Strengthening Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Virtual Space

Audience Level: 
All
Session Time Slot(s): 
Institutional Level: 
Higher Ed
Streamed: 
Streamed
Best in:: 
Best in Track
Special Session: 
Blended
Research
Diversity & Inclusion
Abstract: 

The movement to the online educational space has been challenging for many of us. During this virtual event, attendees will be guided through specific communication techniques and skill sets that ensure you are presenting yourself in an effective way virtually, and getting the most out of future online events.

Extended Abstract: 

“Strengthening Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Virtual Space” 

Whether you’re a teacher, professor, speaker, or attendee, the movement to the online space has been challenging for many of us. No small part of that is the loss of most non-verbal communication cues. During this virtual event, attendees will be guided through specific communication techniques and skill sets that ensure they are not only presenting themselves in an effective way virtually, but that they know how to get the most out of future online lectures, classes, or presentations.

Non-verbal communication makes up 70% of how we understand one another. It’s important to not only acknowledge how to best compensate for that loss in our online communication, but to also know the toll that energy can take and how to manage boundaries around our virtual time to allow for rest and prep. Attendees will leave this session with strategies for maximizing their time, virtual communication skills, and the effort involved in maintaining efficacy in this new and continuously developing landscape. 

During this three-part talk, attendees will accomplish three primary goals:

1) Develop an assured understanding of the difference in verbal and non-verbal communication sets, and correlating cues. Importantly, they will learn the overwhelmingly disproportionate role of non-verbal communication in our understanding of one another.

2) With this foundation set, we will move forward to clarifying what happens when these non-verbal cues are not available us in the virtual space – and the effect on our bodies (fatigue!). Do we have any left? Yes! But they are few and far between. We will discuss how to maximize their effectiveness to our advantage.

3) Finally, we will discuss targeted strategies for Listeners, Speakers, and General Users, as we continue to move forward in this primarily digital learning environment for the time being. These tips also serve those taking primarily online courses in general as well, no matter what age or subject.

Special Notes:

• Resources for research referenced as well as Closed Caption resources will be available in the slides, a copy of which will be available to all attendees for future uses.

• The presentation itself has engaging and active slides, as well as several specific moments dedicated for thoughtful, open discussions and trouble-shooting strategy sessions. Every one of us has experienced this level of online exhaustion, and discussion sessions are designed to allow our mutual experiences and questions to help one another.

 

Conference Session: 
Concurrent Session 1
Conference Track: 
Process, Problems, and Practices
Session Type: 
Education Session
Intended Audience: 
All Attendees