Virtual Big Room Planning Guide

Firstly, while there can’t be in-person drinks, virtual drinks should be a must to cap off the event! Once the adrenalin has returned to normal, it is important to make sure everyone is across the outcomes from the day, next steps, and that key learnings are taken away to incorporate into the next event.

Things to consider:

Share a summary
Send out a synopsis of the event, with any photos from the day and links to digital boards or further information.

Ask for Feedback 
Run a quick retro prior to closing the event, or send out a survey after the event to everyone that attended. Understanding what worked and what didn’t work for the participants with help to evolve the process.

Retrospective
Bring all those involved with planning and running the day back together to discuss what went well, what didn’t go well, and what actions you’ll take for next time.

Apply learnings
Follow through on agreed actions and feedback to make the next event even better.

Facilitating starts long before the actual day of BRP. Take the time to connect with all the necessary people during pre-planning. Share the agenda ahead of time, with tips for what participants should prepare in advance. Be accepting of moving things around on the day, you may face tech issues, need to bring up energy levels, or priorities may change based on new information.

Things to consider:

Way more effort
So you don’t have to worry about finding an available room that is big enough, or catering to suit everyone. Well that aside, be prepared to put in more time and energy that you typically would for an in-person event! Things, like setting up digital tools and managing the tech on the day and responding to messages, can be quite labour intensive. People will require a lot more support than you will typically find with a physical event, both before and during the day.

Questions, questions, questions
It is wholly expected that a virtual BRP will generate far more interest across the organisation. Be ready to field an array of questions leading up to planning. Think about how useful a FAQ page may be, or using Slack, Mentimeter/Slido or similar for everyone to see questions being asked real-time and the answers on the day.

Engagement
It is far easier for participants to become distant in virtual meetings, especially if videos are not turned on. Create space for people that are naturally quiet to have room to speak. They are often the ones that contribute absolute gold nuggets when they do share their opinion.

Visual cues and confidence voting
While you won’t have the normal visual cues from an in-person event, you can use techniques like Roman voting or fist-of-five to understand the teams’ confidence to commit or even readiness to move on.

It is essential to have a space to visualize the work and collaborate during the event. Visual management boards allow everyone to follow, contribute and see the outcomes. Understand what your organization already has, and what you need a digital board to do or show.

Things to consider:

Understand the tools
Whatever tools you use, spend time learning how to navigate them proficiently. What are the limitations? We have used Jamboard, Mural, Trello & Jira. Jamboard is part of Google Suite, and allows multiple frames per board. Mural is a giant whiteboard that allows you to zoom in and out, and also has voting and timekeeping functionality. Both have drawing and writing options. Jira is great for visualising the goals, work and outcomes, and Trello is comprehensive, though straightforward enough for teams to collaboratively use.

Design
Share the necessary information in the best format for your organisation. This can be through drawings, or creating the boards in a way that replicates the physical boards you would use in BRP. Remember everyone’s tech understanding will be different. Have the boards been set up intuitively and easy to follow? Provide an overview in the briefing sessions ahead of the event.

Team collaboration
Decide if teams should use a predetermined tool during breakout sessions, or if they can choose their own. This may depend on the maturity of the team, what they are currently using, and what type of access would be required in advance.