As facilitators, we know how much wisdom and creativity lies within our groups. We started a series called Brain Jams to help source knowledge and creativity from our facilitator community for our facilitator community. Our first few Brain Jams will focus on different tools to enhance our virtual facilitation (because 2020).
In May we hosted a Brain Jam on MURAL and connected with facilitators from around the world to generated new and inventive ways to use MURAL for virtual facilitation.
Next week, we’re exploring AhaSlides, which is a live-polling software (like Mentimeter or Poll Everywhere) and you’re invited to come jam with us on July 7th or July 9th!
If you’re interested in joining, RSVP now, or read on for more info.
What’s AhaSlides?
AhaSlides is a way for you to create questions for your group to respond and allows you to display their answers in live time. These questions can be multiple-choice, open-ended questions, and can be displayed in different formats including word clouds. There is a also neat Q&A feature that allows participants to not only submit but up-vote each other’s questions. Participants can engage with little-to-no orientation (or sign in) using a phone or computer.
When you fill out the RSVP for the Brain Jam you’ll be asked to do a quick AhaSlides survey and you’ll be able to get a sense of what engaging with the technology looks like from the participants’ perspective. To understand the experience for facilitators, the best way is to create a free account and check it out.
What’s the flow of the Brain Jam?
We’ll start by reviewing AhaSlides, ensuring everyone is familiar with the functionalities. We’ll get to see the results of your RSVP surveys and we’ll identify challenges in virtual facilitation AhaSlides can help us solve. In breakout groups, we’ll brainstorm how to use AhaSlides to address these challenges. And finally, we’ll close out by sourcing wisdom and insights from the small groups, leaving with new creative solutions to improve our facilitation practice.
When are they happening?
I will be hosting two AhaSlides Brain Jams:
- July 7 at 9am PDT / 11am CDT / 12pm EDT / 5pm BST
- July 9 at 4pm PDT / 6pm CDT / 7pm EDT / July 10 9am AEST
The jams will last about 90 minutes, both focusing on using AhaSlides. We’ll be meeting on Zoom and you’ll receive the Zoom meeting details at the end of the RSVP.
What do I need in order to participate?
You’ll need:
- The ability to log-in to a Zoom call (video is a plus, audio is a must).
- An AhaSlides account if you don’t have one already (they have a forever free edition).
- A commitment to poke around on AhaSlides before the jam.
Brain Jams are free, just RSVP.
Email me at meg@facilitator.cards with any additional questions, hope to see you there!
P.S. We are not affiliated with or sponsored by AhaSlides or Zoom. We are just facilitator geeks looking for ways to improve our virtual facilitation.