roelverbelen / webinars

Code and slides for RStudio webinars

RStudio Webinars

This repository contains materials that have been used in RStudio webinars.

You can either clone this repository with git, or download the entire content as a zip file by clicking on the "Download ZIP" button on the right.

RStudio Process

1. We start the webinars approximately 20 minutes prior to the launch for the public in case there are questions or concerns.
2. All webinars are recorded and shortened to show only the content and questions.
3. All recordings are posted on RStudio.com within 48 hours.
4. A host will introduce the speaker and the topic and then hand control to the main presenter.
5. The presenter will then share their screen and the host will confirm that they can see it.
6. Once the presentation is complete the presenter will open the questions panel and review the red flagged questions. Questions are flagged by others from the company when they think it would benefit the entire audience to hear.
7. Once questions are complete the host will take back control and close out the webinar.

Webinar Guide

So you want to make a great webinar? Use this helpful checklist.

Title Card

Make your first slide a title card that contains:

1. the webinar title
2. a subtitle (optional)
3. your name
4. the date
5. links to any resources
6. a copyright (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

This will let the viewer know they are in the right place, and will help us edit the webinar for Youtube, etc.

Resources and Links

Make the resources that you use in the webinar available online, preferrably here at https://github.com/rstudio/webinars.

Please use the same naming convention for you files.

Use a Rebrandly rstd.io URL shortener to create your links. This has two benefits:

1. You can update the location of the resources at a later time, without needing to update the link in the video (videos are hard to edit).
2. RStudio can track the download statistics for the link.

Do not use bit.ly or tinyurl, as they do not have these features.

Sections

To make your webinar easier to follow (and to reuse as short videos), divide the webinar into clearly marked sections. For each section:

• Focus the section on a specific topic
• Begin the section with its own title card that states the topic
• Pause speaking briefly on the section-title card when presenting the webinar. This will give viewers a chance to read the topic and mentally transition from the previous topic. It also makes it easy for us to provide links to the beginning of each section, and to divide the webinar into short videos at the section dividers.

Longevity

More people will view your webinar after you present it than will view it live. To make your webinar useful to these latecomers, mention (at some point):

• when the webinar was recorded
• how the content and best practices in the webinar may change in the next few years.
• where users can find updates related to the software covered (should they occur)

This will ensure that your content will stay useful for as long as possible.

Clarity

To make your webinar easy to understand, consider these tips:

1. Provide an outline at the start of the webinar that explains what you will cover and in which order (this is particularly useful for people who view the webinar later as they may wish to jump around)
2. Divide your webinar into cohesive sections
3. Summarize the main points of each section at the end of the section
4. Summarize the main points of the webinar at the end of the webinar
5. Webinars are a visual medium if you can clarify a concept with a diagram or animation, do so.
6. As you prepare your slides, keep in mind that the viewer may watch your presentation on their phone, so please make the most important text big enough to see on small screens.

Wrapping Up

At the end of your portion of the webinar, please conclude and thank the viewers for joining you. After you’ve finished that sentence, then hand the webinar back to the moderator for their conclusion. This will give us a good edit point to end the video (we cut it after you say the thank yous, but before the moderator comes back on.)