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10.2 Emplacement
Emplacement concerns the physical layout
of the boardroom and the way in which this
influences the conduct of the meeting and
the behaviour and interactions of meeting
participants. Typically, the room is dominated
by the boardroom table around which
meeting participants gather. The seating
arrangements influence the conduct of the
meeting. Typically, we noticed that the chair,
CEO and clerk/secretary sat in a row forming
'the triumvirate' (Chalk, 2020), as the locus
of power and influence in the board meeting.
At the in-person meeting the time spent before
the meeting formally starts is a time during
which board members and management can
move freely and talk informally and privately.
Refreshments are provided. This varied from
tea/coffee, biscuits and water, to a full meal.
Once the meeting has started, however,
participants tend to remain in place and
hence their interactions are limited.
By contrast, in the online meeting participants
just appear. The time before the meeting
officially starts can be awkward and does
not allow of the kind of informal, private
conversations between board members and
management. One board member told us,
Emplacement in the face-to-face meeting
Emplacement in the online space
The arrangement of participants on the screen
changes and is not under the control of
participants; there is no sense in which any one
sits next to anyone else. Participants may choose
to be seen or may switch off their cameras:
presence/absence takes on a different meaning
in the online space. Although the technology
usually performed adequately, we observed a
number of technical and human difficulties:
people forget to switch their microphones on,
images periodically freeze, or break up, voices are
echoey. The 'hands up' function is often ignored.
At the end of the meeting all participants
abruptly disappear.
"�We�miss�out�on�the�opportunity�to�
get�a�little�bit�of�'inside�information'�
that so often comes from the informal
discussion before or after the meeting
with�student�members�and�staff�when,�
in-person,�it's�possible�to�ask�'so,�
how�are�staff/students�feeling�about�
xx�just�now?'�A�look�on�their�face�or�
a few words can give some authentic
insights�that�are�not�so�easily�obtained�
online�when�everyone�at�the�meeting�
hears the question and answer.
(Board�Member)