Happy New Year.

In the past 12 months, running over 100 online mediation simulations with Skype for the ACR Hawaii pilot project Virtual Mediation Lab (with mediators from around the world) has taught us many lessons. One of them is that online mediators need to master the software/platform they use.

Why? Because most parties are already upset about their dispute and anxious to find out whether a mediator can indeed help them to resolve it. The last thing they need is having to deal with any technical problems. They expect their participation in an online mediation session to be easy. And therefore, they expect that, if there are any technical problems, their mediator knows exactly what to do about them.

For this reason, we thought that mediators who are interested in online mediation, but know nothing (or little) about its technology, would benefit by watching “Online Mediation via Skype Made Simple”, a new 75-min video tutorial which covers in-depth the following topics:

1) What determines the quality of a web-based video conference
2) Which software and hardware you need to run an online mediation via Skype
3) How to prevent technical problems
4) How to run an online mediation via Skype - from beginning to end. A 38-min video based on a divorce case shows you (a) how easy it is to set up and switch between joint and private sessions, and (b) to draft online with the parties their agenda for the next online mediation session.
5) The safest way to end an online mediation.
6) How to deal with the most common technical problems
7) Why, when and how to use “Screen Sharing”, a simple-to-use but powerful Skype feature that allows parties to share online virtually any kind of information (e.g. wp and pdf documents, pictures, Excel worksheets, videos, and so on) useful to present, clarify, and discuss their perspectives

“Online Mediation via Skype Made Simple - 75-min Video Tutorial for Mediators” is FREE for mediators who in the next 5 months will participate in min. 5 VML online mediation simulations via Skype. Or it can be purchased for only $15 (special rates are available for mediation centers and educational organizations with min. 10 mediators or students).

For more information click here - http://goo.gl/dnc0Y