Why you should never give up on a CPD.
Post-lockdown, we’d all got quite used to the new way of doing CPDs with at least half of all CPDs being virtual.
Those of us presenting CPDs noticed something else, it quickly became acceptable for attendees to keep their camera off during your presentation.
I tried, more times than I could count, to ask people to keep their cameras on. I even told them I didn’t mind if they were eating their lunch, petting their cat or messaging their mum, just please keep your camera on. No joy.
And so day after day, I would present the same CPDs to black screens. The only person I could see? Myself.
There was one worse than no cameras though, it was no cameras, no welcome, no questions, no thanks. It was the ultimate rudeness; I would arrive before time, present enthusiastically and passionately, only to see or hear from no one and watch them all leave without a word as I finished.
I grew to hate these CPDs, I would come back into the office feeling down and angry at the people who wouldn’t give me the simple respect of a thanks, let alone showing their face during my passionate presentation.
I’d just had another of these CPDs, I remember the practice clearly. Not a single face, not a word from the attendees. I had wanted to just leave the session but I gritted my teeth and presented anyway.
I walked back to my desk feeling sad and angry, only to find an enquiry in my inbox. It was from Patrick, one of the people on the CPD. It was for an imminent project, my presentation had resonated and he needed our help.
Whilst it didn’t change how I felt about good manners, it was a lesson to me to judge a CPD on its results, not how you felt about it.
Now, let me share with you a trick of how my colleague and I overcame the boredom of presenting to a black screen. We would have the little box with our video in it positioned just underneath the camera and would try to out-perform and out-enthuse ourselves each and every time we delivered. It went from being a chore to a challenge and helped us through the most boring of blank CPDs.
