This week I had an opportunity to take part in a workshop that focused on design of virtual meetings. There were a number of great takeaways - not the least of which was it's fun to be a participant for once rather than the facilitator - including tips on getting folks up to speed with the virtual technology.
Yes, we all have had the "Get Ready" slide up in our webinars or meetings, reminding people to mute, turn the video camera on, use the chat, etc. And that works to a certain extent but there are always people who don't prep (thanks for the audible of your dog barking, yo) or people who don't do all the steps required.
Enter the "Do Now" activity which functions as both an icebreaker and tech check. In this "Do Now" session, we had to practice muting and un-muting, sending public and private chat, and turning on our cameras. You can BET that everyone was highly motivated to be on mute when the facilitators asked us all to sing our favorite song. Loudly.
And then there was this - practice turning your camera on and off by showing your choice of footware for the day. You can see by the photo that everyone was smiling, everyone was successful, and that we all passed that tech check.
Two birds, one stone, people. Brilliant.