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Brainstorming and Voting
Overview
Brainstorming and voting are the main features controlled by the facilitator and available to participants to collaborate during a workshop.
The user that has a Facilitator role on a Workshop activate the brainstorming and voting phases of the activity by clikcing on the buttons in the facilitation workflow, located at the top of the activity screen.
When a brainstorm or a vote is started by a facilitator, an In Progress signal appears on the activity.
Excelway tip: brainstorming and voting on an activity can be done synchronously, when all participants are gathered in the activity at the same time, or asynchronously, leaving to participants the freedom to contribute with their input at their own time.
Brainstorming
Starting the brainstorm
To start receiving contributions from participants, the user that has a facilitator role on a workshop clicks on the Brainstorm button in the facilitation workflow.
Then, the facilitator can:
– choose the colors of sticky notes that are to be used by participants during this brainstorming session
– add new colors by selecting a color and adding a label to each color
Excelway tip: by default, the color yellow with the label ‘idea’ is activated for every brainstorming session.
Once the facilitator clicks on the Start Brainstorm button, the brainstorm is on and participants can start adding their cards with the colors that have been selected by the facilitator.
Facilitators are notified that the brainstorm is on by a banner and an animation on the Brainstorm button.
Participants are notified that the brainstorm is on by a banner and the button + Add card that appears in the lists.
Excelway tip: contrarily to the facilitator’s screen, the participant’s screen only has the button + Add card in the lists when a brainstorm is on.
Editing colors during the Brainstorm
A facilitator can change the sticky notes colors he set at any time during the brainstorming session.
To do so, click on the color palette button at the side of the screen.
In the color menu, one can:
– edit the label of an existing color
– edit the color of an existing color
– activate a color if a brainstorm is on
– deactivate a color if a brainstorm is on
– remove an existing color
– add an additional color and label
Ending the brainstorm
To end the brainstorm, the facilitator can:
– click again on the Brainstorm button
– click on any other part of the facilitation workflow (Present, Vote or Next Steps)
Once the brainstorm is stopped, participants and facilitators don’t see the banner anymore. Furthermore, participants cannot add cards to lists anymore.
Voting
Starting the vote
To start a vote, the user that has a facilitator on a workshop clicks on the Vote button in the facilitation workflow.
The facilitator is invited to:
– select the color of the cards that should be voted on (by default, all colors is selected)
– type the number of votes per participant
– type the maximum number of votes per card per participant
Once the facilitator clicks on Start voting, participants and facilitators can start assigning their points to cards by clicking on the + and – buttons on each card.
During the vote, a banner appears to notify participants and facilitators that the vote is on and the countdown of votes left.
Excelway tip: The voting results will be available to participants and facilitators once the voting session has ended.
Ending the vote
To end the voting session, the facilitator clicks on the Vote button or any other button of the facilitation workflow.
Voting results are automatically sorted, the cards with the most votes appearing at the top of the list.
To see the details of votes, click on the voting result in a card. The number of votes per participants on this card appears in a bar chart.
