Zoom has become an integral part of our life and work and is the platform of choice for events large and small. For these events to be successful, it’s important to pay close attention to the design of the event and to be adept at putting Zoom’s extensive feature set to good use when it’s time to go live.

This course is designed to be an interactive experience that covers essential elements of preparing for and leading an event on Zoom, whether it’s a small group training or a large conference. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned Zoom event host or are getting ready to host your first event.

Learning Through Experience

This course teaches you foundational elements that will help you host exceptional Zoom events. It covers both planning strategies and key Zoom features. The best practices shared in the course are based on over seven years of experience leading a wide variety of Zoom events and practical insights gained from working with Zoom clients all over the world.

This course is ideal for anyone who’s hosting or planning to host Zoom events. We recommend having some experience participating in Zoom meetings. While it also helps to have a foundational understanding of Zoom hosting, it’s not essential. We’ll be covering the basics.

We believe in teaching by example. As you go through this course, you’ll see the features and best practices that we recommend in action. You’ll be provided with training that will allow you to apply these techniques to your own events.

Upcoming Courses

The following courses are currently open for registration. Click on the appropriate icon to begin the registration process. To allow for interactions and questions, each course is limited to 20 participants.

What You’ll Learn

The course covers two distinct aspects of Zoom events, the planning of the event and the event itself. Both are essential components. We’ll also include some technical tips to help you tap into your inner power user.

PART 1: Preparing to host Your Zoom Event

Preparation goes a long way when it comes to successful Zoom events. It’s important to design the event for maximum impact and to fine-tune your Zoom settings to encourage a high level of engagement. As part of your preparation, it’s also important to put contingency plans in place in case the unexpected happens (e.g. you lose your Internet connection). Topics include:

• 🗓 Scheduling Zoom Meetings – We’ll cover the key things to pay attention to when scheduling your Zoom meetings, including whether or not to use Zoom’s built-in registration system and how meeting templates can be very helpful when you’re creating similar types of events.

• ⏳ Creating an Agenda and Timeline – Engaging Zoom events don’t tend to happen by accident. It’s important to think through the flow of the event, making sure participants start and stay engaged. We’ll use this course as an example of how to design and lead an engaging event.

• ⚙️ Configuring Zoom Settings – Zoom has a rich variety of features and settings. Some of Zoom’s most outstanding features (e.g. breakout rooms and co-hosts) are turned off by default, but can easily be enabled. You’ll learn how to enable the features that you’ll likely want at your fingertips when hosting your Zoom events. Please Note: If you’re not the administrator of your Zoom account, you may need to contact the account owner or administrator to request that certain features and settings be enabled.

• 🎥 Preparing to Record – In many cases you’ll want to record your Zoom event for posterity. It’s best to have everything configured and ready to go before going live. You’ll learn about the two recording choices (local and cloud) and the variety of options that they support.

• 👩‍✈️ Your Zoom Co-Pilot – Commercial flights normally have both a pilot and a co-pilot. This helps ensure that things are handled in the cabin as efficiently as possible and, if something unexpected occurs, it’s comforting to know that there’s more than one person on board who knows how to fly a plane. It can be very helpful to have one (or more) Zoom co-hosts to share the load, especially for large events. We’ll explore the typical roles of the host and co-host(s) and how you can all prepare to work together.

• 🆘 Preparing for the Unexpected – Hopefully the stars will align and everything will go according to plan. Though, it doesn’t hurt to have a Plan B that kicks in if something unexpected (e.g. a power or Internet outage) puts a wrench in the gears.

PART 2: Hosting Your Zoom Event

With your preparations complete, it’s time for the LIVE event. We’ll cover a variety of Zoom features, with a focus on those that help keep people engaged throughout the session. We’ll also explore a variety of ways to help ensure that transitions are as smooth as possible, even if the unexpected happens behind the scenes. Topics include:

• 🚪 Waiting Room – If you were leading an event in a physical space, you’d probably keep the doors closed until you’ve prepared the space and done your sound check. This way, participants walk into a room that’s inviting and primed for engagement. The same approach can be applied to virtual meetings. You’ll learn how to use Zoom’s waiting room feature to control early access and how you can open up the virtual doors when it’s showtime.

• 🤫 Managing Participants – It’s very helpful to understand the participant management options that are available to the host and co-host(s). Among other things, you’ll learn how to mute and unmute your participants, how to prompt people to turn on their camera, and how to rename people who joined the meeting with a nondescript name such as “iPhone”. You’ll also learn about how participants are ordered in the participants list and how to identify people who have raised their virtual hand.

• ☑️ Polls – One of the advantages of virtual events is that it’s very easy to poll your audience. You’ll learn how to enrich your Zoom event using polls and how this feature can be used to create engagement.

• 💬 Chat – When used effectively, Zoom’s chat feature can be a great way to keep people engaged. We’ll look at strategies for using chat and how hosts and co-hosts can limit access to the chat feature.

• 👍 Reactions – One of the challenges of virtual meetings is that it can be difficult to “read the room”, especially if most people have their mic’s muted. You’ll learn how reactions can be used to provide participants with a quick and easy way to get involved.

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Breakout Rooms – A great way to create human connection and encourage participation is to use breakout rooms. They’re especially helpful for larger events. You’ll learn how to enable, configure, and make effective use of this powerful feature.

• 🖥 Sharing Your Screen – Sharing some or all of what’s on your screen can be helpful when you’re presenting information or performing a demo. We’ll explore the pros and cons of using Zoom’s share screen feature and how you can help ensure that screen sharing enriches your event.

• 📽 Sharing Media (Audio + Video) – Music and videos can add a nice touch to virtual events. For example, you might opt to play some music as participants are arriving and to include a fun and snappy video part way through your event to keep participants engaged. We’ll explore the variety of features that you have at your disposal and talk about how to put them to good use.

• 🔦 Spotlight and Multi-Spotlight – It’s helpful to be able to draw your participant’s attention to a specific person or a group of people (e.g. a panel of speakers or someone receiving a live coaching session). You’ll learn how to use Zoom spotlight and multi-spotlight features to help keep participants focused and engaged.

Technical Considerations

Our goal at Technically Simple is to support you in making productive use of technology. We emphasize the ease and confidence that comes with getting well acquainted with the apps that you use regularly. It’s also worth investing in hardware and a setup that helps make your event shine. We’ll touch on the following:

• 💡 Lighting – It’s worth giving some thought to your lighting setup so that participants are focused on you and not a shadow of yourself. This doesn’t need to be an expensive endeavour. In fact, one of the best lighting sources available is provided free of charge during daylight hours. 🌞

• 🎥 Video – The quality of your video and the placement of your camera can make a big difference. A well- placed camera helps you connect with participants and a high-quality video feed, support by good lighting, helps you put your best face forward. We’ll cover the basics.

• 🎙 Audio – A good quality mic is a wise investment in this day and age. You don’t need a top-of-the line model to get good-quality audio, but it may be worth spending some money on a mic that takes your audio quality up a notch.

• 🛠 Other Considerations – We’ll touch on a few other considerations, including strategies for having a good quality Internet connections and what happens to the meeting if your Internet or power are interrupted.

What’s Included

Your course registration includes:

• A spot in the LIVE course. To allow for questions and interactions, there’s a limit of 20 people in each course. Please note that this course is designed to be attended live and won’t be recorded.

• Access to course resources. This includes things to consider when preparing to lead your Zoom events and demo videos. Course resources will be made available shortly after the course wraps up.

Ready to register?

The following courses are currently open for registration. Since course size is limited, we recommend registering early so that you’re guaranteed a spot in the course.

FAQ

Each course is currently limited to 20 participants.

Courses are led by Technically Simple Founder, Tim Stringer. Tim has been using Zoom since 2013 as has been featured in a Zoom Case Study. In addition to hosting his own Zoom sessions (everything from yoga classes to courses spanning four months), Tim has worked with a wide range of organizations around the world as they transition to virtual events.

Absolutely. The best way to understand the Zoom features and best practices that are included in the course is to experience them first hand. We ask that everyone have their video camera turned on throughout the course and that you join from a quiet, distraction-free environment.

Absolutely. This course is designed for both novice and experienced Zoom hosts. If you’re already an experienced host, it will be an opportunity to learn how to formalize your design process and to take your use of Zoom features up a notch (or two).

This course is designed to be an interactive experience and we won’t be providing a recording of the full course. By registering, you also agree not to record the course in any form and to keep what’s shared by other participants private. Participants will receive access to the course resources page that includes video recordings of some of the informational portions of the course content so that they can review what you learned in the course. These videos may be updated periodically to reflect new and updated Zoom features.

No. We ask that each person who’s participating register separately and that each person join from their own device. It’s highly recommended that you participate using a Mac or Windows computer and that you update to the latest version of Zoom before joining the meeting.

Yes. We’ll strive to answer as many questions as possible, but can’t guarantee that all of your questions will be answered. Preference will be given to questions that relate directly to the topics covered in the course.

Course registrations are non refundable. Though, if you’re not able to make it, you can transfer your registration to another person. If you would like to transfer your registration, please contact us at least 24 hours before the start of the course. Provide the name and email address of the person who will be taking your place and we’ll take care of the rest.

Yes. We provided private consulting and training to people and organizations all over the world. Visit our Zoom Consulting & Training page to learn more. Please complete the form at the bottom of the page and we’ll be in touch.

Visit the Technically Simple Calendar and choose the course that you’d like to register in.

Feel free to drop us a line if you have questions about this course or our other services.