The Nuanced Issues of Screen-Sharing in Mediation

Managing the screen-sharing feature in virtual mediation is a deceivingly nuanced role mediators have taken on in recent years. It seems simple enough: a participant wants to share a photo or document, and screen-sharing is the great enabler of doing so. As the host of the meeting, the mediator needs to simply enable the feature for the participants and that’s the end of it, right?

Hopefully, it goes so simply. However, numerous factors need to be considered, the first of which is what the mediator’s default setting for screen-sharing should be. Most virtual meeting platforms allow the host to control who and how many participants can share their screen. As the mediator, you should consider if it is appropriate to allow more than one screen to be shared at a time. If multiple parties sharing screens at once is collaborative and productive, it’s a wonderful tool. If a participant is using the feature to essentially “talk over” another participant, it may be disruptive to the mediation and, as the guardian of the process, mediators should consider how they might handle this. A possible solution is to discuss the use of screen-sharing in the opening statement.

Another potential issue arises when participants turn on screen-sharing unintentionally or leave it on after they intended to be finished. This may be addressed directly with the parties by acknowledging you can see their screen-sharing and asking them to let you know when they are finished.

Consider how you manage your own screen-sharing habits. Let the parties know when you are going to begin screen-sharing. If you are sharing a webpage, consider what all the parties may see. A good practice is to hide your favorites bar and bookmarks by using ctrl+shift+b. This can create less distractions on the screen when sharing.

Screen-sharing is the table that the parties sit at in virtual mediations. It is the medium for exchanging documents and information. In person, you would want to provide the parties with a clean and appropriate table to sit at, so treat screen-sharing in a similar manner for successful virtual mediations.