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The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
The People Gardener Podcast with Rhonda Delaney
Zoom Unlocked: Secrets to Transforming Your Virtual Meetings with Betsy Sabatini
We discuss how to strengthen the engagement and productivity of your Zoom meetings with expert insights from Betsy Sabatini. With her extensive experience, she shares essential tips and tools that shift the typical Zoom dynamic.
Betsy's Free Download:
• Importance of transforming virtual meeting experiences
• Engaging functionalities like reactions and screen sharing
• Leveraging breakout rooms for collaborative discussions
• Utilizing multimedia elements to sustain interest
• Tactics for effective virtual audience engagement
• Importance of planning and preparation for hosts
Thank you for joining us today. If you weren’t on our email list, please visit my website, www.rhondadelaney.com, to stay updated on all things people gardening and leadership!
Well, hey there, welcome to the People Gardener podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener, thrilled to put this podcast together to help small business owners, new business owners, frustrated business owners and aspiring leaders, whether they're inside business or outside. Each week, we bring you some actionable steps so that you can actually improve your skill as a leader. That's what we're about. We're here to help you become a better leader by giving you access to lots of different perspectives. By giving you access to lots of different perspectives, the guests are varied. We're thrilled to have them. Get out your pen, get out your paper and be ready to learn Every single episode. You're going to be able to take something away that you can implement. Are you ready? Let's get to work. Well, hey there.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the People Gardener podcast. Happy to have you here today. I have a woman that is a worldwide sought-after speaker. She is highly trained, she is certified up the wazoo and she's here to talk about Zoom, and we all know we have been on lots of Zoom meetings that suck and a few meetings that are okay, and so over the next two episodes, she's going to talk to us how we can absolutely improve our performance and the productivity of what happens on a Zoom call. So welcome Betsy Sabatini. So happy to have you here today.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Rhonda. I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:So I'm one of those people that know enough to be dangerous when it comes to Zoom. I've done a number of Zoom sessions, but I know for myself I have lots to learn.
Speaker 1:So that's why I was so excited to get you on here, because I know that I'm going to learn new things how we're going to do these two episodes is we're going to go with an overview and she's going to help us see all of the things that we didn't know were there and reaffirm the things that we did, and then we're going to drill down in a few of the different settings that we can become really skilled at. That will help our performance, or the performance of the actual talk that you're having, the training that you might be having. So all to you, my darling, all right.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much. I'd like to tell you a little story about how, when the world shut down abruptly in 2020, so we're coming up on the five-year anniversary of when many people all over the world were out of work their place of business closed abruptly and for me, being a technology educator and coach for now over 35 years, so it's what I've always done I've always taught people how to use technology, how to integrate it into their life and business, and I can go all the way back to when we had computers and there was no mouse to click. So if you have a question for me, ask it, because I have seen all the ups and downs and, lately, the virtual portion of creating a business that you can do pretty much from anywhere. And this, for me, started five years ago, when I received multiple requests from people to learn how to connect, keep the doors to their businesses open, and for me, it meant learning everything I could about this application called Zoom, and even since then, it has gone from video conference. Only that's really what we used it for. We couldn't leave our houses, we were inside. So, in order to connect, we made sure that camera connected, the sound connected, and then we were connected and we sat and we listened, and now many who have created their businesses 100% virtually have brought that connectivity into in-person situations so that they can have what we call a hybrid or a blended type of work environment. So it creates so much more flexibility. You get many more work hours, if you're the business owner, from people who work with you, teams that work with you, because no matter where they are, they can connect and stay efficient and performing. So I'm going to take you through some of the things I've learned that I know you're probably going to be wowed by. You didn't know that it was even in here.
Speaker 2:Many of your listeners out there may have just used Zoom to click on a link and be seen or be heard. Maybe it was to be a guest speaker, it could have been, and it didn't take too many of the features. However, if you're looking to grow your business, there are some great tools inside here that I want to show you and talk to you about. I'm going to bring you through some of the terminology. It all starts with these ways to engage on Zoom and that starts with what we call reactions. Now you can have everyone muted, which is often the preferred way to have a video conferencing call, because when we're all on here live and there is noise in the background, it's very hard to concentrate. So when you have everyone muted and the only person who can make noise or talk is the presenter and maybe the host, like you are today, the interviewer there is something that's called reactions and it's a non-verbal way of either putting an emoji on the screen you can put it like a thumbs up, you can. There's even some that you may not know that are there, which are reactions that are animated and they actually move on the screen, and I often ask people to find an emoji that is indicating what they're thinking right now and what they're feeling.
Speaker 2:Another tool that we use is the chat and the share screen. Use is the chat and the share screen. So many presenters I'll say hey, okay, put it in the chat where you're from, or say hello and tell me you're here and put it in the chat. And if there's a hundred people present which you can do in a zoom meeting you can actually have a free zoom account and have a hundred people present. You can only limit it to 40 minutes, but you can have a hundred people present. So think about that in comparison to maybe picking up the phone and talking to some of your new leads out there. If you're want to generate some new business, having a zoom call, even just for a half an hour, is one of the greatest ways they can see your face, they can hear your voice and you can present information to them.
Speaker 1:I see the value of a town hall. Most of the audience that listens to this podcast are small business owners, typically that have a brick and mortar, not necessarily folks that are working off campus. Having this as a town hall right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And people and you're. You don't need 40 minutes for your town hall, it could be a 15 minute. Everybody's on the call and everybody's reacting and you're generating energy.
Speaker 2:Beautiful and think about, like the cost right there, how the cost is like almost to zero when you can host everyone in this room and, yes, you want to make it feel energized and warm and these features can help you do that. So the chat is actually also a place where you can put website links. So if you're having your town hall, you might have also a resource that you want to share with them and you can put that in the chat. The resource is also like I'm doing right now. I'm using a screen share so that you can actually see what I'm talking about, and these bullet points they come up on the screen allows me to show you a picture like this. So I'm using screen share right now. I can show you that when you are the host because that's where we take a little bit of a turn here when people want to know ways to engage on Zoom you really control the energy that is created when you're the host, and there's only one host in a Zoom meeting. Ever there's only one host. You can have co-hosts and those are people who you invite in, let's say, an hour before your event starts, before your town hall starts, and you make them a co-host and then they get extra features in their screen so that they can actually allow people admit them in and they can control the sounds and they can keep the audience maybe quiet while the presenter is speaking. So, the presenter, you might want to just be you concentrating on the camera, concentrating on your microphone and your presentation. So here's what it looks like. So again, I'm able to show you with my screen share what the reactions looks like. And so if you just wanted to have a fun moment in your town hall and you said to everyone all right, pick an emoji that you see on the screen and click it to indicate you know what's your level of excitement right now about our new service or product or this announcement we're making, or what a question you might have, you can go any which way on it and you'll notice that in those lines of little emojis there's like a three dot sort of ellipsis at the end and that is allowing people to actually go into an entire library of emojis. So it even makes them feel comfortable like they're picking up their phone and looking at emojis, like we might do in social media or in a text thread. So it gives that familiarity. You meet them where they are and they feel engaged and excited.
Speaker 2:So this rectangle where you see everyone, it stays in that corner for only about seven or eight seconds and it has a little sort of wiggle or you know movement to it and then it disappears automatically. So they each have their own way. You can see the top one says send with effect and the other one is more of a like if you put a sticker on the screen. So if someone is giving their agenda, even in another type of virtual event where you might know everyone in the room and you're bringing everybody together from maybe different collaborative businesses, you're a small business owner, you're connecting with other small business owners in your county, in your region, and everybody comes together in this virtual event. You can connect with them in this way by sharing some of this on your screen. And if someone's talking you don't want to unmute, to actually clap, you can put that little emoji symbol on your screen.
Speaker 2:So it's, it's fun, it's energizing, it gets your people who are participating to do other things besides, besides just sit and watch. And it is, it's fun. And so you see those other rows. There there's a row with a green circle and a check mark and right next to it is a red circle with an X. Now, that is an extra special reaction in that I like to ask my audience a question and I turn it into a real casual quick poll, and so I want to know of all of you here how many of you have already hosted your own Zoom, just to get a show of hands, because we're all going to be doing it by the time we're done here.
Speaker 2:But just a show of hands. You walked in the door today. Do you come with prior experience? Give me a green circle If it's yes, give me a red circle if it's no.
Speaker 2:And when they click that, that little symbol stays on their screen until we're done with the discussion about it, and so you can look all around the gallery and you can see how many green circles, how many red circles. So, without people unmuting, there's no raised physical hands and then they're putting it down. There's no body movement like that. It's very easy to notice and you get a tally in your participants list. So that's a part of being a host. You get an immediate tally. So, as people are voting, you, the host, are looking and you're like, hey, you can react to that and you can say, hey, thank you so much for participating. I see we have 50-50 in the room, so you're all in the right place because those who have hosted already you're going to be learning so much more this week and those who haven't already, we're getting you up to speed so you can do a quick poll with these reactions as well.
Speaker 1:And this is what you're describing right now is part of the free or is it part of a paid?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this one. So the reactions are part of a free account. If you look at the bottom there I've given you a little item is boxed out where it says host only and that says polls and quizzes. So that type of poll with the bar chart. That's only for people who start paying for Zoom and the entry level start paying for Zoom is around $15 a month. You could actually just do one month if you wanted to and if you wanted, you knew you had a big event coming up and you didn't want to pay for it for the whole year. You can do Zoom that way too. So some of what you're seeing on the screen right now can be gotten with a free account, and the extra special ones are at least for that paid level which we call pro Cool.
Speaker 2:Now, I mentioned earlier in one of our features we talk about the chat, and again, this is a screenshot. So I just set up my screen and then I take a screenshot of it and I'd like to show you what it looks like, because when you are a host and you're in a Zoom meeting, they can't see your chat, I can't see your chat. It's something that you only get on your specific view and it sits on the right side of the screen like that, and it allows you to type a message. So if you see at the bottom, it says type message here. And what I always say is you know, just drop it in the chat. So if you've got a question right now, rather than raising your hand, or whether it's the physical hand or there's actually a digital hand that you can raise just put it in the chat and that chat will keep track. So it'll be there for the whole length of the time we're together. And even on top of that, you can actually save the chat as well On this screen. If you see at the top, there there is a little menu. So even around the corners of your screen you're going to find other features that allow you to do extra special things, like take the chat with you, and then the chat will be saved on your computer where you're joining with us today.
Speaker 2:If you're joining from a phone or an iPad, some sort of mobile device, then I always advise people because when you're on a mobile device it's different than when you're on a computer and that you really can't save things like you save a photo. So I tell people take a screenshot with your phone and then it'll go to the photo gallery on your mobile device. So if you are attending a Zoom where you want to make it a business event you're hosting it or attending, I'd advise you to host or attend from a computer, because you'll get more features for sure. All right, so now, aside from dropping it in the chat, saving the chat, we also have share screen and just in this image actually this image was made with AI use our imagination and you're sitting in front of your computer and you want to show your audience in that town hall, maybe some of your top 10 points that you want to make in this discussion.
Speaker 2:Well, zoom lets you share a variety of content and that could be from a presentation program, and the ones that are out there are like PowerPoint, or Canva is another one, and in this screenshot, those rectangles you see on there are all of the different presentations that you could pick from. These have to already be on your computer and you have to have already made the presentation. So Zoom's not going to like give you, you know, sample presentations to do, but it lets you pick the ones that you have created on your own prior to this town hall or this event. You can even pick a video if you wanted to play a video into your virtual event, and you can share the sound as well. So it's a real great way to you know, stop talking, give them something else, some sort of multimedia experience, so that they can enjoy hearing something, as opposed to hearing your voice.
Speaker 1:Ability to be super creative but also very specific on your vibe. Everything as a business owner, you can create this. You don't have to just put some stock, something or other there. It can completely be in alignment with your values, your brand colors, your brand voice, your brand. I mean everything to do with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I love that and because I'm going to show you in the in our second episode, as we we told you at the beginning, we'll be doing two episodes of this. There is a part of Zoom which is great for introducing your brand and it resembles like a lobby of a building, like if people approach or if they enter your place of business, your brick and mortar, maybe they see a sign on the outside and then they walk in and they just feel the presence of your business because of the branding that you've done. Maybe it's the reception, and you can do that in Zoom with what's called a waiting room. There's actually a virtual waiting room and you can brand that with a video, so a video can play even before you've admitted them into this virtual event. So that's coming so exciting, great. Stay, that's coming so exciting, great.
Speaker 2:Stay tuned people Stay tuned, yeah, stay tuned. So yeah, thank you for contributing that because, yes, once you create all these assets and resources and then you share them into your event, people get this real great feeling about you, and you're not even with them in person.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's what I Just to make sure everybody remembers, like I did with our Adrian Farrow, our Google tools expert. Both episodes will be available when we drop them on my YouTube channel, so you're going to be able to see all this. I know some of you are probably trying to figure out what it looks like just visually in your in your head, but we will have it on YouTube as well, so yeah, great, great, great point.
Speaker 2:And I do agree, sometimes just listening is a great way to learn without watching. So, if you're listening to these points and then and then follow up with watching it back on Rhonda's YouTube channel, because then it, it's this reinforcement, like, oh, that's what it looks like, you know, right now you're hearing maybe just the terminology, and it's a great way to learn, especially if you're going to want, if you're one of the people who's going to say to me, tech is just not my thing, I hear it all the time. Oh, you're not going to be able to teach me, and I'm like, yeah, I beg to differ, let's talk about that at the end.
Speaker 1:Well, I am a 65, almost 66 year old woman that graduated from high school in 1977 with a select typewriter. Ok, so yeah, you can learn tech.
Speaker 2:You can learn tech. We've come a long way and so, for those of you just starting out, just take it one step at a time and when you come into my environment to learn the different terms, I take you a little bit deeper, because one thing is to know about sharing your screen. Another thing is to know that you get these controls on your screen, that you can do stuff while you're sharing and you know part of the experience from your participants. You know they're sitting there in this virtual town hall and you can actually, based on you, see the tools in front of you here. Those watching you can see that you can actually annotate, which means draw. You can draw on the screen. You can turn on your chat so you can see some of the questions that are going on even while you're screen sharing. They can't see you doing that, but you have all those tools available to you. You know, I was just a little side note, little story.
Speaker 2:Today I was talking to one of my students, my members, who is preparing for a very big class, so she's going to have. She's a real estate educator and she has about 300 people attending, so they're going to all be on Zoom all 300 of them. Yes, and she will be teaching them a part of their continuing education. And the part that I talked to her about was to keep the participants list on the screen as a tool, because in Zoom the participants, that's all of you. So if you're all in my Zoom with me, you're all listed alphabetically by first name and then the moment someone unmutes to say, hey, excuse me, but I have a question, one of the biggest things I hear is I don't see you because you might not have the gallery is what we call it.
Speaker 2:You might not have that in front of you or you can't fit all 300 on your screen. It's impossible. So if you have that list on your screen, you can see the person who it's called unmuting. So they open up their mic to talk. They will be listed first, and so I can look at that list and say, well, thank you, rhonda, Thank you for your question. And then they feel validated. So you see participants on that toolbar there. You just click that while you're sharing. You have that list open. Nobody knows you have it open. So it's it's a great tip.
Speaker 1:Very cool. I didn't know that, so there we go. It's like hey, I'm learning things.
Speaker 2:That's it. It's what I call like the cost of admission, like or the price of admission. Right there, she's like Rhonda's got it. She's like oh my goodness, I'm going to use my participants list. Then I'm going to now bring you to the second really good tip, which is when you're screen sharing.
Speaker 2:Another thing that many people will say to me that's frustrating is they're like I don't know if they're seeing what I want them to see, and the nervousness comes out and the first thing they say is can you see my screen or do you see my screen? And it is this moment of I don't feel very professional right now, because I'm the one in charge, I'm the one in control and I'm driving this ship, this vehicle. So I really want to know for sure that I could say well, as you see on the screen in front of you and what I'm showing you now today is the lower screenshot there's a preview that flips down off of this bar, and sometimes people don't even know it's there. So you can actually, without telling anyone, you can, just click this little button in that green bar there. So that's where it's hidden. And then that little preview that you see in the bottom flips down and you can actually see what they're seeing. I have a whole like go live checklist which I could actually give you the link for at the at the end of this if you want to put it in the description. But I always say to people the day before a big virtual event you should just shut down your computer completely, close all applications and and many people are like I haven't done that in weeks event, you should just shut down your computer completely, close all applications. And many people are like I haven't done that in weeks. I haven't shut down my computer. You know, and I said well, your computer, it gets a little sluggish and sometimes it can't do all these virtual bells and whistles. So that would be one area. The other area that this is really helpful is when you're sharing different websites. When you're sharing inside Zoom, sometimes I'm not sure which website screen they're seeing unless I flip down this little preview. So then I look at it and I know for sure that they're seeing it.
Speaker 2:Third tip for when it comes to sharing content into your virtual event is what's called sharing sound. A story goes like this You're at your computer, you're getting the point to your town hall where you're going to show something from YouTube or you're going to show a video that you created in its store on your computer, or you could even share right from your mobile device into your Zoom meeting. Great, you got the video queued up, you hit play and people can't hear it. They can see it moving, but they can't hear it. And that's because when you're sharing content into a Zoom meeting, you also have to tell it that you're going to share what's called the computer sound. You also have to tell it that you're going to share what's called the computer sound, so anything that you're playing from your computer, the sound. You don't want the sound just to play on your end in your office or home office or wherever you're Zooming from coffee shop, conference room, wherever it is. You want the sound to be shared into the Zoom meeting.
Speaker 2:And this option is in the menu. So if you forget to select it, it's in the menu, it's also here. So this screenshot oftentimes is not familiar to many people. It's on Zoom, it's on another screen inside sharing, and it lets you share a whiteboard and it lets you share a document. If, let's say, you just want to take notes or an easel even, I'll go to that and you're you're. You're saying, taking examples from the audience and you're writing things down, while you can share a whiteboard or a document or a note right into your zoom meeting and then you can start drawing. If you have an iPad, I have like show and tell here, but if you have an iPad, you can just bring your iPad and you can write on it and that's the whiteboard that they see right into the meeting. So these options are all available to you. And if you look on the right side of this screen, there's a little check box that says share sound. So when you check that off and you pick one of these options like you can share your iPhone or your iPad activity right into it.
Speaker 2:I consult with a very popular social media creator and she has her own studio, her own online membership, so she teaches people how to make reels for Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and stories and I was on her webinar yesterday and it was a meeting, a Zoom meeting, where we could all see each other, and she started holding up her phone right like this, so you see, everybody see it right here and I messaged her on the side and then she let me unmute and I said you can share your phone and I guided her right here. And if you see the option in the first row on the left, it says iPhone, ipad, via AirPlay and that means wirelessly you can connect your phone right into your Zoom meeting and then the iPhone screen comes up right on the screen Again, you can play your reel and then they hear the music right into it, they hear the sound. So it is an experience that engages everyone and it causes that burst of energy where everybody's like whoa, this is so great and they can't wait to come back to the next one and they don't want to leave early and that's always my goal. So, like I had mentioned, annotating is where you draw on the screen.
Speaker 2:You draw shapes, you can take information from the audience. You can even have your participants draw on the screen with you and I give them little stamps like little stars. That's on their annotating menu and I'll give them an area to annotate on and so something like this where I will make up these boxes here, I'll make this a little bigger, like that, and I'll say to everybody okay, so I want to know from you now. So, based on what you learned today, this is like a scenario right when they've been in class with me for a couple of days and they've learned all these features. I want you to star the items that you just know you're going to use right away when one foot is out the door. You just can't wait to incorporate these into your next Zoom event, and so they will annotate on top of these boxes, and so we're all collaborating and it's a community effort. We can see what other people are sort of voting on Great way to engage with your audience, and again, nobody is saying anything. They're just simply annotating on the screen.
Speaker 1:What I'm getting from most of what you're sharing is. There is so much that you, as the host, has control over as to how engaged, how much fun, how much of an event and an experience you are going to put on for people. There's no, there's no reason for somebody to leave early because they're bored. There's no reason for someone to leave early because they don't understand what. What's going on?
Speaker 2:You got it If you're. If if someone comes to me with the impression that they don't like Zoom because it causes fatigue, everyone has Zoom fatigue. We started to hear it by the end of 2020, maybe early 2021. And I don't want to use Zoom. It's just so boring and I say I know what you mean. Like, have I ever asked someone to stand arm's length away from me for at least an hour and keep their eyes right on me?
Speaker 2:I teach for the real estate industry a lot in the US and they have regulations in their states that in order to get credit for the class, they have to be on camera. They have to be. They can't turn their camera off and just sort of walk around the room and listen. They have to be on camera, they have to be. They can't turn their camera off and just sort of walk around the room and listen. They have to be on camera and in their seat. So it's very difficult to stay attentive for that long. And so these activities yes, they take away that Zoom fatigue and they replace it with fun, and I would say that's always your objective as a host of the event, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, I've already got ideas going for my next workshop. It's like, okay, yeah, this is cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:I mean this. This is what it would look like. You know, people would have these little stars and little question marks, like I even say if there's something on this screen that I went over and you still have a question about it, please click. And so in that case, rhonda, it's anonymous, like they're clicking and now cause they might be like I don't want to tell her that I didn't understand that. You know zoom surveys that she taught me. But I can now kind of collect data in real time from my audience and and they feel good about telling me it, because it's not like raising hand and you know how many people in here need more time and they're like, oh my gosh, they're looking around and they're noticing that no one else is doing that. So a whiteboard, on the other hand, is that area that you saw, that canvas and a whiteboard literally could be like the whole wall behind you. It's virtual, but you get that much space.
Speaker 2:And so now we take a turn to polls. Polls are only for those who are paying for their Zoom account. It's actually a Zoom feature. It's a Zoom poll and you can give people multiple choice questions. You can give them fill in the blanks so they can have a question and put it in. It can be used as a very kind of a quiz as well, so you can actually put it in ahead of time and all of these can be put into your Zoom account because you're the host, you're the one sending out the invitations. This can all be put in way ahead of your event so you can put all these questions together and then say what the answer is. So if any of you have maybe new employee orientation where you want to go over some information with them and then and actually have them sort of review it right To see if they got it, this is a great way to engage with them as well.
Speaker 2:The newest feature out there is called a Zoom survey. If you're familiar with a Google form and if you've watched Adrienne's episodes with Ronda or listened in and she may have talked about the productivity tool, the Google form Zoom came up with a very similar looking feature called a survey, and it allows you to put together these questions that you don't have to use inside your live meeting. So great for you business owners out there with brick and mortar, because you can create the survey, you get a link, you can put that inside your email, you can create a QR code, put it on maybe a card that you see in reception as you walk in, and it can be what are some products and services you would like us to develop? What are you thinking so far? What are your thoughts? Anything, the sky's the limit. Would you like to attend? Scan the QR code and tell us and you collect the data in real time and then you can just stay out there, and the reason I like it is because it stays in my Zoom account and so everything's in there. So then, when I get into the live session, rhonda, I can then do this. I can then put the QR code up on the screen and have people point their cameras to it, and they can take the survey right there with me as well. So a Zoom survey kind of has this dual purpose which I really like about it, and this is just an example of one that I do because I want to know, like, how long have you been using Zoom? And you know, have you hosted your own and you know how often? So it allows me to collect data even before they arrive. I can talk better to my audience, audience. So then the next three you see here, other than surveys.
Speaker 2:Again, when you have a paid Zoom account, you can also run those polls to what we call breakout rooms, and I want you to envision that you are in your brick and mortar. Maybe you have a conference room available to you, and at some point during your in-person let's just talk about that, how we compare in-person. You know, when you want to have little breakouts and you want to take people maybe pair them up one-on-one and give them a little privacy, so, like people might go to different corners of the room, or if you have extra rooms with doors, you might assign people there. Well, in Zoom you have this feature virtually, and they're called breakout rooms, and you can even run a poll first say please answer this very, the people who picked A go to breakout room A and the people who pick B go to breakout room B and the people who pick C go to breakout room C, and so that's a feature that is already built in. No worries, though, if you have a free account and you want to use Zoom for breakouts, you can do that too. You just can't do the poll version. You're just people manually or mathematically randomly, so you're just going to say, all right, I've got 50 people with me today and I want them paired up, Make me 25 rooms. Click, go and within seconds they are transitioned.
Speaker 2:I always say it's like beaming them up. It's like beaming up to my breakout room. Right, all of a sudden, your screen changes and then you're in another room just with your breakout room partner or partners. And then, finally, the way the last way I love to engage when they are in breakouts is with the screen share. So there you go, you can actually take your slide, like I have right now, share it into the breakout rooms.
Speaker 2:So that here's the scenario when you say, okay, everyone, we're going to have this awesome exercise right now, everybody's going to get paired up with someone. We're going to go into breakouts just for about five or seven minutes, fairly quick, and I want you to do the following. And then you give them the instructions verbally and then you go. Does anybody have any questions? And no one does. They're like, okay, awesome, let's go. One, two, three go and they go to their breakouts. And then people get in the breakouts Let me tell you what they're doing in there and they go. Do you know what we're supposed to do? I don't know. Did you hear her? I don't know, and it happens all the time because people first of all didn't want to say no. Could you repeat that please? Unless you get a couple of those really brave people. So I put the instructions on a part of my presentation and then I share into the breakouts and I can even use my voice and say all right, everybody, before you get started, here are the instructions again. Please take a picture with your phone or, however, there's lots of different ways, but you can share to the breakouts.
Speaker 2:Another great feature that is already built in this is just what it looks like for those watching along Yep, you get to create how many breakout rooms you want. You can do it automatically, which is mathematically. It just divides them all up, or you can do it manually, or you can let them choose where they're going to go. I have to say it's probably what sets Zoom apart from all the other platforms out there, and I've been on Zoom every day for the last five years, so that you don't have to All of my time using Zoom. It's incredibly user-friendly.
Speaker 2:And many of the other platforms which I'm invited on to be interviewed, or I'm on Google Meet or I'm on Microsoft Teams, so they're all somewhat similar. They're just not like this. And breakout rooms, I'd say, if you're trying to pick a platform, go to Zoom. If you think you're going to want to have the flexibility of bringing people out of breakouts back into them and you can do it multiple times through your event creates bonding, creates team building. It's really fantastic and in this, in this shot here, what it's showing you is what I talked about. So those polls to breakouts, just let's you see it on the screen right inside this live meeting and then you just click the button and off they go, which is really quite helpful.
Speaker 1:Wow, that was quite an overview, I can hardly wait till the nitty-gritty next week.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what? Yeah, that was an overview, believe it or not. So, if you know, I like wet your palate with all the things that are possible for engaging, but I didn't even show you where or how it's done. So if you don't go into your zoom account ahead of time, you might not even have the capability. And I'll tell you, rhonda, just today. I'm your guest today and I wanted to annotate and I couldn't. So there are certain features that are not available because in the account that is hosting the event those features must be turned on, kind of like. Think about it If you want, if you, if you owned a theater and you wanted green lights and blue lights as well as red and white lights, you would have to go and set that up with your stage manager ahead of time. You'd have to go in the back, make sure those switches are on before the show starts and zoom settings.
Speaker 1:Well, that happened for me, Like when you were doing the react. I all I have is send with effects and reactions. I don't have the plus sign, I don't have the X, and then when I go into host tools, very, very different looking stuff. So yeah, I got so much to do so. I'm going to find out how to do it next week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually yeah. I mean, in that second episode you're going to learn exactly how to do it and you're going to have it all set up for success. You're going to be set up for success before you even start.
Speaker 1:Well, this has been awesome, awesome overview. I am, as I say, I'm, excited for next week and just thanks so much for sharing everything that you've shared.
Speaker 2:You are so very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:That's it for this week, folks. We'll talk to you again next week. Well, thanks for joining me today. Just a quick reminder if you were not on my email list, go to my website, rondadelaneycom, and there's a place there that you can subscribe. Keep you up to date on all things people, gardening and leadership. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you again next week.