The Monday Evening Post

In class today we talked more about webinars. And it was confirmed that they do seem weird, but Kristin said with practice you become more comfortable talking to your computer. Just like my piano and viola teachers always said, Practice makes perfect!

Tonight, I felt more like a sponge just soaking up what I could about how to do webinars.

Here are the main points I took from tonights class about webinars:

Before the webinar, minimize the number of things you have to worry about. Plan who will be the moderator for the chat, how transitions will go, all of the nitty gritty logistics you typically don't need to worry to much about in a face-to-face setting.

Be more explicit in your webinar. This means there will be more slides, and more words then if you were presenting to a face-to-face audience.

First ask questions to get a sense of your audience to see what background information they are coming with into the webinar on the topic you are discussing. This also helps to make sure

• people hear you, 
• that they are able to use the tools (like hand raise, magic wand, thumbs up/down)
• allows people listening to the webinar get to know each other
• allows you to see how much wait time is needed for responses since there is a delay in audio

To make a great webinar try to identify someone's pain point and provide solutions for them

My group and I have decided to work on creating a webinar about making libraries more accessible for visually impaired and blind users. This is something I am very interested in, partly because I have a visual impairment and it is something people know about but may not necessarily have a clear understanding. I think it is really important to create an environment in the library that is welcoming to all kinds of users. When I was in elementary, I had to use big print books, because it was a lot easier for me to read, I also had to ask for large print rulers for math class etc. I was a shy kid, so this task was very difficult and usually relied on my parents letting the librarian and teacher know. I also didn't want to be treated differently from my friends. I use to hate reading when I was younger. It wasn't until my mom, who was a volunteer at our school librarian had picked a large print book out for me (Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards) in the fourth grade, which was an idea my school librarian had and brought it home, did I really see reading was fun... because I could see the font better! Now,  although my vision has improved, I still rely on some zoom-in functions for computers. I hope our webinar can make these things more aware for all librarians. Especially school librarians, and to help patrons who have a hard time seeing or are blind to feel comfortable, welcomed and accepted.