manual de instrucciones

Mode (1) — face to face

1. PLUS: personal relationships, casual encounters, easier to express oneself, bonds in different areas…
2. MINUS: Much more costly in time, money, personal sacrifice; also environmentally.
3. Unless highly profitable, both for the individuals and for the group, it will be hard to repeat such a meeting.
4. It’s important to assess the efficiency vs. the cost, and looking at the pluses and minuses of having meetings in this mode vs. other alternatives.

Mode (2) — online

1. PLUS:
   • All at once, or whenever one is able. 
   • Being away but as if very close. 
   • Shared documents. 
   • Shorter meetings focused
     in one or a few items at a time. 
   • Available highly productive tools,
     such as small groups, shared screen… 
   • Less expensive, and less cumbersome (logistics, housing, food…),
     less demanding to the individuals.
2. MINUS:
   • It also has an environmental cost, although lower.
   • Some computer literacy is needes, as well as good social abilities.
3. Online meetings should be very productive; if not, they end up fading away.
4. It’s important to assess its efficiency, and looking at the pluses and minuses of having meetings in this mode vs. face to face

Ability to focus — Attention span – 45-50 minutes

1. 1.Why is it necessary? Increased involvement, creativity, listening, proposals, support, productivity…
2. 2.In LESS THAN ONE HOUR, our attention decreases, however interested we may be.
   Our mind becomes less able to interact with others, the body needs a break (toilet, please :-D),
   we may start to get bored…
   And as a result it becomes more difficult to focus on the analysis or the project.
3. 3.Attention, as any other resource, is something we can manage. If we know how.

How to manage attentiveness and keep it high

1. Decreasing duration of meetings, and adding short breaks.
2. Using tools that do not requiere too much attention or listening to a speaker, but movement and participation.
3. Alternating deep subjects with lighter ones.
4. Having meetings for just one important matter with tools that help keep the attention
   (more individual thinking, more participation, no debate or thinking mix…).

1. As interested as I may be in any subject, there is a limit.
   For instance, we’re all interested in this training,
   and that’s why be spend 2 or 3 hours every day here together.
   But we’re probably not ready to devote 10 hours straight to it!
2. It is therefore a limited (or very limited) resource,
   that we need to manage.
3. It is usually limited by the place where we meet itself,
   by the time of the day at which we meet,
   and always by the attention span of the attendants.

A time that suits all of us?

1. IN SYNCHRONY: All of us at the same time.
   Very difficult that we are all available at the same time.
   When we are, only for a very short time.
2. NOT IN SYNCHRONY: Each one at his/her own time.
   Internet allows us to work on ONLINE documents where we can share our thoughts in a structured WAY.
   Each one puts as much time as s/he can, whenever s/he can.