Whether you are participating in one of our live lessons or webinars you may have some questions about how to get involved and make the most of the outreach experience. Here are some frequently asked questions.

1. What is it?

Encounter live lessons and webinars are a free and unique way for schools to participate in interviews with experts. These aim to promote awareness surrounding societally pertinent issues with real experts while linking back to the curriculum.

2. Why should I do this?

Live lessons and webinars are a great way to promote your organisation, profession, or personal work with students on mass. Each event attracts multiple schools from across the UK and beyond. Many event expert speakers like that Encounter live lessons and webinars allow them to reach hundreds of individuals in a 30-45 minute window.

3. What do I need to submit in advance?

We want the experience to be mutually beneficial to all parties. In order to increase both audience insight and the promotion of the expert speaker and their work we ask that you provide some key information in advance. This can be provided to your Encounter Edu liaison.

• Name
• Job title
• Organisation
• Website (personal or organisation)
• Social media handles
• Photos (single portrait photo and where possible an action photo of you at work in the lab or field)
• Short bio
• Media release form

4. Tips for contributing to a live lesson or webinar content.

The expert speaker is pivotal in creating a successful live lessons and webinars for students and teachers. We welcome expert speakers’ contributions in co-creating the live lesson. In the past successful expert speakers have added value to student experience by

• Demonstrating their research live

• Creating models which illustrate what they are trying to explain

To ensure consistent quality of live lessons and webinars we recommend creating a structured manuscript. The manuscript is a document with notes to direct the speaker during the live lesson. A well prepared manuscript ought to include

• Event date and time
• Link to the Encounter event page
• Link to the Zoom webinar
• School shout outs (received from Encounter Edu, 2 hours before broadcast)
• Pre-submitted questions (received from Encounter Edu, 2 hours before broadcast)
• Additional notes for speaker

5. Tips for presenting during a live lesson or webinar

Voice

Live lessons and webinars audio quality are dependent on both the device capturing the sound and the quality of the internet connection. To ensure that audio is optimal we ask that expert speakers talk louder and much slower than they normally would , emphasising key words.

Eye contact

When delivering a live lesson or webinar in front of a single camera it can be easy to forget that hundreds of people are watching. We ask that all expert speakers try to look forwards at all times directing conversation towards the camera.

Movement

We recommend that the expert speaker positions their face in the centre of the screen allowing space above, below and to both sides. This allows the camera to capture your hand gestures in shot.

6. How do I start a live lesson or webinar?

Using Zoom

Zoom is a video communication platform that we use to connect you with your audience. Encounter Edu will create the Zoom webinar and share the link with you. As a speaker, to access Zoom you will need the following

• A good internet connection
• A laptop or desktop with video camera, microphone, and sound
• An up-to-date web browser (specification outlined in How to use Zoom)

Starting the live lesson or webinar

For the live lesson to begin smoothly the following steps need to be taken.

1. Ensure all speakers have the correct Zoom link
2. Join the live lesson via the Zoom link provided at least 15 minutes early
3. Make sure that there are no unnecessary documents open on your computer other than your live lesson slideshow and manuscript
4. A member of the Encounter Edu team will promote you to panellist then co-host. This will enable you to use the Zoom controls.
5. Press the ‘Share’ button and select your live lesson slideshow. The first slide will be the image seen by the audience when joining the live lesson. We recommend having your audio and camera off during this time, as you will most likely have some time before the live lesson start time.
6. At the official start time, switch on audio and camera to begin the live lesson.