10 Simple Tips to Make Your Zoom Study Group Successful
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1. Have all group members download the software/app prior to the meeting.
This will allow for any technical issues to be worked out prior to beginning your Zoom call. Download at zoom.us/download
2. Be welcoming and in charge.
Make sure you jump on a couple minutes early to welcome everyone and be ready as others join. As a host, you are there to facilitate the study. Spend 70% listening and 30% talking.
3. One device per household.
When two devices are used in the same room, it produces feedback that will affect all participants.
4. Be Present
Encourage everyone on the call to be present in the moment. Turn phones to silent (if not using for the call), turn off the TV, and try to get into a quiet location where they can interact without distractions.
5. Ask everyone to sit near their camera.
This will allow everyone to see each other’s faces and provide less distractions in the background.
6. Everyone is muted until ready to speak
Often it can become difficult to understand what is being discussed if everyone is talking at the same time, or if there is a lot of background noise. When someone is ready to speak, encourage them to either raise their hand on camera or use the “raise hand” feature on Zoom.
7. Know how to mute/unmute participants.
As the host, you may need to unmute a participant that may not be aware that they are muted during the discussion. Also, you may have to mute someone if they have distracting noises coming through the call.
8. Come ready to share
Make sure you have reviewed the questions and that you are ready to facilitate discussion as it arises.
9. Invite people to share.
As the host, keep track of those who are sharing and those who are not. If someone has been silent for most of the call, invite that particular person to share their thoughts about the question to maintain involvement.
10. Stay in touch
You can continue the discussion further with your group members through the messaging feature found in the Trailhead App. Also, try to follow up with any prayer requests or needs following your meeting.