Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Key Points



Be apparent about the purpose of your meeting: connect, align, decide, ideate/brainstorm, plan, or produce. Discover more from Mamie Kanfer Stewart.

You need to be more apparent and intentional about timing, transitions, and facilitation in an online meeting than with an in-person one.

Use a service like BombBomb* for video messages that don’t require live interaction.

Unless background noise or size of the meeting prevents it, invite people to “unmute” so you can have richer dialogue without interruption.

Alert people if they have audio issues. Get headsets for your team, if possible. We use and recommend the Jabra Evolve line* of USB headsets.

Number one rule for lighting: position light in front of you and not behind you. If the front light can be natural (i.e. facing a window) even better.



Resources Mentioned



BombBomb* (free 14-day trial)

How to Combat Zoom Fatigue by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy

COVID-19 and Videoclassism by Taharee Jackson



Related Episodes



How to Lead Meetings That Get Results, with Mamie Kanfer Stewart (episode 358)

Seven Tools to Create Margin and a New Podcast (episode 411)

The Power of Why Over How, with Gina Bianchini (episode 460)

Connecting Over Video (The Look & Sound of Leadership)



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