Monday, May 18, 2020

If the "Medium Is the Message," What Message Does a Videoconference Send? A Few Tips for Videoconference Speakers

Marshall McLuhan told us that the “medium is the message.” He talked about hot and cold media. He called radio a hot medium. Since the only channel is sound, radio presenters fill in the imagination and emotion by speaking energetically. My top role model would be the late, great conservative broadcaster Paul Harvey. Television, in contrast, is a cool medium. The viewer both sees and hears, so the speaker has less to fill in and tends to speak in a conversational, living-room style. Watch the CBS Evening News for good examples.

Videoconferencing is turning out to be a cool to lukewarm medium. Videoconference speakers, take note!

The Internet is most often a hot medium. Even though the computer user sees and hears, just like television, Internet video stresses short, intense clips. Successful YouTube personalities, like video gamer and actress Felicia Day or musician Sarah Jeffery, use fast, energetic delivery.

As I said, videoconferencing is working out to be, well, a lukewarm medium. Lukewarm isn’t bad; it just means that it’s in between, and successful delivery styles resemble television more than YouTube. A videoconference tends to be less formal than a live conference. (That doesn’t mean that you should cut loose and be too casual, especially if the boss is listening. Oops.)

Link: How Can You Look Good at a Videoconference?

A videoconference gives people a chance to interact without leaving their homes or offices. In some ways, a video conference participant might feel more relaxed than a live, in-person presenter. We don't need to get on a plane, check into the hotel, get our suits pressed, and run to get to the program that never seems to be scheduled in the room that you expect. At a video conference, we feel that we are talking at home, as if we were Skyping our family. At the same time, the video conference is an organizational effort. It is a more serious event than a private conversation. To be taken seriously, speakers need to sound as if they are taking the conference seriously.

Link: How Can You Sound Good at a Videoconference?


The Internet is still evolving and what works this year might change next year. But, for now, videoconference participants are wise to remember that the medium is the message. A videoconference is wonderful, but it’s not a live conference, and we don’t speak the same way.

Anyway, enjoy your conferences! In the Internet era, we don't have to meet in person to interact with each other. It's different, but still good.

No comments:

Post a Comment