Are you fortunate enough to have the choice of which virtual tool to use for meetings?
You may not be. Lots of organizations have a policy on which tool(s) they are using to keep costs down and increase consistency across the company.
In red10 we pride ourselves on using our facilitation expertise across virtual tools agnostically.
Does it matter?
We find it really doesn’t matter what tool you use, if you have fewer than three in the meeting.
Yet we need to say – for meetings with more than three, we’ve found Zoom has more features.
Here, red10 ‘s Will Sudworth explains how Zoom is currently the only tool with these facilitation features that are more important than you might think:
- Full Gallery View where even larger teams can be seen all on one screen
- Breakout Rooms participants can join, bringing back proposals
- Annotation that allows participants to ‘sticky dot’ vote and whiteboard
- Dual Screen: see everyone and the full shared slides without squinting
- Share your iPad screen, drawing on it as if it is a flipchart
Note: whilst we recommend Zoom®, there is one feature in MS Teams® that Zoom doesn’t have that has led to some advanced teams using a combo of Zoom with an MS Teams Channel, to get the best of both tools.
1. Zoom has a full Gallery View where even larger teams can be seen on one screen
Why do we need this?
Because being seen and heard is more important than people realize for participation and psychological safety. The meeting will feel more like it is face-to-face, and allows teams to use tools like Fist-5 visually.
In red10 , we ask participants to switch to Gallery View at the start of meetings. We have a slide of these start-up requests you can download, called our 7½-Rules for Virtual Meetings.
You’ll find a setting you need to alter that allows videos of up to 49 participants on one screen.
How does this compare to other platforms?
Most platforms only allow up to 9 participants on the screen
Thankfully, MS Teams® are now up to 49 too in their latest version – yet there are still four more features that MS Teams® doesn’t have yet…
2. Zoom has Breakout Rooms
You can send participants to, asking them to bring back proposals
Why do we need this?
- It enables smaller groups to come back with proposals, which tends to be quicker and a better use of everyone’s time
- Being in smaller groups allows more airtime per participant, making it feel more engaging
In red10 we call this the Heartbeat Model, which keeps momentum going, as is one of the three key philosophies in our Team Effectiveness Model.
In Zoom, the Breakout Room setting needs to be switched on – for some reason it isn’t there by default.
After you’ve read Zoom’s Beginner’s Guide to using Breakout Rooms then why not take a look at our red10 Facilitator’s Guide to Zoom’s Beginner’s Guide to using Breakout Rooms
3.Zoom has Annotation
that allows participants to ‘sticky dot’ vote and jointly capture ideas on a whiteboard
Why do we need this?
Teams often need ways to give a spread of opinion on a set of options, and often use techniques like “sticky dot voting” whereby each person has 3 dots and can put them all on the same option or spread them. Click here for our facilitator’s guide to Annotation
Annotation allows you to do this quickly and easily – either with a slide as the background or using a whiteboard.
Annotation also allows multiple people to draw on a whiteboard at the same time.
In Zoom, this setting needs to be switched on – for some reason it isn’t there by default.
After you’ve read Zoom’s Beginner’s Guide to using Breakout Rooms then why not take a look at our red10 Facilitator’s Guide to Zoom Annotation
4. Dual Screen: see everyone and full shared slides without squinting
Zoom® uniquely allows you to connect an extra monitor so that at the same time you can:
- On your primary monitor, you can see everyone on the call
- On your secondary monitor, you can use the full screen for the slides being shared by a colleague.
Two screens really are better than one
5. Share your iPad screen, drawing on it as if it is a flipchart
Zoom® uniquely allows you to share your iPad screen live. With the addition of the Apple Pencil, you can draw as if you had a flipchart.
Read more here