Virtual Training Producer Stories… What to do with an obscene participant?

February 2023 (Carrollton, TX) – Recently Webvent had the pleasure of talking with international keynote speaker and peak performance consultant, Sardek Love. He shared a compelling story about how on one occasion, his day – and the day of participants in a virtual program, was saved by a producer. It was a rare situation, and it has only happened once to Sardek.

There was a participant who was becoming very disengaged, and it became clear that she didn’t want to be in this session to begin with. The producer already noticed that this participant was chatting with other participants and started sharing her negativity and toxicity with other participants – without Sardek knowing this was happening, because he was focused on facilitating.

Then during a break, the participant said: “I have question”, and then went completely obscene and aggressive, and started to share her frustration with the whole group. The producer quickly put her on mute and created a breakout room. Then invited the participant to this room, where Sardek and her talked one-on-one, away from other participants.

“That was phenomenal”, said Sardek when he shared his story. “In fact, the producer addressed the group when I was in the room with the obscene participant, and they never noticed this was going on. I will never do a virtual training or program without a producer”, he added.

Do you want to learn more about why producers are essential for virtual programs? See chapter 10 in Sardek’s new book, Presentation Essentials, which is about presenting online.

Do you want to outsource your virtual training production, or learn more how you can make your virtual training a success? Please contact us at webvent.com and we’ll share some of our success stories.