Over the past two months many of us will have started to become familiar with Zoom, Teams, WebEx, etc. We have all watched webinars and many of us have taken part in video conferencing of some kind to ensure we continue to ‘do business’.
As the Chamber brings back our networking events (such as Flash Zoom) and as more and more e-networking goes live, we all need to be slicker when taking part or hosting e-networking.
REMEMBER the computer screen, you and your background are becoming a new front door for your business. With this in mind, the Chamber has pulled together some top tips and we have found a useful video on preparing the basics…
1. Always Mute your microphone when you are not speaking
2. Judge when and if you need your camera on. You can turn it off if you need to dash out to answer the door or grab a coffee, don’t just disappear off screen
3. Think about your background. Is there an opportunity to promote your brand or product (see pic)
4. Think about lighting, so often people will sit with the window or light behind them and their face is in darkness. Test what your image looks like before an e-event
5. Turn off the audible alerts on your emails so that they are not pinging when your mic is open.
6. Don’t allow participants to share their screen (if possible/appropriate). If you have an external speaker who needs to, make them a co-host during their presentation and then revert them back to a participant.
7. You may want to disable virtual backgrounds for participants as this could be used for sharing inappropriate images.
8. Have a team member co-host the call with you for support and to help keep an eye on things as you will have enough on your plate delivering content and answering questions etc.
9. Make sure you know who is joining your call in advance and check anyone you are unsure of.
10. Approve registrations before sending the log on details and password to participants.
11. Close registration in advance (30min or 1 hour) so that people can’t continue to register at the last minute.
12. Once everyone is on the call, you should consider locking the room. This will prevent any unwanted browsers getting access.
And finally. If you have 30mins to spare and want a more hands on and detailed guide to the basics, here is a useful video with some more top tips…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYydwkzr3Wg