We’re trying a new format this year for our Internal Affair.
We’ll start on Monday 18 June, run a few sessions, and see if there’s anything we want to add to the event which continues on the following day.
For Tuesday 19 June, we’ve programmed a new set of sessions, but there is room to see what else emerges from those present.

Join us whenever you can!
Register at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-team-talks-internal-affair-tickets-46483484353

ALL TIMES ARE CEST

MONDAY 18 June
16.00 Kick Off – coffee and mingling
Orchestrated by Pilar Orti and Lisette Sutherland
Introduction to the event and what we do at Virtual Team Talk.
Share why you’re here, meet others, or just hang around listening to the conversation as it emerges.

16.30 Strengthening Culture with Celebration: Ideas for Virtual Parties, Casual Conversations, and Long-Distance Gifts.
A talk by Laurel Farrel, with plenty of room for you to share your experiences and ask your questions.
We know that shared rewards can strengthen culture, fuel motivation, and unify teams, but what does “cake in the break room” look like in virtual teams?

17.30 Break and Mingling

17.45 Creating a Shared Team Identity for a Global Virtual Team
A conversation led by Theresa Hollema and Howard B. Esbin
According to academic research, team identity can play a more important role in global virtual teams than onsite teams. Theresa and Howard will facilitate a conversation with those present about their experiences creating a team identity in a virtual team, reference the research from academia and share practices from other teams.

18.45 Break and Mingling

19.00 Are There Principles for Successful Distributed Teams?
A discovery session led by Mark Kilby
Many people focus on “best practices” or “best tools” but how do you know it will work for you? In this session, Mark will cover some of the principles that Johanna Rothman and him are starting to formulate in their new book for a particular type of knowledge work team: the distributed agile software team. We suspect that the principles can apply more broadly. Help us prove/disprove that by participating in some exercises to classify your distributed team type and characteristics and how you can use that to choose practices for your teams.

20.00 Closing Conversation
Is there anything that you still want to talk about? Any questions from the first session or anything that has popped to mind? Would you like to propose a session for Day 2? We’ll converse as long as we want or need to…

Tuesday 19 June
ALL TIMES ARE CEST

11.30am Kick Off and Coffee
Orchestrated by Lisette Sutherland and Pilar Orti
Were you here yesterday? Have you got any reflections to share?
Have you just joined us? Introduce yourselves and let’s get you up to speed…

12pm Cultural Challenges for Virtual Teams
A panel chaired by Darlene Pike with Theresa Hollema, Morgan Legge and Sue Westerway
This group of practitioners will share stories of success and failure in virtual teams. Maybe you have one or two to share as well…?

1.00pm Break/Mingling/Coffee/Lunch…

1.30pm Use the VIRTUAL Framework to Plan Your Next Leadership Steps
A workshop led by Pilar Orti and Maya Middlemiss
You know your team needs development but you’re not sure what area of teamwork to focus on next… Or you’re starting to lead a virtual team, but not sure what you will be faced with. Join us for this workshop and let us help you discover your own answers.

2.30pm Where Next?
We’ll co-create the programme with whoever is around.
Ask a question, present a dilemma, share a story or two…
In the spirit of an Unconference, we’ll decide where we want to go to next.
And if we’re short of ideas, here are some topics that have emerged so far:

Interior Design
Writing
Adventures in Podcasting