On Mar 19, 2020, at 13:48, Nancy White <nancy.white@...> wrote:

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

On Mar 19, 2020, at 14:09, Christina Merl <christina.merl@...> wrote:

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for writing this. I find it refreshing and a positive sign in all the current "covid-19 mania". I get the impression that "everyone" is literally trying to redesign f2f settings and be online to not miss out on anything or anyone. It's paradox - while the virus forces us to slow down and shut everything down, the craziness continues online. We transform our structures and patterns to a virtual world.

So I appreciate your thoughts very much. Mixing asynchronous and synchronous as well as using different media sounds like a very effective plan.

I am hosting a group of students this coming Saturday. We would have met f2f. The university is open-minded and encourages teachers to make the most of the situation and continue with their sessions, either via distance learning or live online.

So I have decided to do a blended format. I am currently designing the agenda and I have realised that all the tech craziness and the lack of crisis management in some organisations prevent me (I can only talk about myself here) from thinking creatively. I need to really get rid of all the noise and distraction created online and focus on my group's needs, their learning goals, my goals, the topics we are dealing with etc. While tech savviness is super important - which is why I am so thankful that you initiated this exchange and that so many people share webinars, links, etc. - all of this is so absolutely helpful and provides so much support right now - I think the overall challenge for everyone, for society, is to focus on what we really need and want (to change).? I think that's the challenge for society, no matter where.

So I'd be happy to learn along here with you. As said, I am currently designing my agenda for my group of students and I will use zoom for their presentations, I have designed some quiz material with moodle, and I have set up some materials that I find helpful for them, plus some prompts that they need to work out asynchronously but in collaborative teams. For this, we use google docs, mentimeter, and probably some 365 video presentations.

I deliberately want to keep it simple technology-wise but make it complex challenge-wise. And I am curious to get students' feedback. They are currently also under pressure as everything has changed. BTW, in that case these students all have a job, they are learning workers.

Regards from Vienna,

Christina

Am 19.03.2020 um 14:48 schrieb Nancy White:

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

-- 



Follow me on Twitter: CMerl
Find us on Facebook: 

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

?

?

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for writing this. I find it refreshing and a positive sign in all the current "covid-19 mania". I get the impression that "everyone" is literally trying to redesign f2f settings and be online to not miss out on anything or anyone. It's paradox - while the virus forces us to slow down and shut everything down, the craziness continues online. We transform our structures and patterns to a virtual world.

So I appreciate your thoughts very much. Mixing asynchronous and synchronous as well as using different media sounds like a very effective plan.

I am hosting a group of students this coming Saturday. We would have met f2f. The university is open-minded and encourages teachers to make the most of the situation and continue with their sessions, either via distance learning or live online.

So I have decided to do a blended format. I am currently designing the agenda and I have realised that all the tech craziness and the lack of crisis management in some organisations prevent me (I can only talk about myself here) from thinking creatively. I need to really get rid of all the noise and distraction created online and focus on my group's needs, their learning goals, my goals, the topics we are dealing with etc. While tech savviness is super important - which is why I am so thankful that you initiated this exchange and that so many people share webinars, links, etc. - all of this is so absolutely helpful and provides so much support right now - I think the overall challenge for everyone, for society, is to focus on what we really need and want (to change).? I think that's the challenge for society, no matter where.

So I'd be happy to learn along here with you. As said, I am currently designing my agenda for my group of students and I will use zoom for their presentations, I have designed some quiz material with moodle, and I have set up some materials that I find helpful for them, plus some prompts that they need to work out asynchronously but in collaborative teams. For this, we use google docs, mentimeter, and probably some 365 video presentations.

I deliberately want to keep it simple technology-wise but make it complex challenge-wise. And I am curious to get students' feedback. They are currently also under pressure as everything has changed. BTW, in that case these students all have a job, they are learning workers.

Regards from Vienna,

Christina

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

-- 

?

Follow me on Twitter: CMerl

Find us on Facebook: 

Dear Bill -

Very much to the point - the length of our traditional writing. Especially the younger generations cannot handle that. With discussion forums and threads we are transferring this challenge online. Any thoughts on how to solve this, anyone?

Regards from 22°C spring-like, blue-skies Vienna and everyone should stay indoors...

Christina

Am 19.03.2020 um 15:26 schrieb Bill Withers:

I love the idea of adding asynchronous content, maybe even in the middle of a live session. In the best f2f settings, we add time to reflect. We are trained somewhat to use online tools to quickly jump, file, delete, forward, share, and keep moving. Getting everyone to take a breath and think and return to the conversation at some set time is golden.

?

I’ll admit that when I saw the length of the exchange below, I thought, “I gotta go. There’s no time for this.” So glad that I slowed down for all of 2 minutes to read and think about this.

?

Many thanks – Bill

?

Bill Withers
Breakthrough Coach

Phillips Corporation 7390 Coca Cola Drive Ste.200 Hanover, MD 21076 TEL: +1.410.564.2933 FAX: +1.410.564.2949 WEB:

?

?

?

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Christina Merl via Groups.Io
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 10:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [f4c-response] The New/Old Blend: Synchronous and Asynchronous #facilitation #meetingdesign

?

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for writing this. I find it refreshing and a positive sign in all the current "covid-19 mania". I get the impression that "everyone" is literally trying to redesign f2f settings and be online to not miss out on anything or anyone. It's paradox - while the virus forces us to slow down and shut everything down, the craziness continues online. We transform our structures and patterns to a virtual world.

So I appreciate your thoughts very much. Mixing asynchronous and synchronous as well as using different media sounds like a very effective plan.

I am hosting a group of students this coming Saturday. We would have met f2f. The university is open-minded and encourages teachers to make the most of the situation and continue with their sessions, either via distance learning or live online.

So I have decided to do a blended format. I am currently designing the agenda and I have realised that all the tech craziness and the lack of crisis management in some organisations prevent me (I can only talk about myself here) from thinking creatively. I need to really get rid of all the noise and distraction created online and focus on my group's needs, their learning goals, my goals, the topics we are dealing with etc. While tech savviness is super important - which is why I am so thankful that you initiated this exchange and that so many people share webinars, links, etc. - all of this is so absolutely helpful and provides so much support right now - I think the overall challenge for everyone, for society, is to focus on what we really need and want (to change).? I think that's the challenge for society, no matter where.

So I'd be happy to learn along here with you. As said, I am currently designing my agenda for my group of students and I will use zoom for their presentations, I have designed some quiz material with moodle, and I have set up some materials that I find helpful for them, plus some prompts that they need to work out asynchronously but in collaborative teams. For this, we use google docs, mentimeter, and probably some 365 video presentations.

I deliberately want to keep it simple technology-wise but make it complex challenge-wise. And I am curious to get students' feedback. They are currently also under pressure as everything has changed. BTW, in that case these students all have a job, they are learning workers.

Regards from Vienna,

Christina

Am 19.03.2020 um 14:48 schrieb Nancy White:

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

-- 

?

Follow me on Twitter: CMerl

Find us on Facebook: 

-- 



Follow me on Twitter: CMerl
Find us on Facebook: 

On Mar 19, 2020, at 8:03 AM, Staiger Rivas, Simone (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT) <s.staiger@...> wrote:

Hi Bev,

?

We recently started to use Mattermost ()?with our NASA-USAID program SERVIR. It has the features you mention. We still do not use it at its full potential but it looks promising to me.

?

Cheers, Simone

?

Simone Staiger-Rivas

Senior Knowledge Manager?│?Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes (ASL)

<image002.png>

Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT The Americas Hub KM 17 Recta Cali-Palmira?│C.P. 763537 │ A.A. 6713 ?Cali, Colombia

?

??s.staiger@...?│???+57 (2) 4450000?Ext.?3222?│????(+57) 3013369639?│?Skype?simonestaiger

?

████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

?

The?Alliance?of?Bioversity International?and the?International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives in a climate crisis.

?

The?Alliance?is part of?CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.

?

??????????

?

?

From:?[email protected]?<[email protected]>?On Behalf Of?Bev Wenger-Trayner
Sent:?Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:29 AM
To:?[email protected]
Subject:?Re: [f4c-response] The New/Old Blend: Synchronous and Asynchronous #facilitation #meetingdesign

?

?	Warning:?External Sender, this email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click any links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

?

?

Hi Nancy?

?

I’m with you. As someone from those early days, I had been thinking the same. Synchronous communication was a rarity.

?

(Interestingly, a number of our clients are now struggling to host synchronous events online because their institutional systems are straining under the load.)

?

A bug bear of mine is that I haven’t found any asynchronous tools with a good threaded discussion function (like we used to have).?

?

You need to be able to sort by subject, author, date, etc., And you need to see on the screen how the discussion had developed. Then you can have some deeper, more meaningful conversations that build on each other.

?

Blogposts, slack, and??don’t do it. They are good for handy little messages that no-one needs to look at again. Or for generating so many parallel threads that you need a spare life to be able to hold a conversation rather than jump along on a pogo stick.

?

All that to say - I would love to know if anyone out there knows of a decent discussion forum tool!

?

Bev

?

?

?

?

?

On Mar 19, 2020, at 13:48, Nancy White <nancy.white@...> wrote:

?

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.?

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the??conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

?

On Mar 19, 2020, at 15:55, Nancy White <nancy.white@...> wrote:

The free version of Slack has a limit on messages. The paid version is by seat, which is ok within orgs, and much more challenging for groups that are not within an org boundary. There is no higher level "line of sight" to messages as well. So great for the quicker interchanges. More challenging to really read, weave, make sense in the "old skool" sense!

On Mar 19, 2020, at 9:30 AM, Hildy Gottlieb <Hildy@...> wrote:

Hello everyone,

I've been watching from the sidelines, absorbing and enjoying this journey.

In answer to the question you posed, Nancy, I can share our experience at Creating the Future, when we decided to shift our in-person immersion courses (5 very intense, consecutive in-person days) to an online experience. We had several purposes in doing so, including the ability to reach more people with our mission (teaching how ordinary people can create systems change), as well as the fact that our course content had become too large to absorb in those 5 days (folks began talking about it as drinking from a fire hose).

For us the answer was to change the questions we were asking. Instead of asking, "What will it take to move this class online?" we instead went back to the beginning, asking, "What do we want this class to accomplish? What needs to be in place for students to accomplish that?" From there, it was easy to then answer, "What can we create online that will help students experience that?"

These questions, rooted in Catalytic Thinking, guide all our work at Creating the Future, so it was a simple exercise for us. And it shifted everything. What had been a single way-too-intense, 5-day class became a YEAR's worth of online classes. We slowed the pace. We increased the facilitation and participation. ALL content was provided beforehand (flipped classroom) and ALL online time together was interaction.

In addition to accomplishing all our goals in moving online, we learned that people who only meet online can absolutely form community just as quickly as if they had met in person. And importantly, that our success started not by asking about converting to online (reacting to the current situation), but just the opposite - starting from scratch with the purpose of the gathering, and creating the conditions for each participant to accomplish that purpose (using the current situation to create the future).

I hope this is clear. Been feverishly writing these days, to help folks understand the brain science behind the feelings of being blindsided / shell-shocked that we're all experiencing (link is here if it would help anyone in this group ). And so my mind is elsewhere. Please let me know if there are questions.

Hildy

Hildy Gottlieb (she/her/hers)
Creating the Future
Change the Questions, Change the World!

1-520-349-7061 cell
* Creating the Future is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization

On 3/19/2020 6:48 AM, Nancy White wrote:

This post is part "thinking out loud" and part action/question. So if you are interested in both, please read till the end.

One of the things that is showing up for me is people writing/calling/texting asking "how do I convert this F2F meeting to online?" (More on that in a separate message.)?

Well, last night I made the mistake of looking at FB before bed so I slept very poorly AND I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head. One was a flashback of the online events many of us designed and hosted back in the "olden days" when most online events were primarily text based and asynchronous. There would be discussion threads rolled out over a period of days and people would generally have a 24-48 time period to read, post, and respond to others before we moved on to the next "agenda item." When we got really fancy we would add periodic telephone conference calls (yes, telephone!) and things really broke open when we could start to embed media like visuals, audio and video.?

The ideas behind this work was that we could include many more people than could fly to a meeting, and when we had to support access to local connectivity, it was very often FAR FAR FAR more economical than bringing people to a physical gathering. While those who were used to F2F meetings pooh-poohed us, those who never got to go to those meetings were deeply engaged, appreciative and brilliant contributors.?

Arrival to March 19 (it is March 19th, isn't it? How many days have we been quarantined in each of our corners of the world??) After 10-14 days of super intense Zoom meetings, my brain and body was not happy. The intensity (yes, of course, jacked up by the pandemic) was showing on our faces as we stared into our cameras, still wearing the same sweatshirt from ... how many days ago?

It hit me, we DO HAVE the ability to use asynchronous tools with our lovely synchronous tools. Many of us do it every day (yes, email, basecamp, trello, teams, slack) but those uses have been for tasking, small message exchange, and not really deeper conversation. (Yes, JonL - the ?conversation!) Set up a discussion board, parse out the things that can go slower, that don't need video, that focus on information exchange or slower, calmer (and deeper) conversations. Let people figure out how to take care of the kids and work by making some of the meeting time a slower, asynchronous time.?

Today I have two calls about meeting design and I wondered, how would I convert those meetings? What are some of those great approaches and techniques that worked so well 15-20 years ago??

So what I'd love to discuss - yes asynchronously for now on this email list - is our ideas for rethinking F2F longer form meetings (3 day strategic planning, 2 day training, 5 day intense team consultation) into synch/asynch online meetings. How do we rethink of time (believe me, we aren't going to sustain all day online meetings and raise the kids etc, folks. Get real quick!) What rhythm works well? How does this enhance cross time zone work.?

I have a lot of ideas, but they are all a-jumble. Please join in this thread and think with me. I'd like to bring together our best thinking over 3-5 days and then write it up (we can do that collaboratively too if folks are interested.)

AND THEN, I propose we do a series of redesign-shops where one org brings their old meeting agenda, and we offer redesign ideas. What do you think?

Chime in!

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Lovely - I think that's a first concrete answer to a way of "new school" (just talking from my position - this could be turned into an infographic and thus be "digestable" for millennials ;)

Thanks so much for this great summary, Beverly!

I love this thread :-)

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I’ve summarized the discussion so far. Each one of the headings could be a thread in itself!

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Bev

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*The question*

How do we convert meetings to a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication? Currently everyone seems to be rushing to do things in real time, whereas in “the old days” with more asynchronous communication we were able to have more thoughtful conversations that built on each other. (Nancy)

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*Contextualized example 1*

Taking a f2f student course online

• Zoom for student presentations
• Quiz on moodle
• Materials online
• Prompts for asynchronous conversations

(Cristina)

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*Contextualized example 2*

Taking a course about how ordinary people can create systems change online

• Instead of asking “What will it take to move this class online?” we asked "What do we want this class to accomplish? What needs to be in place for students to accomplish that?"
• A 5 day face-to-face became a year of online classes
• Slower pace
• Increased facilitation and participation
• Flipped classrooms
• Online time was all given to interaction

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We learned that:

• meeting online can form community just as quick as online
• start from scratch with the purpose of the gathering and creating conditions for each participant to accomplish that purpose

(Hilde)

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?

*Tools for (meaningful) asynchronous conversation*

• Difficult to find a good asynchronous discussion tool these days. Most are designed for just-in-time help or quick messages, not for a sustained dialog. We need threaded conversations that you can sort in multiple ways. (Bev)
• Younger generation need a multi-media mix. (Cristina)

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*Tool suggestions*

• used at NASA-USAID (Simone)
• (Mark)

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*Practices for converting meetings to asynchronous and synchronous*

• Have asynchronous sessions during a live session (Bill)
• Give people as many options as possible e.g. recording a video, video + summary in writing, + slideshare…. (Hilde)
• Have context and purpose guide the decision about what tools to use (Hilde)

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*Reasons for more asynchronous*

• If you also have kids in the house, it’s easier to do asynchronous at times that work round household schedule (Sarah)

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*Pragmatic questions*

• Good materials and formats online require a lot of time. Who’s paying? (Cristina)

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On Mar 19, 2020, at 15:55, Nancy White <nancy.white@...> wrote:

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The free version of Slack has a limit on messages. The paid version is by seat, which is ok within orgs, and much more challenging for groups that are not within an org boundary. There is no higher level "line of sight" to messages as well. So great for the quicker interchanges. More challenging to really read, weave, make sense in the "old skool" sense!

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-- 

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