With most of the world in lock down, most events have become virtual. I was fortunate to join Women in Agile Singapore for a Remote facilitation Workshop with Dana Pylayeva & Kriti Jaising. I met Dana a few years ago (virtually) preparing for World Retrospective Day, then in person when she presented at Scrum Gathering South Africa 2017. I knew she would share awesome tips, and boy did she and Kriti deliver.
Dana began with suggestions to engage. I really liked how she framed this. It didn’t feel like rules thrust upon me and was very useful for a session on 40+ people. These were some of her suggestions – You always have the right to pass on any activity, it would be more fun if you participate. She recommended video if we were able to use it, as people are less likely to engage with a black screen. She also suggested we mute ourselves due to background noise. She asked if we were comfortable being recorded in the session.
Dana shared 5 tips on remote facilitation
- Start with connection
- Use your camera – body language and facial expression accounts for 50%
- Make your group small – liberating structures and Zoom breakout rooms
- Plan for more time
- Keep it simple – avoid too many tools, if it’s a new tool allow 10 minutes to learn and get used to the tool
Kriti took us through the 4C plan and the 6 Trumps of Brain Science
- Movement trumps Sitting
- Talking trumps Listening
- Writing trumps Reading
- Shorter trumps Longer
- Images trump Words
- Different trumps Same
It was a 90 minute session and so interactive that I didn’t feel like I was sitting at my computer for so long. I got to experience a breakout room in a teach back with another person and many other features of Zoom. I used Mentimeter and Socrative for the first time. There was so much more to the session that I enjoyed . Dana did a lovely recap of the session for those who missed it where she shares all the details. It’s well worth a read through.