To deliver a great seminar session, its really important for presenters to connect with their audience. This is equally true with online seminars, or webinars. Being able to see and hear the audience provides visual clues that help the presenter pitch at the right level and guage how the presentation is being received. In this article, we'll show how a presenter can keep connected with an online group by using a second monitor...

• one screen to manage the webinar - to see everyone's faces and access the webinar tools,
• and the second screen to share content when screen-sharing to the group - perhaps showing slides, running a white-boarding session, etc

To set things up...

• Check that your computer has a spare HDMI socket (or similar). Modern laptops typically have a spare HDMI, although desktop computers may already be using the HDMI to connect the monitor. If you have a computer with no spare HDMI sockets, additional HDMI adapters can be purchased, including USB to HDMI output adapters.
• With a spare HDMI socket available, connect your second screen to the HDMI socket  with an HDMI cable
• Your computer may need to be configured to recognise the second screen and send additional screen data to it. To configure your computer to use a second screen...
• On windows,
• click the system messages icon
• click Project
• click Extend

Your computer should now start displaying a second desktop on your second screen.

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It might be worth setting up a trial webinar to familiarise yourself with the two screens, particularly how to arrange the conference video images on one, your shared content on the other, and then how to share the second sreen with the group.

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