There are two main logistical problems to be solved when you are doing distance supervision:

• Meeting logistics
• Electronic organization

Let’s start by looking at options for virtual meetings. The primary program that I use for meetings with supervisees is Skype. It’s free, reliable, easy to set up on either Windows or Mac systems, and lots of people already use it. The one drawback is that you cannot do multiple video chats, although I understand that that is a feature that may be coming soon, at least to the Windows version. Skype will allow you to screenshare, which is a really nice option when you want to play a part of your supervisee’s video to explain your feedback further or point out, for example, the point at which you might do something different.

Another great option if you are on a Mac (and your supervisee is on a mac) is iChat, which will do everything Skype does, plus allow for multiple video chats (e.g. if you are doing group supervision) and recording (Skype will also do this with some add-ons). Like most things Mac, it is easy to set up and use. If all my clients had Macs, I would be using iChat for all supervision meetings. As it is, Skype has served me well for many years now, and I find myself continually returning to it after checking out whatever the “latest” video conference software is.

Another option that is worth checking out is Adobe Connect. With the free version, you can do video chat with up to 3 people total. With the subscription versions, you can have from 5-20 people in a video conference and also have multiple “workspaces” for file sharing. This use of workspaces is similar in some ways to Basecamp, and leads us into the next topic: organization!