Thank you for volunteering to be a room leader! We know it can be difficult to both keep track of the conversation and participate, so we appreciate all you’re doing.
Our goal for coffees is to ensure that each breakout room is a safe space that can have its own personality, but can also come back as part of the larger, Virtual Coffee community, through the connections built in those rooms.
As a room leader, your primary job is to ensure that the room is a safe and welcoming space. We want to give everyone a chance to participate, whether through talking or through zoom chat. To help with this, we have some guidelines and considerations for you.
To make this a welcoming space, it's important that as room leaders, you take care of the people in the room, and avoid situations of "getting too into the conversation" and excluding people. If there's jargon being used, ask the speaker to explain it and drop a link in the chat if possible as an additional resource. Be prepared to redirect conversation, politely move on to another speaker, etc.
- Coffee Table Method: I love @Glen McCallum’s description: it’s like you’re sitting around a coffee table talking with friends. That means you want to engage everyone in conversation as much as possible.
- The Pacman Method: in conferences and meetups, you always leave room in the circle for someone else to join the conversation. And the same thing should happen in your room.
In order to create a safe space, we ask that our room leaders always follow the structure and script for the breakout rooms and initiate the process shortly after breakout rooms open. This structure creates a recognizable space. It allows our new and old guests to sit down around the coffee table and to know what to expect. It invites them to share and participate in ways that make them comfortable. We’re invested in making sure that everyone can participate in the ways they are most comfortable. That’s why it’s important to explain the hand raise function and other modes of participation.
Here's a template for the intention we want to communicate at the beginning of each breakout room session. Room leaders are not required to read the script verbatim, we allow for some flexibility in language so long as the major themes (freedom of expression, freedom of presentation, spirit of support and inclusivity) are mantained.
Hi, I'm {your name}, and I'll be your room leader today. We have {name} as our notetaker today as well. Our notetaker will take your name down for introductions, but will leave notes for the rest of the conversation anonymous to make sure everyone is comfortable sharing.
Please feel free to participate in a way that is comfortable for you. If you want to keep your camera off, stay muted, or participate in the chat, we’ll do our best to make this a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone. We always start with introductions, so you'll say your name, and if you would like to share: your pronouns , where you’re from, what you do, and then your answer to {random question}.
I’m going to ask everyone to start by using the handraise function, which is ALT or Option Y, or you can find it in the zoom reactions tab. Once you’ve completed your intro, you can popcorn to someone else on the screen whose hand is still raised and then put your hand down.
While you're thinking about the answer to our random question, I'll go over some of the considerations for our small group conversation. We love the conversation here. If no one else is talking we encourage you to participate. If the conversation is energized, use the hand raise option to let us know that you want to go next. I'll try to keep track of this, but also feel free to point out if someone has raised their hand and I missed it.
We want this to be a welcoming space and for everyone to participate in the ways that are most comfortable for them. It's perfectly acceptable to be quiet, to be more a listener, to keep your camera off.
The chat is also a great place to ask questions if that's a more comfortable space.
Onboarding volunteer notetakers
- {name} is going to take notes for us today. {Pronouns} will record your intro with your name and your answer, and after that {pronouns} won't record names as part of the larger discussion to allow for open sharing.
Encourage members to bring up a topic--doesn’t have to be tech related--they’re interested in or ask any questions they have; this is a safe space. If no one has anything (and that includes you), bring up the pre-picked topic
- Members who are late might be assigned to your room. Drop the intro instructions in the chat.
- Watch for handraises. This can be difficult if the colour of the emoji blends into the person's background on Zoom. However, those with hands raised are promoted to the top left of your Gallery view and also to the top of the Participants list, so consider having those views open.
- Try to keep track of the zoom chat or ask someone else to
- Some members may take longer than others to make a point and that’s okay. However, if you notice someone may be monopolizing the conversation, as kindly as possible, you may need to jump in and allow others to speak.
- You can also use the private zoom chat feature to let people know if there are any disruptive audiovisual issues on their end, or to do check ins with folks to make sure they receive acknowledgement for certain actions as an alternative to publicly inquiring.
- Keep your slack open for any communication and directly message or @ the host if you have problems or need to remove a member
- Removing members is up to your discretion. If you think they’re creating an unsafe space, it is reasonable to remove them
- It is also reasonable to DM them on zoom to give a warning or to ask for something to stop
- If there is an issue, please report it to the #vc-room-leaders-notetakers--this can be done after the coffee
- Check out Tom’s Tips, Tricks, Tactics, and Techniques for Totally Terrific Room Leaders bc it is amazing.