How to keep myself focused during a full day on a virtual conference

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I have a full day on Teams on Friday for our staff conference and I'm nervous about it. We have about 300 staff so it's not even as if we will have each other to look at and chat with.

Anyone else had something this long done virtually? Please tell me it's easy to stay focused? I hope they've planned some interaction. We wont even have the smaller breakout sessions/chatty coffee breaks that come with "in person" events.

Is there anything I can do passively at my desk that wont draw my attention away - in fact will give me something to distract my hands and leave my brain open to listening? I wish I could knit

Any advice?

Turn your camera off 😆

@RiverSkater

Turn your camera off 😆

Yep Nobody will notice A full day of 300 is insane

Is the camera compulsory? Surely not with 300 people dialled in. And surely you’ll all be muted for the majority.

I’ve had days like that quite frequently. Firstly I have a non-wired Bluetooth headset with quite a good range. I can be on mute and pace about a bit but still be listening. I can ask boil the kettle etc without being heard.

Is also do things which (before anyone slates me) are NOT not working or paying attention but mean I am still concentrating and listening. Have a doodle. Colouring. Hand cream. Put a coat of nail varnish on. That sort of thing. It’s actually better to do that and stay listening than sit there and then drift or pick up your mobile….

Awful typos - sorry!

oh gosh I feel for you. We have a virtual Christmas quiz for just 2 hours and I'm dreading it.
I think doing your nails is a good idea.

There will HAVE to be some kind of interaction otherwise people will just fall asleep.

I turn my camera on and off at intervals to give myself a break. I use a wireless headset to potter about.

I iron! Or sew. I actually listen very intently whilst i do it. Nails is a great idea.

But generally its their job to keep you all entertained and engaged.

Whenever their is a break step outside and move around.

We had this recently
Keep your camera off!
And we were muted for most of it too.

Camera and mics off.

We've been given one 30min breakout session in the afternoon with our wider teams - my team is a third of the workforce so even 100 of us is hardly a breakout session.

That’s totally ridiculous. Have they learnt nothing from 18 months of zoom.

When I'm off camera but still have to listen and concentrate, I do a colouring app on my phone. For some reason it distracts the "fidgety" part of my brain and helps me focus on what's being said.
You probably wouldn't want to do it for a whole day but something like that, or actual colouring in, might help if you're flagging a bit.

How important is it that you really listen and stay engaged? Early on in the pandemic an event I'd been organising - essentially a day long review of something the organization I work for does by an expert panel - had to be shifted to be all on zoom, which meant an eight hour zoom call, with people dropping in and out but me and the panel there all day. It was pretty awful and we have run more of these events virtually since but never done it as a full day in one go again since. I managed to concentrate all day because I had to write the outcome report at the end, so had to keep detailed notes. It was pretty obvious that no one else maintained concentration all day and I only did because I had to. If you need to take it all then I'd suggest taking notes but otherwise I'd embrace it as a boring but easy day and accept that your attention will ebb and fade!

Shame I'm not one of thos uber organised people who has finished their Christmas shopping- I could have spent the day wrapping.

We've been given one 30min breakout session in the afternoon with our wider teams

^

They may ask you to discuss what's been talked about so try and pay attention to some bits at least.

A full day of that is absolutely ridiculous

I sometimes do ironing in meetings (with my camera off!), I find I concentrate better than if I just sit at my desk. I've been known to clean the kitchen as well.

Bluetooth headset and get a proper clean done
Microsoft jigsaws
Paint a wall then watch it dry, which will undoubtedly be more interesting

I've been to a few 9-4 Zoom / Trams events, and run quite a few too.
Ours have included a mix of presentation / breakout rooms with 2-4 people in / typing responses into Chat / multiple choice quizzes/ video / 10 minutes to read something etc. Oh, and a break away from the screen every 90 minutes.

As PP have said, if your day is 300 people with no variation of activity or interactivity throughout, what on earth is your organisation thinking, especially 20 months in to the pandemic, during which we have all learned so much about remote learning and communications.

I have been in some pretty soul-destroying shorter meetings over this period, OP, and we are cameras on, so othr activities need to be subtle. I can play spider solitaire on my phone, check my emails and respond briefly to some, write to-do lists and make plans by hand under the guise of note taking.
I intend to keep a pile of Christmas cards and my address book to hand during Advent in case a meeting takes a turn for the worse.
For me, it is important to choose things that enable me to keep listening, while preventing me from sliding into a bored stupor. I have to be able to type in a relevant answer or a comment occasionally, as well as nodding and smiling from time to time in appropriate places.

Why don't you just get on with your day job via email / chat and still listen to the conference with mic and camera off?
Multi tasking at its finest, while still getting paid for what you are supposed to be doing rather than ironing or colouring in?
Seriously, doing housework?

It all depends if it's something you are interested in. I have attended full day training sessions which I requested to attend and have no problem in concentrating . But if it's just waffle ... then camera off and get in with some work. Or MN/read/whatever else you like to do with your time .

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Shame I'm not one of thos uber organised people who has finished their Christmas shopping- I could have spent the day wrapping.

So spend the day online shopping !

Camera off and watch Netflix. That's what I did on a 3 hour thing.