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English for Running Webinars

 

 

Physical isolation has brought in not just webinars to the academia. It has once again emphasized the need for healthy communication skills. And not just that, it has brought in the need to have reasonable good informal conversational skills. Since English is not our native tongue, we have been fed with a curriculum heavy in formal English communication skills that our students are generally lacking in casual conversation and small talk skills. This is also because English language has been taught more and used less.

The infodemic let loose by the pandemic in the form of webinars has put one aspect of this on display. Since many of us were not into online teaching and webinars (in a big way) pre-pandemic, and since our digital information pathways are not capacious enough to bear the brunt of massive connectedness, there are many glitches while we attempt these exercises. An interesting one for me, perhaps because am also what they call a language guy, is the need for some pre and in webinar English language skills.

Since the speaker/s, organizer/s and listeners are spread in different locations, there is the need to make sure that all are virtually around for the event to start. Hence the need at the start of the webinar or web based event to check that all are present and connected. Simple queries like, 'Are you there Sir?', 'Are you online? Can you hear me?', Can you please check your connection?, Are you sure your microphone is turned on?', have become a key necessity. These pieces of conversation were not really needed for in-person seminars as all were there on stage and with audience right across. Even when we had problem with an LCD display or a PPT presentation, we chose to walk to the person managing the technical part. We wrapped the mouthpiece of the microphone and tried asides. We beckoned the student volunteer or managed with our kind of sign language, communicating with the operator placed across the stage or by the side. Or the tech guy will walk to the stage and we whisper to her. Webinar has taken this comfort off and made it necessary that we chat public. Often this necessity has begun to test the capacity of the members of the academic community to communicate these needs. Though the language needs here are simple, it does leave a lasting impression, if done right (or wrong!) No one is going to pull you off, if you err here, for sure. But many will know that and feel. The quality of those exchanges, or the lack of it, will remain alive for a while and can whisper into their minds that, it could have been different.  It can crop up in the middle of some conversation somewhere else, perhaps without dropping the names of the people or the context. (Some would pay attention to it and when it happens time and again, will take out their laptops and blog about it too!)

This is not restricted to the start of the event. Often our connectivity being what it is, we get cut off in the middle. The other day in the middle of an online presentation, I got a call from the other end asking me to check my connection. Then I realized that I have been addressing the screen of my computer for the last 7 minutes, that though I was connected, I wasn’t presenting! This has happened before too. (Of course, one way out of such embarrassment is to keep one more device connected, if one is looking for technical solution). My focus but is again on the language need that arises when the connection is broken or the video is off or when the presentation is not visible. The need for language related to the context becomes a part of the English language survival kit here! Of course, it is easy to sort the situation out using whatever English one possesses, as all will be looking to restore the connection and to keep the show going. But my point is some practicing of lines, some homework related to the queries, comments, suggestions and advice needed in such situations will be pretty useful. Pretty useful not just to simply troubleshoot, but to bring an element of professional ease and comfort that we get, not when we just do it, but do it clearly, correctly and  Impressively.

It is not a bad idea to pick functional English related to the said line of work- webinar organizing and anchoring, if the medium of the event is English of course! 









 

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