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FALDP Webinars

Training Webinars

We offer monthly training webinars for FALDP members. These are via Zoom and last one hour. We host the webinars on Saturday morning at 11:00 on the last Saturday of each month. For those maintaining or seeking FALDP Certification these webinars are valued at one Continuing Education Unit (CEU) each. 

In the past we emailed out webinar notes and files to attendees after the webinar. Now we upload files, information, and hand-outs to the FALDP Private Facebook Group. 

The topics are subject to change, but we'll try to stay with these as closely as possible. We'll send out invitations via email in the week prior to the Webinar.

Teambuilding Webinars

We have changed the time and day for our After Hours Teambuilding Zooms. These will now be held the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm. These are no agenda, getting to know each better meetings. However, the Meeting Etiquette below still applies. 

Meeting Etiquette

The Golden Rule: Treat your online meeting like a regular business meeting. Arrange your day so that you can be present during the meeting. If it were not an online meeting, it would be in a meeting room with everyone there and participating. The fact that it is an online meeting does not make it okay to do the groceries while attending the meeting. Get comfortable in a chair at a desk. Have your coffee or water handy. Are you able to take notes? Use a device that makes it easy to see slides or other content. If you're not set up well, you could hold up the meeting by asking for data that is visible to all but you. A tablet or PC is usually good for viewing slides, but a smartphone isn't always.

1. Avoid Background Noise - In line with the Golden Rule, set up for the call in a suitable meeting-like environment. If a face to face meeting cannot happen there, don't do an online meeting there. It is good etiquette to mute yourself if there is background noise coming from your environment. But the mute button hampers the natural flow of communication. A speaker can feel alone when others are too silent.

2. Arrange a Good Internet Connection - Set up to avoid the "poor bandwidth" situation. If you are driving and are on your cellphone, your fellow meeting attendees will struggle to hear you . Why didn't you bother to arrange your day better? Had this been a regular meeting, would you be driving through a rain forest?

3. Familiarize yourself with the Zoom platform if you haven't used it before. Make sure that your camera and audio work with Zoom and the device you'll use. You can check your systems by running your own Zoom meeting and testing your audio and camera. On some devices you'll need to download the Zoom app to make it work properly. 

4. Speak - This actually falls within the realm of etiquette. It is easier for everyone to engage in a real-life meeting. We need to show more effort during online meetings. As a starting point, if your software and bandwidth permit, use video as requested. This is the closest approximation to a real-life meeting. Visual elements enhance communication. Attendees will see your agreement before they hear it. This speeds things up.

5. If your attire is not appropriate for camera, get changed. If a camera makes you uncomfortable, remember that people see you in real-life anyway.

6. Sometimes, bandwidth, software or even number of attendees make video impractical. In the absence of visual perception, the only evidence of your presence is your voice. For these meetings to work, you have to speak. Not speaking is like arriving at a regular meeting and hiding under the table. You are there but you don't want anyone to notice. Find appropriate ways to use your voice to keep the flow of communication alive. Give acknowledgments, ask questions and offer quick comments. Use your voice more than you would do in a regular meeting. This shows that you are attentive and it keeps everyone engaged.

7. Many people use text chat during online meetings. They seem more comfortable using this feature to speak. Alerts can become distracting, especially when people start asking questions by text. As much as you won't interrupt someone in real life, don't text chat while someone is speaking.

It is best to use the text feature at the speaker's instruction. For example, a speaker might ask a question or run a quick poll and ask for your responses by text chat. Otherwise use your voice to keep the flow as natural as possible.