TL;DR: How To Prepare for TriAgile 2020

A detailed version of this content follows below the summary …

Check your email

Keep watching your emails for the latest from TriAgile Conference. They’re chock-full of valuable information and reminders but most importantly 2 key things you can’t get elsewhere — the password to the Zoom meetings, and the Slack invite link.

Be Zoom-Ready

Make sure that you’re ready to use Zoom. Check out the Zoom website for setup and usage instructions, and join a test meeting if you want. If you have additional questions, check out these links: Video Tutorials | FAQ

Join our TriAgile 2020 Slack Workspace

Slack will be our day-of communication channel. Connect with us on Slack to stay connected to the TriAgile conference team, as well as sponsors, speakers and other attendees. You’ll receive the link to join our Slack workspace in an upcoming email. Get ready: Download Slack | Slack 101

Plan Your Day Using Sched

Plan your day using Sched. Our speaker and session line-up has been finalized at this point and can be found on the Schedule tab.

TriAgile 2020 Attendee Checklist and

Conference Guide

Table of Contents

TL;DR: How To Prepare for TriAgile 2020 1

Thank You to Our Sponsors 4

Platinum Sponsor 4

Silver Sponsors 4

Bronze Sponsors 4

Zoom Video-Conferencing Sponsor 4

How the TriAgile 2020 Virtual Conference Will Work 5

Steps to Prepare for TriAgile 2020 5

TriAgile 2020 Email Communications Schedule 6

Planning Your Day 6

Attending TriAgile Sessions with Zoom 6

Zoom Overview 6

Before the Conference 6

Attending a Session 7

Connecting to a Session 7

Headsets and Microphones 8

Use the Call Me Feature to Mitigate Bandwidth Issues 8

Session Recordings 9

Video or No Video? 10

Controlling Audio 10

Asking Questions 10

Breakout Rooms 11

Providing Session Feedback 11

Converse with Speakers, Sponsors and Attendees using Slack 11

How Will Slack Be Used? 11

Slack Channels for TriAgile 2020 12

Installing and Using Slack 13

Best Practices 14

Frequently Asked Questions 14

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Zoom Video-Conferencing Sponsor

How the TriAgile 2020 Virtual Conference Will Work

TriAgile 2020 will be hosted on the Zoom video-conferencing platform. As an attendee, you’ll

use the Zoom application to join each of the sessions that you’ve planned for your day. We have

7 different Zoom call-in numbers and you will likely switch between Zoom meetings during the

day as you attend your various sessions.

TriAgile will consist of two types of sessions: webinars and meetings. Each session will occur at

an appointed time, in either a Zoom webinar, or a Zoom meeting. You’ll access both by entering

a Zoom Meeting ID in the Zoom application. You’ll find more information on how you’ll use

Zoom to participate in TriAgile 2020 later in this document.

Our in-person conference was designed with ample breaks between sessions to allow people to

connect and discuss the ideas of the conference. You’ll still be able to do that on Wednesday,

but you’ll use Slack. You can find more information on Slack below. The breaks will also allow

you time to get up, get some steps in, stretch and stay hydrated.

Lastly, grab a beverage of your choice and join us for our Virtual Happy Hour! While there’s no

official agenda, our post-conference virtual happy hour offers a great opportunity to discuss the

big ideas from the day and make a few additional connections with fellow TriAgilists. You’ll find

links to each of the happy hour rooms at the bottom of the schedule.

Steps to Prepare for TriAgile 2020

There are four key actions to take to prepare for the conference.

1. Watch for upcoming emails from TriAgile Conference

2. Plan your conference schedule using Sched

3. Be Zoom-ready

4. Have access to Slack for day-of communications

Each of these topics is discussed in more detail below.

TriAgile 2020 Email Communications Schedule

Watch for emails from TriAgile Conference at roughly the following times over the next few days

containing the latest important news and reminders about the conference.

● Tuesday, March 31st - Communications around the Slack channel, Zoom information

and last minute reminders.

Planning Your Day

Our schedule is finalized at this point -- view the conference schedule on the TriAgile website

and select which of the amazing sessions with which you’ll fill your conference day.

Optionally create an account with Sched to plan your day, and synchronize your schedule to

your calendar so you can receive alerts when it is time to join your next session.

Zoom meeting IDs will be published for each of the TriAgile 2020 Zoom meeting rooms on

Monday evening.

Attending TriAgile Sessions with Zoom

Zoom Overview

In order to use Zoom you’ll need a computer with a webcam, a tablet or a smartphone. If you

haven’t used Zoom previously, learn more about Zoom on their website: https://zoom.us.

Before the Conference

● Ensure you can access Zoom - either through their dedicated application (preferred), or

the browser-based application. For limitations of the browser-based application, check

out Zoom’s web client support page. If you use the browser-based application, it is

strongly advised to use Google Chrome.

● Connect to a Test Meeting to verify the quality of your video and audio

● If you have additional questions, check out these links: Video Tutorials | FAQ

Attending a Session

Connecting to a Session

Whether you use the dedicated app, or join via browser you’ll join all of your TriAgile sessions

by entering a Zoom Meeting ID.

All TriAgile sessions have a designated Zoom room and meeting ID. (You’ll find these on the

schedule starting Tuesday night.) Type in the Meeting ID for the room you want to join, and

click Join.

After joining, you’ll be added to the Waiting Room until the session is ready to kick off. You’ll

know you’re in the right spot because you’ll see the TriAgile meeting room name, and TriAgile

logo. You can join sessions approximately 5 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Headsets and Microphones

You will probably find a comfortable headset with microphone a valuable asset for TriAgile

2020.

● Headsets can help to block out distracting background noises.

● Even a regular set of earphones with a built-in mic is probably better than your

computer’s built-in speaker and microphone.

● Having a dedicated microphone should make any questions that you ask over the

course of the day that much easier for speakers and other attendees to hear.

● If your headset is battery powered, make sure you have a plan for keeping it charged

during breaks and over lunch.

● Consider using the Zoom test meeting option to test out your setup to ensure you don’t

experience feedback when you talk.

Use the Call Me Feature to Mitigate Bandwidth Issues

In some cases, it will be helpful to use Zoom’s Call Me feature to improve video quality. When

Call Me is utilized, Zoom will prompt for your phone number and call you. When you answer the

call, Zoom merges your audio and video feeds into a single meeting participant. This should

improve your video quality and is the preferred approach if computer audio cannot be used.

Call Me is preferable to calling into the meeting twice (once on your computer and once on your

phone). If you call in on your phone and computer, you show up as two meeting attendees. This

causes a couple of challenges. First, if a meeting utilizes breakout rooms, you could be

assigned to two separate breakout sessions - one for your phone, and one for your audio.

Second, you count as two attendees against the meeting caps that are in place. We do not

expect to run out of seats, but this can be easily avoided by using Call Me if you have concerns

about your internet bandwidth.

If you use Call Me to use your cell phone, make sure you have your charging cable nearby so

you can keep your phone charged.

Session Recordings

All sessions at TriAgile will be recorded. In order to attend TriAgile 2020, you must acknowledge

that the sessions you attend are being recorded, and that your name and image may appear in

these recordings. Not all attendees will appear on screen at all times, and you have control over

how your name appears in Zoom.

Video or No Video?

Sessions at TriAgile are either webinars or meetings.

● Webinars allow for the presenter to be spotlighted on video with their presentation, and

no other participant will be on video for the session.

● Meetings allow all participants to be on video. Your video is off by default when you join

a meeting.

As a participant, you always have control over whether you will appear on video or not. Please

give some thought to the following points, but ultimately decide what you’re most comfortable

with.

● Whenever possible, please choose to be on video. Being able to see other participants

will make for a more personal conference, and it also allows us to support the speakers

by engaging with their content through head nods, smiles and thoughtful looks.

● You may always turn your video on and off through the course of a meeting - for

instance if there is an interruption and you need to turn away for a minute or two.

Zoom allows you significant control over how meeting attendees are displayed on your screen.

You can pin a single speaker, have a Brady Bunch-style display of participants, and hide

attendee windows who are not on video. Feel free to play around with your Zoom settings to see

what works best for you.

Controlling Audio

In order to provide the best conference experience for everyone, we need to ensure there are

minimal disruptions through the course of the day’s sessions.

● By default, participants are muted during sessions.

● Participants do not have access to unmute their microphone on their own.

Asking Questions

Over the course of your day at TriAgile2020, some of your sessions will allow for attendee Q&A.

Whether or not the session allows for Q&A is up to the speaker.

● When Q&A is allowed, it will be handled through a virtual hand-raising feature in Zoom

accessed through the Participants window.

● Each session will have 1-2 moderators who will manage the queue of participant

questions, calling on participants who have raised their hand, and unmuting their

microphone while they ask their question.

Breakout Rooms

Similar to an in-person conference, a session speaker may want you to have some small-group

conversations to discuss a question that they’ve posed to the group. Zoom will accommodate

these smaller conversations using breakout rooms. Below are a few additional notes on

breakout rooms.

● Breakout rooms will be randomly created the first time a speaker requests them during

the session. If the speaker uses breakout rooms multiple times in their session, your

breakout room will remain the same each time.

● Even though sessions are being recorded, the discussions held within breakout rooms

are not recorded.

Providing Session Feedback

You will be able to provide feedback on your sessions by navigating to that session in Sched

and clicking on the Feedback Survey.

Converse with Speakers, Sponsors and Attendees

using Slack

How Will Slack Be Used?

Slack will be our day-of-event communication tool. It is a must-have resource for all TriAgile

participants. Watch Slack for latest announcements from the TriAgile 2020 team, as well as to

connect with speakers, sponsors and other attendees.

We’ve tried to create logical spaces in Slack for certain types of conversations to take place -

general conference information, track- and session-specific information, and places to meet up

with our sponsors to learn about the products and services they offer that can make you and

your organization’s agile transformation and delivery more successful. These spaces are

summarized below, as are some general Slack usage tips.

Slack Channels for TriAgile 2020

Name Description / When would I use this?

#announcements Watch this channel for important announcements from the TriAgile 2020 team. You’ll use this to see if there are any important announcements from the TriAgile 2020 team. You’ll be able to respond to posts, but otherwise can’t post to this channel.

#help-needed A channel for attendees to get help with questions or issues for TriAgile2020.

TriAgile 2020 team members and volunteers will monitor this channel throughout the day. Note: If your question is related to Zoom technical issues, please reach out to Zoom technical support.

#awesome-moments What were your “Aha” moments today? Use this channel to share new thoughts or really awesome takeaways. Hopefully your day will be filled with a-ha moments - moments of clarity, inspiration or joy - and we’d love for you to share them here and connect with others who may have had the same inspiration.

#job-board Hop into this channel if you have open positions or are looking for a new one. Remember this is a public channel, so don’t be afraid to hop into DMs for detailed conversations.

#watercooler-conversations Consider this your water cooler space! Use this channel for social conversations, fun memes and general connections.

Open for any sort of personal connections.

#realtime-retrospective What’s working well, and not so well? We’d love to hear how your day is going. No promises, but if there’s something we can do to make the day more successful, we’ll do our best. Share feedback on the conference as it progresses. Engage in conversations with others about what was successful - and what was less so - over the course of the day. Please recognize that 99.99% of what is discussed will not be seen by the TriAgile 2020 team until after the conference is wrapped up.

Sponsor channels

#---platinum-sponsor-gitlab

#--silver-sponsor-vaco

#--silver-sponsor-fidelity-investments

#--silver-sponsor-aspe

#--silver-sponsor-eliassen-group

#-bronze-sponsor-metlife #-bronze-

sponsor-insight-digital

#-bronze-sponsor-maurice-hagar-agile

#-zoom-sponsor-healthy-agile

Sponsors make TriAgile possible. Please reach out over the course of the day to say thank you, and ask a question or two about the products and services that they offer.

Channels to support the various session

tracks

#track-agile-fundamentals, #track-agile-

outside-software, #track-coaching, #track-

culture, #track-innovation, #track-

leadership, #track-scaling-agile, #track-

software-practices

Engage with our speakers from this track. This is also a great channel to share ideas, ask questions and interact with other conference attendees interested in the track.

Installing and Using Slack

You can download Slack for your computer at Slack. If you’re new to Slack, check out the

Resources page at Slack.com, or search on YouTube to find a world of tips and tricks for new

users.

Get ready: Download Slack | Slack 101

*** You will need access to the TriAgile 2020 workspace. Check your TriAgile 2020 email

communications for a link to access the TriAgile 2020 workspace. ***

Best Practices

Here are a few best practices for using Slack.

● Use the at-mention feature to send a notification to someone you’ve mentioned in a post.

For example, to ask an engaging speaker about a point they mentioned in their talk use

the format @Speaker, Engaging to catch their attention.

● Use threads when responding to a post to keep channels more organized. When you’re

replying to something, Slack has an option to “Start a thread”

● Slack channels are public to everyone in the workspace, so use Direct Messages to

engage in private conversations. Whether that’s saying hi to an old friend and asking

about the kids, to checking in to the details about a possible job opening - use DMs

whenever you want the conversation to be personal. Direct Messages can have multiple

people on them, so they work for multi-person conversations on them.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’re compiling a list of questions that we know you’ll want answers to. We’ll keep working on

adding more questions, and providing answers as quickly as we can. Some questions may be

answered after the day of the conference.

● Will I have access to the speaker presentations?

○ Yes. You should have access to most speaker presentations. Details are still

being finalized.

● When will I have access to the session recordings?

○ Details still being finalized