{"id":447,"date":"2016-11-15T14:05:51","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T22:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/?p=447"},"modified":"2016-11-15T14:11:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T22:11:32","slug":"how-long-does-it-take-to-get-things-done-in-a-virtual-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/?p=447","title":{"rendered":"How long does it take to get things done in a virtual meeting?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common mistakes people make when planning virtual meetings is allocating time incorrectly. <em>Hint: the problem is not usually that meetings end early.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_457\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/vastfield\/2769883027\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-457\" class=\"wp-image-457 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Time-TIan-640x427.jpg\" alt=\"Time by Alex Tian (cc by-nd)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Time-TIan-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Time-TIan-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Time-TIan-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Time-TIan.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-457\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Time by Alex Tian (cc by-nd)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><center><\/center>To help you avoid this error, here is a handy formula you can use to calculate how long something will take in a virtual meeting.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>How long would <em>this<\/em> conversation with <em>this<\/em> group of people take in a face-to-face meeting? Write it down. We\u2019ll call that number <em>n<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Add modifiers to <em>n<\/em> as follows:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>If there is no facilitator, double <em>n<\/em> before continuing. Then hire or assign a facilitator.<\/li>\n<li>If there are more than 10 people involved (not counting the facilitator):\n<ul>\n<li>For 11-15 people, add 5 minutes to\u00a0<em>n<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>For 15-20 people, add 10 minutes to\u00a0<em>n<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>For 21-30 people, add 15 minutes to\u00a0<em>n<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>For more than 30 people, design pre-work to take care of as much as you can before the meeting, then add 20 minutes to\u00a0<em>n<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Will you be switching tools during the meeting? For instance, going from screen-sharing to a collaborative sticky note board, Google doc, or similar?\n<ul>\n<li>If so, add 5 minutes for <em>every time<\/em> you switch to a new tool.<\/li>\n<li>If the additional\u00a0tool is new to at least half the group, add another 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>If the additional\u00a0tool requires participants to log in, add another 2 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>If the additional\u00a0tool requires a download or plug-in, add another 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>If you don\u2019t display clear written instructions about how to access and use the tool, add 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Will you be using breakout rooms in this meeting? Add 5 minutes for <em>each time<\/em> you go into breakouts.<\/li>\n<li>Will the group need to make a major decision during this conversation?\n<ul>\n<li>For groups up to 15, add 10 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement.<\/li>\n<li>For groups of 16-20, add 15 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement.<\/li>\n<li>For groups over 20, add 15 minutes to propose the decision and check for agreement, and expect a lot of follow-up questions after the meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>If the group is very divided about the content of the decision, add another 5-10 minutes to the decision time.<\/li>\n<li>Will you be keeping a Parking Lot, and do you expect more than two Parking Lot issues to come up? If so, add 5-10 minutes to resolve the Parking Lot issues.<\/li>\n<li>Look at the total you have so far. For every 60 minutes, add 5 minutes for stretch breaks. If you\u2019re over two hours total, add another 10 minutes for a sanity break in the middle.<\/li>\n<li>Remember to add 10 minutes up front for people to connect to the meeting and get their audio and video sorted out.<\/li>\n<li>Remember to add 5 minutes at the end of the meeting to review decisions and action steps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an example, let\u2019s look at a group of 14 people who need to brainstorm ideas about their next product launch, select two, and assign research leads to each idea. It would take them 45 minutes to get this done in one focused face-to-face meeting with a facilitator, so <em>n<\/em> is 45.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Add 5 minutes for the number of people (14): <strong>50 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>We\u2019ll use screen sharing and <a href=\"http:\/\/boardthing.com\">Boardthing<\/a> (a sticky note tool), so we add 5 minutes: <strong>55 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Boardthing doesn\u2019t require an account or a download, so we don\u2019t need to add any time for that.<\/li>\n<li>Naturally we will create clear, visual instructions for Boardthing and show them before we switch as well as in Boardthing itself, so we don\u2019t have to add 5 minutes for not doing that.<\/li>\n<li>We will be using breakout groups once, so we add 5 minutes: <strong>60 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The group will need to make a major decision, so we add 10 minutes: <strong>70 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The group isn\u2019t particularly deeply divided, so we don\u2019t need to add time for that.<\/li>\n<li>We don\u2019t expect a long Parking Lot, so we don\u2019t need to add time for that.<\/li>\n<li>We add a 5-minute stretch break: <strong>75 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>We add 10 minutes at the start for getting settled: <strong>85 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>We add 5 minutes at the end to review decisions and actions: <strong>90 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In order to accomplish our objectives in a virtual meeting, we need to set aside 90 minutes, including a 5-minute stretch break.<\/p>\n<p>By now you\u2019re probably wondering whether this is meant to be satire. Nope. I\u2019m serious. This is how long it takes to do real work when you\u2019re not face-to-face. If you plan for it and people are prepared in advance, the meeting will run much smoother. People will feel great about achieving their objectives in the time they set aside. And hey, if you\u2019re wrong, you can always end the meeting early.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most common mistakes people make when planning virtual meetings is allocating time incorrectly. Hint: the problem is not usually that meetings end early. To help you avoid this error, here is a handy formula you can use &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/?p=447\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"How long does it take to get things done in a virtual meeting? Here's a handy formula.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,49,34],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything","tag-facilitation","tag-remotecollaboration","tag-virtualmeetings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3gPVL-7d","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalfacilitation.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}