Discussion Thread

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time. 

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

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Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
luis.duque674@...
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Thanks, @Luis Duque for starting a great thread!

Our Transportation group has hosted one virtual happy hour so far and has one scheduled ​for tomorrow. We haven't played any games on the call but that is a great idea that I will suggest for a future call! 


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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

Hi @Luis Duque and @Danielle Schroeder! Great topic! In my office, we've hosted both virtual happy hours and virtual coffee breaks. Our happy hours are on Fridays and run similarly to yours. We haven't played any games either, but we've completed online personality tests together (not serious ones - fun ones like which book character are you most like). I love the idea of virtual Pictionary! We may just try that today! 

Our virtual coffee breaks are short and in the morning, which better fits the schedules of our senior staff or those who have afternoon/early evening duties and can't stick around for a virtual happy hour. On each coffee break, there is a fun icebreaker question you can answer such as "What is your favorite sandwich?" or "Who was your childhood celebrity crush?" or "If you were a talk show host, who would you want to interview?" It's been interesting learning more about each other! ​​And the coffee breaks are come and go events. Pop on the call long enough to say hello, and then leave when you need to.

Our office is just getting integrated into Teams, so I also really like the idea of creating Teams channels/threads. Perhaps an idea for another discussion thread would be a Teams how-to, tips, and tricks? I know I could use some help!

Thanks for sharing! I look forward to more responses for more great ideas to stay connected! -Maggie :)

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Maggie Weems P.E., M.ASCE
Vestavia Hills AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

Hi @Maggie Weems - ​ a Teams Tips and Tricks sounds like an excellent idea as our group started using the application in September 2019! I'll have one up in this thread in a few weeks. Thank you for the suggestion. 




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Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2020 09:30 AM
From: Maggie Weems
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

Hi @Luis Duque and @Danielle Schroeder! Great topic! In my office, we've hosted both virtual happy hours and virtual coffee breaks. Our happy hours are on Fridays and run similarly to yours. We haven't played any games either, but we've completed online personality tests together (not serious ones - fun ones like which book character are you most like). I love the idea of virtual Pictionary! We may just try that today!

Our virtual coffee breaks are short and in the morning, which better fits the schedules of our senior staff or those who have afternoon/early evening duties and can't stick around for a virtual happy hour. On each coffee break, there is a fun icebreaker question you can answer such as "What is your favorite sandwich?" or "Who was your childhood celebrity crush?" or "If you were a talk show host, who would you want to interview?" It's been interesting learning more about each other! ​​And the coffee breaks are come and go events. Pop on the call long enough to say hello, and then leave when you need to.

Our office is just getting integrated into Teams, so I also really like the idea of creating Teams channels/threads. Perhaps an idea for another discussion thread would be a Teams how-to, tips, and tricks? I know I could use some help!

Thanks for sharing! I look forward to more responses for more great ideas to stay connected! -Maggie :)

------------------------------
Maggie Weems P.E., M.ASCE
Vestavia Hills AL

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

Hi @Maggie Weems, 

@Danielle Schroeder and @Doug Cantrell are answering questions about Microsoft Teams in this "Ask Me Anything" thread. ​​​Please post any questions on using Microsoft Teams there. 

Thank you to Dani and Doug for sharing your expertise with us!

------------------------------
Tirza Austin
Manager, Online Community
American Society of Civil Engineers
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Reston, VA 20191
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2020 11:29 AM
From: Danielle Schroeder
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

Hi @Maggie Weems - ​ a Teams Tips and Tricks sounds like an excellent idea as our group started using the application in September 2019! I'll have one up in this thread in a few weeks. Thank you for the suggestion.




------------------------------
Danielle Schroeder EIT, A.M.ASCE
Associate Engineer
Pennoni Associates
Philadelphia PA

Original Message:
Sent: 04-24-2020 09:30 AM
From: Maggie Weems
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

Hi @Luis Duque and @Danielle Schroeder! Great topic! In my office, we've hosted both virtual happy hours and virtual coffee breaks. Our happy hours are on Fridays and run similarly to yours. We haven't played any games either, but we've completed online personality tests together (not serious ones - fun ones like which book character are you most like). I love the idea of virtual Pictionary! We may just try that today!

Our virtual coffee breaks are short and in the morning, which better fits the schedules of our senior staff or those who have afternoon/early evening duties and can't stick around for a virtual happy hour. On each coffee break, there is a fun icebreaker question you can answer such as "What is your favorite sandwich?" or "Who was your childhood celebrity crush?" or "If you were a talk show host, who would you want to interview?" It's been interesting learning more about each other! ​​And the coffee breaks are come and go events. Pop on the call long enough to say hello, and then leave when you need to.

Our office is just getting integrated into Teams, so I also really like the idea of creating Teams channels/threads. Perhaps an idea for another discussion thread would be a Teams how-to, tips, and tricks? I know I could use some help!

Thanks for sharing! I look forward to more responses for more great ideas to stay connected! -Maggie :)

------------------------------
Maggie Weems P.E., M.ASCE
Vestavia Hills AL

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

Hi all,

The ASCE Met Section YMF ​began hosting Geoguessr Game Nights last Thursday night. For our first game night, we had four people, and last night we had 10 people! It is a weekly Thursday night event. With some technical difficulties last night, we will be using a different platform next week to bring a group of gamers together. The game night consists of users logging onto a web call and logging into the Geoguessr website in another window. For those of you unfamiliar with Geoguessr, it is an online game where players are dropped someone on Google Street View. You must guess that location on the map before the timer runs out; the closer you guess to the correct location, the more points you earn! Players come together after playing one game, which consists of five rounds, to congratulate the player with the most points.

Fun game, more fun when playing with friends!

Thanks,
Maria

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Maria Kozdroy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
mkozdroy@...
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-kozdroy
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------

I'm curious about this as well. Would love to hear what kind of virtual activities that you guys enjoyed the most so far now that working from home will be likely to continue in the next few months at least.

At our company, we have had virtual Trivia, Karaoke session, STEAM lunch hours during which kids and parents built towers, bridges, etc. using household items.

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Tung Nguyen, PhD
Washington State University
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 05:22 PM
From: Luis Duque
Subject: Don't Let Social Distancing Affect your Social Interactions

I have been working from home for the past 5 or 6 weeks and have found that a lot of companies and groups are developing creative ways to stay connected. At the company I work for we recently had a virtual happy hour where we shared interesting facts about all of us and played a few rounds of virtual Pictionary. We may be separated physically but creating those social interactions outside of the workplace is critical during this time.

Have you or your company done any virtual events recently? 

------------------------------
Luis Duque EIT, A.M.ASCE
Structural Engineer
Broomfield CO
<maskemail>luis.duque674@...</maskemail>
------------------------------