Koos Thank you for sharing your response. From the Virtual Forum I ran in March this year I offer the following comments:
Although there are many people using the internet the skills required to use it for conversations are limited especially with those over 30 years of age. Keeping the space open is critical. The virtual forum is a place where people can become aware of each other and begin to grow their ideas that they will bring to the face to face event. The virtual forum is like a new community that is forming, the cocktail party that helps us find people and to test ideas and opinions. The pre conference virtual space is an area where enthusiasm can grow and start inspiring people to be truly present at the face to face event. When the people arrive at the face to face event they have had an opportunity to get past the small talk and get down to some serious dialogue. Be prepared to be surprised. I was at the relatively low level of participation on the virtual forum but a very dynamic conversation developed on another "list" as a result of the Virtual Forum. Those who had visited the Virtual Space seemed to be better prepared for the face to face event. We ran the Virtual forum after the event to allow conversations to continue. The effectiveness of this is directly related to the convergence at the end of the face to face time. Birgitt has some great ideas about convergence and I suggest that follow this up with her. The electronic connection is just another level of community and conversation. We need to use it to find out how it best works for each group or business we work with. We must be aware of the networks that are used within the groups we work with and how people use these networks. As with any other form of communication the three rules are preparation, preparation and preparation. Just as the electronic connection can be a very positive force it also is vulnerable to Space Invaders and potentially destructive forces. In my preparation I must decide how I am going to deal with these forces, especially if "all contributions are welcome". Finally it is very hard to read the body language on the internet therefore to facilitate such an event does require a higher level of facilitation skills. My advice is to have more than one person involved in managing the space. Remember if the electronic space is open anyone can join the conversation at any time. In my case I chose to open the forum to anyone (no prior registration or subscriptions required) and it worked . We only had one problem when someone attacked our server, and it was fixed within a few hours. The site is still there and you can see the product for yourself at "www.soil-water.org.au" under the National PMP Forum section. Regards Robert.
