Face to Face versus an Online Environment

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Face to face presentation
Podcast
How to improve the podcast
Email
References

Introduction

Communication has been defined as the exchange of information between two or more persons or between one or more groups. For the communication process to be said to be complete, there are some elements that must be present which include the sender of the information, the message, channel of communication, the receiver and the feedback from the receiver. The manner in which information is presented is highly dependent on the medium as well as the channel of communication. This discussion seeks to study the difference between presenting information face to face versus an online environment.

Face to face presentation

When presenting information on a face to face basis, it means that the audience that you are addressing is present at the forum. Therefore one has to maintain facial contact with the audiences by looking at them and addressing them directly. Another way that presenters of face to face information recognize their audiences is by the use of gestures which have different meanings and which are well understood by the audience.

Another method that presenters use in face to face forum is by engaging the audience either by asking them some questions which they answer or by requiring them to respond in a particular way (Rees, 1996. P.17). It is obvious that if this information was to be presented online, the presented would have to adjust a little, Firstly, engaging the audience will not be possible as the audience is not present when the information is being presented. This means that the presenter may have to look for other ways to ensure that the crowd is engaged without requiring them to make responses.

The other aspect is that when making a face to face presentation and requires using material to do so, you can distribute the material to the audience. This is not the case with online presentation where you may have to scan the material and post it online for the audience to access. This is actually one of the challenges that online presentation poses.

When making a presentation whether face to face or online, it becomes important to establish a relationship between your audience and yourself known as a rapport (Begley, 2004. p.12). A rapport ensures that there is easiness between the audience and yourself as you relate. This makes your presentation easier as it helps you present the information as though you were presenting it to your peers. It is always easier to create a rapport in an oral or face to face presentation than it is to create it in an online presentation. The reason is that in the former case, the audience is well known and perceived and thus the presenter can know which tact is to use to create the rapport. In online presentation, a presenter cannot quite define his audiences and therefore cannot easily create a rapport with the audience. A lack of rapport with the audience may contribute to the audience not getting the message as well as the presenter may have intended.

Podcast

Communicating online has become common especially in the wake of technological advancement. People are finding it easier to communicate over the internet perhaps due to the speed and immediacy of this mode of communication. One way of communicating online is through the use of a podcast. A podcast is an audio that one gets to download and listen. As a mode of communication a podcast has its fair share of advantage and challenges as well. It may be fast and one can communicate to a great number of people at the same time but the challenge is that there is an element of impersonality. Since the presenter does not have a defined audience as he presents his information, he may tend to be impersonal. Another challenge is that he is very limited in his ways of communicating in that he can neither use gestures nor he can he engage the audience. There are various ways of ensuring that presenter does not lose the crowd,. However, this form of communication is very limiting and one may just have to hope that he does not lose his clients in the course of his presentation.

How to improve the podcast

Paying attention to the podcast used, there are number of issues that are numbers of ways in which the podcast can be improved. To begin with, it is important to ensure that the podcast is clear. When the podcast is not clear, crucial details contained in the message that is being presented are likely to be lost.

Another way of improving the podcast is ensuring that it is consistent (Cochrane, 2005, p.46). Consistency means that avoid leaving large intervals of silence so that your audience is not sure whether you have finished or not. Equally, do not speak too fast that the audience can hardly get what you are saying. Speaking moderately when you are making presentations using a podcast is the surest way to ensure that your audience get the information that you are communicating to them.

When using podcasts, it is also important to try as much as possible to avoid referring to other materials, having put into consideration the fact that your audience are not able to access the material (Christensen, 2008, p.67). If possible, consolidate all your materials in your presentation so that it will not be necessary for the audience to keep making references.

Email

Dear Sir,

In relation to the above podcast, here are some of the issues that I noted which I think ought to be done to enhance the podcast. Firstly, the podcast is not very clear. There are some details which I believe are crucial but which one cannot make out clearly. This may be because of the quality of the podcast which may nee to be improved. The other aspect is the length of the podcast. The podcast is somewhat too lengthy and may need to be cut short. The idea behind having a short podcast is to ensure that the audience does not get bored when listening to the podcast and end up not finishing. Unlike an oral presentation where the audience is engaged either actively or passively or a video where the audience gets engaged by being various images, a podcast is purely audio and therefore could be rather boring if it was made too long. The aspect of speed is also an issue in that the presenter is a bit too fast and therefore the audience gets to miss on some of the details. It would therefore be prudent to have the speaker slow done his pace to ensure that every detail is captured. It is however an excellent podcast if those issues are addressed.

TO: George Kimball <[email protected]>

CC:

SUBJECT: My trip back East

Dear George:

I went back to New York for a presentation on the 15th of this month and I found it very informative. The sponsor of my visit was Vern Grouper. Vern is the Manager of IS at the headquarters; that is, their centralized information systems operation.

They have got quite a bit of power out there, they do encourage us to utilize their capabilities, services, and experiences to whatever extent will be beneficial to us. However, my observation is that although they have a tremendous amount of computing capability, that capability is directed towards a business dimension very different from ours and unlike anything we have.

However, there are certain services that might be performed on our behalf by the headquarters. For example, we could utilize people such as Vern to come and address our IS advisory group since I am planning to be convening group meetings on a monthly basis.

By the way, I need to talk to you about the IS advisory group when you get a chance. I have one or two thoughts about some new approaches we can take with it which I would like to be run by you if you do not mind. It is not too complicated just some simple ideas.

References

Begley, K. (2004). Face to face communication. Making human connections in technology-driven world. London: Thomson/Course Technology.

Christensen, M. (2008). Online Communication. New York: VDM Verlag.

Cochrane, T. (2005). Podcasting: the do it yourself guide. New York: Wiley

Rees, J. (1996). Effective communication face to face. New York: Select Knowledge Limited

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