if hybrid or online), or discuss with colleagues quickly (if hybrid or in person).

Specific Considerations for hybrid sessions.
Successful hybrid sessions are purposefully structured to engage remote and in person attendees in an equitable experience and foster a sense of connection across modalities. How will you intentionally involve all attendees in your session? Some suggestions:

Create slides and handouts that meet accessibility standards. We have some helpful resources that break down accessibility standards for slides and documents in our accessibility guide; below are a few key tips:

• Use a large font size (minimum 24 point on slides), and standard, non-decorative sans- serif fonts (such as Arial, Helvetica, and Calibri).
• Keep slide text limited. Break up large chunks of text over multiple slides.
• Use high color contrast, like white text on a black background or black text on a white background.
• Avoid using color as the only signifier of difference, such as putting “pros” in green and “cons” in red, as audience members may be colorblind.
• Do not use unnecessary images or gifs to avoid cognitive overload for participants
• Ensure any handouts are accessible.
  • These should have OCR (optical character recognition), so that screen readers can read them.
  • Font should be large (12 point at minimum), or editable by participants.
• Ensure multi-media utilized in presentation is accessible.
  • All videos shown in the presentation must have closed captions.
  • Any images shown should be verbally described by the presenter and include alt text for use by screen readers.

Welcome and respect diversity of thought, background, identity, and perspective. Through your words and actions, create a sense of belonging for participants; below are a few suggestions:

• Provide examples that acknowledge/consider the variety of identities which students/instructors/participants bring with them.
• Select images that visibly represent a diversity of identities and experiences.
• Include the work or recognition of marginalized scholars.
• Find ways for your presentation to highlight at least a few invisible identities (for example, identity factors such as sexual orientation, ability or disability, and citizenship are not ‘visible’ just from looking at people). Expand engagement with invisible identities in literature and in your research.
• Take care when generalizing across yourself and your audience. For example, before using ‘we’ to describe those present at the session, keep in mind that any group has a range of identities and experiences of which you are not aware. Rather than saying “we have this experience as faculty,” you might say, “many faculty share this experience.”
• Cite research that accounts for diversity/different privileges and oppressions faced by students and instructors.
• Ensure that anything you ask participants “to do” is accessible for all, considering different access needs such as blind or Deaf/hard of hearing participants.