Hand signals from By Ruben de Haas http://occupydesign.org/7789, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51348527
Sometimes we want the group to get a rapid sense of itself: what's the range of experience and ideas? Is there agreement, or disagreement? Here are five methods, for online and in person meetings.
Chatterfall
Online meetings with 'chat' enabled.
Pose a question to the group, like "how are you feeling now?" or "what one word are you taking away from that?". Invite people to write their answer in the chat, but to not post it (i.e. don't hit 'return' or 'post') until you say 'go'. When you do give the signal, everyone's responses appear together and are not influenced by what others have written.
Bear in mind that responses are not anonymous, so don't use this for something where anonymity is needed.
Thanks to Miriam O'Donoghue who introduced me to this method.Poll
Online meetings with a polling function. Old-school in the room (dotting or ballot papers).
If you have a very clear question and distinct answer options, a poll is a great tool. Zoom has an integrated polling function which allows either multiple choice or single-answer polling, and can be set either to anonymous or attributed responses. The great thing about polling online is that it can be both anonymous and the results can be shown instantly: something which is hard to replicate without using an app.
In the room, anonymity can be achieved by getting people to write on individual ballot papers, which are then totted up by the facilitation team. This takes time. Speed can be achieved by getting people to place their dot or make a mark directly on a flip chart, and while the record is anonymous, someone might see you marking your preference, which might make people reluctant to be honest in certain situations.
If you have the ability to show the results on a big screen, and everyone can access the app you are using, then app-based polls can also be used in the room. I have seen Slido and Mentimeter used successfully.Word cloud
App-based instant word clouds, showing the most frequently mentioned words.
Great for crowd-sourcing sentiment, by using a question like "how are you feeling now?". Set up the question on the app, make sure everyone has the link and any code or access password they need. Decide how many words you would like people to submit. Slido has a word cloud function, or there's Poll Everywhere or Menti.
There isn't a paper-and-pen equivalent, so if you're in the room this will work only if everyone can access the app and you can show the resulting cloud up on a screen.Reaction buttons and hand signals
Online meetings or in the room.
Online platforms have reaction buttons built it. These might include yes, no, thumbs up, faster, slower, applause and so on. We don't have these in the room, but we can make our own, for example coloured card or cards with symbols on, as long as their meaning is clear. In citizens assemblies, and other deliberative processes, different coloured card is sometimes provided to participants so they can request 'process' help or 'content' help during their small group conversations. The cards are visible from a distance and a facilitator can provide help quickly.
From the world of consensus-based decision making comes the idea of using hand signals in meetings. A complex language of signals has developed, and it's possible that people may have a different idea of what some of them mean. So it's worth making this an explicit part of the working agreements for the meeting rules if you plan to use them. Here is one set of signals, described by facilitation co-op Seeds for Change. Another set of signals, used by the Occupy movement, is described here.
If all the cameras are on, people can use actual hand signals in an online meeting. This works best in meetings where there are few enough people that everyone can see each other on one screen.Stand on a line
In the room and online if using an avatar-based platform like Gather.
This is a great way to find out the spread of opinion in a group, when people are happy to own their answer (rather than needing anonymity). Pose a question where the answers are quantitative or lie on a spectrum, e.g. "how long have you been working in this field?" or "how comfortable are you going back to face-to-face meetings?". Tell the group which end of the line is which, and give them a few moments to move themselves to the point on the line which represents their response.
Sometimes, seeing the spread is enough for the group. For other questions, where the richness is in a conversation about 'why' or 'what do we make of that', take a bit of time to discuss the result, with people staying where they are.
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This post was first published in March 2022’s Making the Path by Walking newsletter. Scroll right down to subscribe.