The rules of thumb when choosing a venue are as
follows:
Is there wi-fi connectivity and technical infrastructure to
support the number of attendees? This includes audio-
visual facilities, projectors and communication
equipment like phones, speakers and microphones.
Does the building have air-conditioning or heating,
depending on the climate and season?
Is a separate meeting room required? What about
infrastructure for speakers, for e.g., a dais and stand?
Does the venue have catering facilities? Snacks and
meals will be needed, and a private dining room is
preferred.
Is there ample provision for car parking? Is there
security on the premises?
Before the actual event, a detailed program schedule has
to be ready; this includes the order of activities, list of
speakers and breaks for refreshments and meals.
Volunteers must be assigned to help and guide attendees
during the conference. The schedule and other important
details have to be shared with these volunteers and they
must be trained in advance to handle queries.
A lot of things are needed during the conference, such as
basic stationery supplies, name tags for confirmed
attendees and seating arrangements. At the main
entrance to the venue, a registration table would need to
be set up, with a receipt book for collecting participation
fees. Arrangements must be made to provide water, tea
and coffee throughout the duration of the conference.
As each of these points is being taken care of in
preparation for the conference, the budget has to be
continuously tracked and expenses have to be managed
accordingly. Tracking of the master plan also needs to be
done on an ongoing basis. In this way, the conference will
progress smoothly and will appear well-planned to all.
RESOURCES:
Meeting Tomorrow: How to Plan a Conference
Silverwood Manor: Planning a Conference
Flexible Learning Toolbox: What types of conferences
are there?
t’s normal for parents to be concerned about the
quality of education their kids are receiving.
With video conferencing technology, parents can get
a better understanding of what’s going on in the
classroom by having a more forward-facing
relationship with teachers via video chat. It’s this
parent-teacher connection that empowers parents to
nurture their children’s learning while also enforcing a
direct line of communication with the teachers,
coaches, and counselors who impact their education.
It wasn’t very long ago when parents had to fight
through traffic and commute to the school on a
weekday evening for a parent-teacher interview. Or if
a child was called down to the office for bad behavior
or for questioning regarding a dispute, parents had to
stop what they were doing and head down to
investigate. Nowadays, video conferencing takes out
the need to physically be there, cutting down on travel
time, costs and even saving energy for everyone
involved.
Here are a few ways video conferencing can be used
to positively impact parent-teacher conferences or
any important matter that requires a discussion:
Schedule With Intention
Teachers face many challenges when scheduling
conferences with parents, but with video
conferencing, more options are at hand. If a teacher
knows that time with a particular student’s family is
going to be more involved, consider creating some
buffer time between interviews; schedule an empty
block of time or book lunch right after the meeting so
if it’s extended, it won’t spill over into another family’s
conference. If interviews aren’t all held in one day or
in the evening, teachers can book for one student per
day in the morning, before class starts. That way,
when class starts, the interview organically comes to
a close.
It’s All About Location
Choose wisely when it comes to setting up the
location for a parent-teacher conference. With video
conferencing in mind, a place that isn’t busy and has
no distractions and minimal noise works best. Put
parents at ease in a casual setting like a coffee shop
or choose an empty classroom after hours. Try using
a headset to cut out any background sound and to
ensure clarity.
Bring In The Student
Encourage parents to include the student for part of
the online meeting
. With video conferencing, it’s
hassle-free for more than one person to come into the
screen and it creates a safe distance between the
sender and receiver to discuss important matters. By
bringing in the student, they are included in the
process, whether it’s problem-solving or praise giving
and will help sharpen their self-evaluation and oral
communication skills.
Provide Student Self Evaluations
Leading up to the video conference, provide students
with a questionnaire that asks about their learning
experience. This step encourages self-reflection and
awareness. What’s more, it’s an opportunity for
parents and teachers to join forces and determine the
student’s goals for the rest of the year based on how
they’re thinking and feeling about their progress.
Be Positive In Your Approach To Communicating
Negativity
When providing sensitive feedback, consider how
language plays an important role in relaying a
message. Choose specificity instead of
generalization, and positivity instead of negativity. For
example, rather than “failing,” reposition it as “an
opportunity to grow.” Instead of “obnoxiously smart
and disrupting the class,” suggest, “very gifted and
will get more out of an accelerated program.”
Personalize The Conference
To make the parent-teacher meeting a little more
integrated, show off the student’s work. Discuss their
latest project by physically holding it or include that
and more in a mini slideshow. Parents can’t always
be on top of what their kids are doing, but via video
conferencing, it’s easy to showcase their work digitally
or share the files after. Plus, this really loops in
parents to see how much teachers care about the
growth of their students.
Include Facts
While opinions and trouble-shooting are fine, actual
facts and observations supported with examples work
harder to drive home a point. Parents will be more
willing to comply with specific instances instead of
beliefs or judgments. Nuances, body language,
meaning, and sincerity come through exceptionally
well-using video conferencing, so your message will
come through loud and clear.
Set Up A Follow Up
The nature of video conferencing is simple and easy.
It’s the perfect platform for busy parents and teachers
to organize a follow-up or check-in without eating up
too much time. Emails and phone calls are suitable,
but if the matter is a little more pressing like bullying
or a sudden change in behavior, a quick video chat is
an appropriate avenue to touch base.
Let Callbridge strengthen the communication between
teachers and parents. Its easy-to-use intuitive, two-
way communication platform provides convenient
access that’s reliable and effective. When crystal
clear communication is required, Callbridge’s high
definition audio and visual capabilities, plus screen
sharing and document sharing features enrich the
meeting to provide a safe and inviting space to open
discussions.
Ever feel like you’re having too many meetings?
Or like the meetings you are having are a waste of time
and unproductive?
The modern workplace is built on open, fast, and fluid
communication, with meetings often at the center of
everything; they convey status, allow your voice to be
heard, update key leaders & decision makers, and aide in
collaboration and decision making.
In an ideal world, meetings should move the work you’re
doing forward by facilitating communication between
teams and individuals and their managers. However, they
often just end up feeling like a waste of time.
According to a study by Opinion Matters for the Centre of
Economics and Business Research, the average office
worker spends four hours per week in meetings (10% of
their time) – and they consider most of that time wasted.
This means that if you’re trying to get more from your
meetings, simply having more or longer meetings isn’t the
answer.
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