Myriam HadnesFounder and CEO, workshops.work · Behavioural Economist | workshops.work | Host of the Unprofessionalism & workshops work Podcasts

How to Onboard Non-Techies to Online Whiteboards? #shorts

24 Aug 2022 · 1 min

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In this short video, the speaker addresses the challenge of running workshops with participants who may be unfamiliar with online whiteboard tools. They emphasize the risk of spending excessive time on tool explanations and the potential for participant frustration that can disrupt group dynamics. To mitigate this, the speaker suggests three main approaches: (1) preparing a brief onboarding exercise that participants can complete on their own time, using templates that teach basic actions like creating and moving sticky notes; (2) recording a short instructional video covering the same basics; and (3) opting for simpler collaboration tools such as a Google Document or Google Jamboard when a full-featured whiteboard would be unnecessarily complex. The overall message is to streamline onboarding to keep workshops focused and maintain participant engagement.

Chapters

Especially when we are hosting workshops for new groups, we might think that not everyone is familiar with the tools we're using, especially when it comes to whiteboards. We don't want to spend too much time on explaining the tool again or on confused participants that then can spoil the dynamics because they get frustrated for good reasons. Several tricks for that. Either you prepare a little onboarding exercise for them to use the whiteboard in their own time, and there are many different templates where they can learn how to create a sticky note, how to move it, or you can record a video for them to learn it. Or you're just using an easier tool. Sometimes a simple Google Document does the job, or a Google Jamboard, so that you don't need to go all the way towards fancy.