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As business travel has come to a standstill since the spread of the Corona virus, many events such as conferences, workshops and meetings have been cancelled or postponed. But we also witness an enormous creativity in transferring these events online, using popular tools such as Teams, Hangout, WebEx, Zoom and Bluejeans, to name a few. Some of these attempts are highly successful and some fail miserably.
Here’s an example from Nomadic’s practice: a pharmaceutical company who had planned a classic conference on Friday and Saturday in a large hotel, with 500 participants, decided to go online. The new design stretches the programme from Tuesday till Saturday with the parallel workshops spread out and social online events in between. The advantage? Delegates can now attend more workshops of their choice instead of having to choose between 5 parallel sessions on just 2 days.
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What’s the key to success in transferring a F2F event to an online one? We have defined 10 design principles for virtual facilitation.
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Mind-set.
The most important one: work from the strengths of virtual communication, not its shortcomings. Start by seeing virtual facilitation not as second best, but as a powerful tool with its own strengths and advantages.
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5 -Minute Rule.
Attention span is much shorter in virtual space, so limit presentations and lectures to 4-5 minutes. Then engage the audience by making them active
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Energy breaks.
After 60 minutes, insert a 5 -minute break and ask the delegates to get up from their chair and move around. The engagement level will get a boost for the next hour of the session.
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Virtual closeness.
To create online sessions with impact, you need more than content. Building a human connection with and within your group is paramount if you want to go beyond simple information download
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Creative designs.
Surprise your audience, who are used to uninspiring webinars, with clever programme designs, using activities that easily mirror a face to face setting.
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Audio quality.
Set a high standard for audio quality and help your participants before the event to set up their audio connection and test it.
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Change gears.
For the sake of engagement, variety is important. Design longer sessions with a mix of activity in plenary, small group work in breakouts and individual activity, such as reading
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Technical producer.
Work as a delivery team with a dedicated producer, who takes care of all technical aspects such as login issues, audio quality and breakout rooms management, ensuring a smooth experience for participants. As a facilitator, you will be able to devote your full attention to the group instead of the technology.
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Concentration and Focus.
Start sessions with a focus activity that help participants to be fully present in the ‘here and now’.
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Turn the rules upside down.
Create an open atmosphere where people can engage in spontaneous conversation, have fun and create together. High impact online sessions offer a degree of looseness
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Leading a remote team during the Corona crisis - from the coaching corner
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A manager in a German IT firm whom I am coaching –let’s call him Albert- found himself managing fully remotely since the start of the Corona crisis. He shared with me, that to his surprise, his team is getting more done since they are all working from home. He was noticing that not only a lot of time was wasted on travel before, but also his team members seem to be able to concentrate unexpectedly well while working from home and online.
What’s new to Albert as leader of a remote team is to manage the wellbeing of his team members whilst not sitting together in the office. He finds himself discussing tangible aspects such as setting up an ergonomically fit workspace at home, but also more intangible aspect including taking frequent breaks, feelings of isolation and protecting the boundary between work and the private sphere.
More about this topic from Harvard Business Review here.
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WebEx, Zoom and other platforms in times of crisis
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In the first quarter of 2020, we saw many organizations adopting Zoom as their preferred platform for synchronous online sessions. In our view, this was due to their excellent marketing rather than necessarily having a better product than their main competitors. Since, Zoom has received negative press due to security issues and many are turning away from Zoom, in particular to MS Teams and WebEx.
Rush hour on the digital highway
Many platforms have experienced issues due to overload since the start of the crisis. Literally billions are adopting online platforms to connect both professionally, privately or for educational purposes. WebEx has published a few simple tips to avoid problems during ‘rush hour’: • Schedule your session to start at 20 or 40 minutes past the hour instead of 00 or 30 past the hour when most people start • If there are connectivity problems, disconnect the webcam feature. In this way, the available bandwidth will be used for audio and screen sharing.
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On the Nomadic calendar
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Due to high demand we are adding extra dates for our ‘Train the Online Trainer’ programme. Starting on 25 May we offer an accelerated, ICF certified programme, for those who are in a hurry to become a professional virtual facilitator.
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Sign up now!
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Free introduction to live online learning.
If you’re new to online training and would like to get a flavour of what high level engagement in the virtual classroom looks like, come join one of our monthly ‘Welcome to the virtual classroom’ sessions. These sessions are free!
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Click here for dates
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Free Innovation Space sessions
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Is it possible to facilitate Mindfulness in virtual space? Welcome to join our 90 minute interactive quarterly sessions, exploring the boundaries of live online learning. These sessions are for those who have (some) experience in the virtual classroom.
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The next one is on June 12 at 15.00 CET.
Practicing mindfulness virtually by Rita Wuebbeler
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Nomadic IBP team member profile
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David Fogelberg, Virtual classroom producer
David loves introducing people to the world of online working in his role of producer. He studied in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and is currently doing a Masters in Chinese- European Business & Economics in Berlin and Chengdu. Studying and working with people from all over the world has enabled him to develop his intercultural skills and master several languages including Mandarin. David also runs a small business trading china and porcelain from various countries.
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