CANCELLED (Low numbers) Cloud-based Collaboration and Communication for Planners

REGISTRATION DEADLINE - 9am, Monday 7th September 2020

Presented by Christine Coste

This course is designed for planners who are not yet comfortable working on documents in the cloud or using team collaboration software rather than email to communicate on a project. Technology trends in the past few years have seen a move away from working on files held locally to online collaboration via shared drives and online documents. More recently alternatives to communicating over email have also emerged such as Microsoft Teams and Slack.

As busy professionals it is difficult to find the time to adapt work processes to make use of these new tools. This course is designed to introduce experienced planners to the basics of using cloud-based collaboration and communication tools such as accessing, authoring, sharing and distributing online documents; and using messaging-based collaboration tools.

The course provides participants with the two critical ingredients to make such a change:

• An understanding of these technologies - the specific benefits of cloud-based methods for planning work, how to incorporate these tools into existing workflows and the background concepts vital to understand when using these tools; and
• The practical experience of using these technologies in the familiar task of preparing an Assessment of Environmental Effects – giving the participant a supportive group environment to experiment with these technologies in an applied setting.

This is a Bring your own Device session.

The course will:

• Introduce these technologies and how they are changing the way we work
• Look at the barriers to adopting cloud-based collaboration tools and how to solve these
• Give participants practical exercises specifically designed for planning work, in using these cloud-based tools
• Equip participants with experience in working on documents on-line – versioning, co-authoring, preparing for distribution and sharing documents
• Enable these tools to be incorporated into the planner’s workflow

By the end of the course attendees will:

• Understand the benefits of these technologies and how to successfully use these tools
• Understand and overcome some of the mindset barriers to adopting these tools
• Be able to collaborate on a shared document in the cloud
• Be able to access, share and work on documents via a mobile device
• Use a collaboration site such as Microsoft Teams or Slack

Who should attend?

The course is targeted to experienced planners who consider themselves beginners when it comes to cloud-based collaboration and communication. Any planner who finds it difficult to share documents from a mobile device, collaborate within online documents or has not used team collaboration software before will benefit from the course. The course includes practical exercises to ensure the participant gains hand on experience with the use of this software.