NoMad Meetings work with organisations, communities and influential leaders who must have effective and productive meetings and events, with anyone, wherever they are.

December 2011/January 2012: Christmas time is the peak time for connecting with others. Over 30 million people are online at peak times using Skype. US airlines are carrying 58 million passengers, an increase over the same month in 2010.

There will no doubt be a Moore's law (exponential growth) applied to people wanting to and able to connect, and the growth of ways to do this.

What we have found is that organisations come to us because they now know that they can use these differerent ways of connecting, that they do save time, reduce travel budgets, and now allow people to connect who would otherwise not be part of the project or team or alliance.

Here is a typical request to NoMadMeetings (copied straight from a current client):

"..scope out .. what we need to identify and develop {our organisation's} use of online and other non face to face meeting and education technologies. Consider and advise on training needs and “cultural” issues re adoption."

A year ago, we would have had to work with the organisation to identify the benefits of "thinking differently" - about the organisation's strategy, about the competitive pressures, about the benefits of knowing how to be skilled in engaging with staff, partners and clients in a variety of virtual ways, that would be win win for all parties. The contemporary organisation now knows that virtual communications, meetings and events can be useful - and even critical - and it is just a matter of knowing how to do this efficiently, effectively and creatively. Avoiding the pitfalls and fast tracking the benefits.

As we say - it just makes sense to find out what is possible, and make it happen - the NoMad way.

October/November 2011: At this time of year, most of us become aware of timezones, as we change in or out of daylight saving time. NoMad is currently producing a series of online conversations for a global organisation, including live interactive webcasts - engaging audiences from around the world around the topic of excellence and leadership. And managing timezones is a topic of our producer conversation. Just how do we reach people in different timeszones?

But "timezone" is merely the artefact - the real focus for us should be the people in those timezones - where they are, what are the circumstances that THEY find themselves in- not just in the timezone time of the day or night (which is usually our "concern"), but what they are doing in their city, village or country; what are the cultures that they are living in and surrounded by; what are they doing day to day; what are the challenges they face - that our webcasts and conversations with global leaders can help?

When we ask THESE questions, then timezone should trigger us to be sensitive to the language that we use, the assumptions we make (eg about what is important to us (the production team) and how relevant our priorities are to the audiences that we are wanting to engage).

So our tactic to undertand and engage our audience for this project, is to actually have conversations with the audiences, using various channels - online chat, Twitter, Facebook etc and to have them feedback what is important to them, and have them interact with THEIR networks using techniques that will be relevant to THEIR friends and colleagues - meeting down the pub, email, phone or whatever. So we are engaging with our first layer of audience, but then equipping them to engage with their networks in whatever way is culturally and timezone-appropriate - because we just can't assume that we know what will be appropriate for them. Their feedback shapes our production, the themes, the methods of communication.

So as we delight or struggle with timezones, daylight saving, and for some of us "net lag", then the salutory reminder is that we are dealing with individuals - and THEY know best!
(Photo with permission Anne Russell - Russellsynergies photos)

August/September 2011: How good do we have it? Grinding our teeth when we are delayed in the traffic? Swearing at the hold music on the phone. And for thousands of people in New York and elsewhere, forced to leave homes and workplaces, or forced to postpone travel, while the elements drop inches of rain onto the planet. Compare this with the new understanding I am getting while working with two indigenous communities in remote north of Australia.

The people in these communities have a system of communications that is simple. A connection with family and the country which, in fact is highly sophisticated in our terms, but "natural". There is a joy in their face to face connections with country, of the stories from elders and family, of the careful shaping and painting of a boomerang or the pragmatic shaping of new recreational facility in the community.

So the challenge for us, when designing how we communicate and support the community on the ground and virtually when we are not in the community, is totally acknowledging THEIR natural communications while introducing new technologies and techniques (eg virtual coaching, screen sharing and videoconferencing) to allow the virtual support that this project needs.

And taking it to the next level.. what will WE do differently - in the way that we engage virtually - because of our experience working with remote indigenous communities, and listening and watching and engaging in communications techniques that are 40,000 years old? That will surely be the subject of the next NoMad blog.

June/July 2011: The Silver lining from the Chilean Ash Cloud.
Once again we are visited by a planet-wide phenomenon which has disrupted people's travel plans, and forced businesses to rethink their communications strategies.

At a recent project kick-off workshop in Cairns, where we had 5 people from the Evolve team scheduled to participate, only 2 were able to be there due to last minute cancelled airline flights. Those absent included Carla, the main facilitator. Armed with a portable internet connection, Nigel from NoMad Meetings ran a video connection on the big screen and the meeting proceeded, and fully engaged with the client physically there in Cairns and other participants scattered around Australia.

The meeting was mostly facilitated by Carla from her base in NSW and other participants joined in virtually from their various locations.

One of the keys to the success of this emergency virtual meeting, was the solid belief that we could do it... that it was possible. There was no apology, or sense of compromise. And yes, we would have run it differently if everyone was physically present.

For this particular project, which involves working with remote indigenous communities and with the people who support those communities, we will need to combine both physical and virtual meetings, and recognise that both will make powerful contributions to the health, safety and confidence of all those involved in the program.

April /May 2011: How do you bring people together without bringing people together? Virtually. The issue with using the word virtual is that it suggests some form of compromise. In fact we have all been going virtual for decades, and enjoying the experience. Movies, radio, phone calls, television and, (remember?) the written posted letter are all methods where we feel like we are together with people without being physically together.

The role of the Producer is to make that virtual method (eg a movie) appropriate and effective. For a movie for example, the producer finds and finalises the script, oversees choice of the key actors, and engages a team of technicians and other creatives with the sole aim of engaging us, the audience in the story and the characters. The producer provides us the permission to suspend "belief" so that we are there, physically responding in the film.

As part of the Government's Innovation in Business initiative, we have been asked to be the producer for 3 business excellence Forums, simulcast across 3 regions - bringing people together without having to bring them together! The audience at each forum will be able to see and interact with business leaders from other regions, getting insights and learnings from business achievers who would otherwise not be accessible "in person".

Our role is to design the event so that people are entirely engaged with the business leaders, wherever the are located. We have selected the team of technicians and creatives and chosen the method of delivery - the software and audio visual tools - so that people feel like the business leaders at the remote locations are really there.

Our role as producer, is to coach and support the hosts, the interviewers and the technicians in engaging people who are not there, with the sole goal of bringing insight and value to the attendee, in a way that was not otherwise possible. Virtual - yes - without compromise.

February/March 2011: Leverage..Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. Archimedes(287 - 212 BC). We have noticed an increasing number of clients

who are wanting us to leverage - time, and also to leverage or concertina, distance. "I want to have this international keynote speaker but they do not have time to travel to our event". "I want to have this person to be presenting at this series of workshops scattered over several sites".

In a project planning session with a Government client the other day, we agreed that the lever needed to be strong - referring to the specialist, precise expertise required to enable a virtual keynote speaker to truly engage with the audience.

If the need (lever) is strong enough, NoMad will find a way (fulcrum) that anyone, can engage with anyone, wherever they are. It is what we do, and what we love to do.

January 2011: Floods in Australia and Brazil remind us of our vulnerability, and certainly in Australia, that the clear communications, and clearly managing of expectations, certainly saved lives and will help in the months ahead of rebuild. All these communications, were with people at a distance - via radio, via television. What has stood out is both the technical expertise to bring up to date facts into those communications and also the power of someone speaking from their heart - no spin, no politics, just human to human trusting, caring, empathetic communications. This key personal communication attribute - particularly from the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh - has been widely commentated on.

At NoMad we find that when there is genuine, heartfelt and purposeful communications, then it does not matter where people are or what their circumstances, the message is clear. When we work with organisations to assist them with their virtual meetings, we identify the elements of trusting and intentional communications - in emails, phone conference calls, videoconferencing and face to face meetings. These elements are the foundation of effective and productive meetings.

For fun, spot the miscommunication in the photo above taken by my sister Anne Russell, just a few 100 metres from her home in Brisbane, Queensland this week. Apposite graffiti for this disaster.

December 2011: Corporate managers struggle to align employees to the vision - to have them committed, taking ownership of the corporate's vision, being proactive to support and defend the corporate's vision.

Why SHOULD someone own someone else's vision?

In a recent engagement, NoMad was asked to support a subject specialist who was presenting a webinar to the field. What we do is to coach and train the presenter to effectively engage with a distant audience. We love making the "virtual", real!

What became obvious in the first few minutes of hearing their plan, was that the corporate's own vision for the outcome of this webinar, was unclear. Our coaching then was to gain a precise and clear expectation for the webinar, and then we could work on technique, and help the presenter own their own vision for the webinar, to achieve extraordinary outcomes for our client.

Producing worthwhile virtual events is often just as much about the clarity of purpose, as it is about the technicals, or the techniques of facilitation.

We will be pleased to hear from you, to help you create and deliver amazing engagements with people wherever they are!

November 2011: Virtual Angels - no, not a religiousl experience. Over this past few weeks we have been performing the duties of a virtual angel. And according to their feedback, the results have been life changing -

"It was all quite eye opening... I have [in the past] felt rather alienated and 'left' out, but I didn't and this was in large part down to your talking me through practicalities and helping me understand how it would all work. Thankyou. ". Lucy

The NoMad Virtual Angel service supports organisations and people by being that guide on the side, a coach, a friend, a technical support, so that the person, or the workshop or the meeting, can focus on the content and the intent of the virtual session.

As an example, the TippingPoint workshops in Australia are including special guests, virtually - beaming in to the physical workshops and actively engaging the participants. The purpose of the workshops is to bring about dialogue and action on climate change. So being able to have people "present" but not having to burn carbon and personal time travelling is appropriate.

Tipping Point asked NoMad Virtual Angel services to help the design of the project, and the management and production team powerfully create engaging and productive virtual experiences in the mostly face to face workshops. Gently and purposefully we had conversations with the key management stakeholders and the virtual guests, and brought about a positive and confident series of virtual interactions - of benefit to the audience, the production crew, and the Tipping Point organisation who can now increase the engagement of audiences and guests without increasing their carbon footprint.

The NoMad virtual angels help organisations, individuals and the planet have win, win, win.

New online communications products are now becoming business tools - in competition with the mainstream telecommunications companies - Vodafone, Telstra, AAPT, Sprite etc. What these "big players" are finding, is that decision makers have dropped loyalty to the big vendors, where there are clear benefits to go with alternative solutions.

Archive special: Webinar on Making Webinars Successful! Ask The Experts See the recording
here.

Here are three success factors in choosing a non-mainstream communications solution:

• Assess the service levels and see how you will manage expectations. For example, with Skype, it is perfect for most of the time, but difficult sometimes.
• Communicate and gain agreement with users about the benefits of using these solutions.  Change is challenging for many people, and they need to know why, and have their issues heard!
• Develop contingency plans for these new solutions.  While we should have contingency plans in place even for the mainstream telecommunications products, we have come complacent – we have no plan B if the phone system does not work.

We in NoMadMeetings are specialists in helping organisations build committed relationships wherever people are - using mainstream and contemporary communications tools and techniques. We see the potential of virtual relationships, social networks and virtual collaborations to raise the level of committed relationships - and therefore raising the health of people? It just makes sense!

We are looking at a global, multi-location organisation that is in the middle of a major merger. Effective organisational change, and the health of participants, rely on trust and committed relationships - with people wherever they are located. We proudly support leaders who need to develop powerful and trusting virtual relationships.

Whether you are using Polycom, or Tandberg or CISCO telepresence, Adobe Connect, WebEx or GoToMeeting or normal phone conference calls, there is significantly different brain information processing going on between when we are meeting face to face and when we are meeting at a distance.  Virtual meetings increase brain load, and can make it more difficult to interpret information and make decisions, than when face to face.
We have looked through our virtual meetings training materials and courses, and spot several elements of virtual meetings that this research says will reduce the productivity of meetings and drop the level of engagement that an effective leader will want from their meetings - unless specific techniques are used.  Here are 3 areas which improve cognitive load (and which we were relieved to see we include in our corporate training and coaching). For virtual meetings to be productive and engaging:

- Keep information simple and in simple blocks.  Complete each block and move to the next.

- Sign post regularly to place participants where they are in the agenda.

- Help participants “break through” heuristic cues such as likeability of others on the call, so that they can concentrate on the content and intent of the topic.

* The research was carried out by Associate Professor Nancy Pachana School of Psychology, University of Queensland and Professor Adrian Franklin, University of Tasmania via ABC (Australia) Radio National, Life Matters

**Loneliness: An emotional suffering when expected social bonds and quality social bonds fail to materialise.

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What are the organisational culture and business processes needed to maximise investment in videoconference and phone conference equipment? What are the key tips and tricks to make business meetings highly productive? Do you need a hand to quickly arrange a highly effective "virtual" meeting so that you keep up your business and other relationships?

Talk with us and together we will get your meetings happening quickly and show you how to run engaging meetings, every time. You may have all the communications gadgets, such as videoconferencing, WebEx, GoToMeeting, Adobe, Polycom, Tandberg, CISCO telepresence, phone conferencing, .. but your business meetings are not as productive as you need them to be; people are not always engaged; you just can't get the commitment that you need to grow your business as you know you can. Strategic planning is just not getting the "glue" from all the people that you need. You want to get decision making happening quickly. You need to keep your workforce engaged and manage people, and really engage with your key stakeholders - wherever they are.

They call us the meeting tamers... we provide you with processes and skills to confidently hold productive meetings... so that you can get on with your business and people know exactly why they are meeting and what's in it for them and you. The way you run meetings (and how others see you running meetings), is an indicator of your business acumen.

Just a quick note to say a huge thank you for the .. tips. It was enormously useful and formed the basis of our planning meetings prior to today's webinar. Caroline (UK)

I never knew there was so much skill and strategy needed to run online meetings - I rather suspect some people think it is just like any face to face meeting. Anne (Qld)

If quick and long lasting results make sense, talk with us with what you really want from your meetings.

We give you and your stakeholders role clarity and processes so that you will get critical clear savings in money and time, less stress and reduced ecological footprint for every meeting. It just makes sense! We coach and train you and your teams to plan and run productive business meetings so that you develop sustainable relationships when meeting with one person, to hundreds, in a way that is easy and natural.

The NoMads easily blend face to face and virtual facilitation, so that small and large businesses can fine tune the ways they collaborate and communicate; the way they drive their businesses and apply knowledge when, and where they need it.

With a growing set of revolutionary live coaching sessions, tailored courses, individual and team coaching and tailored services, we help you navigate to 'faster, better and smarter' meetings, workshops and other virtual events and help you enjoy meeting stress-free without going, well, 'mad'. It just makes sense!

NAUTICAL NOMAD
NoMad Nigel sailed the high seas from Victoria across the Tasman, aboard Vega, the Greenpeace Yacht. It was a test of teamwork, virtual and physical communications and provided many lessons which have been directly included in the NoMad services. For a great story click here.

Thanks for a great course....wasn’t sure in the beginning why I was doing it...providence prevailed and I certainly learnt a lot. Your prework was invaluable and the professionalism fantastic.   Great process. Ingrid

This course will help save you time and money and enable you to distinguish yourself as an early and effective adapter of new technologies. It will impress others that you are able to run meetings over the phone and internet in such a competent, enjoyable and efficient manner. Ann

In this course I came to understand the nuances which are essential to create a successful and efficient online meeting where participants finish the meeting satisfied that something has been achieved and the next meeting will be equally as worthwhile attending. Anne

Engage richly - wherever you are, wherever they are. Plan just-in-time rich meetings with clients - at times that suit everyone. Effectively share knowledge and best practices with your clients, suppliers, staff, colleagues, managers, business associates and/or stakeholders - wherever they are.

The question is, are you having these meetings faster, better and smarter?

Today more than ever we are concerned about how to innovate, create and deliver ‘just-in-time’ by sharing knowledge and collaborating.

This ultimately means that we can no longer waste time in getting to and from meetings and being frustrated trying to get everyone physically together. And we need to work with people wherever they are. Time is an asset and the less of it we have, the more valuable it gets. If we are to be competitive, effective and productive then we need to find new ways to communicate faster, better and smarter.

Virtual communications are more than a loud speaker phone, the latest iPhone, a mere keyboard, webcam, or having Messenger, Skype or Microsoft Live installed on your computer. A speakerphone does not a productive meeting make!

You need the wisdom, experience and know-how of getting the very best results efficiently and effectively by building relationships, and facilitating communications in the new economy - the world of digital and web-based telecommunications.

Of course, some of the traditional meeting roles apply but there is more than just the agenda and minutes to create and facilitate consistently effective virtual events - powerful and engaging phone conference calls; meetings with distributed teams where everyone feels involved and committed to actions; presentations which bring about change.

Is our approach to 'faster, better and smarter' meetings for you? Speak with us about what you want from your meetings.

Click here to learn more about the clients and customers we serve.

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