Hello Friends,
Greetings from Barcelona.☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest, your weekly round-up of tips and insights to help you design and lead exceptional virtual sessions that your group members will love.❤️
Everything started well.
I kicked off the session right at 5:00 pm. I started with a warm welcome. Then moved onto a fun connection activity. I shared the session aim. I was finding my facilitation flow 🌊.
Then I realized I hadn’t checked the time.
I glanced over at my outline. And then looked at the clock.
Where I was supposed to be in my schedule –> 5:27.
Where I was –> 5:39.
😳
What happened?
I didn’t plan for the latecomers. So the welcome took 8 mins instead of 5.
I forgot to include 2 minutes to explain the warm-up activity. So it took 5 minutes instead of 3.
The group discussion after the breakout group was so good I let it roll for 15 minutes instead of 8.
Total delay: 3+2+7 = 12 mins.
Like a runaway train, time was quickly slipping out of my grasp.
I had to take drastic measures.
Looking at the rest of the outline, I realized I had underestimated the time in every section of my session. I needed to start cutting activities if I was going to get this runaway train back on track. But which ones? Everything felt mission-critical. I had no buffer.
I realized that I had a bad habit of underestimating time.
It starts with overpacking the agenda. Which means that I have to rush through planned activities. Or cut them altogether. The worst part? I often cut the most precious session time of all – the group discussion and breakouts.🤦
Keeping track of time is one of the biggest challenges of virtual facilitators.
Time management is a skill of exceptional facilitation. When you track time well your sessions feel less rushed. You are less stressed. And you give your group a better experience.
🤔So how do you stay on time and remain flexible to the needs of the group?
That’s our Quest for this week🔎
👉Planning “Extreme Buffers”
👉10 Strategies for Staying on Time (even when you fall behind)
👉Zoom Countdown Timer
Let’s jump right in!
💡Planning “Extreme Buffers”
A 1-minute video from facilitation workshop YouTube channel AJ&Smart with Time Management tips for facilitators.
As someone who struggles to stay on time, I needed someone to tell me straight up: “PLAN EXTREME BUFFERS!!!”.
My biggest takeaways👇
- The best way to stay on time is to assume you will not stay on time. Activities will inevitably run over time.
- Plan extreme buffers. If you think an exercise is going to take 30 minutes plan for 45 – 60 mins.
- Don’t pack your workshops. You’ll feel stressed and so will your group members.
⏰10 Strategies for Staying on Time (even when you fall behind)
A twitter thread I published with strategies for keeping your session on track.
How do you keep your sessions on track? I’d love to hear from you. Join the conversation on Twitter.
TL;DR 10 Strategies for Staying on time👇
1/ ⌚Start on time
2/ ✂️Cut your content
3/ ⏰Include buffer time
4/ 🤦Assume you will fall behind
5/ ⏲️Make time visible
6/ ⏱️Make time explicit
7/ ✋Interrupt when you need to
8/ 💬Prioritize engagement
9/ ⌛End on time
10/ 🔎Do a “time post-mortem”
⚒️Zoom Countdown Timer
It’s hard to stay on time when time isn’t visible. I discovered (today!) that you can download timer apps from the Zoom Marketplace that you can embed in your zoom screen.
I like the BlueSkyApp timer that gives you a meeting timer, agenda timer & clock countdown.
Thanks to Quest readers (and BF crew🙌) Pam D. and Lilian W. for helping me to discover and test the timer!
💡Quote of the Week
“Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.”
Miles Davis, American Jazz Legend
💌 Thanks for reading The Quest
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Creatively yours,
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