[Event Report] CMX Connect TOKYO #04: Trying out a workshop using Miro
CMX Connect TOKYO #04 was held online on Saturday, September 5th. This time, as an operations team member, I was involved from the stage of brainstorming the event content... and wow, my only takeaway is that it was a constant stream of learning, learning, learning, and more learning!! (laughs)
For this event, I worked on various tasks alongside four other operations members: our representative Mr. Ono, Mr. Naono from WeWork, and Mr. Suzuki from Oshiro.
We decided that the theme would be 'The Purpose of Online Events,' and for this event, we thought, 'Let's all try using a new tool...!' The tool that was chosen was the online whiteboard tool, 'Miro'.
I don't know what I was thinking, but I volunteered to be in charge of researching 'Miro.' Honestly, I underestimated it, or rather, it was much harder than I thought (oops), but it was an incredibly good experience, so I'd like to write a 'Miro' report as a sort of memo.
For those of you thinking, 'I want to try using Miro from now on!', I think I've already encountered most of the pitfalls you're likely to run into (laughs), so I hope this is at least a little bit helpful!
What is the online whiteboard tool 'Miro'?
As the name suggests, it is a whiteboard-like tool that can be used online. You can write text on sticky notes and drag them around, allowing you to perform tasks like that online.
At CMX Connect TOKYO, we were talking about how we really wanted to continue the experience of 'being able to interact with other participants through workshops' even online, but we also discussed how difficult it is to create a sense of 'doing things together.'
Since spreadsheets feel a bit lackluster, we decided to take on the challenge of using 'Miro' because it allows multiple people to edit simultaneously, everyone can take actions, it's intuitive, and it seems useful for brainstorming and workshops.
Preparation until the day of the event
1. First, check the basic functions by yourself
We decided to just try using it, so I clicked around randomly until the next meeting. My personal impression was that the UI was quite intuitive, so even I, who cannot speak English, could understand it to some extent. After that, I Googled 'Miro how to use' and read articles by those who had gone before me.
2. Try using it with the 4 operations members
I created a rough draft that seemed like it could work for a workshop, and we tried it out with the four of us at the second meeting. At this point, I grasped most of how to use the tool, and everyone reacted by saying it seemed usable, so I was relieved.
That said, we wanted people to try using the tool in advance, so we decided to announce a board where they could write their self-introductions and asked them to fill it out.
3. Let's try it with a large group! So, we challenged it with about 7 volunteers
But, alas. Things don't always go that smoothly (lol). Voices were raised about issues that hadn't come up at all last time...
・It's heavy when launching Miro while connected to Zoom
・The PC is hot and making a whirring sound
・When creating a worksheet by inserting a table, the width changes to fit the sticky notes
(;´Д`) < Are you serious...
So, we decided it would be better to have a recovery plan! We came up with the following strategy:
・Create a board for everyone and individual boards for each mentor
・Since the sheet layout breaks when the table width changes, turn it into an image
・If it's terrible when connecting, have a work time on the individual boards
・If there is someone who cannot input, the mentor will input on their behalf
Alright! This is perfect!! I thought, but...
It seems you can only create up to 3 boards with the free version ＼(＾o＾)／
While we were talking about what to do, our representative Mr. Ono registered for the paid plan at the speed of light, and we were saved...
(I truly respect this kind of quick action and want to emulate it!)
And with that, the rehearsal is officially over! I prepared boards for everyone and individual boards, and we were ready for the big day!
*Discovered a setting to keep table width from changing
While I was preparing the actual board by turning the table into an image, I had a bad feeling that it would feel heavy as an image... so I wondered what to do, and when I tried creating the table again...
Hmm? Cell resize?? I clicked it, and to my surprise, it was selectable!!! Lol. So, if you select "Manual," the table width won't change automatically, so everyone please try using it!
(The default is Auto)
We were able to use it simultaneously with nearly 30 people!!!!!
In conclusion, we were able to successfully edit the same board simultaneously with nearly 30 people!
This is a bird's-eye view of the space for all teams. What do you think? Doesn't it feel like we're all doing it together? lol
Ways to get people to try out the tool in advance
Using a tool for the first time on the day of the event might be a bit of a hurdle... so we prepared a practice board and asked everyone to write their self-introductions in advance.
We announced this to those who signed up beforehand and had them fill it out.
I was happy to hear that some people said they were glad there was a practice board...!
How to proceed with the workshop
During the workshop, mentors shared their screens via Zoom to guide their respective teams through the space like this.
・Have them choose their favorite color sticky note, enter text, and move the sticky notes themselves
・Have each person choose one, then present and discuss
One of the reasons we chose Miro this time was because we thought it would be nice to see how other teams were doing, so after our team finished, we went to peek at the other teams' spaces lol
Each team had different ways of placing sticky notes and writing text, and we talked about how it really shows their personalities (lol)
Basic Miro menu
I'll also post an overview of the menus on the left and bottom left while I'm at it! As for what you can do... I think it's best to try it out yourself, so I'll skip the explanation lol
Vertical menu on the left
Horizontal menu at the bottom left
By the way, this is the super-summary document I created for the mentors. It's basically the kind of content where, at the very least, if you know this, you can get through the workshop lol
A trick unique to online: Preparing 'Confidential' marks
One concern that I think is quite common for online events is that while it's great that screenshots can be taken easily, how do you handle situations where you don't want content to be seen by an unspecified number of people or spread around?
With 'Miro' this time, the sight of sticky notes plastered everywhere is part of its appeal, so I was wondering what to do, and the nice idea that came up was this 'Confidential' mark!
At the end of the event, we made an announcement to 'please put a Confidential mark on any content you don't want seen,' and everyone used them like this.
I borrowed the material from 'Irasutoya,' which has a cute, hand-drawn look.
https://www.irasutoya.com/2015/09/blog-post_615.html
This was one idea I came up with to encourage honest talk with psychological safety so that the discussion wouldn't end with just superficial talk, but I think this is a point that we must always keep in mind.
A word from the Miro Master
I was given the title of 'Miro Master' by our representative, Mr. Ono (lol), but I really learned a lot this time.
Honestly, there were a few times in the middle where I momentarily regretted it (lol), but seeing comments on Twitter and elsewhere saying that using Miro was great or that it was fun, I really felt it was worth doing!
During the reveal time in the main session, 'Rehearsals are important!!' came up again, and I deeply felt that for online tools, it really is better to do a 'test run with a large group,' yes.
Also, my honest impression is that this Miro is actually super convenient, lol. Depending on how you use it, it can be used as presentation material like PowerPoint, or as a tool to keep meeting minutes, history, or personal notes. Being able to write various things over a wide area with a single URL is quite convenient. Also, it can be used when you want to add text or borders to images, so I think I'll be using it actively in the future too lol
Things I couldn't figure out
Even though I'm called a Miro Master, there are a few things I couldn't figure out...
・Board copy function
・The feature in PowerPoint that lets you drag to select a wide area
If anyone happens to know, please, please let me know...!
I tried looking it up, but I couldn't figure it out in the end... so I used my usual brute-force method, steadily clicking to copy Frames until I made 10 boards (lol).
Reflections on participating as an operations member
I don't often get the chance to work with people from other companies outside of my own job, so it was a really great experience! I learned so much about how to proceed, ways of thinking, and dividing roles, and above all, it was fun.
Personally, I had a lot of tough times from late July to mid-August, and my mental state was starting to take a hit... but I feel like the CMX meetings I had during that time really saved me.
Once again, I deeply feel that I am being helped by this community called "CMX Connect TOKYO," so I want to continue helping out actively in the future!
Thank you to everyone who participated and to the mentors who helped out on the day!
The next one will be on Saturday, 10/24 from 9:30 AM, so if you're interested, please make sure to clear your schedule!