ASA Connect

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------

I know in the pharmaceutical industry and I'm sure many other industries that are international -we've been having online meetings and/Telecons  for at least a couple decades. 

One (not the only) consideration is time zone
differences. even with US companies and living in California one finds that too many meetings are organized  with California locations
calling in at six or seven in the morning.

sometimes it is impossible to have critical meetings scheduled at a convenient time in the US with European or Asian partners.  and somebody has to  get on a call at two and three in the morning. Generally the companies will let you take those calls at home.  for some high-level meetings you might actually have to go into work at two or three in the morning. When you schedule calls and meetings with people in Asia you have to consider the international date line and what day of the week it is in those countries versus the US. For one client in Japan imeeting announcements would be separate column for the US and Asia to list the date and time of the meeting. 

precisely one time I got on a call while sitting in the middle of a busy line at Starbucks  I only stayed on the call long enough to let them hear the noise and then I went on mute. . from that day forward they moved the meeting to later in the morning. I generally don't Recommend doing that .

some companies have a meeting room with a large flat panel TV screen and multiple microphones set up for attendees And other A/V devices for projecting
slide sets /documents or a regular video cam on a tripid.

A not uncommon complaint is about people who start unwrapping food  packages and eating- and are  sitting by the microphone. That or shuffling papers right next to the microphone.  I've been on some webex or Telecon's where there is inexplicable noise on the line. the few times that's happened everybody agrees to hang up and dial back in.


Some meetings are simply staring at the agenda or some notes that are displayed on the screen while people talk.
If you're a newcomer to the meeting you don't always know who's talking I think Zoom has a feature that as long as you dial in on the right number it will identify who is talking

Displays of graphs and charts can be tricky if you can't fit the whole chart on your laptop or monitor. Usually everybody has a copy of the document you're referring to so you don't absolutely have to see it on the screen

some meetings are group editing of important documents where somebody who is reasonably capable of typing makes edits in real time to a document and  everybody can see the changes 

Situations  to be careful of - are people who are running late and have to join the meeting on their car phone. those people have to go on mute because of the car noise. 

depending on the company and the importance of a meeting there may be an IT person on call who can help with debugging problems,  getting the software running, or getting devices connected into the meeting


most countries  -,speakers will have adequate
bandwidth and Internet speed for a video connection.

on rare occasion some people have linked in from fourth and fifth world countries where Internet speeds may not be adequate.

when I was in Cuba you paid telephone charges fior a call by the minute in advance -$$$$$$$$.
on one occasion (within the last two years)
I let client know 
that unless it was absolutely utterly necessary
there was no inexpensive way for me to call in from Cuba. 
 and there was always the possibility that my Internet connection was being monitored by someone in the government.
Most secure websitess were blocked in Cuba .
there was simply no way to get to  some websites.
One didn't necessarily want to be emailing corporate  documents or  trying to upload or download documents from the United States in that situation

one time while  i was in Fiji for work- tropical as it was-
their undersea telephone cable went out for a day and Internet , phone , fax service was at best intermittent. Fortunately that was resolved quickly.

------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Consultant and
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics


---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 01:05
From: Eric Vance
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------

Time zones are an issue.  Have you considered asynchronous meetings?

For general advice, I like stuff Nancy White does.  See, for example, her "Moving Online in Pandemic #x" at https://fullcirc.com/.

Bill​

------------------------------
Bill Harris
Data & Analytics Consultant
Snohomish County PUD
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 07:31
From: Chris Barker
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

I know in the pharmaceutical industry and I'm sure many other industries that are international -we've been having online meetings and/Telecons  for at least a couple decades. 

One (not the only) consideration is time zone
differences. even with US companies and living in California one finds that too many meetings are organized  with California locations
calling in at six or seven in the morning.

sometimes it is impossible to have critical meetings scheduled at a convenient time in the US with European or Asian partners.  and somebody has to  get on a call at two and three in the morning. Generally the companies will let you take those calls at home.  for some high-level meetings you might actually have to go into work at two or three in the morning. When you schedule calls and meetings with people in Asia you have to consider the international date line and what day of the week it is in those countries versus the US. For one client in Japan imeeting announcements would be separate column for the US and Asia to list the date and time of the meeting.

precisely one time I got on a call while sitting in the middle of a busy line at Starbucks  I only stayed on the call long enough to let them hear the noise and then I went on mute. . from that day forward they moved the meeting to later in the morning. I generally don't Recommend doing that .

some companies have a meeting room with a large flat panel TV screen and multiple microphones set up for attendees And other A/V devices for projecting
slide sets /documents or a regular video cam on a tripid.

A not uncommon complaint is about people who start unwrapping food  packages and eating- and are  sitting by the microphone. That or shuffling papers right next to the microphone.  I've been on some webex or Telecon's where there is inexplicable noise on the line. the few times that's happened everybody agrees to hang up and dial back in.


Some meetings are simply staring at the agenda or some notes that are displayed on the screen while people talk.
If you're a newcomer to the meeting you don't always know who's talking I think Zoom has a feature that as long as you dial in on the right number it will identify who is talking

Displays of graphs and charts can be tricky if you can't fit the whole chart on your laptop or monitor. Usually everybody has a copy of the document you're referring to so you don't absolutely have to see it on the screen

some meetings are group editing of important documents where somebody who is reasonably capable of typing makes edits in real time to a document and  everybody can see the changes

Situations  to be careful of - are people who are running late and have to join the meeting on their car phone. those people have to go on mute because of the car noise. 

depending on the company and the importance of a meeting there may be an IT person on call who can help with debugging problems,  getting the software running, or getting devices connected into the meeting


most countries  -,speakers will have adequate
bandwidth and Internet speed for a video connection.

on rare occasion some people have linked in from fourth and fifth world countries where Internet speeds may not be adequate.

when I was in Cuba you paid telephone charges fior a call by the minute in advance -$$$$$$$$.
on one occasion (within the last two years)
I let client know
that unless it was absolutely utterly necessary
there was no inexpensive way for me to call in from Cuba.
 and there was always the possibility that my Internet connection was being monitored by someone in the government.
Most secure websitess were blocked in Cuba .
there was simply no way to get to  some websites.
One didn't necessarily want to be emailing corporate  documents or  trying to upload or download documents from the United States in that situation

one time while  i was in Fiji for work- tropical as it was-
their undersea telephone cable went out for a day and Internet , phone , fax service was at best intermittent. Fortunately that was resolved quickly.

------------------------------
Chris Barker, Ph.D.
Consultant and
Adjunct Associate Professor of Biostatistics


---
"In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds."
-Steve Lacy

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 01:05
From: Eric Vance
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------

Excellent timely post, Eric! Thank you.

In addition, I suggest the following.
1. Have everyone except the speaker mute their microphones.
2. When someone wants to speak, use the raise hand feature.  This avoids multiple people speaking at one time.
3. Explain 1 and 2 at meeting startup.
4. Look into the camera when speaking.

------------------------------
Kathleen Jablonski
Assoc Research Prof
George Washington University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 01:05
From: Eric Vance
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------

Just a quick note-I tend to do a lot of one-on-one meetings, and with some of my clients, I am actually walking through analyses with them (performing them, interpreting them) and a lot of meeting software now makes it very easy to record these meetings. That can be a big help for some of these clients, like a personalized how-to video that they can return to later.

------------------------------
Kim Love
CNSL Section Communications Officer
Owner and Lead Consultant
K. R. Love Quantitative Consulting & Collaboration
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 01:05
From: Eric Vance
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------

Great topic, and excellent points above! Like Chris and Kim, I do a lot of remote meetings - actually, nearly all of my client meetings and meetings with my team are remote. Here are some notes based on our experience:

Consider confidentiality / intellectual property. We work with medical device companies on FDA submissions, so this was a major consideration when choosing our meeting software. We chose WebEx and it has been very good. We pay to play, but there are also free plans.

Chris mentioned having the software link a caller's name to their number. For people who don't click in and use computer audio, this often has to be explained. As an attendee, I tend to let the host handle it. As a host, I try to help clients through it twice (for example: hang up, enter the online meeting, follow the call your phone / dial-in instructions). A few people still won't get it. If you're the host, ask who is on each call-in user number and note it down. Take a deep breath and move on.

Displaying material: Ask your attendees about screen resolution and adjust yours accordingly. For example, I have a double-width curved widescreen monitor and I need to decrease resolution for documents to appear at a reasonable size to others.

Collaborative documents: Editing in real time is great, as long as only one person does this on the call. If the document is not a Google doc, as often happens with companies who have document control systems, the edited version is distributed at the end of the call.

Looking forward to other tips, and wishing all will stay safe and stay healthy.

------------------------------
Alicia Toledano
President
Biostatistics Consulting, LLC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-18-2020 01:05
From: Eric Vance
Subject: Tips for remote meetings?

Over the past few days working exclusively from home I've had dozens of remote Zoom meetings. That's got me thinking about best practices for remote collaborations. What behaviors should statisticians change when we move from face-to-face meetings to remote meetings?

I created a one-page description of things I recommend doing specifically for remote collaborations: www.osf.io/xynft

Most behaviors remain the same as for face-to-face meetings. Two things I'm more aware of now that I think are helpful for remote meetings are:
1. Create a Google document to share with the domain expert that replaces a meeting room "whiteboard." Write out the goals of the meeting and the meeting notes in real time, and refer to this document throughout the meeting. A template for notes for a remote meeting that anyone can copy/adapt is at bit.ly/gdoccollabtemplate
2. Get as much screen space as you can (bring home an external monitor from work?) so you can have the video app open as well as other files (including the collaboratively edited Google doc for notes).

Does anyone else have tips for moving from face-to-face to remote collaboration meetings?

------------------------------
Eric Vance
LISA, University of Colorado-Boulder
Associate Professor and Director
Boulder CO, United States
------------------------------