Note:
below is not your typical blog post about working remotely! Read on, and learn how to
adapt your in-person meetings / workshops / training to being remote friendly and highly productive!
As CX professionals many of us are already a jack of all trades and are highly adaptable to changing situations and scenarios. Now is the time for us to roll-up our sleeves (again!), be vulnerable and adapt our processes, expand our toolbox and be more open than ever to trying new approaches / techniques / tools.
I've gotten questions from friends and colleagues about how to shift gears and turn in-person workshops into remote collaboration sessions. As a current WFH solopreneure and a former corporate commuter / distance worker I have to admit, I kind of love it! For 7 years I struggled to get my "in-office" colleagues to adopt approaches that considered the remote-worker, and now the tables have turned. I get to put those years of straining to hear and follow along to good use, and share these 3 tips and tricks with you.
1.
Proactively plan your meetings - as a facilitator or meeting chairperson your role to proactively plan the meeting / workshop / training session is more important than ever. You will need to consider how best to engage your participants (
and keep them engaged), what online tools you will need (
and how to train newbies on their use), how much time you can reasonably hold people's attention from a distance (
guaranteed, it's less time than you think!) and how you will shift gears if technology doesn't hold up its end of the bargain (
and it likely won't work as intended for at least 1 person)
2.
Consider how to engage your Extroverts vs. Introverts and your Visual vs. Audio learners - just as we've had to find ways to adapt for different learning and participation styles for in-person gatherings, as facilitators we need to carefully asses and plan for different styles when working remotely. To best achieve this, consider a combination of tools or techniques. See item 3 below.
3.
Go beyond voice and video - consider the use of a collaboration tool like Mural.co. Tools like these allow for active participation in a very engaging and visual manner. This combined with a voice / video option will better accommodate your group's different learning and participation styles. Combining say Zoom and Mural replaces the traditional in-person workshop, and will immersively engage your participants.
If you're not familiar with Mural, watch this short tutorial (link:https://youtu.be/3WF6lnDzdQ):
I
4.
Bonus tip: consider the use of co-facilitators and divide up roles and responsibilities (1 to manage tech issues and the chat, 1 to actively facilitate)
5.
Bonus tip: invest in double monitors!
6.
Bonus tip: take time to practice and play around with tools in advance of your first use, ask a friend for a quick tutorial
Need a hand adapting your traditional in-person meeting / workshop / training session, shoot me a note at
janelle@amplifiedcx.com or follow me on
LinkedIn!