{"id":753112,"date":"2021-06-09T13:49:50","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T20:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-blog-post&p=753112"},"modified":"2021-09-09T08:52:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T15:52:58","slug":"suggestions-for-parallel-chat-in-meetings","status":"publish","type":"msr-blog-post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/articles\/suggestions-for-parallel-chat-in-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Suggestions for parallel chat in meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/strong>By Sharon Gillett, Danielle Bragg (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Nancy Baym (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Rachel Bergman, Advait Sarkar (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Priscilla Wong, Abigail Sellen (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, and Sean Rintel (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Most videoconferencing platforms enable attendees to post text, images, files, links etc. in a meeting chat pane or window simultaneously with audio\/visual (A\/V) modalities. remote This\u00a0parallel chat<\/i>\u00a0is typically open to all meeting invitees and flows concurrently with the A\/V focus of the meeting (for example a presentation or discussion).\u00a0\u00a0\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bOur\u00a0analysis of parallel chat in work meetings (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0found that while parallel chat is considered a net positive, it can also be distracting, especially in meetings that involve more than a small group of people. Parallel chat may also not be accessible or inclusive.<\/p>\n Our general position is that organizations should exploring\u00a0more intentional collaboration (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0These guidelines should help organizers\/moderators and participants to be more intentional about using parallel chat in meetings. We cover what makes parallel chat useful or distracting, and guidelines for before, during, and after meetings.<\/p>\n Here are some questions that will help guide you to maximizing the value of chat and help it from becoming distracting.<\/p>\n Parallel chat can be very effective when it is planned for and expectations are communicated among team members and meeting attendees. In larger meetings it also benefits from light\u00a0moderation.<\/p>\n For more information on making remote interactions more accessible, especially for large events such as conferences, see the\u00a0ACM Guide to Accessible Remote Attendance (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>. For more information on inclusive practices in general, see\u00a0Microsoft\u2019s 10 inclusive behaviors (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Most videoconferencing platforms enable attendees to post text, images, files, links etc. in a meeting chat pane or window simultaneously with audio\/visual (A\/V) modalities. remote This parallel chat is typically open to all meeting invitees and flows concurrently with the A\/V focus of the meeting (for example a presentation or discussion). \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bOur analysis of parallel chat in work meetings found that while parallel chat is considered a net positive, it can also be distracting, especially in meetings that involve more than a small group of people. Parallel chat may also not be accessible or inclusive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37664,"featured_media":731014,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-content-parent":717493,"footnotes":""},"research-area":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"class_list":["post-753112","msr-blog-post","type-msr-blog-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_assoc_parent":{"id":717493,"type":"project"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/753112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-blog-post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37664"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/753112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773146,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-blog-post\/753112\/revisions\/773146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=753112"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=753112"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=753112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bWhat makes parallel chat useful versus distracting?<\/i><\/h2>\n
Parallel chat is used for at least seven distinct types of messages<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Positive impacts of parallel chat<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Negative impacts of parallel chat<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Considerations for participants<\/i><\/h2>\n
Check and act accordingly:<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Post when:<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Refrain from posting when:<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Consider accessibility:<\/i><\/h3>\n
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Considerations for organizers\/moderators<\/i><\/h2>\n
Before the meeting<\/i><\/h3>\n
Set the stage<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Consider accessibility needs of meeting members<\/i><\/h4>\n
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During the meeting<\/i><\/h3>\n
Parallel chat to encourage<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Best practices for encouraging useful parallel chat<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Parallel chat to discourage<\/i><\/h4>\n
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Best practices for discouraging distracting parallel chat<\/i><\/h4>\n
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After the meeting<\/i><\/h2>\n
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More information on accessibility<\/i><\/h2>\n
\n<\/em>The authors\u00a0thank Jaime Teevan and Priscilla Wong for their ideas and pointers to other sources that contributed to the original \u201cGuide for Moderators\u201d framing. We also thank Irene Money and Phil Rosenfield who reviewed an earlier version of this document, and others who provided feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"