LSP for LSP

I am a patron and massive fan of the work of the Lifeboat Station Project (also LSP). Luckily creator and visionary behind that project reached out to ask about Lego(R) SeriousPlay(R). While unable to hold proper workshops, I raided by boxes of bits and wrangled together some technology to allow a kind of experimental intro to LSP, for LSP.

The main conclusion about this mode of delivery is that the technology needed definitely detracts from the flow and focus for the facilitator, though the participants (2 of them) reported being happy enough. For anyone attempting a physical/creative/construction activity remotely, I used –

  • Mural – because i’ve used it for LSP before and it has a couple of nice features that other online whiteboards lack
  • OBS – because its awesome and free and i don’t know enough about any other tools to want to even try them. In this setup I had the following scenes defined:
    • each of 3 cameras (though only using 2)
    • a mural-only scene
    • a front + overhead + mural collage
  • Zoom (because its 2021 and we’re still in covid lockdown and its the least bad option) – one as me, and one as a shadow that was screensharing mural
  • an overhead camera (logitech C922) on tripod (K&F Concept 72″ with ball head & transverse centre bar)
  • ‘front’ cameras – built-in webcams on laptops (but one blanked)
  • 2 laptops – one running zoom and OBS, the other running mural and zoom ‘shadow’
  • a diffuse desk lamp on a clamp
  • an M-Audio 192|4 interface for mic
  • a usb3 hub to lash it all together
  • … and the usual workshop boxes for 1-day SeriousPlay sessions

It went well enough that I’m going to do it again. There will be refinements in the rigging, and I think I needed to give more information to participants in advance about what to expect and how to get ready.

If you are interested and want to try out Lego SeriousPlay from home in lockdown, shout. I cannot do these often, but I think they can help people so am open to trying.