Basic Virtual learning

Reader Virtual Learning

The results of a survey for tips and knowledge on the internet to form a good remote training

Content How To Facilitate Effective Virtual Meetings..................................................................................2 The Ultimate List of Virtual Team Technology Tools.......................................................................7 3 Fun and Easy Virtual Team Building Activities.............................................................................9 How to Make Sure Your Next Web Conference Isn't a Complete Failure......................................13 What Is the Best Web Conference Program for You?....................................................................17 Trainer’s Notebook: A Great Training Starts with A Great Icebreaker...........................................18 These 10 techniques can help you build trust with remote employees........................................21 6 Ways to Make Sure People Are Listening in Your Virtual Meetings............................................24 How to take notes in meetings....................................................................................................25 Best Practices of Virtual Training Design......................................................................................28

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How To Facilitate Effective Virtual Meetings FACILITATION, MEETINGS

In light of the Coronavirus, many nonprofits are engaging in scenario planning. Organizations have also been encouraging their employees to work from home or enlisted travel bans. The list of conferences cancelled is growing, with some now being delivered a virtual gatherings. It’s time to up your virtual facilitation and convening skills.

I’ve been working remotely since the early 1990s, during the early years of the Web. My first remote job was to work with a virtual team to manage an online network for artists, called Artswire. Since those days, I have continued to hone my virtual facilitation skills to design and deliver effective virtual meetings and trainings. As nonprofits are impacted by the CoronaVirus and need more virtual meeting skills, I’d like to share what I have learned.

This word cloud is from a virtual workshop I facilitated asking participants what the barriers to effective virtual meetings are: technology, engagement, connectivity, and participation. Virtual meetings that are not well designed and facilitated can also mean a loss of productivity. Aside from technical issues, the biggest problem is engagement. As Hasan Osman points out in his Pyramid of Communication as you move to virtual modes of collaboration and communication, group cohesion and intimacy decreases.This makes it hard for people to fully engage with each other.

Here are some best practices for Virtual Meetings to get past that pain: 1-Co-Create Your Team’s Rules of Engagement or Virtual Meeting Norms Rules of meeting engagement or “meeting norms” are stated standards that refer to processes, preparation and communication practices which can apply to any meeting. Virtual meetings may have some specific norms, for example:  We will use the technology that most accessible to everyone on our team.  Test your technology before the meeting and resolve any technical issues  Use phone line with audio clarity and stability  Do not multi-task (do other work) during the meeting Reader Virtual Learning

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Follow an organized line up to ensure each person has a chance to respond.

Find a quiet space to participate Use the mute button at your site to prevent the transmission of background noise.

Speak up to get attention if you have something to say.

Turn on your video whenever possible and be camera ready Meeting norms should be shared with your agenda at the top of your meeting, used to reinforce different behaviors, help you improve your virtual meeting process, and should be a short list of no more than 6. Meeting norms should be co-created and discussed with your team because for them to work everyone has to own them.

A thirty minute facilitated process can be used to discuss and create a draft for your meeting norms.

See slide 30 for a simple recipe for doing this exercise as part of a virtual meeting. Alternately, you can use a process called Gifts and Hooks where participants share what gifts they can bring to create an engaging meeting and what they need to be engaged. Here’s an example using a virtual sticky note app.For more ideas on creating meeting norms, see this post.     

2-Virtual Meeting Design Is More Than Agenda Planning While agenda planning, what topics will be discussed for how long and by whom, virtual meeting design requires more designing. You need to think through purpose, roles, meeting norms, materials, facilitator agenda (specially if you are using online tools to do activities like brainstorming, etc), technical, scheduling, and communication.

If you want to get better engagement, identify different people to assume different roles on a rotating basis. Roles may include:  Facilitator: Designs and Facilitates Meeting  Note Taker: Takes action notes/takeaways and emails them to everyone right after meeting  Technical Support: Helps with technical troubleshooting  Bridge Moderator: Someone who can assist remote participants in a face-to-face meeting or those unable to use a video conference platform or facilitates in the chat.  Time Keeper: Keeps time Some teams appoint a ”Yoda” to add some levity and increase human connection. Yoda is the person who mentions the elephant in the room or calls it out when meeting norms are not being followed.

Another fun role is “Rabbit Hole Monitor” that uses a technique called “ELMO” (enough already let’s move on).

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For more on designing your virtual meeting, read this helpful resource from Nancy White and colleagues.

3-How To Avoid Technical and Time Zone Scheduling Snafus It isn’t a matter of whether technical problems will happen, it is more like to expect them to happen and have a Plan B or a way to avoid falling into the pit of technical despair where the meeting gets derailed because of one person’s technical issue or you experimenting with a new tool and it doesn’t work as planned. First, make sure everyone troubleshoots their technical issues before the meeting, if possible. Many platforms have a technical testing page and good tech support, include those links ahead of your meeting. And, if not, here’s a great infographic of common virtual meeting technical issues and fixes.

My secret is to write out a step-by-step facilitator agenda if using a new technical tool and rehearse it.

And, always have a plan B. For examples, if your platform drops callers, be a little flexible with the agenda. If someone is supposed to share their screen and is having a technical problem, make sure people have copies of the document and at minimum, you as the facilitator, so you can share your own screen.

Many virtual meetings require working across time zones. My best tips and tools are in this post.

4-Always Do A Virtual Icebreaker or Check-In A great meeting or training starts with a great icebreaker. Icebreakers are discussion questions or activities used to help participants relax and ease people into a group meeting or learning situation. It is important to build in time for an icebreaker because it can create a positive group atmosphere, break down social barriers, motivate, help people think about the topic, and get people to know and trust one another. Any icebreaker you do in a face-to-face meeting can also be done virtually.

But, you can also have some fun with virtual icebreakers that build trust and engagement. For example, you can share photos of your workspace or your location. Here’s an example of an icebreaker where I asked everyone share a photo of their space. This helps created a shared experience.

5-Create A Line for Participants To Follow Establish a method you can call in participants. This might include alphabetical order by first or last name or if you are using a video conference platform by order on the screen. If you are using an audio-only conference call platform, you can use the clock technique where you assign people numbers on the clock at the top of the meeting, then use that for introductions and later in the

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meeting to call on people as part of the discussion. Here are some more tips for making audio-only conference calls more impactful.

Pro Tip: If you are using a video conference platform, watch for eye movement (means person is reading something), arms moving or typing sounds (they’re typing), or bored expressions. Don’t call out the person specifically, but remind people that one of your meeting norms is full attention. Here are some more techniques to ensure that your virtual meeting participants are listening.

6-Techniques for Virtual Brainstorming, Voting, Feedback, and Energizers In face-to-face meetings, one way we get engagement is doing activities like brainstorming and sticky voting. Both of these activities can be done online using different tools. For brainstorming and sticky dot voting, there are many free, simple to use, and low cost tools you can use. I’ve used liniot to do brainstorming, here’s an example. The tool is the least of the requirements for an effective virtual brainstorm, you need to understand how to design and facilitate an effective process and facilitate with virtual sticky notes.

Another technique that goes hand-in-hand with brainstorming is dot voting. I’ve used in many faceto-face workshops, but it can easily be done online with “Emoji” voting.

During face-to-face meetings, you can easily tell when participants are getting tired or the energy drops. With virtual meetings, even with video conferencing, it is more difficult. You can ask people about their energy level and then ask them to do a simple stretch movement to help replenish energy. There are also some fun virtual energizers and games that make it fun.

7-Ways To Evaluate and Continuously Improve Virtual Meetings Your nonprofit’s virtual meetings will get better over time if you allocate 5 or 10 minutes at the end of the meeting to evaluate how it went and what you need to improve. You can use the same methods you would use to evaluate any meeting or training. Here’s an example of using virtual sticky notes to evaluate meetings using two different methods, “Sad, Mad, Glad” and “Plus/Delta.”

8-Hybrid Meetings: Mixing Virtual and Face-to-Face Participation When you have both people in the room and remote participants, use a bridge moderator (someone in the face meeting) who ensures that there is a linkage between virtual and real time participants.

The bridge moderator reminds people in the face-to-face meeting that virtual participants are part of the meeting. Checks to make sure that virtual participants can hear, see, and speak.If using video conferencing, project remote participants on the screen or give a seat at the meeting table.

9-Send Meeting Notes that People Actually Read I’m sure you are not surprised: no one reads meeting minutes. Nonprofit professionals are so underresourced and busy, that they don’t often have time to go through meeting minute documents and reading them to figure out what they missed out on. Most people rely on what was mentioned verbally in a meeting, which can lead to miscommunication. A brief, concise follow-up email that summarizes who is working on what is a lot more more effective than meeting minutes. Here’s a good guide for meeting note taking.

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Additional Tools and Techniques If you are like me, you are always looking for more tools and techniques to increase engagement during virtual meetings, webinars, and workshops. Check out “The Ultimate List of Virtual Meeting Tools” or “The Ultimate List of Online Collaboration Tools“for more tools. If you want to evaluate meeting platforms, check out this list from Gartner or this curated list from Collaboration Super Powers. If you are looking for different facilitation techniques to adapt to virtual meeting spaces, check out “8 Fabulous Meeting Facilitation Playbooks.

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The Ultimate List of Virtual Team Technology Tools (List updated: Mar 2020) The following is a list of around 60+ technology tools that you can use to manage your virtual team.

To keep things simple, I’ve categorized the tools into 10 different functional categories.

However, keep in mind that those categories are loosely defined, and one tool can technically belong to more than one category (because of overlapping features and frequent tool updates).

Note: None of the links below are affiliate links, so feel free to click away 1. Collaboration Tools Tools that help you collaborate with your team through a central hub for sharing information  Slack  Podio  Webex Teams  Lighthouse  Microsoft Teams  Blackboard Collaborate  Redbooth  Zoho Connect  Huddle 2. Project Management Tools (includes Time Tracking Tools) Tools that help you manage and plan your projects with your team through task assignments and scheduling  Microsoft Project  Teamwork  Basecamp  Redmine  ActiveCollab  Jira  Primavera  Asana  Smartsheet  Trello  Workfront  ProofHub  Wrike  Pulse (time tracking tool)  Projecturf  HiveDesk (time tracking tool)  Apollo 3. Document Storage/ File Sharing Tools Tools that help you store and share your files securely among your team  Dropbox  Onehub  Google Drive  Zoho Docs  SharePoint  Box 4. Meeting Tools (including Video & Audio Conferencing Tools) Tools that help you meet with your team through web conferencing and collaboration (including video and audio conferencing)  Webex  Skype  Zoom  BlueJeans  GoToMeeting  Join Me  Google Hangouts  Anymeeting  Adobe Connect Reader Virtual Learning

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

GlobalMeet

5. High-End Video Conferencing Tools Tools that allow you to meet with your team through super high definition or real size video conferencing  Cisco Telepresence  LifeSize  Polycom Telepresence 6. Instant Messaging Tools Tools that allow you to chat in real-time with your team members  Jabber  Skype  Grape  Mattermost  Rocket Chat 7. Document Co-creation Tools Tools that allow you to co-create and co-edit documents or visuals in real-time with your team members  Google Docs  ONLYOFFICE  Prezi  Xtensio  Conceptboard  Scribblar 8. Social Network Tools Tools that allow you to collaborate and interact with your team members through a social network  Yammer  Jive  Chatter 9. Scheduling Tools Tools that help you to schedule common meeting times with your team members  Calendly  TimeandDate  Doodle  HubSpot Scheduling  ScheduleOnce

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10. Virtual Team Games Virtual team games that help increase trust and enhance communication  Prelude – a creative game that builds trust in virtual teams  VirtuWall – a competitive game that helps breaks down silos  QuizBreaker – an online icebreaker quiz game for remote teams  Water Cooler Trivia – weekly office trivia questions using email or Slack  3 Easy Games (Free) – a post I wrote about 3 fun and easy remote team building activities that you can implement today Hope you found this helpful!

Please contact me to let me know if there are any other tools that I might have missed.

March 15, 2020

3 Fun and Easy Virtual Team Building Activities Virtual teams can feel very lonely.

Remote employees are typically focused on their own silo, and rarely interact informally with their peers and managers like they would in a regular office.

Meetings in particular can feel very transactional and dry.

This is one big disadvantage of virtual teams – you lose what’s called the “water cooler” effect in a regular office, where team members bump into each other at the water cooler and talk about things unrelated to work.

Although such minor interactions can be trivial, their impact is quite significant on team performance.

They have a tremendous positive effect on overall team morale and happiness.

So as a team leader, you should put in a concerted effort to create activities that help increase those team bonding factors.

The objective of those team building games The objective of those virtual team building activities and games is to help you:  build trust among your team members  increase the level of cohesion and intimacy among your co-workers  learn more about your team members on a personal and professional level The activities are very simple to implement, yet have a huge return on investment for you and your team.

Who are those virtual team building activities for?

The following activities and games are designed for virtual teams of 4 or more individuals that are either just starting out (i.e., in the forming stage of team development) or have been working together for a while on a collaborative project (i.e., in the storming stage or beyond).

Those activities are especially helpful for teams that work closely together and interact multiple times throughout the week by using IM software, teleconferencing, and other virtual team tools.

The activities are not very applicable however, to teams that are working on short contractual work, such as a small team you hire through Upwork to design a website for you.

What you need for the virtual team building activities You will need the following before conducting the virtual team building activities:  Dedicated time: you need to dedicate some time either at the beginning or end of a virtual status meeting, or to set up a completely separate meeting focused on the activity itself  A screen-sharing/ collaboration tool: to share your screen where everyone can see what you’re presenting on  A conferencing tool: for folks to talk and listen in (like a regular phone teleconference or a web-based audio one)  A main facilitator/ leader: who will help moderate the activity. Ideally, this would be the virtual team manager or project manager of the team Tools such as Skype, WebEx, Zoom, and GoToMeeting all work great for screen sharing and teleconferencing.

3 Virtual Team Building Activities Here are three fun and easy virtual team building activities and games:

#1 “Little Known Facts About Me” The objective of this game is to connect with your team members on a personal level.

Most virtual teams don’t have a lot of time to mingle or chit-chat, so this game is great because your team members can open up and learn about each other’s backgrounds.

Here’s how it works: Ask each team member to send 3 personal facts about them only to you as the facilitator. They should send this information to you a few days before the meeting so you have enough time to consolidate it.

It is important to tell the team members that those facts should not be related to their current job (and preferably not known to other members of the team) to make it more fun.

You will then enter those facts in a spreadsheet in random order. On the day of the meeting, you can then share the spreadsheet on a screen, and ask each team member to guess who that fact belongs to.

The spreadsheet will look something like this (I’m showing only 3 team members here for simplicity):

You would start with fact 1 at the top by reading it aloud and asking each of the team members to guess who they think that fact belongs to by speaking up. You’ll then type those guesses in the spreadsheet while sharing it on a screen where everyone can see.

Once that row is complete, you’ll move on to the next fact, and so on.

After filling in all of the rows, you can start at the top again and start filling in the right answers in the “Correct Answer” column. Asking the person with the associated fact to speak to it a bit is always amusing.

At the end, you as the facilitator can then tally up the scores of all the different team members to see who got the most guesses correctly.

This is a lot more fun than it actually sounds, because as you go through the facts, the guesses by the team are hilarious. And the facts you find out would reveal quite a bit about each team member’s background. #2 “Video Roundtable” The objective of this game is to increase the level of intimacy among your virtual team members.

Video conferencing is one of the least utilized features of remote teams, yet it is one of the most important to build trust.

I think people shy away from using video because they are just generally uncomfortable with it, or they’re just too busy to “fix themselves up” to be camera ready (and prefer to keep working in their PJs – like me � ).

However, video conferencing is a great way to increase the level of cohesion among your team.

In the Pyramid of Communication (where the higher up the pyramid, the more intimate the team is), video conferencing is only a couple of levels below the best form of communication: face-to-face.

Side note: I talk in-depth about the pyramid of communication and how it can help your team become more effective in my bestselling Udemy course about managing and influencing virtual teams (Get it for a steep discount on Udemy for a limited time by clicking here) Here’s how this activity works: Set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour for a “video roundtable” meeting every 2 to 4 weeks.

The goal of the meeting is to have everyone join a video conference and get an update from all the team members about what’s going well and what’s not.

This is not a detailed status update to discuss issues or risks (which should have their own separate meeting), but rather general feedback about how things are going with the team. In addition, everyone must share a single personal update about them to spice things up.

The key to making the activity work is two things: First, explain to your team members ahead of time that it’s mandatory that everyone use video, and second, that every team member will get the chance to talk. This way, you’ll ensure that everyone has their web cams ready ahead of time, AND is prepared to give an update.

To add some structure to this, you can limit everyone’s responses to 6 minutes each, and have them answer three questions 1. What’s one thing that’s been going great lately?

2. What’s one thing that can be improved upon?

3. What’s one thing that’s been going on with you personally?

A sample response could be: 1. “We’re doing great with the latest requirements document – we finished it ahead of schedule and the customer is happy. Big shout-out to Mike for helping us last week and walking through it in detail with our lead engineer.”

2. “One thing we could do better is be a bit more responsive in email. I realize we’re all very busy, but we had to wait 48 hours for a response from the Ops team, and this is going to affect us negatively in the long run.”

3. “A personal update is that I’m heading over with my wife and 3 kids to the Bahamas during my vacation next Friday. We’re all super-excited about it, and Charlie, my youngest, is looking forward to swimming with the dolphins.”

The idea is to avoid “presenting” anything. The focus should be on the person talking because it’s a Video Roundtable, and team members are free to ask or comment on any of the responses so that it feels like an open forum.

Having the video turned on is awesome because you can read everyone’s facial and body expressions as they speak, and it’s like you’re all sitting in a large conference room.

An optional idea is to ask everyone on video to bring along their favorite beverage – coffee, tea or soda – to the meeting so that it feels like a virtual coffee break. #3 “Two Pictures”

The objective of this simple activity is to share visual images with your team members.

Here’s how the activity works: Ask everyone to share two pictures (again, not related to work) about their own personal families or hobbies and spend 5 minutes talking about those pictures. Other team members are encouraged to ask them questions to learn more about their backgrounds.

There are two ways to play this game:  Dedicate 30 minutes for a separate meeting where all team members share those 2 pictures in turn and talk about them.  Dedicate 5 minutes at the beginning of a regular (unrelated) status meeting where only one person shares their pictures during that meeting, and the others can do so in subsequent meetings.

This is somewhat similar to the “Little Known Facts About Me” virtual team building activity, but it’s much simpler & quicker, and focuses on pictures instead of text.

The visual component makes it an incredible game that imprints memories among your team members.

If you don’t have time for any of the other games, this is definitely my favorite one because of its simplicity. It’s also the next best thing to having your own personalized office cubicle where you display personal memorabilia for your co-workers to see.

Here are some ideas for pictures you can share:  Pictures of your family (including kids and pets)  Picture of your home office or space where you usually work from (people love seeing this for some reason)  Pictures of your last vacation  Pictures of your hobbies  Pictures of something interesting you found online (like a gadget you want to buy) 

Conclusion Those virtual team building activities are great to build trust and rapport among your team. You can try all of them, and then pick one that works for you and your team. You can even frequently play all 3 of them at different times during your team’s progression.

Here’s a quick recap: 1. Little Known Facts About Me – a game where each member guesses published facts about their teammates 2. Video Roundtable – a video conference where everyone has to use video and talk about general & personal feedback 3. Two Pictures – an activity where everyone shares 2 pictures about anything unrelated to work, and spends 5 minutes talking to the team about them I hope you found those virtual team building activities helpful!

How to Make Sure Your Next Web Conference Isn't a Complete Failure

By Danny Wong

To stay relevant in an increasingly competitive landscape, companies open offices in new markets, hire talent who work remotely, form partnerships with other businesses and vendors, and converse regularly with customers.

But communicating with everyone can be a challenge. Travel for in-person meetings costs time and money. Telecom providers charge international calls by the minute, which can encourage users to end productive conversations prematurely. Email, which lacks tone and other critical communication cues, can be inefficient and ineffective.

Fortunately, web conferencing offers companies a better solution for connecting colleagues, clients, and partners. Unfortunately, many of us have experienced blurry video and indecipherable audio. To avoid the potential pitfalls of web conferencing and help you host better online meetings, we've compiled our best tips.

How to Host Seamless Web Conferences The success of your next web conference is contingent on what you do before, during, and after the meeting. Before the conference even starts, follow these call preparations.

1.

Install the video conferencing software you plan to use ahead of time Spend a few minutes tinkering with it to familiarize yourself with the available features, and call a colleague to test that everything works properly.

2.

Wear headphones To minimize echo and ensure you hear other web conference participants clearly, use headphones. This is also a considerate step so the people surrounding you or those in the neighboring room are not distracted by your conversation. Find your mute button (in your headphones or web conferencing program) and keep it handy. You may need it to prevent conference participants from hearing unexpected noises on your end such as a cough, sneeze, or question from a passing coworker.

3.

Use a grounded, high-speed internet connection Whenever possible, use an Ethernet cord to connect to the Internet, and pay a premium for faster service.

4.

Shut down other applications and programs Though most users assume a shoddy Internet connection is to blame for a choppy video call, the real culprit may be your computer. End any processes you are not currently using so your machine can run faster.

5.

Find a quiet, comfortable space with minimal distractions Place yourself in a private room or booth with minimal background noise and a strong Internet signal. Sitting in a clean, blank space helps meeting participants focus on you when your camera is on–not a messy, busy office. Bonus points if there is a whiteboard behind you too, which will allow you to draw a diagram or share notes to better convey your message.

6. Find good lighting Proper lighting makes it easier for people to see you and your body language. It is a good idea to refrain from sitting in front of a window. Though a window seat may offer a nice view, window glare can make your face really light or really dark.

7. Open your presentation materials beforehand This allows you to avoid having to load documents or web pages during your meeting, which can be disruptive and distracting and waste time.

8. Send pre-call materials to all participants Include a direct download link to the software you expect everyone to use, provide user instructions, and share meeting-specific login information. Confirm the meeting's time and date too, and be specific about time zones. Also, use this as an opportunity to share call notes or any meeting-related documents ahead of time. That way, participants can have a chance to open and review those materials before the call starts and won't have to fumble with it later.

Hosting a web conference can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially because people from different parts of the world have taken time out of their busy day to chat with you. In exchange for their time, you should present valuable information in an engaging format. For your video call to run smoothly, consider these suggestions.

Be mindful of your body, hands, and face If you use a webcam, carefully consider where it points and how you look throughout the presentation. Odd angles and unnecessary movements can be distracting and will impact how listeners receive your message. A video conference is not an appropriate time for you to impress with your looks, but it certainly demands that you act and look presentable. Don't wear flashy clothes or go overboard on makeup. Instead, focus on nailing the content within your presentation; it is more important that people remember you for what you say, not how you look.

1. Start every call with a quick introduction For more intimate web conferences, at the beginning of each call everyone should have the opportunity for introductions. This briefs people on each other's

roles and expertise. That way, participants can direct more targeted questions to the right person or group of people and better understand the context of what their peers say.

2. After introductions, establish an agenda Confirm the goals of the conversation and the different items to be discussed. With a linear understanding of what is to come, participants can be more engaged and involved with the conversation. A discussion outline sets the stage, allowing you to more effectively deliver your message.

3. Choose one person to emcee the meeting This individual will be responsible for guiding the dialogue through each of its critical talking points and giving participants a fair opportunity to voice their thoughts and opinions. The emcee also ensures that the conference concludes in a timely manner.

4. Record your meeting rather than take notes Note-taking during a web conference can be disruptive to the overall conversation.

Instead, consider having someone transcribe the audio portion of your call so you can recall what people said more accurately. Most quality transcription services cost about $1 per minute.

After a call ends, take the time to follow up with your peers.

1. Reiterate agreed-on action items Then, outline the steps needed to move forward.

2. Summarize the call highlights When you receive a copy of the conference's transcript, jot down the main points of the call and share that with participants.

Tools to Enhance Virtual Communication To create an experience that effectively substitutes in-person meetings, companies should invest in audio-enhancing tools and external web cameras.

According to Logitech, an external camera presents several advantages when compared to an embedded webcam, including better resolution, speed, fluidity, color balance, and noise reduction. A quality microphone can make a huge difference too. Premium microphones muffle background noise and amplify your voice.

Using advanced technology, web conference attendees can more easily hear and understand each other. This helps prevent the awkward question, "Can you repeat what you just said?"

What Is the Best Web Conference Program for You? In 2015, PC Magazine ranked the 10 best video conferencing services. Among those honored were: 1.

ClickMeeting. Editor's Choice. Rating 4/5 2.

Join.Me. Rating 4/5 3.

Adobe Connect. Rating 3.5/5 4.

Cisco WebEx. Rating 3.5/5 5.

Citrix GoToMeeting. Rating 3.5/5 6. eVoice. Rating 3.5/5 7.

Skype for Business. Rating 3.5/5 8.

Onstream Media. Rating 3/5 9.

StartMeeting. Rating 3/5 10. Intercall. Rating 2/5 According to PC Magazine, almost all of the services include neat features such as whiteboard tools, screen sharing, in-app chat, and audio recordings. Five out of 10 are web-based tools including ClickMeeting, eVoice, Onstream, StartMeeting, and Intercall. The other half are software programs users must download and install. Mobile users can rejoice as all of the web conferencing services have dedicated smartphone and tablet apps.

There is a web conferencing service to suit every budget. Customers can pay as little as $2 per month per user on Skype for Business or as much as $500 a month for Adobe Connect. Pricing for a majority of the services falls between $20 and $50 each month, and most plans include a 14- to 30-day free trial. For those looking to save more, Join.Me, Cisco WebEx, Citrix GoToMeeting, Skype, and StartMeeting all have a free limited-feature plan, which gives users a reliable video conferencing tool without the frills.

For small- to medium-sized businesses, all of the services offer plans that support up to 25 conference participants. For larger meetings, Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, Citrix GoToMeeting, and StartMeeting have premium plan tiers that allow you to host up to 100 attendees. Intercall supports up to 125 participants, Skype for Business can host 250, and ClickMeeting's premium ClickWebinar package allows you to organize a web conference for up to 1,000 attendees. Companies that expect to regularly host online events for thousands of people at a time can contact any of the major web conferencing providers for a custom solution.

Fortunately, if users run into technical issues at any time they can turn to their provider's customer support hub for help. Most web conferencing companies provide an extensive knowledge base and active user forum. For more specific questions, they also offer email, phone, social media, and live chat support.

By taking the proper steps before, during, and after your next web conference, you mitigate the risk of miscommunication and conference downtime. With the right tools and platform, you can host web conferences your guests may actually prefer over in-person meetings. And you won't have to spend a fortune on technology or premium customer support.

Trainer’s Notebook: A Great Training Starts with A Great Icebreaker TRAINING DESIGN

During the summer, I’ve been designing workshops based on The Happy Healthy Nonprofit and Emerging Leaders Playbook. A great training always start with a great opening or icebreaker. Icebreakers are discussion questions or activities used to help participants relax and ease people into a group meeting or learning situation. It is important to build in time for an icebreaker whether it is a staff training, board retreat, or a workshop with people coming together for the first time.

Icebreakers have these benefits: • create a positive group atmosphere • help people to relax • break down social barriers • energize & motivate • help people to think about what they already know related to the topic • help people to get to know one another A selected icebreaker game get your training off to a great start, but a poorly chosen and designed icebreaker can have the opposite effect, making people feel nervous and uncomfortable. A “bad icebreaker” is one that requires sharing too much personal information or touching. Milk the Cow is one example and while it might have been fun to do different handshakes when you were summer camp in Junior High, it is awkward and a little creepy to do this type of opener with professionals.

Nonprofit blogger Vu Lee has some tips on what types of openers to avoid.

Before deciding which activities to use, assess your audience for age, familiarity with one another, purpose of the group gathering, and potential considerations for physical abilities. An icebreaker for a staff training might be different from one that you use at a conference session where people don’t already know each other.

Also be aware of the group dynamics. Not all participants attend a training voluntarily or your training may be the kick off to a more in-depth program and participants may have hopes and concerns about their ability to complete the project. For example, they may be concerned about the amount of time required for “homework,” or the topics included. Having a opening that creates the

space for participants to ask questions, air concerns, and get everyone on the same page is essential in this context.

Sometimes, you can design the icebreaker to connect with the content of the training. No matter what the learning objectives of the training are, participants will already know something about it.

Learning is about connecting the dots to existing knowledge and skills so participants can build on it during the training. It also helps you, as the trainer, learn a little bit about the group dynamics and participants before getting started. Depending on the context, I might do a icebreaker that is purely to get people comfortable, but I will also do second icebreaker that helps get people ready to learn.

While I love using magic markers and sticky notes or tossing a ball in icebreakers and exercises, don’t only use activities that require having materials or equipment on hand. You can always adapt or improvise.

I have a repertoire of icebreakers and openings that I have done over the past 25 years, but I also know that I can fall into icebreaker ruts. So, it important to change up your routine. To avoid getting into an rut, I keep a notebook to document icebreakers I’ve used or discovered. When designing a training, I refer to this and try different from my last training.

Here’s a few Icebreaker recipes from my playbook.

(1) Meet and Greet: Throw the Ball This works for a group of 5-25 people. The group stands in the circle. Each person will have an opportunity to introduce themselves saying their name, title, organization, and a fun fact about them they would like to share. With that latter point, you can ask for something specific, like their favorite breakfast food or what they keep in their trunk of their car. The first person to introduce themselves gets to toss the ball to anyone in the circle or the ball can be handed to the next person going clock wise.

(2) Meet and Greet: Getting To Know You This works for a small group of twelve people or less and especially good for a staff training. You ask each person to introduce themselves and to briefly answer a question that can build a common bond.

These might be questions such as:  Describe how and when you came to work at this organization.  Share your biggest current challenge you are experiencing at work.  Describe a positive client or audience interaction you have experienced.  Tell your coworkers something you appreciate about your organization.  Tell your coworkers what you appreciate about your coworkers.  Share what you like most about your current job.  Share the funniest or most fun situation you have experienced at work.

Here’s an excellent resource with tons of great icebreakers and exercises that can be adapted for staff training.

(3) Meet and Greet: Share and Answer Your Favorite Icebreaker Question This works for a small group of 20 people or less. I love to use the people shaped sticky notes and speech bubbles, but you can use plain old yellow post it notes. I ask participants to write down their favorite icebreaker question and give examples like those questions above. Next, I ask participants to pair up and share and answer their icebreaker questions. I am them to exchange the people sticky notes with their partner. Then I ask them to pair with another person and repeat the activity two more times. I bring them back into circle and ask them to write down their answer to the question on they have in their hand and use it to introduce themselves.

(4) Meet and Greet: Word Cloud

This works for a small group of 12 or less. (If you have a larger group, you can use an online polling app like Slido that allows participants to use their cells to share their answers and automatically generates a word cloud.) You can use sticky notes or capture the words on white board or paper.

Ask participants to jot down “Just Three Words” about what comes to mind when think about the topic you are going to cover in the training. Ask participants to write one word or phrase per sticky note. Ask people to introduce themselves and share their words. Collect their sticky notes and cluster them on the wall into common themes. Reflect as a group on the common themes and unpack what they mean.

(5) Meet and Greet: Fun Introductions This works for any size group. You need to have markers and “Hello My Name Is” name tags. You ask participants to create a first and last name based on words that represent what they already know related to the topic and what they’d like to learn. Then you have participants do a series of share pairs introducing themselves to each other or you can do it speed networking style with two long lines of people facing each other and one person moving to the head of the line. I’ve also used this a closer for people to share what they learned. Here’s a more detailed documentation.

(6) Meet and Greet: My Burning Question This works for any size group. I use this icebreaker at conference sessions or workshops where there was not an opportunity to do in-depth participant assessments before the workshop. I ask participants to introduce themselves and their burning question about what they want to learn from the workshop. If it is a large group or people feel uncomfortable, I have them first write down their questions, and then share with a partner before asking for people to share it with the whole group.

As the facilitator, I capture the burning questions (I don’t answer them). I usually point out what questions will be answered as part of the training and what it isn’t included, but mention that I will leave time at the end of the session to address remaining questions. I keep the burning question list taped to the wall and refer to it during the Q/A. Here’s a list of resources that share some tips and recipes for icebreakers: My blog Posts on icebreakers and openings:  The Art of Good Openings and Closings  Online Interaction Tools for Icebreakers and More  Tips for Good Openings  Openings, Exercises, and Icebreakers That Get People Moving  6 Icebreakers for Training Sessions Icebreaker Collections  The Big Book of Icebreakers  Pinterest Board: Icebreakers  Teampedia: Tools for Teams  Win3 Icebreaker Collection  The Best Icebreakers for Meetings and Trainings  Icebreaker Dos and Don’ts by Vu Lee  Sharing Knowledge: Icebreakers  Mindtools: Icebreakers  25 Best Icebreakers for Work Meetings What are some of your favorite meeting icebreakers?

These 10 techniques can help you build trust with remote employees

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Trust is something that takes time to grow between coworkers. It happens when you can swing by a colleague’s office to ask for clarification on an email; when you notice an officemate reading your favorite author over lunch; or when you see pictures of your boss’s family on her desk. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, employees across the country and the world are stuck at home and learning to navigate a remote office environment. How can you help your employees build trust or maintain their existing bonds when working in isolation?

The challenge of building remote trust Remote working offers a slew of benefits, which is why more and more companies are choosing to recruit remote teams even without a scary virus shutting down whole cities and states. However, one of the biggest challenges remote workers face is developing a strong bond with their fellow employees. It can be difficult, after all, to feel connected to people who exist only through emails, chat messages, and profile pictures in your company’s team management platform. Additionally, as Salesforce explains in a training module on virtual collaboration, “It’s easier for miscommunication to escalate when you’re not face-to-face.”

Managers need to step up and make an extra effort to promote trust between remote workers and to establish a strong sense of company culture. It can be done, but it takes a strong commitment and ongoing focus. Here are 10 ways to do it.

1. Hire trustworthy people Okay, so this suggestion might seem a little glib. Obviously, every company wants to hire trustworthy employees, and it isn’t always easy to tell who is and isn’t trustworthy when you bring on a new person. This is why it is so important to call a job candidate’s past employers and ask hard-hitting questions about their job performance. It also helps to offer your most authentic self during the recruitment process, which will encourage the prospective job candidate to reciprocate. That’s something we work hard to accomplish at Poll Everywhere as we grow our company.

If you currently have an employee on your team whom you don’t trust, it may be time to consider making a change. In an in-depth article on managing a remote team, Zapier co-founder Wade Foster

explains, “if you continually find yourself worrying about what someone is doing, then you are spending brain cycles focusing on something other than the product or the customer.”

2. Offer trust to your team Before you can expect trust from your team, you must be prepared to give it. Lead by example, as they say. The massive job listing platform, Monster.com explains, “…if you view others as trustworthy, chances are they’ll reciprocate. Give your coworkers all the help they need from you, then trust them to execute.”

Resist the urge to micromanage or to change an employee’s work because it isn’t exactly what you would do. By loosening the reins, you can help your employees build more self-confidence and develop more autonomy within their job.

3. Focus on company culture in the onboarding process It can be especially difficult to establish a strong sense of company culture with a remote team, which is why it needs to be top of mind during a new employee’s onboarding process. Don’t just ask everyone to introduce themselves with a short and boring monologue. Spice things up with some fun icebreakers to help new employees relax and engage in the process. Here are 7 exciting icebreaker games we recommend. Most of these options can be modified for a remote onboarding process.

4. Choose video meetings over calls and text Phone calls, emails, and messaging all have their place in the remote workspace, but managers should make the effort to regularly get their teams together on video meetings. There’s just something about seeing the real faces behind the names of remote colleagues that can help team members feel closer and more connected.

Consider also allowing a little time at the beginning and end of the video meeting for chitchat and catching up. This type of talk isn’t a waste of time. In fact, it allows your team members to build bonds by opening up to each other and finding points of connection.

(Not sure how to hold remote video meetings? Here’s everything you need to know about setting up virtual meetings.)

5. Create remote team building activities In most companies, the best team bonding experiences don’t happen in the office. They occur during the employee softball games, happy hours each Friday, or at the boss’s big holiday bash. However, who says you can’t host fun team building activities when you’re all working remotely? All you need is a little creativity.

Host a remote video happy hour where everyone makes their drink of choice Put together a group trivia tournament using Poll Everywhere Competitions Watch a movie together Attend a virtual concert 6. Encourage team members to open up Trust takes root when your employees learn more about each other and feel confident opening up.

Think about different ways you can infuse a little fun and encourage appropriate self-disclosure during your remote working time. For example, you could dedicate a Slack channel or message thread to: 

Pictures of family pets

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Awkward childhood photos

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Favorite 90s movies

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Selfies in at-home work attire 7. Ask for communication and feedback Show that you care about how your employees are feeling by asking for their feedback and questions.

Requesting more communication from your team is especially valuable if your employees have just recently transitioned to a remote work situation. In all likelihood, your employees will have concerns, as well as useful ideas and suggestions. The company Blinds.com hosts regular town halls and “Say Jay” events where CEO Jay Steinfeld answers employee questions. Employees use Poll Everywhere software to ask questions and upvote the questions they want answered the most.

8. Respond to communication and feedback It’s not enough to just ask for employee input and communication. Show you’re listening. That means answering your employees’ questions, especially the tough ones. Workers are incredibly nervous right now. Be honest and upfront. Also, if an employee offers a good suggestion, implement it. There’s nothing better than knowing the boss is taking your ideas seriously.

9. One-on-one calls Zapier co-founder Wade Foster suggests randomly pairing two people on the same team for a short one-on-one call. It’s something he’s implemented in his own company of over 300. (They use Donut.)

On the call, employees are encouraged to talk about their lives, hobbies, and anything else of interest. This isn’t a work call, it’s about recreating that valuable watercooler time where coworkers can learn about each other and build trust in one another.

10. Reward employees who do good work When employees trust each other, they can focus on their areas of expertise without having to shoulder extra slack or look over their teammate’s shoulder. As a result, trusting teams also tend to be more productive and effective. Make sure you reward a well-functioning team by publicly praising their hard work and even offering some creative bonuses. Check out these nine great ideas for celebrating remote wins.

Trust can be hard to come by, especially among a group of coworkers who may have never met in person. Yet, trust is the foundation of a strong and healthy company. We also need to trust each other more than ever as we face these uncertain times. At Poll Everywhere, we can help by providing you with the audience response software you need to get clear, honest, and actionable feedback from your virtual team. For more tips on how to work remotely successfully, download our remote work toolkit.

6 Ways to Make Sure People Are Listening in Your Virtual Meetings Feb 3, 2014 by Tricia Harris in leadership & facilitation, remote work (2 minute read) Did you know the average manager spends 30% of their time in meetings? And, research shows that 46% of meetings result in no action.

But what if you could save time and get more done? What if you and your coworkers could actually say, "that was a great meeting?"

When you have an in-person meeting, you can tell when people are engaged. However, when you have virtual meetings with a team it's more difficult - and keeping people's attention is critical.

Yet, I'll bet most of the people attending your meetings are not paying attention. This is one of the reasons (out of many) that projects aren’t getting finished, meetings go long, and you have to have more of them to accomplish your goals.

Bottom line: When you get people to pay attention, you get more done - faster!

But how, you say? Below are a few easy rules to make it happen: 1) Plan for engagement. Have some discipline - build out your agenda and send it out ahead of time. Think of creative ways to keep everyone interested in the subject. If you can't think of what will be on the agenda, then don't have the meeting.

2) Facilitate. No, I mean really facilitate. Watch the time. Politely redirect those who have meandered off the beaten path. Effective meeting facilitation is all about sticking to the subject and keep things moving so people don't start getting annoyed.

3) Try a round robin (or two). A round robin is a technique in which everyone takes a turn. This can be effective because everyone must contribute. You can have multiple round robins in one meeting ask everyone their opinion on decisions to keep them on their toes.

4) Ask a direct question. If you don't think someone is paying attention, then ask their opinion on the topic you're discussing. You don't have to be rude, but some people need that little extra nudge to keep focused.

5) Rotate leaders. This forces people to see the other side of the fence. Be sure to tell them how vital their role is - as in "we're all depending on you to get us out of these meetings earlier (to try that new sushi place, to get to happy hour earlier, to get more work done...)." Send them to this blog post. Rotate note takers, too - when someone is responsible for documenting, they tend to pay attention.

6) Meet more often than once a week. It sounds contradictory to meet more, but it's not. The more frequent remote teams interact, the more engaged they are. Our team at Lucid meets from remote locations twice a week, and we get through our meetings quickly -- in under 30 minutes each. Oh, and we get a LOT done. We may make meeting software, but we certainly don't sit in meetings all day.

There you have it - 6 methods to make sure people are listening in your virtual meetings. Not only that, but when people are truly engaged in your meetings, you'll have better meeting engagement, better outcomes, and more buy-in.

How to take notes in meetings Apr 22, 2014 by Tricia Harris in leadership & facilitation, tips & techniques (3 minute read)

Have you ever been asked to take meeting notes? We've all been there, and usually no one is thrilled about it.

However, taking meeting notes is a critical step in moving work forward, and everyone should know how to do it well.

Not clear why you should even take a note? Then by all means start by reading our previous post we've got 5 good reasons for ya.

What notes should I take?

The skill of how to take notes in meetings sounds easy, but it actually takes practice. Team members may talk quickly, and you want to make sure to capture the important points: 

Meeting minutes should be comprised of important facts. Basic example: "Ted is flying to Denver on Tuesday.� The sentence captures who, what, when, and where.

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Issues and decisions are also important to record. For example, “we need to ensure the hotel has a working internet connection for the meeting” (issue to be resolved) or “Sally will accompany Fred to the conference” (decision made by the team).

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Make sure to capture any action plans that result from the issues raised or decisions made.

Example: "Sarah will book the flights and hotel, and Sally will purchase conference tickets.”

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Lastly, record any questions raised and their answers, as well as ideas provided by the team.

Once you get into the habit of reviewing notes from previous meetings, this will become valuable.

How to take notes There are many note taking strategies, yet here are some of the basics: 1) Agree who will be the note taker Agree ahead of time who will take notes, and to make things easier on everyone, rotate team members each time. This is important because then everyone takes responsibility for moving your team’s work forward.

One way to be thorough is to assign multiple participants to take notes, as others may document something you miss.

Make notes visible to other attendees for accuracy and confirmation of understanding. If you can, develop a shorthand (ex: @, =, f2f, +) - you can always go back and fill in the wording later if needed.

2) Ask questions Don’t make assumptions that you understand what co-workers or customers mean by certain phrases. Get into the habit of clarifying when you are taking notes, and ask questions such as: 

Here is what I heard you say, did I get that right?

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Have we captured everyone’s thoughts on this subject?

3) Assign Tasks As the note taker, it is your responsibility to assign tasks to yourself and to other team members.

Once you write something down, a person realizes that they are now going to be held accountable for that action, and decisions become more real to everyone.

When assigning tasks, ask “who owns this task, and when should it be done?” This way, everyone buys in to the task and holds the assignee responsible for getting it done.

4) Keep focused A good time to capture notes is when team members add commentary or make small talk. Try to focus on the important takeaways and keep it simple when possible.

5) Table off-topic issues

Sometimes (ok, almost always) meetings tend to veer off topic and pretty soon a few people are discussing a subject that the rest of the team can't relate to. Speak up when this happens and ask if the topic can be handled outside of the meeting. Also take note if there are items that should be researched and re-visited at a later date.

6) Use note taking software Using software can make your life much easier. The best note taking apps will allow for multiple attendees to take notes at the same time. This way, everyone can contribute and is responsible for recording them.

After the meeting: 

Review and correct Read through notes immediately after a meeting and update them while the context is fresh in your mind. This will save you time in the long run.

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Distribute Promptly Even though you may be tempted to go to lunch or start another project, resist the temptation and send your notes to the group as soon as possible. This updates everyone else while the meetings fresh in their mind, quickly reminds people of their follow-up tasks, and makes you look awesome because rarely does this happen!

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Take action Take care of your action items as soon as possible and lead by example.

Final Thoughts In closing, good note taking can: 

Keep you and others engaged

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Serve as group memory

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Confirm that everyone understands what was discussed

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Record important info and takeaways

Best Practices of Virtual Training Design There are a lot of bells and whistles that accompany the synchronous virtual classroom. Used incorrectly, these tools actually can deter rather than assist in skill transfer. Not all virtual trainings are created equal. Through rigorous beta testing, we’ve found a right and a wrong way to deliver virtual learning. Here are a few best practices we’ve discovered about designing virtual training to deliver the kinds of results found in the traditional classroom experience:  Quickly change learning modalities. In a traditional classroom, it’s typical to change modalities every 15 minutes. However, attention spans are much shorter for virtual learners, so it’s best to change learning modalities every three to five minutes to keep people’s attention and ensure full engagement. These quick modality changes ensure a lively, interactive experience, while also making it nearly impossible for the learner to multitask during the course. Feedback shows this type of demanding engagement eliminates e-mail distraction and Web surfing during the training—a notorious detractor of skills retention and mastery.  Don’t skimp on interaction and practice time. Deliberate practice of skills and concepts is vital to any successful classroom training and should not be overlooked in the virtual world. And yet, many virtual programs are light on skill rehearsal. Instead, create as much interaction, practice, rehearsal, and feedback as a traditional on-site classroom course. Technology allows for breakout sessions with two or three virtual participants. In the case of interpersonal skills, they can use this time to practice word choice, tone of voice, and other key conversational elements.

The facilitator can join these breakouts to provide instant coaching and feedback to the team.  Use virtual tools to increase engagement. Virtual technology easily allows for polling and quizzing. Not only do these tools drive engagement, they also test learning and skill retention.

Virtual training is also an excellent medium for video-based learning to build skills, demonstrate mistakes, and model correct behaviors.  Design for spaced learning. Sitting in front of a computer screen for hours is much more taxing than sitting in a classroom surrounded by people and interactive discussion. So account for potential fatigue by reducing the time people spend in front of the screen. We’ve found the optimal amount to be no longer than two-hour sessions spaced over multiple days. This delivery model also provides more flexibility in scheduling while preventing learner fatigue.

Virtual Training Is More Like Classroom Training When designed carefully and consciously, virtual training can provide the same results as traditional classroom training. We surveyed graduates of both the virtual and classroom courses and found equal results when it comes to participant engagement, skill retention and mastery, behavior change, and organizational results. Specifically:  86 percent of virtual classroom participants rated the experience “just as engaging” or “more engaging than” traditional classroom training.  100 percent of participants were highly satisfied with their training experience.  Participants averaged a score of 90 percent on a test that measures mastery of skills, 1 percentage point higher than cognitive scores in the traditional classroom.

There was no difference between the virtual and traditional classroom participants with regard to behavior change. For both groups, it was immediate.

About the only area where classroom training rated higher was on long-term maintenance of these behavior changes. We surveyed participants after several months and asked them how confident they were in using the skills at home and at work. Both groups reported they were “very confident” in using the skills, though participants who took the training in a traditional classroom reported slightly more confidence by 2 percentage points.

As the results indicate, the latest virtual training technologies allow for a high-quality training experience that delivers results. And with comparable results, virtual training can offer more in terms of scheduling flexibility and ease of training. Why not embrace virtual as the wave of the future? Just make sure you do it right.