Blueprint | 02 Leveraging Online Tools

B L U E P R I N T LEVERAGING ONLINE TOOLS In this session, you will learn how to use online tools when running meetings. We’ll go through some lesser-known features that you can use to help drive engagement and ensure everyone has the best experience. You’ll also learn how to use offline resources, such as a whiteboard, to add value to your meeting. HOW TO USE WEB CONFERENCE TOOLS TO INCREASE ENGAGEMENT One of the best ways to maximize online meetings is by using the online tools available in various web conferencing software. At Winning by Design we use zoom.us so examples will be with their software. BEST PRACTICES Screen Sharing - You have options for how much of your screen you want to share - The full screen, a selected window, or any section of your screen that you choose. Choose the selected window so they get the full experience without added distractions. When sharing your screen, select the Share Computer Sound” button. This lets all participants hear the sound from your computer, useful for sharing a video, instead of them hearing it muffled coming out of your speakers. It sounds much better. Turn off your notifications! - If messages on Slack and personal text messages are popping up for everyone to see while you’re sharing your screen it’s very unprofessional. Polling - You can use polling for having a group of people vote on a subject or as a pop quiz. Throwing in a pop quiz during training is a great tactic to re-engage the group if you notice they’re distracted or losing interest. Chat - A beneficial tool to use in big groups when you don’t want everyone talking over each other. Use the chat to let people share best practices and ask questions, letting them know that you’ll get to as many as you can. PRO TIP: Have someone other than the main speaker be in charge of the chat. They can take notes, highlight key moments, and monitor for questions. Breakout Rooms - One of the most underused tools for group online meetings (of at least 5 people). You have to turn it on in advanced settings, then you can either manually or automatically assign people to different groups. I.e. - After talking about a topic, start breakout rooms with 2-3 people per room and give them 2 minutes to do an exercise or discuss the topic. PREPARATION AND TECH CHECK Modern problems require modern solutions. You probably type faster than you handwrite and want to be as efficient as people when taking notes during a meeting, so you type. The other person in the meeting hears the constant typing but they’re not always thinking that you’re taking notes - they think you’re distracted, writing emails, chatting on slack, or just distracted.