Tag: review

Quickstart Circles Session Facilitator

Are you the facilitator for your Circles session and not sure where to begin? Don’t worry, the CirclesSpace™️ will help you! Read on for some handy guidelines on how to get started!

In this article you will learn how to use the CircleSpace™️ to run your sessions:

STEP 1: Start your session

STEP 2: Use the agenda

STEP 3: Use the video stream features

STEP 4: Use the text box

STEP 1: Start your session

We recommend that you come to the CircleSpace™️ in advance of your session to familiarize yourself with the features of the CircleSpace™️ and to get ready to start:

  1. After entering the meeting, you will see a blue background and your agenda and text box on the right side of your browser window. In the picture below, you see the agenda “Saving the World” loaded.
  1. In case you need to open an agenda, select ‘Agendas’ in the header at the top of the agenda. Then select ‘Open…‘ in the menu that pops up. This will bring up your agenda browser.

NOTE: In your agenda browser you can access all of your agendas: You will immediately see the agendas of the circle you are in, the Program Agendas folder (agendas that will appear in the CircleSpace if there is no agenda open) and the Sample Agendas folder, which contains agendas available to everyone on themes like challenge exploration or team gelling.

To access agendas from other circles or organizations, you’ll need to log in using your my.circl.es credentials through the Log In button on the top right.

  1. Click on an agenda to preview it and use the arrows to flip through the pages. Select ‘Open‘ on the bottom right of the agenda browser to load the agenda for your current session into the Circles Space.

NOTE: You can also edit your agenda. Read more about it in how to edit your agenda here.

  1. To view the table of contents of your agenda, navigate all the way to the left of the agenda by using the left arrow in the progress bar.
  1. When you and your participants are ready, click the blue ‘Start‘ button to begin the session. A window will pop up and allow you to indicate whether your session is starting ‘on time’, ‘early’ or ‘late’.

TIP: If you don’t start on time, indicate how many minutes early or late you are starting, so the progress bar is accurate in your session. This way, you can easily see if you are late or early in a particular section of your agenda.

STEP 2: Use the agenda

  1. The progress bar guides you through the sections of the agenda. Click the arrow below it to navigate to the next section.

NOTE: In the picture on the left, you can see that hovering your mouse over a section on the progress bar, you will see its time indication. If you are behind schedule, the progress bar turns red. The dark hue of blue shows where you are with regards to timing and a slightly lighter blue indicates which agenda section you are in.

  1. In the agenda, you can find buttons that trigger different functions in the room when you (or someone else) click them. Here are two examples:
  • Music buttons start playing music for all participants. Each participant can adjust their own music volume by moving the lever up or down, and the timer above shows how long the music has been playing. Stop the music by clicking the button again. You can also control the music from the gray media tray below the agenda.
  • Random order assigns a number to each person’s video stream to determine who speaks first, second, third and so forth.
  • To learn more about agenda buttons, read on here.

TIP: Hover your cursor over their video stream and click the top middle symbol to “spotlight” each participant. This clears their assigned number and activates the timer in the top right corner to make sure they stay within their time limit.


NOTE: If you do not need your agenda, you can also hide it. To do this, go to the header of the agenda menu and select ‘Tools‘, this then opens up the control panel. Then select ‘Hide agenda‘ from the options shown.

STEP 3: Use your video stream features

When moving your mouse over your own video steam you can find the following five funtions:

STEP 4: Use the text box

There is a text box in the bottom righthand corner of your CircleSpace™️. By selecting one of the three sections, you can switch between its functions.

Each of the functions help you run your sessions:

  1. Chat – anything typed here is shared with all people in a Circle. Under ‘Advanced‘ in the lefthand side menu, it can even be downloaded for later reference.
  1. Notes – can be reordered, deleted or marked as completed while the Circle is in session. They are saved in the Circles space until deleted. An overview can be brought into the room through a button in the agenda. Read more about the Notes feature here.

3. Pad – your personal scribble-pad and only visible to you during your Circle session.

Text Box Functions

At the bottom right of your CircleSpace™️, you can see a text box. This text box is so much more than just a chat. You can chat with everyone (chat), make lists for later (notes) or take notes that will only be visible to you (pad).

  1. Chat is shared with all people in a room. Under ‘Advanced‘ in the left-hand side menu, it can even be downloaded for later reference.
  1. Notes can be reordered, assigned to other people, added to different groups, deleted or marked as completed. Want to learn more about the Notes feature and how to use it? Read on here.
  1. Pad is a personal place for scribbles. You automatically take it with you in each Circles session you join.

NOTE: You can download both the Notes and the Chat of your session in the tools menu. For more instructions check out our article about the Notes feature.

Notes Feature

When we have meetings in a real room together, we often pull out a piece of paper or start noting down lists on a whiteboard. Using Circles you can easily do so, too. On top of being able to quickly jot down thoughts, ideas, intentions, plans or to dos, the Notes feature helps you to keep track of them. Here’s how you can use the feature:

The Notes feature lives in the text box in the bottom right of your CircleSpace™️. Each circle participant can open it at any time by clicking on the ‘Notes‘ icon.

Note Groups

  1. To keep track of your notes, we recommend using Groups. Click the three blue dots at the top of the notes section and selecting ‘Add Group’.
  1. Give your group a name by typing into the box that appears and click ‘Add Group’ to confirm. You could create Groups, for example, for particular meetings, or particular purposes, like (“To be discussed later”, “Urgent topics”, “Backlog” etc.).
  1. You’ll now see your new group in the list along with the number of notes contained within the group.
  1. Click the three black dots next to the group name to bring up the notes menu. From here you can:
    • Add notes
    • Mark notes complete or incomplete
    • Delete notes
    • Rename or delete the group
    • Download notes
  1. Within the ‘Incomplete Notes’ and ‘Complete Notes’ sections you have the option to:
    • Mark a complete or incomplete
    • Change the owner of the note
    • Change the group of the note
    • Delete

Adding and Completing Notes

Click in the box at the bottom to add a new note. By default, the note will go to your last edited notes group and assign you as the owner. You can use the drop-down menus to reassign the group or the owner of the note.

To mark a note as complete, click in the circle to the left of the note’s title, and you will see a tick appear to mark it as complete. This note will disappear before your next session.

Viewing Notes During the Session

During your session you might want to display the notes in a larger window for everyone to view. You can do this in a couple of ways:

  1. Using ‘Review Notes’:
    • Open the Tools menu in the top right of the CircleSpace™️ and select ‘Session Controls’.
    • In the menu that opens choose the ‘Review Notes’ option.
  1. Adding a button to your agenda:
    • In the agenda editor, click the magic wand icon to open the list of agenda buttons.
    • Select ‘Notes’ at the bottom of the list.

Notes will also appear when you open the End of Session Review panel. To learn more about this, check out this article.

Load Your Agenda in the CircleSpace™️

At Circles, you have the possibility to use many types of agendas for the different sessions that you might be facilitating. We recently updated the agenda library and browser system to make it even more seamless and straightforward. You can use one of our samples, adapt it to your needs, or create your own agenda from scratch. Learn more about agenda creation here.

In this article, you will learn how to bring up the agenda you want to use in your CircleSpace™️ and start the progress bar.

  1. After entering the meeting, you will see a blue background and your agenda space on the right side of your browser window. The agendas that show as immediate options are those that have been put in the Program Agendas folder from the agenda library (more on that later!)
  1. Select one of the available agendas by clicking on the Agendas tab at the top right of the agenda space on the right and selecting ‘Open Agenda…‘ You also have the option to begin a new agenda, make a copy, and edit agendas directly in the CircleSpace!
  1. Click on “Open Agenda…” to see your current circle agendas. From this window, you can browse the Agenda Library and select between the agendas already published to your circle, other circles in your organizations and a host of sample agendas.
  1. You can browse the other available agendas by clicking through the sections on the left of the agenda library. You can select agendas to open them from other circles in your organization into your current circle, make a copy and edit them directly in the CircleSpace™️, and even select from our ‘Sample Agendas‘ library to take a pre-made agenda template and edit as your own. To use an agenda, simply select the blue ‘Open‘ button in the bottom right corner of the Agenda Browser.
  1. If you would like to edit your agenda, select the Agenda tab in the agenda space on the right and click ‘Edit Agenda…’ Clicking this will prompt the Agenda Editor to appear directly into the CircleSpace. Once finished, click ‘Save’ in the bottom right corner of the Agenda Editor. Any changes you make to this agenda in your circle will only apply to this version of the agenda; the parent agenda that you chose to import will not be changed.

NOTE: Learn more about editing your agenda in the CircleSpace.

Text Box Functions

At the bottom right of your CircleSpace™️, you can see a text box. This text box is so much more than just a chat. By selecting one of the three icons, you can switch between its functions.

  1. Chat is shared with all people in a room. Under ‘Tools‘ in the menu above the agenda, it can even be downloaded for later reference.
  1. Notes can be reordered, deleted or marked as completed, moved from group to group, and much more. Want to learn more about the Notes feature and how to use it? Read on here.
  1. Pad is a personal place for scribbles. You automatically take it with you in each Circles session you join.

NOTE: You can download both the Notes and the Chat of your session in the left hand side menu. For more instructions check out our article about the Notes feature.

Contact Us

hello@circl.es
+1 (917) 810-8176

453 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215