Planning an Online Interaction

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail"

Anonymous Proverb  

Why Plan?

• To achieve your goals

• To make it easier for you

• To make it easier to have others help you by having a clear plan

• To make good choices along the way

"Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part"  

Anonymous Proverb  

When to Plan?

• For partnerships, 4-8 weeks prior to start of online activity

• For events, 4-12 weeks prior to start of event, depending on size and complexity

Who Plans?

• Project leader(s)

• Should include key partners/collaborators

• One person should be ultimately responsible

• Should be written out with sufficient detail for others to carry out tasks

Planning and Leadership

• Good leaders have a plan.

• Plans allow you to share tasks with others and establish clear roles – people appreciate this.

• Plans show you are organized and people will trust you more!

Sharing the Plan – Gaining Commitment

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans."

 Peter F. Drucker 

• Get the commitment of your partners

• Make adjustments as needed.

Level of Detail

• Defines key tasks

• Attaches a date to each task/milestone

• Attaches a lead person responsible to each task

• Articulates “why we are doing this task” as much as possible

Purpose

• Purpose must be established first. (See Purpose Checklist)

• Each element of the plan should reflect and support the purpose.

• If it doesn’t serve the purpose, ask if the task should be done at all!

Target Audience

• What do they know?

• What tech skills do they have?

• What motivates them/what do they want?

• Demographic information

• Contact information

Time Frame – Timeline

• Events: 2-4 weeks

• Projects: cycle of group formation, work, review, evaluation and celebration (1-9 months)

• Mix of online and offline components

• Synchronous “punctuation points”

• Create a calendar and share

Types of Interactions

Ongoing discussions or question & answer? Focused or wide-ranging? Topics defined in advance or ongoing by

participants? Intellectual? Social? Sensitive? Controversial? Will they generate content/knowledge that needs

to be captured? Synchronous (same time) and/or asynchronous

(different time) interactions? Is there a potential language barrier?

Pre-Assessment

• Besides audience assessment, what else do you need to know?

• Resources needed?

• Tech support?

• Translation?

• Offline logistics for F2F meetings?

Guidelines, Rules & Governance

• Keep them simple and clear

• Make sure they align with organizational/partner/school requirements

• Know who makes final decisions if disagreement occurs

• Decide how to communicate the rules to participants

Example: Participation Expectations

• Leaders and facilitators will check online space daily

• Participants will log on at least 2x per week

• Everyone will actively participate in discussions by posting at least once per week

RolesYou Don’t Have to Do It All Alone

• Potential Roles– Leader/Project Manager– Technical Support– Facilitator(s)– Translator– Cybrarian– Logistics– Subject Matter Expert(s)

Content and Experts

• Does your purpose require supporting materials online? (papers, reports, data)

• Do you require subject matter experts to lead specific events or discussions?

• Do you require experts to be “on call” to answer questions?

Technology

• Who will design/structure the online space?

• Who will handle registration of participants?

• Who will help those with difficulties?

Orientation

• How will you introduce the project/event to the participants?

• How will you show them how to use the online tool?

• How will you orient them to the project agenda/plan and online space?

• Offline? Online? Both?

Facilitation

• Do you have someone who has familiarity with online facilitation?

• If not, plan to get training from Project Harmony trainers.

Materials

• What might you need?– Project overview sheet (Purpose)– Participant list– Invitation– Orientation documents– Pre/Post surveys– Other?

Evaluation

• Make sure pre and post evaluation plans complement each other

• Know and include any evaluation requirements of partners/funders

• Have a way to USE the data you gain from evaluation (don’t evaluate just to have done the steps of evaluation)

Reporting

• Capture participant and leader stories throughout the project

• Publish useful and relevant reports and stories to constituents, sponsors and the public

• Combine data, text and picture for an engaging report

Lessons Learned for “Next Time”

• After Action Review

• What did you do that you would do again because it went well?

• What would you not do/change next time?

• How will you share these lessons with others to build capacity and sustainability over time?