Tips for remote workshops
Some lessons I learned from running five days of remote workshops.
Even more breaks than you think you need. Ten minutes every hour. Gaps between days, too. I couldn’t stomach the grisly prospect of Mon–Fri solid, so we ran Tue/Wed → Fri → Mon/Tue. Life-saving.
Use a proper microphone. My voice nearly gave out on day 1 because I hadn’t plugged in, and ended up resorting to my videocall voice. Wasn’t a problem once I dug the Røde out.
Use the clock for prompt time-keeping – ‘see you all at 11:05’ – and restart on the dot, so attendees know you mean it.
Be alert to, and accommodate, chat: my group fell into a great pattern of using it for non-interrupting questions.
Childlock everything in Miro. Lock and hide boards, pre-drag stickies. That thing’s only usable if you sharply reduce degrees of available freedom.
Set and enforce a ground-rule that any camera-visible cats must be introduced to the group. We stopped three times; one of the best decisions I made.
Anyway, it reminded me of Twitch streaming, except you can see the audience, and it’s less fun but far better paid. In all, I think our sessions went damn well. Would still far rather have done them in person, but we overcame some of my scepticism. A good group goes a long way.
