William Donnell @sodiumhalogen SODIUM HALOGEN Post-it Notes and whiteboards are basic office collaboration tools, supporting useful, well-established processes for group brainstorming. But when you’re not physically next to the same wall, the effectiveness of these tools crumbles. William Donnell, Founder of Sodium Halogen, an experience-design consulting firm, often works with groups of up to eight and will share the techniques he’s developed for ensuring lively, engaged virtual brainstorming.

1. William Donnell
@sodiumhalogen
#lofiwifi
Effective brainstorming via video
BRINGING LO-FI TO WIFI

2. ARE YOU CREATIVE?

3. DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN?

4. Get the IDEAS
out of your BRAIN
& on to PAPER

5. Effective brainstorming via video
BRINGING LO-FI TO WIFI
Sodium Halogen
Lead Designtist
William Donnell
@sodiumhalogen
#lofiwifi

6. 5 people : 3 time zones
CA
TN
KY

7. *Austrailia & Brazil too
We do UX, UI and branding
for clients all over US*

8. Lots of design thinking
sketches, post-its, sharpies, whiteboards - 2D stuff

9. We use lots of tools
to collaborate

10. VIDEO CHAT is best way to
collaborate remotely

11. It's not just about
COMMUNICATION,
but COMMUNITY
With distributed teams,

12. Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance

13. Email Phone Video
Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance

14. Email Phone Video
Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance

15. Email Phone Video
Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance

16. Email Phone Video
Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance
sweetspot!

17. Video
Perceived Distance Theory
each step toward in-person
halves the perceived distance
tear!
Conference Call PhoneEmail

18. *
VIDEO is the sweetspot!
Awesome!
*

19. The basic setup
+
Two laptops and free software

20. The BEST TOOLS for video
chat are the ones you
ALREADY HAVE

21. Bring the camera
to the wall

22. Hold your sketch up to the
camera or share a phone pic

23. These were the tools we had,
so we used them and they worked

24. Advanced setup
+
add a second camera

25. Two camera Hangout hack
experiment hangout

26. Two camera Hangout hack
experiment hangout
iPhone on tripod

27. Two camera Hangout hack
one camera for faces. one for ideas.

28. Two camera Hangout hack
one camera for faces. one for ideas.

29. SET UP TWO CAMERAS
AT EACH LOCATION
+ +

30. We tried virtual tools,
but came back to pen and paper
google
docs
screenshot
virtual
stickies
screenshot

31. A better second camera
meet iPevo

32. A better second camera
get the ideas out of your head and on to paper

33. Explain your ideas
with screencasts

34. YOUR CHALLENGE:
Brainstorm using video
next week with two laptops
& free software
cheatsheet at:
SodiumHalogen.com/lofiwifi

35. Wrap up – BIG ideas
1. Everyone is creative! (yes, even you)
2. Ideas come from everywhere (accounting, HR, etc)
3. Make it easy to video brainstorm (conference call suck)
4. Get the ideas on paper (get out of the brain)
5. Video is the sweet spot!
6. Add a second camera (a better camera)
7. Screencasts help with sharing ideas across timezones
8. Try it now!

36. QUESTIONS?
WILLIAM DONNELL
wm@sodiumhalogen.com
@sodiumhalogen #lofiwifi