Reinventing Remote Engagement

Questions? Email joshua@knowmium.com or say hello at linkedin.com/in/joshuadavies.

Need an extra copy of our checklist? Download it here.

 

1. WFH Studio Suggestions:

  • Want to see our slightly ridiculous WFH studio setup? Check it out: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6725735117203087360/.

  • Zoom, Webex & MS Teams all have a built-in feature for sharing an image as a background, which you can use for sharing slides in your background (simply export your Keynote or PowerPoint slides as images first), and honestly these features are being upgraded quickly. If you want to elevate this: get a cheap green screen (we just use a piece of green fabric from a craft store held up by 3M hooks), and if your work allows it, use our favorite tool for replacing your background with slides: https://www.mmhmm.app/downloads.

  • At a minimum: get an external mic or headset (your built-in one on your computer will not get quality sound, really). If you can download Krisp.ai (if your work allows it), it will massively clean up your sound as well.

  • If at all possible, get an external webcam. At the very least get your built-in webcam up to eye level by putting it up on top of something. Your company doesn’t allow drivers to be downloaded for an external webcam? No problem: many webcams are plug-and-play these days (no downloaded drivers needed), and all of them are better than your computer’s built-in one. Really.

  • Great overview of better cheap WFH lighting from Julie Schiro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUpK0dhWTE.

  • Want to analyze your voice & interaction? We use https://www.poisespeak.com/.

2. Easy Tools for Interactivity:

  • For better polling and surveying we suggest: Mentimeter, but other tools like PollEverywhere and even SurveyMonkey can work depending on what your organization prefers.

  • For collaborative whiteboards: we love Miro (our favorite) and Mural, but if you want something simpler (and it is not blocked by your work), Jamboard from Google works as well.

  • For more advanced options (basically Mentimeter with many more features) try: https://www.mybenji.com/ or https://app.controltheroom.com/.

  • Start a conversation with Icebreakers- https://icebreaker.range.co/ and add a bit of gamification with https://wheelofnames.com/.

  • Add an interactive agenda/timer to your Zoom with Blue Sky (and even if you are on Webex/Teams, do explore what integrations are available). Basically, the app marketplace for each of these has tons of tools to make meetings better— from automatic note-takers, to transcription, to decision-making tools. Tailor your meeting environment to match your organization/team’s purpose and you’ll be much happier. Check them out here:

3. Harvard Business Review’s Series on Virtual Meeting Best Practices:

  1. How to Conduct a Virtual Meeting

  2. How to Make Virtual Meetings Feel More Real

  3. Crush Your Next Virtual Presentation

  4. Stop Zoning Out in Zoom Meetings

  5. Research: How Virtual Teams Can Better Share Knowledge

  6. Break Up Your Big Virtual Meetings

  7. How to Get People to Actually Participate in Virtual Meetings

  8. Dress for the (Remote) Job You Want

4. Coming Soon:

  • Newest and upcoming updates to Zoom are listed here.

  • Newest and upcoming updates to MS Teams are listed here.

  • Newest and upcoming updates to WebEx are listed here and here (yes, two locations).

Questions? Email joshua@knowmium.com or say hello at linkedin.com/in/joshuadavies.