Step 4: Instruct your moderators, speakers and hosts

After you have set your rooms and invited your moderators, speakers and hosts, you can start instructing them on how to run their sessions. This article explains how.

When doing so, we recommend that you:

• Organise a training: Give your speakers, moderators and hosts a live or recorded training to introduce them to the platform. Support this with some documentation they can read upfront and refer to later. 
• Organise rehearsals (also called "dry runs") to practice the session in real conditions.

Organise a training: tips and best practices

The objective of the training is to instruct the speakers, moderators and hosts on how to access and use their dashboards; to share any specifics (session flows) for their session and any other information you would like to share with them in preparation for the event. It can be done in the form of a webinar. You can either do a separate one for each role/session type or group them all together in the same webinar.

The training should include the following elements, though depending on your event, different instructions could apply:

• How to enter the session dashboard after receiving the invitation.
• For moderators: how to moderate the session, how to present live, and how to moderate the Q&A. Link to documentation: Moderator dashboard
• For speakers: how to do a pre-recording, how to upload slides or posters, how to present live, how to watch the session during the broadcast, how to use the interactive features. Link to documentation: Speaker dashboard
• Dos and don'ts and advice on how to be fully prepared for the day of the session. Link to documentation: How to prepare?
• Information about the upcoming rehearsals (if applicable).
• Q&A-time

Organising rehearsals: tips and best practices

While the training aims to give everyone the information they need about the session and their dashboards, the objective of rehearsals or so-called dry runs is to put this into practice. We recommend that those take place at least 1.5 weeks before the event to allow for any issues that might come up to be solved in time for the event. Naturally, everyone should attend the rehearsal using the same equipment (e.g. computer, network, headset) as they plan to use during the event.

A rehearsal should cover the following elements:

• Session flow (who will present what and when, transitions between the speakers or pre-recordings, Q&A time, etc)
• What actions are needed for a successful session (open room, switch speakers, manage questions coming in, etc)
• Technical check: is everyone able to access their dashboard with the equipment they will use for the event? Is everyone's video/audio/slides/shared screen coming through optimally?

There are different ways to approach rehearsals/dry runs:

1. Schedule a rehearsal session for each live moderated session in your programme: this is the best option, as it allows the moderators and speakers of all sessions to practice in real conditions for the final session: covering the flow and the use of the dashboard, as well as making sure everyone's video/audio/slides are coming through optimally. The participants meet in the "real" session on the virtual platform directly, using the link they previously got from your invitation. You can either schedule and lead the rehearsals yourself or delegate the responsibility to the moderators or chairs.
2. Create dedicated practice sessions: instead of rehearsing every session, you can also combine them in a dedicated practice session. Just create as many as you need, knowing that each session can have up to 15 people including you, and send invitations to the speakers and moderators. We recommend dividing the rehearsal per role (one or more for moderators, and one or more for speakers). Ask them to join at a dedicated time and use the session to cover the above points.
   With this, you will not practice each session's flow in real conditions, since the people attending will be a mix of all the sessions in the programme, but you will at least make sure everyone is technically set up and know what to expect.

Need help with training and rehearsals?

We offer packages to lead rehearsals and extra training. This can support you if you lack the time and resources to do it yourself but still want best-in-class preparation and a smooth-as-can-be virtual event. Ask your CSM for the options!