{"id":5942,"date":"2020-10-30T13:56:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T17:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdctraining.com\/?p=5942"},"modified":"2020-10-30T13:56:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T17:56:26","slug":"how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Make the Most of your Online Interactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lidia Volpe,\u00a0 McLuhan & Davies Communications, Inc.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

These days most of our interactions, especially professional ones, are happening online.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all been on endless online meetings with colleagues and clients since the world has been feeling the impact of this global pandemic. So, you are doing it, but are you doing it well?<\/p>\n

We, at MDC, are in the unique position of working for a communications training company. What that means is that we\u2019ve been able to witness \u2018greatness in action\u2019 through our facilitators. Through countless training sessions we have seen what works to engage your audience.<\/p>\n

Here are 5 tips to make the most of your online connections.<\/p>\n

Turn your camera on<\/strong><\/span>
\nThis invites your audience to do so too. If someone\u2019s camera is on, they are more likely to be focused on the present conversation\/meeting than to multi-task. To be able to see someone\u2019s facial expressions when you are speaking to them is priceless \u2013 it is instant feedback.<\/p>\n

Look at the camera, not yourself!<\/strong><\/span>
\nTo connect with your audience, look straight at your camera. You may be tempted to look at all the video boxes on your screen, or yourself (it\u2019s tough not to). Try and resist this temptation by placing a sticky note over your own video if you can\u2019t hide your own image on screen. This makes a big difference as to how you come across. You will be more authentic and engaging when you look straight out at your audience.<\/p>\n

Smile<\/strong><\/span>
\nSuch a simple thing. Just do it! Sometimes you may be worried or nervous and so a smile may not come naturally. Did you know that your brain doesn\u2019t know the difference between a fake smile and a real one? This means that if you just smile, quickly your brain registers this and thinks \u2018happy\u2019, \u2018calm\u2019 \u2013 and suddenly your smile becomes genuine. When you smile, it will put you in a better mood. It is contagious, and others will feel the positivity as well.<\/p>\n

Talk to, not at<\/strong><\/span>
\nThink about your audience. Who are you going to be speaking to? Take a moment to think about why they would care about what you have to say. Use WIIFT (What\u2019s in it for them) to shape your message.<\/p>\n

Connect<\/strong><\/span>
\nStart off by connecting. Just because you are meeting online, don\u2019t lose this opportunity to build rapport and make connection. Instead of diving right in once your audience or team members are all present, take a moment to check in. \u201cHow are you?\u201d or share a quick story. If you go the story route, keep it SHORT and relevant.<\/p>\n

Connecting online isn\u2019t a choice, it\u2019s a necessity. We need to connect with people online so why not make the most of it.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

McLuhan & Davies Communications Inc. specializes in Business Communication Skills Training. For over 35 years, we have helped thousands of professionals transform how they think, write, speak and \u2013 lead.\u00a0 As a leader in the Learning & Development industry we provide workshops, webinars and consulting services to transform individual skills and organizations\u2019 learning solutions. Contact us to learn more!\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These days most of our interactions, especially professional ones, are happening online…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nMake the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These days most of our interactions, especially professional ones, are happening online...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MDC Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sitemanager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sitemanager\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/\",\"name\":\"Make the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/879a9cfa83b40c7f0b0cac22de24f49c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Make the Most of your Online Interactions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/\",\"name\":\"MDC Training\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/879a9cfa83b40c7f0b0cac22de24f49c\",\"name\":\"sitemanager\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3b8ac7e66dd2b46756c86784b1cde07b73386427427233bcac7e599014ef9c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3b8ac7e66dd2b46756c86784b1cde07b73386427427233bcac7e599014ef9c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"sitemanager\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/author\/sitemanager\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Make the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Make the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training","og_description":"These days most of our interactions, especially professional ones, are happening online...","og_url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/","og_site_name":"MDC Training","article_published_time":"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"sitemanager","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sitemanager","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/","url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/","name":"Make the Most of your Online Interactions - MDC Training","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-30T17:56:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/879a9cfa83b40c7f0b0cac22de24f49c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/zoom-_.jpg","width":640,"height":480},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-online-interactions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Make the Most of your Online Interactions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/","name":"MDC Training","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/879a9cfa83b40c7f0b0cac22de24f49c","name":"sitemanager","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3b8ac7e66dd2b46756c86784b1cde07b73386427427233bcac7e599014ef9c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3b8ac7e66dd2b46756c86784b1cde07b73386427427233bcac7e599014ef9c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"sitemanager"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca"],"url":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/author\/sitemanager\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c1mdevsite.com\/mdctraining.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}