Successful ANZCA CTN Anaesthesia Research Coordinators Network virtual workshop

Running workshops virtually works well with inventive adaptations. 90+ people
took part in the ANZCA Anaesthesia Research Coordinators Network workshop.

Last week, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) Clinical Trials Network (CTN) kicked off a series of free virtual workshops in lieu of their annual face-to-face Strategic Research Workshop.

The inaugural Anaesthesia Research Coordinators Network (ARCN) virtual workshop was the first of three virtual workshops to take place over the next couple of months, and was characterised by full and inventive use of the Zoom platform features.

More than 90 research coordinators, ANZCA fellows and trainees, who mostly facilitate clinical trials in anaesthesia, pain and perioperative medicine across Australia and New Zealand, connected online using the Monash Zoom platform.

The meeting was convened by the ARCN Sub-committee chair, Ms Allison Kearney from Princess Alexandra Hospital in QLD, with the full backing of the CTN office staff, Ms Gillian Ormond, Ms Karen Goulding and Ms Jaspreet Sidhu, together with the ARCN Sub-committee and ANZCA event coordinator, Ms Kate Galloway.

The three hour program utilised the full functionality and features of the Zoom platform to deliver an interactive and engaging program. Zoom polls served as an ice breaker at the start of the meeting; delegates were encouraged to use the chat function to ask questions; and delegates were assigned to breakout rooms to discuss telehealth and consenting patients to clinical trials, and to undertake a fun scavenger hunt group activity. This was complemented and backed up by the use of Whatsapp groups to allow group members to communicate whilst away from the computer or if they experienced technical issues with the breakout group functionality.

This workshop had a greater attendance than the annual face-to-face meeting as it was far more accessible for research coordinators who often pay for their own travel and registration, and when factoring in the travel  time required for a face-to-face meeting. The feedback was excellent, and this virtual workshop, along with the face-to-face meeting held in August each year, will be an annual event in the ANZCA CTN calendar to continue the important learning, education and mentoring of our talented research coordinators.

The workshop was delivered seamlessly due to the careful preparation and testing by the organisers in the weeks leading to the workshop. The organisers have these tips to share with you:

For the organisers/hosts:

• Preparation is key: Test all functions of the Zoom platform you’re planning to use well ahead of the day.
• Assign the host of the Zoom meeting whose role is to primarily monitor the technical aspects of the meeting and to assign delegates to breakout rooms (we weren't able to pre-assign delegates to breakout groups).
• Assign co-hosts to the meeting who can help mute, unmute, turn videos on and off as required, and change the names of delegates to an identifiable name as required
• The host and co-host should have a backup of all presentations in the event that screen sharing by the presenter doesn’t work.
• Keep the meeting sessions running to schedule. Delegates may connect for sessions that only interest them.
• Do not enable the waiting room feature, passwords or require delegates to register to remove further work for the organisers to troubleshoot at the time of the meeting. 
• Provide a technical support name and number for delegates to contact.
• Allow for short breaks in the meeting so the meeting can run to time and for troubleshooting.
• Allow for at least 10 minutes at the start of the meeting while people connect and technical troubleshooting. We used this time to run fun Zoom polls.
• Ensure all presenters, organisers, host and co-hosts are connected through group phone messaging to allow for fast communication and troubleshooting during the meeting.
• Encourage delegates to use the Zoom chat function and have a moderator for the online discussion. Note, the chat text is saved at the end.
• Collect the information you need during the registration process, for example, consent to record the session, to use their mobile number to join the Whatsapp group, and to ask if they are dialling in with other participants to help organisers assign them to the same breakout groups.
• Ensure you mute everyone once the session begins to prevent background noise from delegates and disruptions to the presenters.

It is great if delegates can see each other and interact using video. However, turn off all delegates' videos once the workshop begins as this can affect the stability of the internet connection. Video use for smaller breakout sessions is beneficial, as it is more interactive if the delegates can see each other.

For the presenters

• Ensure presenters are on a stable internet connection – test video and audio well ahead of the meeting for all presenters.
• Have a back-up plan for presenters. Is there someone else who can present if the presenter is experiencing a technical difficulty? Or can the organisers skip to the next session?
• Circulate presentations to delegates ahead of time in case delegates can’t see video.

For the delegates

• Provide instructions to delegates ahead of the meeting outlining what to expect during the meeting, meeting etiquette and how to connect.
• We offered a test session in the week before the meeting for delegates who hadn’t used Zoom before to test their device or computer, and see how the meeting will run on the day
• Provide the program to the delegates in their time zone.
• We didn’t allow delegates to dial in over the telephone as this format does not allow for the video, chat or interactive functionality of the platform to be utilised.
• We asked delegates to have the Zoom app on their phone as a back up. 
• Delegates were assigned to Whatsapp groups to complement their Zoom breakout groups to continue social networking and communication.
• We asked delegates to keep Zoom running even if they stepped away from their computer.

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