The other day we did a BEtreat workshop, originally scheduled to be face-to-face, online and over three days. It was with clients who were preparing to launch an online community of practice.

The workshop generated some of the same feelings of camaraderie and joint enterprise that we get in our face-to-face workshops. The person who organized it had been at a face-to-face BEtreat the previous year, loved it, and was surprised to experience how well they compared.

The overwhelming feeling was how different it felt to a “normal” training or community meeting, where often they felt quite passive. And how bonded participants became and the inspiration and confidence they felt they were taking with them.

The tools we used were Zoom, Mural.co, Google drive, and Google photos. Why do we like these tools and what were the practices that “worked”?

Why we like Zoom

Two things about Zoom that make it the best for us: 

• One is the toggle between Speaker and Gallery view. And that your own picture appears the same size and with the others in Gallery View. 
• The other is the breakout rooms and how easy it is to set up and run with them. It’s also quite wonderful the way you can bring everyone back together at the touch of a button! Zoom sends a 60 second warning (you can adjust this).

Why we like Mural

Mural has lots of features (so many that it can look a bit daunting when you first use it). But these are the ones we appreciated most in our workshop:

• You can put LOTS on a mural (we put the agenda and activities all up in different areas on one mural). A mural size is possibly infinite and you zoom in and out of the areas you want to work on up close.
• You can divide your mural into areas (and areas within areas). 
• You can link directly to these areas (and if you click on the link, that area of the mural fits your screen). This was useful for lots of reasons. For example, in a breakout room conversation on Zoom, the group can click directly onto a link that would take them to the area where they were going to take notes or work on something together. There is no faffing about “Where do we have to go now?”
• There are two ways to navigate around a mural. One is with a small zoom in the bottom right of your screen where you can easily zoom in and out. The other is by using Outline mode (see right on the image above), which gives you the equivalent of a table of contents taking you to any object on the mural you have added to the Outline  
• You can export the whole mural, or one area of a mural to a PDF (or image file).
• It has hundreds (millions?) of icons
• You can use voting on a mural… just like putting sticky dots onto a flip chart paper.
• Mural works great on an iPad.

Why we like Google docs (or Google drive)

We mostly like the combination of google docs and the other tools. 

• We put the agenda in google docs with links to specific parts of the mural (or other places) we are going to work on. The agenda is like “home base”.
• We love (and I mean love) the way that everyone can reflect into the same google doc and see what others are writing at the same time. 
• The google folder with all the documents in it becomes a shared memory of the event created in real time.

Some practices that worked great

• We had a sketch to show what tools we were using and for what purpose. The sketch linked the tools with a physical map that already existed in people’s imagination.
• We took mini-breaks every hour or so to stretch or look out the window.
• We had a shared photo album (google photos) where each day people shared and talked about pics they had put up. We did this in Zoom during the half hour or so before the official start time. 
• We paused at regular intervals to invite people to put their reflections, insights, and ongoing questions into a shared google document. One person’s reflection can trigger another person’s aha. And what people write becomes part of a shared narrative about their learning.

Some final thoughts

Most surprising to us was how fast three hours went by. It occurred to us that a full day online might be less tiring than a full day face-to-face (when everyone is online). Three days seemed about the right length of time.

We also reflected that we should only do online workshops for people who are going to be working with online communities. It is completely different to “do” community online than to talk about how to do it while you are in a face-to-face setting (duh!) It was immensely satisfying to see how people could really feel the difference between developing a social learning space online and some of the more transmission mode activities that had become accustomed to doing in an online community meeting. 

It’s easy to think of participation in virtual meetings or events as second cousins.

And often it is. Sound quality is poor and made worse by people not muting their mics. There are no informal spaces for serendipitous conversations. And worst of all – people transport poor meeting or event practices into an online space where they are amplified by unfamiliarity with the technology.

I would like to share when I like online participation.

Note that online participation can be synchronous (all in same time e.g. conference call) or asychronous (at different times e.g. a discussion group). For the most part, it is a mix of both.

Feeling connected with people I might otherwise not meet

• This happens in meetings where there are small group conversations – for example in breakout rooms, discussion forums, on Twitter…
• It takes place at events where there are spaces to find out more about other people beyond their work personna and discovering I have something in common with them e.g. online café, informal introductions e.g. in a google doc
• It’s more likely to happen with an agenda/program where a small group of us are solving a problem or preparing for an initiative together
• I feel it most when there is a place where there is cheeky banter and we can be playful

Learning from reflection and feedback

• I learn so much when there are regular moments and spaces for everyone to take notes in a shared document (e.g. google docs). There is time in the agenda to write down our key insights and ongoing questions from the previous session/conversation and read and comment on what others have said.
• I love asynchronous conversation more generally. I’m more of a ponderous person who finds quick quips and clever replies only after everyone has generally gone home (!) so having time to interact someone’s words in my own time helps me express myself better
• It’s easy to take the temperature in or at the end of an online meeting, through a chat channel, a tool (e.g. mentimeter). That’s great for making iterative adjustments to group dynamics, agenda design, and for future events.

A shared memory on the go

• It’s great having a record of the meeting/event: a recording of the whole thing or parts of it; the conversations, reflections, questions, and insights; analytics data of who was there, their device, and other info that helps you plan for the next meeting.

Distributed leadership

• There is a lot to do in an online event and it’s an opportunity to share out the leadership – taking care of the tech, looking out for people wanding into the wrong space, gathering the different issues and ideas into one shared space, reaching out to people who can’t get in. It’s really an opportunity to reach out and build a sense of community.

Am I the only one who enjoys these things? What else do people like, appreciate or even love about virtual meetings and events?

A range of feelings as we finish two BEtreat workshops for social learning leaders at our house in California: excitement at the potential, sadness at seeing old and new friends leave, and relief that we can now put our feet up.

There is always a moment when face-to-face folk wave good-bye to those participating online. The feeling on both sides is one of friends parting. What is it that gets us to that moment?

We’ve written before about our experience of blending online and face-to-face (here and here) but I thought I’d revisit the topic with our ongoing learning about what works for us – and what we could do better.

(Main photo is a screenshot from an online participant)

The tech set-up

Wiki
As usual, we have a wiki for our online home. It’s the first meeting place for online and face-to-face folk.  We share the program and resources and each participant has their own page for reflections and for sharing the project they are working on. We start using the wiki before people arrive – for personal introductions, signing up to a leadership group, and sharing travel logistics.  Everyone is invited to connect on Skype and have each other’s contact information before the workshop begins. This makes it quicker to connect in small groups during different activities.

Devices
There were a number of innovations this year. We got rid of the big screen where we used Adobe Connect to project slides along with the online participants. A screen sends the energy to the wall rather than keeping it in the group space. This year slides were on the wiki, which people accessed on their own device. It’s easier these days because a) “everyone” has a device and b) devices and portable computers take up considerably less space than they used to, so the table doesn’t feel crammed.  Our concern that people would then have their nose in their device rather than with the group did not happen. People are so used to having their own device at meetings that it felt very natural and did not detract from conversations.

Skype
We used to use Adobe Connect for visuals and Skype for sound. But without the need to project slides, we only used Skype for the synchronous discussions. The sound and image quality in Skype is so much better. And combining Adobe and Skype occupies too much bandwidth for people who don’t have great connectivity.

Displays
Instead of the big screen, we had a high-resolution Apple Thunderbolt display for the online folks in the room. It made us feel like they were sitting with us around the table.  As before, we also connected into the Skype conversations with a phone attached to a selfie-stick so that there were close-ups of the person talking.

WhatsApp
Another innovation this year is that we used WhatsApp for side conversations rather that the chat function of Adobe or Skype. This worked really well for keeping up a social conversation that included everyone – face-to-face and online folks. And the conversation could continue on any device, whether we were on Skype or not.

Tech notes: The sound quality from our MXL AC404 USB conference microphone (price $83.99) is excellent, better than ones we’ve used before. (Aside: it’s also light and compact so ideal for traveling). We still use the Logitech C930e laptop webcam (price $104.28) with its wide-angle view.

Some practices

Here are some of the things we do that people have said work:

Gather first
We start at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast and coffee. Online folk are brought in on a device and join the breakfast conversation. I don’t think it would generate the same buzz if we got down straight away to work at the table.

Buddy up
Everyone has a turn at being a buddy with an online person. They become the eyes and ears for them in the room and make sure they don’t get left behind. There is something about caring for someone that creates quite a bond.

Switch leading
Everyone has a chance to lead a session, which means we get some people leading from a face-to-face position and some from an online position. It’s a good switch of modes. We even had one session where Etienne ended up participating online (even though he was just sitting in another room). That also helped to equalize the conversation.

Extend your “home
Every artifact that is created during the workshop goes in the wiki. It’s as if the wiki was an extension of the physical building – or the physical building is an extension of the wiki. Not only does this make everything (except food and drink) accessible, it also helps us create a good record of each workshops.

What doesn’t work

Too many people talking at once
Face-to-face folk can sit round a table and have multiple conversations going in parallel. It simply doesn’t work if you are online. Everything is going through the same microphone and it’s a noisy garbled mess.

No buddy
Sometimes we forget to assign or remind a buddy and an online person gets left on a table waiting … That doesn’t work!

Busy busy
If you participate face-to-face you tend to seal off the four days for a workshop. But if you are participating online it can be tempting to try and squeeze in some meetings. We tell people that this is a four-day experience, whether you are online or face-to-face. It’s an immersive experience and not one you can dip in and out of. You need to be locked away from your family and work colleagues.

Why participate online?

Practical reasons
People participate online for a number of reasons, including travel costs to California, visa issues to the U.S., needing to be somewhere etc.

Pacing yourself
But there are people who prefer the online experience. We’ve heard a similar line from several people who have participated in both face-to-face and online mode. They say that online participation is better for reflection. They find the face-to-face version intense and with competing calls to your attention. For example, at breaks you are drawn into yet more interesting conversations with people you want to hear from. But if you are online it’s easier to gather your thoughts, reflect, and work at your own pace.

Online charisma
We have also noticed that the people who prefer online often perform better when they are online. They have a charismatic online persona and can hold the group’s attention in ways that weren’t so noticeable in face-to-face interactions. It is a curious observation.

What we need to get better at

Leveraging online presence
What are the advantages that an online person has over a face-to-face person in a small group activity? Our activities tend to assume that an online person has to be “brought in”, but what about “flip” activities where online folks have the advantage and bring in the face-to-face folks.

Exploring vulnerability
Participating online in a face-to-face has some similarities to being in a wheelchair. People can talk over your head, or as if you weren’t there. You are dependent on someone “carrying you” (on a device) to join a conversation. You are at the mercy, to some extent, of someone who is participating face-to-face. Feeling vulnerable is an important dimension of learning. How can we turn this online experience of vulnerability by an online participant into a learning opportunity for all?

Is anyone else out there exploring the boundaries of blending online and face-to-face (with a budget of your average community)?

“I feel very taken care of”

“I could only see legs in that last session”

“Yikes, I’m feeling sea-sick”

No, those comments don’t come from a class of kumbaya gymnastics but from online participants in our BEtreat workshop for social learning leaders who were being carried around on laptops.

We’ve been developing our skills for integrating online and face-to-face participants in our workshops and are definitely coming closer to making it a full experience with fewer technical hitches. Our ambition has always been to be able to do it smoothly with technology that is within range of non-specialists.

Almost gone are the days of “hello can you hear us?” … A combination of better quality sound on most devices, people’s adeptness at using different technologies, and a different room set up has all contributed to a better sound experience.

Our new addition to the hardware at this workshop was a grip handle for a smartphone. The grip handle turned an iPhone (with camera on) into a talking stick so that online people could get a close-up of the person who was talking. (Proviso: handle design flaw overcome with a work-around of blu-tac).

The (adapted) handle worked like a charm. “The room” and “The talking stick” are both logged into Adobe Connect and appear on video alongside the onliners showing both the perspective and the detail.

As for activities we made the online folk the “host” during the (small group) café conversations. They sat as talking heads at each table summarizing key points and guiding the conversation while face-to-face folk had to move tables. Their appreciation was for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it is tiring to be moved from room to room as you watch the walls swoop by and make sense of new angles of furniture and body parts.

Some other principles we have gathered for a good face-to-face/online experience include:

• Ratio of face-to-face to online (2:1)
• Tech check and preparation with online people in advance (essential)
• Keeping a chat going in the whole group sessions (ask for volunteers)
• Multiple devices to bring people in (each device affords a different kind of presence)
• Easy access to all contact details – Skype, email, and phone (don’t leave online people hanging when things go wrong)
• Design activities that put online people in control (it’s tiring to feel dependent)
• Playful inventiveness in connecting with people “on the other side” (enjoyment of the challenge from face-to-face and online folk)

If you are thinking of joining us in 2015, these are the dates:

July 7 – 10 (State-of-the-art)

July 14 – 17 (Cutting-edge)

July 21 – 24 (Academic)

Keep up with early bird and registration dates by subscribing to our blog, newsletter, or twitter. And drop us a line, if you want to know more.

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In whole group discussions “online folk” are projected onto a big screen at the front. We use Adobe Connect for the video-conferencing and Skype for sound. The sound quality on Adobe Connect is not nearly so good as Skype. However, as we discovered at the Academic BEtreat, Skype sound with more than four people quite often drops.

It’s tiring for onliners to be listening and participating for such long periods so we have invested in good microphones to give them better quality sound. We use music stands to prop up a computer or i-pad when they join in small group discussions with “face-to-facers”.

We don’t claim that this is the ideal set-up – it is simply what we have found, mostly through googling and our trusted friends. Next BEtreat we’ll invest in more good microphones for the small group conversations instead of using internal computer mics. Up until now we’ve been using some perfectly good speakers we’ve had for a while to bring online voices into the room, although we ended up simply using our internal Mac Book Pro speakers in the Academic BEtreat.

In addition we bought 2 x 100 feet (30 meter) internet cables and many – many – extension chords.