Remote Workshops

We could have sewn veils, but we said no. Rather, we decided to create something that could help you with remote work. The result is this article, which summarizes our current findings for online workshops and facilitated meetings.

‍

‍

At House of Cutter we do workshops on most projects. Workshop in our concept means that the design pair something created together with the client's representatives. In most projects we use:

• Introductory workshops for onboarding designers in the context of the project and strategic mapping
• Project workshop where we frame and set up cooperation and project management
• Sense-making workshops for data analysis and synthesis User research
• Ideation workshops for creatively coming up with ideas on Opportunities found and their prioritization
• Design studio — group sketching and improving the ideas of others

‍

The aim of the workshops is to involve the whole team in the events on the project, to find agreement on key topics, to eliminate individual biases and create better results than when an individual does the work. A well-done workshop moves the project forward visibly for the whole team. Thanks to the workshops, we do not have to create extensive presentations about the results of our work, because the client will experience everything firsthand.

All of our workshops have one thing in common — they require a shared space where the whole team works together and everyone sees what we create together. This area was, until the beginning of this March, a wall, a flipchart or a whiteboard in the office -- either with us or with clients.

Then COVID-19 came and the nature of our work changed almost from day to day. Instead of a physical encounter, there was a virtual meeting. So we only do remote workshops for a few weeks and take this article as an ongoing sharing of our insightsthat could be useful to you and, most importantly, could spark further sharing of experiences on this topic, which will surely be relevant for some time.

‍

Remote collaboration tools

In our concept of workshops, we need two separate tools. The first is a communication tool, the second is a shared desktop tool on which workshop participants work.

‍

Remote communication

Of the tools for communication, we finally chose ZOOM. The reasons were several.

• Unlike many other tools, it still has good call quality.
• Per one paying facilitator with the lowest tariff, up to 100 participants can participate in the call free of charge.
• ZOOM can record and stream footage directly from the app
• If you organize public workshops, it also handles registration of participants for individual virtual meetings.

‍

In addition, ZOOM supports workshop work and facilitation of larger groups — for example through non-verbal communication with icons and the possibility to divide the group into smaller units (so-called breakout rooms) and then reunite them.

‍

‍

Due to its growing popularity, voices against have also emerged and it has become clear that ZOOM is having problems with by spying participants The call, including you. We don't mind it at this stage, so we continue to use it.

A fun little thing that ZOOM can do is key the background via webcam — so if you care about your visual identity, you can create your own branded background. Or maybe all kinds of burning things.

‍

‍

If you would like to study the differences of communication tools in more detail, check out comparative table (thanks to Honz Habich for the tip and the author of the table for sharing).

‍

Shared Area

We have been using shared desktop tools for a long time MIRO. This has a lot of great features and we love it... and it works until you have paid accounts for all the co-op participants. This goes within one company without a problem, but in an agency setting you are working with different teams on the client side and acquiring ever one-day bills is an annoyance.

‍

So we switched to new projects to MURALS. This allows an unlimited number of anonymous collaborators within a single desktop per paid facilitator. Just send people a link and you can workshop. Functionally, it also allows voting and 🕐 timekeeping on the cheapest account, which are features that will come in handy in remote workshops.

In addition, due to the upcoming pandemic, MURAL has extended the trial version of the product to 90 days 👏, so you have plenty of time to try.

‍

Facilitation of remote workshops

The main task of the facilitator is to create and maintain a field in which a group of people work on a common purpose with sufficient energy.

‍

Before the workshop

The work of the facilitator begins with planning. When planning a remote workshop, pay attention to the length of activities. Everything will take longer than you are used to. Sometimes by half. In addition, people don't last with attention for more than an hour and then necessarily need a break -- everyone sits at home staring at computers. We are now dividing our three-hour workshops into much shorter sections and adding time margin.

Before the workshop, we send the participants an email with information about what will happen and a link to the meeting that will generate ZOOM. If we want to control the moment when participants join the meeting, we use waiting room.

‍

During the workshop

The first thing you notice as a facilitator when working remotely is the absence of physical feedback. There are no micromovements of the face, smells, touches. Smiles are blurred. Even if everyone shares a face, it's completely different than when you're in a room with people.

Since most people have the sound turned off, you can't hear their sounds either. The larger the group of workshop participants, the more important this point is also from the point of view of practical implementation. In addition, ZOOM allows the facilitator to silence individual participants and the entire group en masse.

Don't make any of that weird feeling, that's just the way it is. Conducting a remote workshop is only marginally better than lecturing into a camera without people. It's weird. Breathe and imagine that they are here with you.

‍

The power of small-talk

You will do so much better when you are close. Within UX Accelerator We added an extra half hour before each meeting. Whoever wants can chat with others, and most participants take advantage of this.

After a small talk, the workshop is typically framed by a facilitator and the basics of working with a communication tool — if you want to use advanced features from the participants, you need to teach them.

‍

Overview of the status of the group

The facilitator must keep track of the participants — if you don't see the participants, they don't exist. As part of smaller workshops, we want all participants to say something at the beginning and it has already happened to us that we have left someone out because the facilitator did not see them. This is why it is important to have a visual overview of the participants - this will help you, for example two monitorswhere you have participants on one and a desktop on the other.

‍

Feedback

During workshops, you need feedback. When you invite all participants to share at the same time, which is an instinctive response from regular workshops, they start interrupting each other and jumping into each other — without wanting to! The result is not sharing, but silence. In verbal feedback, you must as a facilitator giving a word to specific participants -- for those who nonverbally signed up for a word.

Non-verbal feedback can be provided by stickers that participants put on in front of the cameras or through various instruments. Can be turned on in ZOOM non-verbal feedback through a set of icons. For example, you can find out who still needs time and who has already completed the task even with a large number of participants. In MURAL, workshop participants can again vote.

‍

‍

Energy of the workshop

The facilitator is responsible for keeping the energy of the workshop high enough and maintaining attendee attention. In addition to needing to get a good night's sleep (seriously) for the workshop, he must plan and implement the work so that the workshop has a good outcome.

We have been able to alternate different types of activities — joint creation on the desktop, reflection, discussion, voting, etc., which the facilitator must plan ahead of time. It also helps to change the size of the group — whether in pairs or other smaller groups that are given a task and work on it separately. ZOOM has a so-called for this type of work. Breakout rooms. The alternation of facilitators also increases the energy.

‍

End of the workshop

We conclude the workshops with a joint reflection, which summarizes the entire work for all participants. Follow-up via email follows. Most of the time, the workshop is part of other activities, so we immediately agree on what will happen next.

‍

Come chat

Finally, I have two points — firstly, this is a discussion — how do you do remote workshops? What do you think is most important for successful facilitation? Do you have any tips on tools or proven principles? Let's enrich each other!

‍

Come with us to create

While we're all sitting at home, come join our public online workshops that can help you improve your own digital sites and projects. You can now join the workshop Mini-audit of the sitewhich is free and addresses the issue of user testing. And or you can take it out of the grunt and come see us at Web Optimization Workshop, which in two afternoons will help you collect ideas for improving your website and also design solutions. We send deadlines and links for registration ahead of time newsletter and you'll find them too on our website.