It’s high summer, which means making the most of long days, and heaps of veggies coming from the garden. This weekend we hung garlic to dry, shelled peas, and stemmed gooseberries to freeze for making jam later.
Sometimes I look around and realize I’ve completely missed harvesting something before it’s gotten too old or overripe (How did all the cilantro bolt already?).
The same can happen in meetings or conferences – raise your hand if you’ve ever been on a call which was supposed to be interactive, then with 10 minutes left, the speakers finally relinquish the floor and you only have a few minutes to try to work together?
Without intention, the time can fly by without truly making the most of the opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas together.
Working with my clients as a virtual graphic facilitator, I delight in partnering together to harvest ideas, show systems, and create shared understanding for deeper, more effective, and long-lasting work.
Here are a handful of my favorite ways to harvest ideas in virtual meetings:
Using the “rename” function to include first name and one-word response to a warm-up question such as “How are you feeling right now?” to “One word we should to carry forward from this meeting”
Creating a visual template to guide report outs and upload to a shared platform for future use
A facilitated go-round where each person shares their response to a prompt, giving air time to everyone
Using a Google Doc template with tables and visuals to work synchronously and include more detailed notes
Have everyone write down a word or phrase on a sticky note or paper on their desk and hold it up to the camera – then take a screen shot! These images can be incorporated into a report or summary web page
Working with a graphic recorder or facilitator to synthesize key ideas and energy into a visual summary
What are your favorite ways to harvest ideas in virtual spaces?
Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.
Cheers,
Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?
Wild places are a blessing I am privileged to experience and enjoy – our trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon was one for the books – here’s a watercolor I painted one evening while waiting for dinner.
Preparing for ShapingEDU’s Learning(Hu)Man -- a virtual hands-on summer “camp” for dreamers, doers, and drivers in higher education focusing on best practices in learning design, edtech tools and development, and the art of the possible to support students’ success.
Wrapping up a studio project for my local county department of health and environment I can’t quite reveal yet…stay tuned!