Full Circle Associates

On the Onlinefacilitation list, a question came up about good resources for telephone facilitation. A number of articles were found, but nothing really complete. So we thought, why not build a wiki book? This is our first attempt. If you would like to join it, let me know. (We are working on Writely , which is currently not accepting new users, but I can add a few more people to work on a document. So leave me an email - nancyw at fullcirc dot com or comment. Or offer any suggestions in comments if you are reading this in Nancy's Blog - I decided it might be useful to blog this when Beth pinged me today asking for the URL.)

What would we want to write about facilitating groups on the telephone? Let's brainstorm some general categories first. We can decide later.

Here's our starting point. Feel free to suggest new pages if you want to dig into any one bit.

Telephone calls for groups in:

meetings
project management teams
learning events
guest speaker presentations
orientation or closure for online activity/event
networks
presentations/pitches

Teleconferences support processes of:

decision making (convergence)
problem solving/conflict resolution
fun/play
relationship building
brainstorming
teamwork
knowledge sharing
information delivery

Practices

Planning calls

Integrating with other media and modes of communication
(online, face-to-face, presentation media and print resources).
- How to integrate visuals
- Collecting topics from asynchronous discussions (email lists or web boards)
- Posting audio recordings or notes so that they support asynchronous interaction
Identifying roles in advance
- Facilitator or master of cermonies
  - When to speak, frequency, but not necessarily amount of speaking
- Having a "greeter" who arrives early and welcomes people as they arrive helps them orient socially
- Designated presenters or speakers who are experts in the topic

Time zones - how to pick a time that works for people around the globe

Time zone tools
- FoxClock
- TimeandDate.com

Building sociability and relationship on group telephone calls
- Ways to help visualize people and ideas in an aural environment
- EEKim - Shared Visual Display
- Going beyond introductions - what can help build relationship, sense of individuals and of the group?
  - Vary intro topics to fit the actual topic of the call
  - Don't have to do everything on one call
- Intercultural and language issues

Norms and agreements
- Practices around who is speaking (i.e. say your name before speaking - not everyone can hear voice differences)
- Practices around directing comments to an individual vs to the group
- Staying on schedule/agenda
- Practices for groups with accents and/or using a second (3rd, 4th, etc.) language
The call
- Joining/leaving call practices
- Turn taking practices
- Phone call break out practices (smaller group, return, etc. process and technology)
- Using chat as back channel/note-taking
Recording calls
- Privacy issues and protocols
- Recording, playback and transcription tools/services

Potential FAQ's

How to use silence in phone calls (silence, bells, sounds, etc.)
What to do with distracting noises, on-hold music and other PITAs (process and technology based solutions)
Issues around size of group (what size is the max for full participation of all? When do you move to a different model? tool?)

Resources - Other useful articles on the net about telephone faciltiation

Nancy's Telephone Call Facilitation Tips
John Smith's Meeting on a Telephone Bridge
Npower's Running Effective Online Trainings
Kate Pugh's Good practice for phone-based CoP teleconferences
Tips for Teleconference Participants
Tips for Teleconference Leaders
Proven, Practical Tips for Conference Calls
Cheap and useful telephone services and tools

Contributors to this Resource:

Nancy White
Bronwyn Stuckey
Beth Kanter
John Smith

4 Comments:

Alan Gutierrez said...: Good timing on this message. I'm hosting conference calls where neighborhoods can ask questions of the urban planners that they must choose from in order to move forward with rebuilding in New Orleans.

Audio Town Hall Launch

The calls themselves are very interesting, but the audio coming out of them is goofy. The levels are all wrong, and I can't tell if it's the service, or a single bad cell phone, that's causing the calls to sound rough.; 10:23 PM
Joitske Hulsebosch said...: hi Nancy, very useful, I'll tag it! How about a category about combining different media (phone, VOIP, IM)?

And I don't know where making a difference between group stages would go; new groups, established groups, etc. ?; 9:57 AM
Beth said...: Nancy thanks for the URL! I was in the room co-leading a workshop on web2.0 tools for D&D folks. We started with some stories and I told the story of this FAQ - how a wiki can easily facilitate collaborative writing oa document for loosely coupled group of professionals.; 2:54 PM
Beth said...: Oh, I like Joitske's suggestion - maybe something about SKYPE.; 2:54 PM