Facilitating online sessions with Communicarda
Step-by-step
The following explanation assumes you are signed in to your Communicarda account, have created a session for your upcoming event, and have enough Participant Passes to allow all your people to join.
If you are unsure about these steps, check out Getting Started
1. Participants JOIN and get their cards
The first thing to do is to invite your participants to JOIN your session so they can get the digital cards on their mobile device.
Share your screen with your online participants and display the Communicarda Session View. The participant count will be zero.
Click on the ID in the toolbar to display the Session Info screen that provides the QR codes for mobile app and the Session ID.
Have participants download the app and click Join. The participant count will start going up as each person joins.
TIP: You can also email the invitation details ahead of your online event. You can get a link to the Session Info Screen for a session from your My Sessions Dashboard (see, Joining your participants)
2. Quick intro on using the cards
Give participants a quick intro to the Communicarda app.
- Move through the pack: swipe or tap the arrows
- Select a card: double-tap a card, or tap the + button
- Tap Next to see only your selected cards
- Tap Next again to see your choices laid out
- Tap Share to share your choices with the group.
Participants can also tap the "Learn" button on the App to review the basics.
TIP: Have participants introduce themselves while learning the app at the same time - in under 5 minutes. See, The perfect introduction
TIP: Always introduce image cards by emphasising that any card can mean anything to anyone — there are no set meanings for the cards.
3. Explore the key topic
Announce the topic you would like everyone to consider, such as:
"Go through your pack to find 5 cards, that for you, describe the elements of an ideal team experience."
or
"Find 3 cards to describe your experience of the year so far."
Encourage them to take their time selecting — even to sit back in their chair and gradually go through the pack.
When they have made their choices, have them move through to the Share screen and tap the Share button.
4. Facilitate discussion and connection
Facilitate sharing of choices by asking for a volunteer and then clicking on their name in the List ALL dropdown (or using Search participants).
For small groups, you can move around the group asking each of participant to share why they chose each card.
For large groups you can first send them into breakout rooms to share with a small group, then ask for a few highlights when the whole group returns.
BREAKOUT ROOMS TIP: For simple breakout room experiences, participants can view see each other's card choices by simply holding their phones up to the screen. For more advanced situations, facilitators can make it possible for participants to view everyone's choices on their own browser.
How and when to toggle Viewability
5. Analyse choices (optional)
At times facilitators may choose to use the the Card Analysis tool to help guide discussion.
Clicking the "Analyse" button lets you instantly see which cards were the most frequently chosen and can be useful as a springboard for inviting responses and looking for common ideas. It can also help when working to bring the group together around a common set of ideals.
IMPORTANT: It doesn't really matter which cards people have chosen. What matters is why they say they chose a particular card. So, focus on the comments people are making about why they chose certain cards, not on the card itself. When using the Card Analysis Tool, be careful not to create a situation where people feel left out simply because they did not chose one of the more popular cards. The tool is just an aid to facilitation, it should not be used as assessment.
