The IAF Virtual Facilitation Survey
Thank you for participating in the IAF’s Virtual Facilitation Tools and Techniques survey. This information will be used to assist in the design of the IAF Virtual Technology and Tools Center of Excellence web portal.
Imagine This
Imagine a space on the web where you, a professional facilitator, can visit, browse, and learn about tools and techniques for helping you become more effective, efficient, and successful as a facilitator.
Imagine a space that provides an overview of some of the tools and techniques that are designed to assist you create situations that allow people to communicate and collaborate with each other even if they are separated by thousands of miles and differences in time.
Imagine a space that gives you the opportunity to learn and keep abreast of what is new and “cool” in virtual facilitation.
Think of the time in the past where people played chess by mail. It could take months if not years for a chess match to be completed. The players were not in a face to face situation and they were not in the same place in “time”. Today we have faster and more immediate “ways” of being in touch in both real time and in different time spaces. Those “ways” are is what we want our IAF Virtual Technology and Tools Center of Excellence web portal to hold and display to our members. And this survey is designed to assist the IAF develop that “space” – the Center of Excellence.
Virtual Facilitation
So what is virtual collaboration? What is virtual facilitation? A virtual collaboration event is essentially a meeting where participants may not all be in the same place and maybe not in the same “time”. They are interacting using some form of technology that provides the ability to talk and/or collaborate regardless of their physical location or place in time. Virtual facilitation is that process a facilitator uses to assist the distributed group in collaborating effectively and efficiently to achieve whatever they call “success.”
Your Participation
There are a variety of technology forms and tools that are being used and developed for virtual collaboration. Currently, in a broad sense, they could include the telephone, video conferencing, chat boxes, and web conferencing. We want to know what your experience has been. The knowledge and experience you have right now is all you need to effectively participate. We want to learn, synthesize, and present the collective wisdom of you to all of IAF.
Thank you for participating.
Donald Kerper
IAF US Region Representative
Project Lead, IAF Virtual Technology and Tools Center of Excellence
