Our first VCs

Once Team Bedouin had split up and returned to our respective home countries, the real work began. Here are some methods we have been using to keep in touch.

1. We made a Facebook group. 7/8 of our group already had Facebook accounts, so this made the most sense for chatting and other virtual communications. Most of our team members post updates on their individual work and coach meetings at their university. Important info, like meeting scheduling polls through Doodle, and links for downloading potential software, are also distributed here. 

2. We began to effectively make use of our Dropbox. At first, it was a free-for-all. We had lots of folders, but they weren't organized. We would get online for a VC, and would have to wait while everyone found the presentation files and downloaded them. Bandwidth issues began to arise frequently. So, Heinrich revamped the folder organization and created an "exchange" folder so that, before each VC, everyone would upload their files, and the team would download them before the VC started. This has proven to be a much more efficient use of our time.

3. Oh, Scopia. Do we love you or do we hate you? The first weeks were great. We learned to mute our mics when we weren't speaking, we would type messages for clarification, and we were using the non-verbal signs quite well! But then, you made things difficult. You kicked us offline, you said the ports were full, and so we had to be creative. One time, Morgane had to Skype with a few of us so we could listen to the team on Scopia! This had to stop. 

A screenshot of a Scopia session

4. We moved to Google Hangouts. We were tired of having to be tied to our computers for VCs, and liked that GH allowed us to use our smartphones to conduct conferences. We tried it out for the first time a couple of days ago, and plan on utilizing it for future VCs as well.