My title: That’s what I’m saying as a teacher (University of the Philippines '65, PH Civil Service, Professional Level, year beforegraduation), and as a self-taught digital person: Author’s Editor, Blogger, Digital Publisher, and Technical Editor in Agriculture and Forestry publications & books, plural.
Main image: One of my early-morning photographs of ricefields in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, taken early morning during the opening day of the 8th National Rice Forum held 30 March 2019 and sponsored by the Department of Agriculture (DA): Senior DA Technical Adviser SRO had told me about it. The message of the composite image: “The shadows undermine our geniuses as we are overjoyed by our conduct of webinars” (inset image of a webinar[1] from Better Meetings). As of today, our webinars are in fact worse than our seminars because they overwhelm everyone!
Compared to 2019, if you browse Facebooktoday, you will not miss webinars, or seminars either having been, being, or to be conducted over the Web (Internet). Now, what I can say is that whether in my country the Philippines, or in India or the United States:
All those webinars are not maximizing the powers (plural) of the Internet: aural and textual and visual and mixed – and are ignoring the virtual (pun intended) ease of drama.Not to mention repetition.
I go back to Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan and what he minded in 1964 (in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions Of Man) – “The medium is the message.” If I understand him right, he meant you must use the medium, in its most attractive form, to convey your message.
And what are the presentors in today’s webinars doing with their medium, messages and materials?
If the medium is the message, then a webinar presentation is more than a paper with very readable texts, plenty of data-filled tables, and very pleasing images – it is a single idea that plays on the mind over and over again. Even after the webinar is over.
Ha, ha.
Having come out with that insight, I now revise McLuhan: “The Message is The Message.” Forget the medium! I mean, beginning with a Main Message, the webinar speaker should build up the presentation to expound on that main message – repeating without repeating – the same message but varying in shape, size and signs! The mixed powers of the Internet.
What is happening in webinars today is what has been happening in seminars – the papers presented are manuscripts designed to be published in journals, not to be presented as memorable visual cum textual contents.
We have forgotten that a presentation must be memorable; otherwise, it is forgettable, even if astounding in impact and details – it’s the Message, not the Medium!
So, I am revising Marshall McLuhan: “The message is the message.” If you don’t have a clear, coherent, concrete & concise message, you are wasting everyone’s time.
Whether you have only 5 minutes or 50 minutes for your presentation, your audience will forget your mix of text, audio & video – but not your message: If you got it right!@517
No comments:
Post a Comment