What's one thing you wish you had known when you first started facilitating with MURAL? ⛑
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Hey all! New to MURAL, and I'm so excited 🎆🎇 to dive in with my participants using MURAL.
If you were me, and you were just starting out, what's one tip, trick, or word of wisdom, you wish you had known before facilitating your first session on MURAL?🏫
Comments
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Grouped shapes are still individually text editable so you can make some really cool type in templates.
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Hey @Beth! This is super general, but in some of my first sessions I was quickly reminded that collaborative editing and writing is not comfortable for everyone right away. Some people can get very stressed out when a bunch of stuff starts moving on the screen at once! Of course, structured templates help, but I think it's always good to levelset with new participants at the beginning ("this is a collaborative tool, it will be messy and sometimes confusing, don't worry—the point is just to share your ideas").
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@Jonelle You're so right about that levelset. I've also been finding it helpful to share a MURAL ahead of a meeting (when it makes sense to) so ppl can dig in and comment beforehand. It's intimidating to leave stickies while people are actively watching! I super dig Private Mode during collaboration sessions for this reason.
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Hi @Beth !
The Outline is one of my most favorite functions - it helps keep me organized even if my mural gets a little messy and keeps me on track (along with the timer!) when facilitating sessions.
For a mural my team uses during a weekly meeting, I populate the outline with each weeks date, so I have a running track of notes that's easily navigable.
🌼
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@kara 🧠⚡❣️ "I populate the outline with each weeks date, so I have a running track of notes that's easily navigable." This is such a great idea!
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I would have liked to know from the beginning that I cannot specify colours for stickies on the murals. I often work with groups and when I prepare stickies, I lose the information about who created which card, because usually the cards are reordered again by the facilitator, etc. I don't know what colour the stickies are.
I find it super important to define the colour of stickies on a board, e.g. when using World Café approaches. It would be even better to let different groups work on one mural and you could determine the colour of the cards for each area!
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When working with people who have little or no experience with MURAL, make sure you give plenty of time for them to get comfortable with the basic controls & tools. Especially how to zoom and pan around the board, These actions seem like second nature to those of us who have used the tools before but can be super-frustrating to those who are starting out.
People who struggle with the controls will often feel embarrassed which distracts them from whatever you are trying to get accomplished.
Point out the "⚙ Zoom settings" button in the bottom right of everyones screen which will allow them to adjust their settings and is a place they can reference anytime they forget how to maneuver around.
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"Design at 100%" so that stickies are in the right proportion to the design. How did i miss that? Thanks @marktippin for that advice!
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Oh wow @LyndaBaker @marktippin does that work? Designing at 100%? Designing to proportion of Murals has always been a weakness
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I love the process of gradual discovery, but if I had to know the most useful stuff at the outset, this might be my list:
- Locking 🔐
- Summoning 🦆🦆🦆
- "Z" + Drag to zoom 🔍️
- Highlight + right-click then Download CSV 🗄️
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@Chris_W, I feel like every time I forget to lock 🔐 something down, I regret it. @kara, I also adore the outline functionality. 💖
- You can hide and reveal areas to your participants.✨
- If you use areas at 100%, when you click on the outline header to navigate, it takes you right there at the correct zoom.🗺
- You can add instructions to the mural.👩🏫
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using outline and to plan a short 10 minute session in advance for people to get used to mural and to define a "playground" for people to get comfortable using mural at their own leisure.
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I suggest keeping groups small to start out -- don't get too many on the board at once until you get your sea legs. It can drive you bonkers when stuff is happening all at once and you aren't as comfortable with all the tools.
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Empathy - the greatest power of super-facilitator :) you have to remember that users are new to MURAL, you have to be open for their doubts, a large number of questions, withdrawal when they do not understand the tool.
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Don't know if I'm too late to the party, but agree with the above.
- Lock 100%!
- Also control + drag over multiple things to select multiple objects at once (then you can group or lock at one time)
- Equally control + Shift + Drag (unlock multiple at once!)
- Keep it simple, but also spend time thinking ahead of teh session of what your stakeholder experience will be on the mural, a bit of time ahead making suyre it flows saves you time and headaches!
Hope this helps :)
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