Teleconference Call Facilitation Tips from Nancy White

I've been on a series of teleconferences that Nancy White of Full Circle Associates is one of the leaders of. She's using this technique to keep the call lively and orderly, and it's worth sharing. From her "Teleconference Call Facilitation Tips" page -

"The Clock" - "The clock" can be used on conference calls to help people get and keep a sense of place and participation in a disembodied conf call. It can be used with structured online chats as well. Ask every one to draw a circle on a piece of paper and mark the hours like a clock. Then, each person is assigned a spot on the "clock" as they join the group. So the first person is 1 o'clock, the second 2, etc. If there are more than twelve, start adding 1:30, 2:30 etc. Use this initially to create a speaking sequence for intros, and then use it to ensure everyone speaks. Participants can make notations by names and use it as a visual tool to match names/voices/input. If you are doing multiple rounds of "speaking" vary the "starting position" on the clock.

One of the great weird ideas that came out of today's call was to use the clock as a starting point for a graph of who is talking to who by drawing lines across the circle, which you would then detangle somehow or at least have some way to visualize afterwards.

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