Online meeting skill drills

Drill 1 - Logging into the chat room and posting a message

Drill 2 - Processing a motion

Drill 3 - Posting a long motion using PasteBin

Drill 4 - Exposed voting at Yahoo Group site

Drill 5 - Election voting at Yahoo Group site

Drill 1 - Logging into the chat room and posting a message

• 1. Click on "Enter Chat Room" at the eNAP home site, or go to web address www.tinyurl.com/enapchat. 

  2. Click on the text in the "Choose A nickname" box and delete it, replacing it with your name with no spaces or special characters.  E.g., Tom O'Malley would enter TomOMalley. 

  3. Click the Connect button.  Wait a few seconds, till you see the chat room with your nickname in the right-side box, a big chat box with some horizontal ruled lines where messages get posted, and a one-line high text box beneath the big chat box with a blinking cursor where you type in your messages.

  4. (At a real meeting, at this point you'd see who else is in the room, listed in the right-side box.  If before the meeting start time, you can say "Hi" (see next step), but if a meeting has begun, just watch the big chat box to see what others are posting.)

  5. Type in "Hi" and press the Enter key.  This should post your "Hi" message to the chat box with your nickname and the time next to it.

  6. To exit the chat room, just close your internet browser tab or window.

  7. That's all for this drill. 

Drill 2 - Processing a motion

• 1. Enter the Chat Room (see Drill 1, steps 1-3).

  2. Type in "MC" and press Enter.  This is our shorthand for "Mister (or madam) Chairman" and how you seek recognition.  (In a meeting, the chair would then post "CR Tom" for "The Chair recognizes Tom."  For this drill, assume that happened.)

  3. Type in "I move that we form a special committee of three to be appointed by the chairman..." and press Enter.  The "..." signifies you have more to type.

  4. Type in "to research what it will take for our group to become a chartered unit of NAP, and to report back recommendations at our next meeting.  END."  The END signifies that you yield the floor.

  5. (Skip ahead procedurally to when the chair posts "All in favor type Yes; all opposed type No; all abstaining type Abstain.")  Type "Yes" and press Enter.

  6. (Skip ahead to after adjournment, when the chair posts, "The meeting is adjourned.") Type "Bye" and press Enter.  This lets those remaining know that you deliberately left the chat room, rather than dropped out due to a technical problem.

  7. Exit the Chat Room.

Drill 3 - Posting a long motion using PasteBin

• 1. Enter the Chat Room (see Drill 1, steps 1-3).

  2. Type in "MC" and press Enter.

  3. Type "I move the following resolution: " and then press the PastBin link beneath the message entry box.  This should take you to a new screen with a big, blank text box, with "Paste text above, then click: Paste" underneath.

  4. Here you can paste or type in a motion.  For now, just type in "Resolved, that eNAP requests that NAP charter eNAP as a unit of NAP." and click the Paste link under the box.

  5. This takes you back to the chat room, having inserted a web address into your message, so it looks something like this: [ I move the following resolution: http://widget.mibbit.com/pb/2nrCwd  ].  At this point, just click Enter to post it.

  6. (The posted message will convert the web address into a clickable hyperlink in the chat box.)  Click the underlined hyperlink.  (This opens a new browser tab or window with the resolution text.  All formatting is lost when using PasteBin, such as centering headings, bold, italics, different fonts and sizes, color.)

  7. Close the tab or window with the resolution, and return to the chat room tab or window.

  8. Exit the Chat Room.

Drill 4 - Exposed voting at Yahoo Group site

• 1. Click on "Poll 1 - Exposed Voting" at the eNAP home site, or go to web address www.tinyurl.com/enappoll1.

  2. If this takes you to the "Sign in to Yahoo" page and you have a Yahoo ID, enter your ID and password and click the "Sign In" button.

  3. If you don't have a Yahoo ID, click "Sign Up" near the bottom right, and get one. 

  4. If you are not yet a member of the eNAPmembers Yahoo Group (members only), click the "join this group now" link.  In the "Comment to Owner" box enter your name, NAP membership class (level; nonmember, regular member, RP, PRP), your address and optionally a phone number (may help during troubleshooting).  Complete the rest of the join process on the join page and click Join at the bottom right.  This sends an e-mail to Paul McClintock, who will have to approve your membership before you gain access.  Once notified by e-mail that you are a member of the group, repeat from step 1.

  5. Once you are signed in to the group, at the "Motion 1, vote Yes or No, or Abstain. Exposed voting" page, click on ( ) Yes, ( ) No, or ( ) Abstain, and then the Vote button beneath and to the right.

  6. Then scroll down the page to see the vote results.  To update the vote results to see if and how additional members voted, click the browser's Refresh button, or just click the Vote button again.

  7. That's it.  Close the browser tab or window for the eNAPmembers Yahoo Group when you're done.  If on a public computer (like at a library or school), sign out of Yahoo first (see link at top right of web page).

  8. Note that at meetings, the chair will announce in the chat room when voting may begin, and when the polls are closed.  The chair will zero out all votes prior to opening the polls.

Drill 5 - Election voting at Yahoo Group site

• 1. Click on "List of Yahoo Site Polls" at the eNAP home site, or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eNAPmembers/polls.

  2. Follow drill 4, steps 2-4, to sign in to the eNAPmembers Yahoo Group.

  3. In the list of polls, click on "Election, single position, secret ballot, up to 5 nominees."

  4. Click on the circle to the left of the Nominee you vote for (Nominee 1, Nominee 2...).  This should enter a black dot in the circle, showing it has been selected.

  5. Click on the Vote button beneath the choices and to the right.  This should show the vote results beneath the ballot.

  6. Note that at a meeting, the chair will announce in the chat room who each nominee is by number, and when the polls open and close (e.g., Nominees: 1 = Sam Smith, 2 = Alice Adams, 3 = Pat Perry; the polls are now open for the election.)

  7. That's it.  Sign out of the Yahoo Group (link at top right of page) and close the tab or window.