What's a webinar??

The post-arrival orientation is really important.
The post-arrival orientation gives students useful information.
The post-arrival orientation is about meeting new people.
The post-arrival orientation is about learning.

I'm the Area Rep for two great students this year: Joji (George) from Japan and Tuukka from Finland. Both are honest, intelligent, gifted, and playful in their own ways. They are both (thank goodness!) adjusting very nicely into their new American life. Joji was a direct placement into a family he had heard of, but never met. His natural father and his host father went to business school together and remained friends. Tuukka and his host family had never met before he came to the US and it was a great match. His personality and his direct way of communicating is very much how the Hair family communicates.

Normally, I would have loved for both of them to take part in this orientation alongside other YFU students. Unfortunately, that couldn't happen.

What to do? Get creative.

My profession at the moment is as an IT Trainer for an educational non-profit called WestEd. A large amount of my time training is spent online, in a webinar. What's a webinar? Well, you can google it. Or I could say simply that it's an online meeting space where presenters can upload files (like PowerPoint presentations) and participants have options to raise hands, take polls, chat, etc. So, the communication can be two-way and it's that much easier to have a meeting.

For George and Tuukka, I'm going to present to them in webinar format.

I spent time taking the orientation materials and translating them into PowerPoint slides, next I'll upload the slides as an entire presentation file into the webinar meeting room. I've asked George and Tuukka to make sure their computers have the technological requirements to support viewing the webinar meeting room. And when the time comes, I'll meet them there and present the slides to them.

It sounds easy, but I'm glad the company that creates the webinar meeting room (with all its gadgetry) has an extensive FAQ page, an entire page full of support forums, and an easy way (videos!!) for me as the presenter to learn how to do what I need to do. Yep, even the trainers need training....