Online Whiteboard Guide
What Are The Best Tips For Using Online Whiteboards In Virtual Design Thinking Workshops?
Key Takeaways
- Choose the right online whiteboard for your needs considering usability, collaborative features, and cost.
- Prepare your online whiteboard in advance to create a clear structure and layout for the workshop.
- Engage participants with interactive features like polls, timers, and chat to create a dynamic experience.
- Encourage collaboration and creativity by giving participants editing rights and assigning specific activities.
- Capture and share online whiteboard outputs post-workshop to record and share findings.
Introduction
From people-centeredness to prototype creation, design thinking is a systematic method of problem-solving. It is often used in teams to foster collaboration and creativity. Keeping everyone on the same page while scattered can be challenging. Communication and collaboration are more challenging than in-person settings.
An online whiteboard is one technique that may be used to get around this problem.
Users of an online whiteboard may collaborate in real time by drawing, writing, annotating, and sharing ideas visually. It can be used to facilitate various design thinking activities such as brainstorming, affinity mapping, journey mapping and feedback sessions.
But how can you make the most of an online whiteboard in a virtual design thinking workshop? Some suggestions to consider:
Choose the right online whiteboard platform for your needs
There are many online whiteboard tools available, each with different features and functionalities. When deciding on an online whiteboard, it’s important to take into account its usability, availability, collaborative features, personalization choices, integration possibilities, and cost.
Before settling on a tool for your team and project, you may want to see how well it works with a few trial runs.
Prepare your online whiteboard in advance
Before the workshop, you should create a clear structure and layout for your online whiteboard. You can use templates, grids, shapes and colors to organize your content and guide your participants. You should also label your sections and provide instructions for each activity. This will help you save time and avoid confusion during the workshop.
Engage your participants with interactive features
Using an online whiteboard has the added benefit of facilitating conversation between you and your audience. You can use features such as polls, timers, stickers, emojis and chat to solicit feedback, opinions and emotions from your participants. Zooming in and out, panning around, and locking and unlocking stuff are among available options. These features can help you create a more dynamic and engaging workshop experience.
Encourage collaboration and creativity among your participants
The ability to work together in real time with your attendees is another advantage of employing an online whiteboard. You can invite your participants to join your online whiteboard and give them editing rights so that they can contribute their ideas and comments. Divide your participants into smaller groups and assign them different sections or pages of your online whiteboard for specific activities. Encourage collaboration and participation from your audience in this way.
Capture and share your online whiteboard outputs
After the workshop, capture and share your online whiteboard outputs. Use export, download, print, and share to save and distribute your online whiteboard content in PDF, PNG, or JPG. Comment, annotate, and highlight to examine and improve your online whiteboard material. It will let you record and share workshop findings.
Conclusion
Using an online whiteboard can be a great way to facilitate a virtual design thinking workshop. Following these guidelines will make your time spent using an online whiteboard more productive and pleasant for you and your audience.