July 2020

CREATING A THRIVING DIGITAL CULTURE FOR NONPROFITS: VIRTUAL WORKSHOPSACCENTURE DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS

Copyright © 2020 Accenture All rights reserved.

Webinar Part 1 – June 25

Building a vibrant virtual culture and effective leaders for a remote workforce

Webinar Part 2 – Today

Facilitating engaging and impactful virtual workshops

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WELCOME!

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AGENDA

INTRODUCTION & ICEBREAKER

VIRTUAL WORKSHOP EXPERIENCES

Q&A

BEST PRACTICES FOR ENGAGING & IMPACTFUL VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

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ICEBREAKER

ENGAGING & IMPACTFUL VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

Designing virtual sessions

More time, bigger team

Be humanBe outcome

oriented Go back to

basicsLess is more

• Double or triple the amount of planning is required for virtual sessions

• Gather a small team with unique roles

• Two types of tools: 1) audio/ video, 2) collaborative working space

• Use breakout rooms with large groups

• Focus on simplicity & real relationships

• No more than 4 hour sessions/day

• 15-min break for every 90 minutes

• Backwards planning – design first with the meeting outcomes in mind, and then how to get to them

• Plan for 1/3 of the activities you’d do in-person

• Use pre-reads and homework to make the most of out-of-workshop time

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Facilitation team and roles

Facilitators (Main + Breakout)Maintains engagement and facilitates agenda.

In a virtual workshop audience attention will be entirely focused on the facilitator. The facilitator needs to remain attentive, self-aware, and engaged with the camera.

If using breakout rooms, there should be one facilitator per breakout.

Technology superuserIn charge of managing the tools.

Responsible for screen sharing and annotating contributions during activities in the relevant tool.

In larger groups, also responsible for controlling the microphone following cues from the facilitator to ensure attendees aren’t talking over each other.

Watcher

Manages attendance, time, & energy levels.

Keeps an eye out on the time and attendance after breaks. Manages the chat window to answer any questions and ensure everyone is following along.

Note taker

Captures discussion for workshop outputs.

Responsible for taking notes on key questions, discussion points, and actions to share with the group after the workshop is over.

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The tools you can use

AUDIO / VIDEO WHITEBOARDING POLLING

ILLUSTRATIVE

MS

Preparing for the session

Optimize the agenda

Test technology

Send pre-read

Focus on the experience

Over prepare

• Utilize co-creationactivities

• Make workspaces visually appealing and intuitive

• Create structure so it’s easy to follow

• Ask participants to download and test apps in advance

• Create a private group chat

• Designate someone to troubleshoot

• Level set tone of the session

• Share tools/tips

• Ask people to turn on their cameras

• Consider a workshop box!

• Share instructions verbally, in chat window, email, etc.

• Rehearse as a team from start to end

• Have a Plan B if things fail

• Timebox all activities

• Include a simple, fun icebreaker

• Keep 15-30 min of contingency time

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Optimizing the agenda

9:00 AM

10:00 AM

11:00 AM

12:00 PM

Welcome

Icebreaker

Research Findings

Synthesis Exercise

Prioritization Exercise

Feedback & Close

Research Findings

Welcome

Icebreaker

Synthesis Exercise

Prioritization Exercise

Feedback & Close

Break

Break

Contingency

Coffee Break

In-person Virtual

Presentation (e.g. PPT)

Polling (e.g. Mentimeter)

Co-creation activity (e.g. Mural)

Key takeaways:

• Activities take longer• More breaks• Build in contingency

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Rotating attendees

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Keep it visual make it memorable

www.giftagram.com/

During the session

Build trustIncorporate energizers

Radio CheckClear guidance & expectations

Limit 1-way communication

• Start by sharing something about you – be human!

• Create a safe space;dogs & kids are ok

• Honor session start and end times

• Communicate that there will be hiccups

• Provide clear and simple instructions

• Focus on what’s most important to the audience

• Stand-up and lead a stretch break

• Use ice breakers

• Careful: long introductions can eat into your agenda

• Check-in often using chat window

• Encourage quiet people to unmute

• Silence is not your enemy, it helps to pause and reflect

• Facilitate small breakout groups soeveryone has a voice

• Poll larger groups

• Add in whiteboardingactivities to give everyone ownership

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Structure in your workspace

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Taking breaks

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Mainstage and break out groups

After the session

Ask for feedback

Send out material

Synthesis time

• I like, I wish is a simple feedback activity

• Send out a quick survey, you can use Mentimeter or another platform

• Share summarized outputs and post-workshop synthesis

• Schedule a follow-up call to discuss open items, questions, next steps

• Post-workshop more thought and synthesis time is required, as outputs from virtual sessions are likely to be more simplistic

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When you have participants who may have bandwidth challenges

It takes a small army.Have a note taker capture the discussion and a technology superuser navigate technical difficulties when they arise. Keep extra hands on deck.

Make use of mobile.Prepare participants to use a mobile device and/or hotspot if needed. Cover their airtime to reduce barriers. Encourage them to download mobile apps in advance.

Multiple back ups.Be like an airplane, with multiple fall back options if things go wrong. Be prepared to start a call via WhatsApp or send an offline PDF.

Less video is ok. If bandwidth is a challenge, it is ok to not be on video. Focus on what’s essential to achieve the workshop objective.

Skill up ahead of time. Over-prepare participants. Test their ability to use tools. Train them on essential tool functionalities through a prep session ahead of time.

Over simplify.Stick to simple activities and instructions so that even if a participant gets disconnected, they can easily jump back in.

CASE:PATH LIVING LABS

Living Labs Workshop

19 8 16

3 120+

hours across 4 days

total participants

technology platforms

hours of preparation

time zones represented

12 1 24

0 80+

hours across 3 days

total participants

technology platforms

hours likely of preparation

location andtime zone

Focus: Co-create future direction for a sustainable, internal design team within PATH

Original in-person workshop Transition to 100% virtual

+ reduced carbon footprint!

Reflections (1 of 2)

Mural prep session• 45 minute session on essential tool

functionalities and troubleshooting in advance

• Creative juices and bonding

Country office reps• Broadened reach with 6 country office

representatives• Selective participation for specific

workshop sessions

Leadership panel• Broadened reach with 3 leadership

attendees• 1 leadership panel session to gather

feedback on proposed concepts

Reflections (2 of 2)

Making it fun• Icebreakers! • Moments of delight meeting family

members

‘Homework’• Leveraged out-of-workshop time to

gather external perspectives to make progress in the discussion

Back up plan• When Mural was giving technical

difficulties, we moved to PowerPoint

Outputs

• Three designed directions for the future

• Internal and external buy-in

• Alignment on a path forward

• Virtual workshopping experience and learnings

CASE:AMREF HEALTH AFRICA

Amref Workshops

Afya Timiza Workshop

• Focus: co-create solutions to address COVID-related disruptions to last-mile program delivery

• People: 9 participants

• Tools: Teams, Mural

Innovate for Life Workshop

• Focus: co-create partnerships between Amref and health innovators in Kenya and Ethiopia

• People: 20 participants

• Tools: Zoom, Mural, PPT

Reflections –Afya Timiza

Prework• Pre-workshop analysis of our program and development of a

detailed service blueprint allowed for quick participant alignment on the current state at the workshop outset

Technical difficulties• Challenges moving into breakout rooms, losing voices

without a strong technology ‘back up plan’• Activities took much longer due to technical disruptions

Reflections – Innovate for Life

Clear structure• Divided the board into 4 parts (1 per

group) and sequenced with 2-3 simple activities per session

Breakout facilitators• 1 facilitator per breakout room gave

instructions and led documentation on the board

WhatsApp• Moved entire conversations onto

WhatsApp to get the necessary inputs and alignment

Outputs

• Learnings on virtual ways of working in low bandwidth settings

• Ideas to address COVID-related disruptions

• Buy-in from both parties looking to partner together

• Alignment on a path forward for potential partnerships

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

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