For those of us, like me, who spend a lot of our workday on videoconferencing platforms, it can be hard to fathom that the people in your workshops and meetings aren’t as familiar with the ins and outs of the platform as you are.
But in the last week, I’ve been on several calls that illuminated this point for me. On one, a call with a group of people I would have expected to have spent a lot of time on video, there were several people who didn’t realize you could change the way you view the other people on your screen in Zoom (toggle from speaker view to gallery, to be able to see all the faces at once).
So I want to encourage you to address these questions from a housekeeping standpoint. At the top of the call, walk through the basic capabilities of the platform you’re on and which tools will work best on the type of call you’re on. If you know there will be screensharing, for example, it could be worth letting people know if they can adjust how much of their screen is the slides and how much is the speaker. Build in time for people to try out the different functions and ask questions.
And if you’re a person who is new to these platforms, take a little time to play with them. The companies that create these technologies have a lot of resources available to get you familiar with what they can do.
When we’re in person, I tell people, “Make the room work for you. Adjust your chair to the right height. Angle yourself so you can see the speaker and the slides, as well as the people at your table.” This is the same idea. The platform is there to support you. Use it to its best advantage!
