It is showtime! Your big Zoom event is at hand. The presenters are lined up and the audience is ready. How do you keep your presenters to the script and schedule?
A Zoom Pow Wow to get out the vote with indigenous vote in Georgia's runoff election is a good case study in how to organize online events. The Pow Wow features Native American community leaders, a hip hop artist, expert chef and yoga teacher. This blog explains how the event was coordinated with the free BigStage on-screen Teleprompter.
Zoom pow wow to get out the indigenous vote in Georgia
Nearly 40,000 registered Native American voters in Georgia. Tribal leaders aim to get out the indigenous Native Americans to vote which could make a big difference in a close election divided state. Four Directions Vote, The Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe and Civic Georgia are streaming Native Artist Pow Wow on Sunday January 3rd at 5:00pm EST to get out the Indigenous Vote in Georgia.
The Zoom event hosted by Four Directions Vote Co-Executive Director OJ Semans and Principal Chief Marian McCormick of Georgia’s Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe will feature:
Supaman @supamanhiphop - Award-winning performance artist
Acosia Red Elk @powwowyoga_thepractice - Yoga teacher and Jingle Dancer
Chef Sean Sherman @siouxchef - Indigenous kitchen expert
Supaman is a Native American dancer and innovative hip-hop artist who has “dedicated his life to empowering and spreading a message of hope, pride and resilience through his original art form.” Supaman is a member of the Apsaalooke Nation and makes his home on the Crow reservation in Montana. Listen to Supaman’s acclaimed new hip-hop album here.
Acosia Red Elk is a member of the Umatilla Tribe and descendent from the Chief Joseph band of the Nez Perce. Acosia created powwow yoga to encourage people to practice yoga. The discipline blends the high energy, pounding feet moves and high kicks of jingle dancing with the fluidity of yoga. It delivers strength, cardio, stretching and meditation in one workout.
Chef Sean Sherman is the Founder of The Sioux Chef. He is Oglala Lakota and was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. To share this food with a broader audience, Chef Sherman recently published a cookbook, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,” with Beth Dooley. We’re trying to create a network of indigenous food systems that can slowly grow across the nation.
On-screen teleprompters
Teleprompters display the script of what is to be said by a presenter in the form of a scrolling display. They used to be big, expensive contraptions but now come as programs such as the free BigStage Teleprompter that runs on both laptops and phones. They allow presenters to maintain eye contact with their audience rather than having to look away from the screen to read the script. The event organizer provides the master script to all the presenters who paste it into the teleprompter. Presenters adjust the font size and the scroll rate to their preference. They can pause and restart the teleprompter to answer questions at any time.
Coordinating a ZOOM panel discussion or an event with multiple presenters is hard. When should a presenter speak? For how long? Who goes next? How can the presentation be resumed smoothly after a question has been answered? Presenters maybe in different locations and unreachable by phone or text as they are on camera. Four Directions used the free Big Stage Teleprompter to coordinate their Pow Wow so all the presenters were on the same script and knew the speaking sequence and time for each segment.
The example below has lyrics from Creedence Clearwater Revival with two performers each at a different location with their own teleprompter. The performers paste the script they are provided into the teleprompter and start the scrolling when the Zoom event begins. This allows them to stay in synch with other presenters and know when it is their turn to speak.
Script preparation tips
- Indicate the presenter for each segment to avoid any confusion on who says what
- Indicate the starting time and duration of each segment to accommodate an event starting late
- Use blank spaces in the script to allow for transitions
- Highlight words that should be emphasized
More tips on camera setting, lighting, audio settings and body language for online presentations.
Takeaway: Attend the Four Directions Digital Pow Wow. Use an onscreen teleprompter for your next online event.