Multi-team Facilitation of Very Large-scale Distributed Meetings

Abstract

Distributed work teams routinely use virtual meetings to support their collaborative work. In this paper, we present a case study of the facilitation that was provided for a very large-scale distributed meeting. Small teams of facilitators were recruited, trained, and assigned to each of six discussion forums of ManagerJam, a 48 hour meeting of over 8,000 managers in a large global technology company. Through examination of pre-Jam records, analysis of the Jam conversation archive, and postevent interviews with over 20 facilitators, we describe the planning and training efforts, and assess the impact of the facilitation teams on the meeting’s effectiveness. Guidelines for effective team facilitation of very large-scale meetings are provided, and design implications for meeting support systems are described.