Virtual Cafés: what, how, and instructions

What

An online video gathering, an informal discussion with anyone who is interested in Wellbeing in Europe, would like to find out more, is willing to share their experience, listen to others, learn and connect.

A way to coordinate local events and our festival end of 2019: Virtual Cafes host planning sessions, with briefing and distributing tasks ahead of events.

Every online gathering results in a summary/notes posted online where community managers can then involve others to give input and participate.

How it works

We will be hosting them onZoom - an easy to use communication platform.

Zoom is suited to our needs because:

  • It allows participants to register ahead of time, by leaving an email address and name and making it possible to stay in touch before and after the meeting
  • Requires minimal installation effort: when people click the meeting link to join, it prompts them to install Zoom video meetings on their computer
  • It hosts up to 100 people (Edgeryders has an annual subscription)
  • It allows audio, video, chat, screen sharing
  • After each meeting it creates a desktop file with the notes from Chat, making it easier to document and follow up.

The Process:

Each country call takes place weekly, in the same weekday and at the same time. Each language call has its own registration page to be sent with the invitation to all possible participants and posted on the internet (ex: recurring Facebook events). The page asks them to register and pick their available calendar dates.

Some calls will have featured themes or guests which will be announced ahead through online social shares and emails to the network.

Each gathering has a facilitator and a documenter - preferably these roles are extended from community managers to volunteering participants.

@ Community managers: ask @Noemi if you wish to make changes to events or send participants messages ahead of the meeting.

Participant Registration

Invite people to register:

Czech calls : Registration page

Polish calls : Registration page

Serbian calls : Registration page

English language call : Registration page

Example of registration page:

After registration, participants receive a confirmation email with a link to the meeting.

How to Facilitate:

At the beginning of the call, the facilitator introduces Wellbeing in Europe and a few points of discussion.
Ask a participant to volunteer and take notes as people speak.
Ask people to introduce themselves briefly and why they are there (1 minute maximum).

Discussion where participants ask each other questions.

Make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.

How to Document:

Note as much as you can from what the others are saying, and make sure to attribute content to people. After the call is over, post your notes in the project space -> +Add Topic

If in doubt - read our extended Guide for Community Managers!

Looks good to me, I guess I might have some new comments once we try it out :slight_smile:

Maybe one question - since we have to attribute content to the participants on the platform - would it make sense to ask them to join the edgeryders-poprebel as well? if this is an intention, it could be made more obvious…