Like a cat with nine lives, zoom meetings are here to stay. Here are nine steps to make them great!
- Determine if it’s imperative to meet. Often, an email exchange is the better choice.
- Assign a tech savvy person to run the show. A ‘producer’ can be responsible for platforms, audio tools, charts, etc.
- At the top of the meeting make sure that all participants know how to utilize the chat feature of Zoom. Not only is it a great record keeping tool, but it also encourages participation. Perhaps assign a team member the role of chat ambassador, who when applicable, inserts participants contributions in the conversation.
- Place a large screen in your on-site meeting room. When participants are closer to life size rather than contained within postage stamp size frames, it elevates their relevance.
- Ask the ‘producer’ to make the presenter the dominant visual and consider adding a second screen so that participants can experience each other’s reactions.
- Make sure it’s all hands-on deck. Explain how to use whiteboards and annotation tools. Break out rooms are even more effective than the on-site small group huddles of the past. Small groups can focus without distraction, and collaboration occurs more quickly with the forced exclusiveness.
- Make sure that the audio in the on-site meeting room is excellent. Provide off-site participants with headsets and ancillary microphones and require their use.
- Designate the Q & A time and alert participants as to how it will look and when it will occur. Make sure to take questions from both on-site and off-site participants.
- Take to time to solicit feedback. Ask if everyone felt included and relevant. Confirm that the technical aspects were of high quality.