How to make a good atmosphere at the online event

Hi there, it's Maruko. The Golden Week has just begun. How are you doing today?

This morning, I held the event named "Superior Chatting Hour" (in Japanese「質の高い雑談会」, I'm not sure whether it's correct translation but I don't care :P).

The event which always has a waiting list

Today's event was the 5th one. Although it started at 8 a.m., 4 participants gathered at zoom without any delay (Thanks!).

Today, I'll write about the points I keep in my mind to make a good atmosphere at the online event.

How to make a safe and fun atmosphere?

First of all, I always take care of these things;

・Psychological safety is secured in the event
・No "Dream killer" ("Dream killer" is the person who deny other person's opinion or always say "No" to kill their dream.)
・No Jealous, No Anger and No Complaints

The above three things are the ground rules. Of course, among the Katsuma-Juku students, they learn these rules from experience so that I don't have anything to do about them.

And also, these two points;

・Pass the baton of speech equally 
・Change a subject naturally when only a few participants show interests

I learned from a senior facilitator that the participants' satisfaction is proportional to their amount of speech. Of course, I need to be flexible because some participants think it's okay not to speak much but to listen to other participants' talking. 

I want to make the all-participating type of event. So, if a topic is specified to something and takes a long time, I try to change a subject in a natural way. I wish every participant can bring back some useful information to their home.

There're lots of things to learn.

Even if I held events many times, there'are still lots of things to learn. For example;

・How to change a subject not to hurt participants' feelings?
・How to make a chance to speak for a participant who doesn't speak much?
・How to bring up a subject which most of the participants have an interest in?

This event takes only an hour but it brings me many things to learn. There are books for facilitator, so I'll read it and improve my facilitation skill.

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (English Edition)

Thank you very much for your reading and have a nice day!