As you might have heard, ZOHO is offering its ZOHO Remotely set of for free remote access tools through July 1 to help employees transition to working from home. You can sign up for the tools here.
Preparing for and running an online meeting is traumatic at best., especially for those of you who are doing it for the first time. Throw in the kiddos running around the house, the cat sitting on your keyboard and frantically searching for a file you left at the office and your stress levels may go through the roof. My good friend, Barbara Potter, is a professional trainer who can do this stuff with her eyes closed.
You can read Barbara’s entire article here; below are some great checklists that she has provided. If you have any training needs you might want to reach out to her for help at And by the way I thought I would share the view from Barbara’s home office!
Here’s is an excerpt from Barbara’s article:
Live meetings often feel a bit like the Wild West. Let’s make it a little more structured with common sense, and some quick checklists.
Prepping for the Remote Meeting
- Assess your equipment and make sure everything is working – computer, phone, headset, microphone, and internet.
- Prepare your demo. Once you are comfortable running virtual meetings, start using some of the engagement features such as videos, annotations, white boards, breakout rooms and polling.
- Practice with the meeting software on multiple setups with multiple logins.
- Enlist a colleague to assist with the meeting. Ideally, designate a Facilitator to run the meeting and guide the content, and a Host to manage the technology and logins.
- Schedule the meeting.
- Distribute materials.
- Check in with your Participants to make sure everyone has their login and materials, and to send them friendly reminders as to the date and time of the meeting.
- Plug in, charge, and reboot all of your equipment.
Starting the Remote Meeting
- Silence and turn off all of the distractions in your environment.
- Start the meeting as early as possible, at least 30 minutes prior to the start time, to prepare the meeting room before the Participants enter.
- Greet as many participants by name as feasible.
- Make sure your presentation is visible.
- Test the instant messaging feature to make sure participants know how to post questions.
- Do a sound check!
- Make sure you know how to mute – and unmute – the attendees.
- Instruct participants in how to access materials and use the chat window.
- Turn off the features you don’t need. As an example, using your web is great, but not if you are sitting in your PJ’s.
- Turn on the recording if required.
Managing the Meeting
- Take a deep breath and turn on the charm. Enthusiasm is your ally for managing live virtual training!
- Start the Meeting and start recording.
- The Host and Facilitator should keep an eye on the messages and tools so that the Participants continue to engage real time. See if anyone has a question, and be sure to use names when answering questions.
- Be mindful of pace and timing. Focus on “need to know” vs “nice to know” as required by the meeting agenda.
- End the Meeting on time and thank everyone for their time and participation.
After the Remote Meeting
- Download and save all course materials, meeting messages, and recording files.
- Distribute al required files along with the ink to the recording.
- Follow up on any materials promised during the meeting.
- Take a quick break. You deserve it! My favorite break is a quick ride to the ocean!
