Comments on: Debrief: the role of visuals in online community management

By: What is Online Facilitation in the Context of Open, Innovative Design Engineering? | Full Circle Associates

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:59:14 +0000

[...] The Role of Visuals in Online Community http://www.fullcirc.com/2010/04/14/debrief-the-role-of-visuals-in-online-community-management/ [...]

By: Stuart Reid

Stuart Reid — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:14:07 +0000

Hey Nancy – I really like the chairs idea; a great reminder that there are embodied people behind the voices and text. And also a reminder about the diversity in the group – someone else will choose to sit in a chair that did not appeal to me, and vice versa. Nice.

And thanks for adding the awesome list of virtual meeting resources. I am getting to grips with online facilitation at the moment – learning how and when it can work. So your library of resources is great for me right now. Thanks.

Stuart

By: Nancy White

Nancy White — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:44:18 +0000

Hi Stuart. The “chairs” refers to a method taught to me by Fernanda Ibarra, where she starts out a web meeting with a slide of funny clip art chairs in a circle (there is an image of that in the slide deck above towards the last third of the deck). Then as people enter the web meeting room you invite them to use the text tool on the whiteboard to pick a chair and write their name under it.

This does a couple of things. One, it is an easy way to get people to experiment with and get used to the white board tools which can be very useful for engagement and participation. (Which is why I don’t like web meeting tools that won’t allow multiple people to have control of the tools!)

The second thing is it reminds us that we are with PEOPLE! Like sitting in a circle, face to face. Encouraging the visual remembrance of looking into the faces of others. Just the image can trigger that feeling. Ah, the power of visuals!

Hm, as a second thought, it might be useful to link to some other older posts about virtual meetings:
http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/onfacarchives/2007_01_01_onfacarchive.htm
http://www.fullcirc.com/weblog/2007/01/more-synchronous-facilitation.htm

By: Stuart Reid

Stuart Reid — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:03:11 +0000

Hi Nancy – thanks for sharing this; I’d like to try out that tool – I’ve been on the look-out for something exactly like that for a while.

I was intrigued by the reference to different chairs in Rachel’s notes, and in your slides. Could you expand on that?

Cheers,
Stuart

By: Nancy White

Nancy White — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:24:17 +0000

Thanks, Rachel and Sue. I’d love to get someone in here who can help us understand from a brain science perspective why this element is so important. I say that because so often things like “drawing together” are dismissed as silly play, but I do think it helps us see things and think in expanded ways! (And yes, it is fun!!)

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:54:42 +0000

I participated in this, and it gave me a lot of food for thought on how I can bring a visual context into my communication with members of the community I manage. I agree with Jim and Rachel, an hour was not enough and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

By: Rachel Happe

Rachel Happe — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:29:01 +0000

Hi Nancy -

Thank you so much for leading this session and your wonderful facilitation – the impact of *feeling* how collaborating visually together works is a powerful way to get people to think differently. And plus, it was a lot of fun – I highly recommend it!

Rachel