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Unit 8. Remote communication: content, target, length. In this unit, we will focus on videoconferences, characterized by remote communication and virtuality of relationships. In this unit, we will provide you with some useful tips to better organize your video calls. In particular, we will pay attention to the contents, the target and the length of videoconferences. Thanks to this unit you will learn how to better organize the content helping yourself with an outline. You will also learn that it is the target to be the main recipient of your discussion and is on it that you have to concentrate your efforts. Finally, we will discuss the length of video conferences: there is no ideal timeline, but we will consider the pros and cons of long and short videoconferences. Let’s get going. Online conferences are now becoming increasingly frequent and with them the doubts and perplexities that come along with them. Video fright is the first one. Participants say they feel observed by colleagues, creating discomfort. Many are scared by this new format, videoconferencing or video camera, which actually enriches our possibility of establishing relationships with colleagues. We are still only at the beginning, we need to get used to overcoming our fears. It is possible to do so focusing first about the importance of voice and emotions that voice conveys. Through some breathing exercises, we will soon be able to control our verbal and para-verbal communication, overcoming some of our main fears. Through some postural exercises, instead, we will also overcome another important problem arising from the spread of smart working. Working from home, we tend to pay little attention to the body, adopting incorrect postures, very bad for our backs. Thanks to just a few tricks, however, it is possible to take care of our body, which has not disappeared at all despite the distance. It is therefore possible to adapt to this new situation that has emerged from the spread of video conferences and smart working. These new modes of teleworking, digital and virtual, are for us a great opportunity: they allow us to stay in touch with faraway lands and people, to participate in videoconferences and interviews without moving from our armchair. In short, these are fundamental tools for our globalized world and will become ever more so. With regard to online conferences, we must not think of them as something different from a face-to-face conference. Like any other situation in which Public Speaking skills are requested, even videoconferences, despite being highly virtualized and digitized, call for adequate preparation. In this unit, we will present three very important points that a good speaker must always keep in mind for a talk before a successful audience. In particular, keep in mind the outline, the target and finally the length of the speech. Let’s get going with the contents. The first thing to remember, as already mentioned, is the fact that a video conference is no less important or more informal than a conference that we consider normal, or the one that takes place through physical presence. Participants will therefore have to keep this fundamental fact in mind, choosing adequate clothing and a quiet environment. It is advisable to get organized in time, prepare content outlines, and rehearsing the speech, if you believe you need it. The preparation by means of the outline simply means a detailed organization of the speech, taking into account the times and intervals, but also of the subjects that must be treated. The outline will let you view the topics, divide them, analyse them and above all will allow you to focus on all the important points of the speech, without leaving out any. It is a common, simple and effective planning technique: if you are not used to following it, you will soon find out the potential. Why is it important to prepare an outline in advance when we deal with video conferences? Because as previously mentioned, videoconferencing can induce many to feel uncomfortable, without a real and motivated reason, and consequently can create confusion. The outline is instead a valid aid: it is schematic, so it allows you to have a look of a whole, and at the same time, allows you to better organize the time you have available and prepare yourself adequately. Instead of improvising, you will then arrive prepared, and you will look and be much more confident. However, remember that the outline that you will create should not be too rigid: it must be a tool, not an obstacle. It is therefore advisable to create a flexible outline, which allows you to detour from the preset speech in the event of complications. The flexible outline, in fact, allows you to adapt the speech to the situation, to the questions that emerge and to everything unexpected that can happen before and during your speech, without however neglecting anything important. A tip is therefore to create an outline adaptable to various situations already taken into consideration, as if there were plans "A", "B" and "C". Preparing in advance for such contingencies, again, you will feel confident, prepared, motivated and authoritative. How to do it then? How to make it flexible? An advice consists in identifying some key words and stitch your programme around them. After identifying the keywords, for example, you could exercise in summarizing the speech in a few characters, taking note of all the essential points, identified by means of keywords or bullet points. This will therefore allow you to have the whole speech in mind, but it is still not a real outline. To make a complete summary and flexible outline, it is first necessary to keep in mind that it is a method. To organize the speech, therefore, divide it into essential points. For example, ask yourself questions to which, during your presentation, you will worry about the answer! An example of a general outline is as follows: divide your speech or program in four essential points, asking questions like: why, what, how, what next. This method is very useful because it provides you the summary of almost all conferences and meetings. We then proceed to answer the first question: why? The answer lies in your listeners, the reasons for the conference and, possibly, the reasons why the conference takes place in virtual mode. It is an opportunity for you to catalyse the attention of your listeners: prepare the answer in advance, provide good motivations and make the speech interesting. Always remember to exercise your voice, thanks to the support of some simple breathing techniques, using it to the best of your potential. Once the presentations have been completed, let's move on to the second question: what?