Rachel Smith

A Crash Course in Translating Your Process to a Virtual Setting

Your meeting room is all prepared. Your templates, markers, and sticky notes are at hand. But you and your client are both (very properly) practicing social distancing. So you have a face-to-face process for [strategy, visioning, brainstorming, decision-making, you name it], and you suddenly need to deliver this session remotely. You don’t even know where to start. Great! Let’s do this.

This is a bare-bones crash course in how to translate your face-to-face offering to a virtual one. We’ll cover:

Your mindset
Your mental model
Converting your existing agenda
Getting help
Matching processes with tools
Common problems you may encounter

It can be a lot more complex than this, but this is a good starting point if you’ve never done it before. Throughout, I’ve named tools that I personally prefer, but you can choose others that do the same thing. Let’s go.

Your Mindset

First, stop panicking. This is do-able, and you can do it. Also, your participants really need you to hold the container for them while they work, and you can’t do that effectively while you are panicking. So leave the panic at the door.

Second, accept that something will go wrong, and when it does, embrace it. I’ve done remote sessions for years and I still open each one with the thought, “Hmm, I wonder what will go wrong today?” I phrase it a little differently, though. I think to myself, “Hmm, I wonder what I will learn today?” Everything that goes wrong is a gift, because it teaches you something you didn’t know. It’s okay. Remain calm, explain what’s happening, and work the problem. It’ll be fine.

Third, let go of the fear that your virtual session will by definition be worse than your face-to-face one would have been. That isn’t necessarily true, especially for some kinds of work which are actually easier to do online. Accept that it will be a different experience, not necessarily a worse one, and aim to provide the best experience that you can.

Your Mental Model

This part is for those who have almost no experience in virtual settings, so you can wrap your mind around how it’s set up. Skip this section if you’ve participated in a bunch of remote sessions before. Otherwise, read on.

You’ll have a meeting room, just like you do any other time. People will connect to the meeting room and remain in it for the duration of the session. The tool I use to create the meeting room is Zoom. Everyone connects to the same Zoom link and can use a phone or their computer to hear what’s going on. They can see each other (if they’re using video cameras) and anything that I’m sharing on my screen too. Only the host (me, or you in your case) needs a Zoom account.

You’ll have supporting tools, like you do in any other session. Instead of sticky notes, paper charts, and paper templates, you’ll use digital tools so your participants can engage in the hands-on activities you want them to do. They will connect to these tools using a web browser, while they are still connected to the meeting in Zoom. You give the link to the supporting tool or tools (go easy — multiple tools get confusing really fast), and everyone connects to it. I use tools like MURAL for sticky notes and visual templates, Trello for kanban boards, and Google Docs for shared editing.

Pro Tip: Usually, people are either looking at Zoom or they are looking at the shared tool, so if you are going to be working in a shared tool for a while, have people turn off their video camera in Zoom. Even when they are in Zoom breakout groups while using a shared tool, their focus will be on the tool, not on Zoom. Turning off the video camera can make the audio clearer and the tools load faster for people with limited bandwidth.

If you do graphic capture, you’ll also have a tablet (iPad or similar) that you can write on. You’ll share this screen in the Zoom session while you’re capturing. I use Concepts as my drawing app, but I recommend others for first-timers.

Converting Your Existing Agenda

The basic crash-course process for this consists of five steps:

Take out 25% of your activities (or make your session 50% longer). You can’t get as much done in the same amount of time, especially when you’re new at this. Transitions will eat up a lot more time than you expect. See this post for more details, including when to add breaks.
Identify the process you are using at each stage in your agenda, then select a tool that matches it and supports its desired outcome(s). Use as few tools as possible, even if it means using the same tool for two or more different activities. See the table below.
Create any templates or other materials you need so that they are ready in the selected tools. Include instructions right in the tool whenever possible, so that they can refer back to them if they get confused.
Visualize the transitions you will be asking participants to make between tools. How will you help them make the switch and get oriented? How will you teach them the basics of the tool so they are able to do what you ask them to do? How will you support them when they get stuck? Answer these questions for yourself, and you will be better able to support them through the session. Draw a diagram of the transitions between tools for your own reference. Make notes on your copy of the agenda to remind you what to say and when to say it.
Practice with each tool beforehand. Make mistakes, so that when participants make the same mistake, you can help them out. Do everything you are asking them to do. Find out where you need to give extra instructions to prevent mishaps.

Getting Help

Everyone is trying to learn this very fast right now. Several of the tools I use either have fantastic online tutorials (I’m looking at you, Zoom) or have staff who can help guide you through the basics, or both. Sign up for a demo webinar (thank you, MURAL) if they are on offer. Google the name of your tool plus “tutorial” or “demo” to find what’s available.

Matching Processes with Tools

Here is a list of common processes that you might need to use, and tools that support them. It’s obviously not an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most common things I do in virtual sessions. Again, I’ve listed my favorite tools; there are many others available.

Process You Want to Do (links in this column go to how-to articles)	Tools That Support It (links in this column go to the tool’s website)
Breakout groups	Zoom
Breakout groups with templates and sticky notes	Zoom, along with: MURAL, pre-loaded with your template
Check in circle	Zoom, sharing an image of the participants in a circle
Creating or editing a shared piece of writing	Google Docs or Office 365
Creating or editing a shared presentation	Google Docs or Office 365
Discussion circle	Zoom, using video if you can
Dot voting	MURAL
Fishbowl	Zoom
Flow charts, roadmaps, quad grids, other visual tools	MURAL or Google Slides or Office 365
Graphic recording	Zoom, along with: iPad or tablet and drawing program of choice
Kanban boards	Trello or MURAL
Looking at a shared resource	Zoom, using screen sharing
Polling	Zoom
Sticky notes	MURAL
Threaded conversations, text chat, sidebar conversations	Slack

Common Problems You May Encounter

Problem: People behind firewalls can’t access certain tools.

Solution: Have them do a pre-meeting tech check. Some tools have a test link (for instance, Zoom’s is here). For others, like MURAL or Google Docs, set up an open-access test document and send the link to your participants ahead of time.

Problem: People get lost switching between tools.

Solution: Visualize how this will work before you start. Give clear, explicit instructions, both verbally and written down in the tool they will use. Spend an extra minute making sure everyone is with you before you start. Have a colleague or volunteer present who can help stragglers figure out how to get where you are.

Problem: Not everyone has a video camera.

Solution: Ask the group what they prefer to do in this case: turn off all cameras, or have people use them if they are available. Keep in mind that the people who show up on video will have more perceived power and will have a different experience than those who don’t. Personally, I tend to be an all-or-nothing facilitator when it comes to video, but it’s up to you and your group.

Problem: Someone can’t connect to one of the tools.

Solution: If you have a tech helper, ask them to work with the person. If it just can’t be resolved, pair that person up with a buddy who is responsible for making sure that person’s ideas and input get added to the shared document. Share your screen through Zoom so they can watch what’s happening in the tool, even if they can’t get there themselves.

Caution: This is the only time you should screen share a tool that people are actively using. Otherwise, some folks will get lost between the real tool and your screen share, and they are likely to get confused at some point.

Problem: Someone’s audio or video suddenly stops working when it had been working before.

Solution: Ask them to leave the meeting and re-join. If that doesn’t work, ask them to leave the meeting, reboot their computer, and then re-join. Usually that fixes it.

Problem: There’s a ton of background noise from someone’s microphone that’s making it hard for others to hear.

Solution: In working sessions, I prefer to have everyone stay off mute; the conversation flows more naturally that way. However, sometimes there is a lot of noise in one location. Look on the participant list in Zoom to see whose microphone icon is filling up with green, and politely ask that person to mute themselves unless they need to say something until the noise has stopped.

Caution: It’s difficult to switch back to Zoom to mute and unmute while working in one of the web-based tools if you’re not used to it. Give people extra time to do this. They can return to Zoom by selecting its icon (blue with a white video symbol) from their task tray (PC) or dock (Mac).

I hope this crash course helps you find a starting point. As you do this more, you’ll get more comfortable with it. Remember that people are generally supportive when you invite them along on a learning journey like this. And good luck!

This article originally appeared on Rachel S. Smith’s blog, Digital Visual Facilitation, under “A Crash Course in Translating Your Process to a Virtual Setting“ on March 15, 2020.

How To Run a Time Efficient Virtual Meeting

One of the most common mistakes people make when planning virtual meetings is allocating time incorrectly.

Hint: the problem is not usually that meetings end early.

Virtual Meeting Time Efficiency Formula

To help you avoid this error, here is a handy formula you can use to calculate how long something will take in a virtual meeting.

How long would this conversation with this group of people take in a face-to-face meeting? Write it down. We’ll call that number n.
Add modifiers to n as follows:

If there is no facilitator, double n before continuing. Then hire or assign a facilitator.
If there are more than 10 people involved (not counting the facilitator):
- For 11-15 people, add 5 minutes to n.
- For 15-20 people, add 10 minutes to n.
- For 21-30 people, add 15 minutes to n.
- For more than 30 people, design pre-work to take care of as much as you can before the meeting, then add 20 minutes to n.
Will you be switching tools during the meeting? For instance, going from screen-sharing to a collaborative sticky note board, Google doc, or similar?
- If so, add 5 minutes for every time you switch to a new tool.
- If the additional tool is new to at least half the group, add another 5 minutes.
- If the additional tool requires participants to log in, add another 2 minutes.
- If the additional tool requires a download or plug-in, add another 5 minutes.
- If you don’t display clear written instructions about how to access and use the tool, add 5 minutes.
Will you be using breakout rooms in this meeting? Add 5 minutes for each time you go into breakouts.
Will the group need to make a major decision during this conversation?
- For groups up to 15, add 10 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement.
- For groups of 16-20, add 15 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement.
- For groups over 20, add 15 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement, and expect a lot of follow-up questions after the meeting.
If the group is very divided about the content of the decision, add another 5-10 minutes to the decision time.
Will you be keeping a Parking Lot, and do you expect more than two Parking Lot issues to come up? If so, add 5-10 minutes to resolve the Parking Lot issues.
Look at the total you have so far. For every 60 minutes, add 5 minutes for stretch breaks. If you’re over two hours total, add another 10 minutes for a sanity break in the middle.
Remember to add 10 minutes up front for people to connect to the meeting and get their audio and video sorted out.
Remember to add 5 minutes at the end of the meeting to review decisions and action steps.

stop watch to keep time in a virtual meeting

How To Implement The Time Efficiency Formula

As an example, let’s look at a group of 14 people who need to brainstorm ideas about their next product launch, select two, and assign research leads to each idea. It would take them 45 minutes to get this done in one focused face-to-face meeting with a facilitator, so n is 45.

Add 5 minutes for the number of people (14): 50 minutes
We’ll use screen sharing and Boardthing (a sticky note tool), so we add 5 minutes: 55 minutes
Boardthing doesn’t require an account or a download, so we don’t need to add any time for that.
Naturally we will create clear, visual instructions for Boardthing and show them before we switch as well as in Boardthing itself, so we don’t have to add 5 minutes for not doing that.
We will be using breakout groups once, so we add 5 minutes: 60 minutes
The group will need to make a major decision, so we add 10 minutes: 70 minutes
The group isn’t particularly deeply divided, so we don’t need to add time for that.
We don’t expect a long Parking Lot, so we don’t need to add time for that.
We add a 5-minute stretch break: 75 minutes
We add 10 minutes at the start for getting settled: 85 minutes
We add 5 minutes at the end to review decisions and actions: 90 minutes

In order to accomplish our objectives in a virtual meeting, we need to set aside 90 minutes, including a 5-minute stretch break.

Planning Ahead Will Save You Time!

By now you’re probably wondering whether this is meant to be satire.

Nope. I’m serious.

This is how long it takes to do real work when you’re not face-to-face. If you plan for it and people are prepared in advance, the meeting will run much smoother.

People will feel great about achieving their objectives in the time they set aside.

And hey, if you’re wrong, you can always end the meeting early.

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This article originally appeared on Rachel S. Smith’s blog, Digital Visual Facilitation, under “How long does it take to get things done in a virtual meeting?” on November 15, 2016.

Reading the Virtual Room

This is a question I get asked a lot: How do you ‘read the room’ when you’re meeting virtually?

In other words, how can you tell whether people are tracking or checked out, where the group energy is, and when it’s time for a break or some other shift?

My answer: it’s not actually all that different from reading the room in face-to-face settings, although we tend to think it is.

Running A Virtual Meeting

It’s stressful for a skilled in-room facilitator to imagine working without the body language cues that are so familiar and so revealing, I know. But I think we make this harder than it is.

There’s an expectation that because we lose body language, a virtual meeting won’t be as good as being in the room together and that it’s going to be an inferior experience.

But it doesn’t have to be.

Use An Agenda For Your Virtual Meeting

Start with an engaging agenda, where people have things to do that will achieve outcomes they care about.

Let them create, write, draw, discuss, decide.

Give them tools to support doing that work at a distance.

Ask good, thought-provoking questions.

Then get out of the way.

How To Read The Virtual Room

To read the room, look for the same things that you look for in a face-to-face gathering.

The only difference is that instead of ‘body language,’ you’re tuning in more to the tone of voice, evidence of activity, and the clues that you can get from the collaborative tools you’ve selected.

Are people working? Are they digging into the things they need to talk about or build?

Keep tabs on how many different people are participating — just a few, or most, or pretty much everyone? If there’s silence, is it paired with intense creation (generating sticky notes, writing in a document, whatever) or is it paired with a lack of activity?

If it’s the former, there’s no problem; let them work.

Ask Questions To Engage Virtual Participants

On the other hand, if there’s a lot of silence and nothing seems to be happening, that’s a cue that something maybe wrong. If that’s what I notice, I will usually make a neutral observation about it and then simply ask what’s up. That might look like this:

“I’m noticing that it’s been quiet for a couple of minutes and I’m not seeing anything show up on the shared tool we’re using. Is something not working well for you that we can maybe change?”

I have no way of knowing why people aren’t participating unless I ask them.

If I’ve created the right container, there’s enough safety that people can speak up and tell me what’s going on for them. I can then make adjustments as needed to re-engage the group, take a break, or help them tease out whatever issue is causing the block.

Example Responses To Your Question

Here’s a sampling of responses I’ve gotten to that question in the past, to give you an idea of what you might hear:

What are we supposed to be doing, again? (My instructions weren’t clear)
We can’t open/find the collaborative tool (Again, this is on me to get them where they need to be)
We can’t answer this question because we don’t have enough information (Time to reframe the question)
This isn’t the right thing for us to be talking about right now (Let’s find out what the right thing is, and talk about that)
We don’t see how this activity will get us to our outcome (I can briefly explain how I think it will and ask for suggestions that would make it work better for them)
All of us have just gotten an emergency text and we’re looking at our email because there’s a crisis that just came up for our team (Okay, let’s give you space to work through that)

There’s usually a very good reason people aren’t participating, and it’s almost always resolvable. But you won’t know until you ask — which is just as true in a face-to-face meeting as it is in a virtual one. We’re simply used to leaning more on what we see than on what we hear to make that determination.

Let Silence Be Your Friend In A Virtual Meeting

Just remember, silence can be your friend in a virtual setting. It can feel really uncomfortable because you can’t see what people are doing, but it can be a strong signal for change in a group that doesn’t like to speak up or criticize. Be open and inviting so that the group feels they can trust you to fix whatever needs to be fixed, and you’ll find that reading the virtual room isn’t difficult, it’s just different.

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This article originally appeared on Rachel Smith’s blog, Digital Visual Facilitation, on June 12, 2019.