An overview of my experience of 10 different collaborative virtual, visual, management, productivity, and gaming tools and platforms. Thoughts about how best to use video conferencing, tips for setup, strengths and debatable points about different tools. (I am not associated or paid by the products, brands, or companies mentioned in this deck, these are my personal and professional points of view).

1. Playful Strategy

2. Willem van der Horst
Playing (and working)
alone, together.
10 digital collaborative tools and platforms,
to mix and match based on your needs
Disclaimer: The following are personal and professional points of view, I am not
currently associated with or paid by any of the companies cited in any way.

3. Willem van der Horst
Hi, I’m Willem
Willem van der Horst

4. Willem van der Horst
1. Collaborative digital whiteboard: Miro.com
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● Most comprehensive
free version of a digital
whiteboard tool I found.
● Wide choice of design
models to choose from,
and tools to design from
scratch.
● Fantastic for design
thinking, brainstorms,
all collaboration where
multiple participants
are actively involved.
● No need for a video call,
audio call is enough.
● Probably best suited to
smaller groups actively
collaborating, though
possible to use for large
groups. They
recommend no more
than 200 participants
(the max was 377). It
slows down at scale.
● Likely to take more time
to prepare and effort to
facilitate than a video
call, arguably also richer
and more rewarding.
● With a large audience,
best suited use case
seems to be collecting
input, with clear
instructions, I
recommend having the
board being ready for
the large group.
● It works to facilitate and
just have one note taker,
which might be
appropriate for some
video / shared screen
calls (e.g. with clients)
I used Miro before the COVID-19 Pandemic for virtual tabletop
gaming, and a lot more for work since too. Clearly my favorite.

5. Willem van der Horst
2. Other collaborative digital whiteboards
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● Mural has an extensive
list of built-in business /
consulting models
● Stormboard seems
more suited to practical
project management or
user flows/journeys.
● Conceptboard has a
solid free version,
arguably slightly less
interesting features.
● AWW allows temporary
boards, doesn’t require a
sign-in / registration.
● At the time of writing,
you’ll still have to make
your own OODA loop,
it’s not integrated, sorry.
● Same general digital
comment as made for
Miro, possibly better for
smaller groups.
● Repeating: don’t
underestimate the
preparation time to
effectively use these,
particularly with clients
or people unfamiliar.
● Mural is probably the
biggest competitor to
Miro, and perhaps the
most comprehensive in
terms of features and
functionalities. It’s just
tough to beat Miro’s free
version right now.
● Virtual whiteboards with
similar features, the rest
is really down to your
preferences, which feels
more intuitive to your
usage.
Ok, you caught me, I’m already cheating on my list of 10. I’ve
tried these other tools, of these Mural is probably my favorite.

6. Willem van der Horst
3. Mindmeister (Mindnode, all mind mappers)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● I’ve been using
Mindnode for like 12
years or so, but
Mindmeister seems to
have more/better
collaboration features.
● Obviously great tools if
you work on mind maps
remotely.
● New ideas are only ever
connections and
associations, mindmaps
do this better visually
than a Kanban system.
● In remote collaboration
mindmaps may require
more facilitation, and
being visual might be
more suited to a
creative use - and/or be
given an appropriate
context for a more
corporate usage.
● To be honest I haven’t
done any remote
collaborative mind map
recently, it tends to be a
personal use.
● I still wanted to mention
these, for remote teams
it may be more effective
for everyone to work on
a collaborative mind
map rather than be on
video or a shared
Google doc, depending
on the goal.
There are mind mapping tools in some of the virtual
whiteboards but these guys have been at it for even longer.

7. Willem van der Horst
4. Trello (0r similar project management tools)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● Quick, straightforward
to setup and use in real
time, particularly for
gathering links or short /
snappy text input.
● Perhaps not as
daunting as a digital
whiteboard.
● Looks corporate, a PM
“getting things done”
approach to ideation or
collaboration.
● Of course, great for
project management,
it’s a Kanban system.
● Pretty linear, arguably
not very sexy (maybe
sexier than a Google doc
though?)
● Limited in scope and
types of input to do
much else than a
collaborative chart in
real time and/or set
dates to follow up any
actions, though I’m sure
there are more
advanced features I
have yet to discover.
● Hack it with simple
input / lateral thinking
exercises: to gather
input from participants,
one column per topic,
asking participants to
add cards. Say the
purpose is to identify
areas of improvement in
the office. Columns are
titled: desk areas, lobby,
meeting room x,
cafeteria.... People add
cards with their points,
ideas, complaints, etc.
Trello (Jiro, etc) is made for project management, but it’s also
pretty simple to jot ideas for a remote workshop or meeting.

8. Willem van der Horst
5. Zoom | Jitsi Meet (The new normal)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● I’ve been using Zoom
for years, there’s likely to
be a reason it’s become
such a standard during
the COVID-19 pandemic,
it just works really well
for video / webinar
conferencing.
● Awesome to see friends
/colleagues when they
can’t be seen in person.
● Jitsi works fine too, and
no need to install
anything either.
● Do you really need to be
a video call? There’s a lot
to be said for audio you
know! (end of deck)
● If you complained about
slide decks before, how
about now with screen
shared Zoom slides? Get
rid of more slides, show
your face on camera,
send bulleted slides via
email.
● Zoom security concerns.
● Zoom chat is pretty bad.
● Fiddle with all the
features (many hidden
on zoom’s website)
● Recommend best views
for your audience. E.g.
side by side mode +
gallery or speaker view.
● Turn cameras on, or
question why you’re on
a video conference.
● Swap views (e.g. screen
share / speaker).
● Engage in the chat with
large audiences.
Welcome to the (somewhat boring) middle - though we can
spice the top of the curve up with some cool tips and tricks.

9. Willem van der Horst
6. Notion (a collaboration application)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● I’m still a big Evernote
user, according to
people who switched to
Notion ,it is far superior
for both personal and
collaborative
management usage,
thanks to easier / better
directional linking.
● It has a freeform Wiki
setup with numerous
features to manage
personal (free) or team
projects (paid).
● The whole freeform
amount of features can
be overwhelming and
take time to set up.
● Following from the
previous point, and
something true of using
or testing any new tool,
for collaboration it’s only
ever useful if the whole
team (or most) get
behind using it.
● This is going to be true
for anything, but as you
read you may
understand the benefit
of first defining what
you want or are trying to
achieve, and then select
the collaboration
platform or tool best
suited (strategy!).
Admittedly not always
easy to work out.
● I can also help, feel free
to reach out.
A wikified collaborative project management / productivity
Evernote busting app (to be honest, I haven’t used it much).

10. Willem van der Horst
7. Roam Research (A mind outliner)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● If I’m getting it right, it’s
a note taking app
meeting a smart(er?)
wiki type directory.
● I’m seeing it being used
actively for project
collaboration, as
freeform repository of
projects updates.
● It links everything
together seamlessly in a
bidirectional fashion,
the main difference
with other similar apps
● I’m honestly just getting
into it thanks to The Yak
Collective I recently
joined, I haven’t used it
much yet. Possibilities
seem mind-boggling.
● It’s in beta and currently
not giving new invites,
though will hopefully be
again soon.
● Right now text and links
- though integrates all
link content in line.
● I want to spend more
time working on it by
myself and compare
with Evernote that I’m
used to (technically you
can collaborate on notes
with Evernote as well,
and it may well be
worth doing more of
that while working
remotely, but I really use
Evernote as my personal
note taking / life
management thing.
Still in Beta, AND there’s already #RoamCult building around
it, so you know you’re at least a bit ahead of the curve out here.

11. Willem van der Horst
8. Roll20 (virtual gaming tabletop)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● In large part free.
● Audio & video
● Active community and a
large number of
content / templates to
play numerous
roleplaying games
● Many features and
options for randomized
effects, rules, visuals.
● Dynamic lighting “fog of
war” to progressively
reveal visuals or maps
● Better suited to small
groups and designed for
play rather than
(creative) work.
● As far as I worked out
you can’t pan on the
virtual tabletop and I
find it pretty irksome.
● Some may debate there
are bigger or more
important gaming
platforms to be looking
at for upcoming trends.
● Nothing prevents one
from looking at ways to
hack and leverage the
platform for professional
use cases, I’m curious to
see how I could use
unique features like
dynamic lighting “fog of
war.”
● I prefer using Miro for
tabletop roleplaying
games, though I should
look at Roll20 closer.
Did you think I’d write this whole thing and
not tell you about (virtual) tabletop games?

12. Willem van der Horst
9. Tabletop Simulator (virtual board gaming)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● A cornucopia of board
games from the most
classic to brand new
and tons of playtesting.
● A fully 3D rendered
tabletop environment
with everything you can
imagine on a tabletop
game and an active
community of creators /
developers.
● Create / play tons
games with friends,
family, colleagues.
● It costs $20 but that
gives you a huge
amount of games to
play, some specialty
games cost extra.
● Obviously not so
relevant if you don’t
want to play board
games, but then aren’t
you done playing tic tac
toe on houseparty?
● You need a 3rd party
like Steam to run the
simulator.
● You don’t need Tabletop
Simulator to play Secret
Hitler or Cards Against
Humanity online!
● You can even flip the
table if you’re angry!
● Unless you’re playing
with small children or
something, please don’t
waste your time and
energy on poorly
designed games like
Monopoly.
Arguably the most versatile and widely used virtual tabletop
board game simulator (some prefer Tabletopia though)

13. Willem van der Horst
10. Discord (chat with your communities)
Strengths Debatable areas Other
● Tons features and utility
for free.
● First and foremost a
stream / text chat app.
● Text, audio, and video
channels available.
● Designed for gamers,
expanded to all sorts of
communities or interest
/ common goal groups.
● The premise is based on
designing a private
server, then thematic
conversation channels.
● Tons of cool/useful bots.
● If you don’t like Slack
you probably won’t like
Discord much either,
unless of course you
have a specific
community of people
using it that you are
interested in.
● The waterfall / stream
chats of can be
annoying when used
asynchronously, though
alleviated with audio,
server, and channels
design.
● At the core, Discord is a
lot like Slack, however
the audio is surprisingly
awesome to have in
comparison. Discord
seems to give more stuff
for free as well.
● “Hacking it:” I’ve
attended incredibly well
organized virtual events
on Discord with up to
1700 people, like the
French speaking
CyberConv.
It seems to make sense to finish with the service I’m using
even more than Miro. Originally designers for gamers in mind.

14. Willem van der Horst
Bonus round
Use or even default to the phone
I know, I might sound old. Haven’t there been
times when you thought something would be
better dealt with in an audio conversation
though? It’s actually easier to listen when you
don’t have to watch, and/or easier to get work
done without worrying how you look.
Write a postcard or letter
Get off your digital device and write
a postcard to a friend or family,
they’ll love it. I’m even happy to send
you one from Paris if you’d like.

15. Willem van der Horst
GG (Good Game)
I hope you found this useful and enjoyable. I’d love to hear what you
thought, feel free to use, test tools, and share with friends or colleagues.
I am looking for new clients, consulting, contracting opportunities.
Please reach out with questions, or know more about research,
workshops, speaking, and playful strategy as a whole (I’m based in Paris).
@ICWillem on Twitter | Insta | Willem#6378 on Discord
Check out the Ice Cream for Everyone Podcast | Sundae Newsletter
Send an email: willem@icecreamforeveryone.net

16. Thank you
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willem@icecreamforeveryone.net