Subject: Microphone protocol

From: Marc Petit-Huguenin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 14:40:42 -0700

As I was watching the conversations in the microphone lines during some of the
WG sessions, I thought that we could make a small improvement in the
organization that could result in a better meeting.  My first observation was
that there is two different type of interactions at the microphones:  The
first one is between a participant and the presenter or the chairs.  The
second one is participants responding to the first participant, e.g:

1. The presenter proposes some alternatives.

2. Someone at the mic explains her preferences

3. Someone else explains to (2) why she is wrong

Generally this triggers a back and forth between (2) and (3) which very often
is not fully captured by one of the microphones, because people start talking
to each other directly.

My second observation was that there is generally 2 microphones, or a multiple
of two microphones in each meeting room.

So the idea would be to dedicate one microphone for the primary interactions
(2) and a different microphone for the secondary interactions (3).  We could
have the microphone farther from the presenter being the primary microphone
and oriented toward the presenter.  People line up behind it to interact with
the presenter/chairs.

The second microphone (which is between the presenter and the primary
microphone) is oriented in the opposite direction, i.e. in direction of the
primary microphone.  People line up behind it to respond to the participant at
the primary microphone.

I see two potential advantages:

- - There is only one line to interact with the presenter, so the chairs do not
have to manage two lines.  The secondary microphone line stays empty if nobody
wants to respond to someone at the primary microphone. and empties each time a
new participant reaches the primary microphone.

- - Discussions are more natural because participants in a discussion face each
other (primary faces presenters, secondary faces primary).

With some quick explanations from the chairs at the beginning of a session,
the direction of each microphone could be all that is needed to find the role
of each microphone.

- -- 
Marc Petit-Huguenin
Email: [email-masked]
Blog: http://blog.marc.petit-huguenin.org
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/petithug