Prateek Katyal
Most of us can’t wait to get back to in person meetings. We will give presentations and conduct meetings again, but I suspect it will be a hybrid model of in person and virtual. If you’re not ready for technical bells and whistles , no worries. Technology can often compete with your message. Here are some low tech tools that anybody can use.
Polls-There is a polling feature in Zoom that is simple to use. Prepare your poll in advance. After you begin your meeting, launch the polls and they will come up in the order your created them. It’s a good idea to start the meeting with a poll. For a NO Tech poll, ask attendees to physically raise their hands. Make sure you are in gallery view. Handraising works in person and online.
Breakout rooms-When you’re the host on a Zoom call, you can click on the Breakout icon and choose the number of people to send to a room. You can also set the number of minutes for each breakout. Zoom will assign people randomly or you can manually choose the people for each room. It allows for more intimate discussion and networking.
White board- There is a White Board feature that allows you and the attendees to write or draw. The value of this feature is it allows you to add content in real time and allows the audience to collaborate by writing their own notes.
Music- You can play music through Zoom so that everyone can hear it. Starting with music is a fun energizer. Add a contest by playing songs or part of a song and then ask people to guess the title or group.
Share screen-Do you need a file or picture? No worries. With the Screen Share tool you click on the icon and choose your screen or that of an attendee to retrieve a picture or file. Again it’s real time learning.
PowerPoint -This is one of the simplest tools. Slides can be shown through the Webinar version of Zoom or you can use Zoom meeting and retrieve the slides by sharing your screen.
Video- Today video is easy to create. Most smart phones have good cameras. Put it on a tripod, check your background and then hit record. You can upload the video from your phone to youtube or social media platforms. Ideally, limit them from 1 to 2 minutes. Video can build your brand, promote an offering, provide instruction, or welcome visitors to your website.
4 Flipcharts When in person, place a flip chart in one of four corners. This will allow teams to come to the room and participate. It doesn’t get any lower tech that this. The virtual equivalent of this is the whiteboard.
Tweet storm-Instead of sending one tweet at a time, press the + button on twitter to allow you to send multiple messages to create a thread that people can read at one time. This helps you to tell the story.
Share chat at once-A lot of interaction takes place in the chatroom. The challenge is that it goes by too fast. To prevent speed scrolling you can tell everyone to type their answer but don’t let them press enter until you count 1-2-