How to make Zoom meetings interesting: best practices for a happy remote workforce
It’s safe to say at this point that a majority of us have had many Zoom meetings with our work colleagues, friends, families, or clients. Whether they last for five minutes or span several hours, some meetings sometimes lack any form of excitement and exhaust participants in the first few minutes. Left unchecked, a series of these boring virtual sessions could create bigger team building and communication issues for both employees and employers. Here, we outline how you can make your Zoom meetings interesting by infusing some fun activities and best practices.
Fun fact of the day
To make Zoom meetings interesting, try including a fun fact at the beginning of each session. Fun facts are a great way to get people thinking and laughing. Also, the inclusion of a fun fact in the meeting can help break the ice and make it more entertaining for everyone. An example of a fun fact: “Did you know that the average person spends about 4.5 hours per week watching TV?” This can encourage brief conversation about what TV shows everyone is currently watching, and will help your team feel relaxed as they head into the meeting.
Use breakout rooms to help everyone to take part
It is easy to feel like you are not that involved in discussions when you are taking part in a virtual meeting, especially for larger remote teams. Using breakout rooms on Zoom helps to solve this problem. Breakout rooms create an environment where people feel comfortable and confident enough to speak up. They can also be used for brainstorming sessions, team building exercises, or even discussions about sensitive topics.
Include icebreakers in your Zoom meetings
Meetings can be more productive if you have icebreakers in them to help break the ice and encourage people to open up about themselves. For example, you can include fun questions like “What’s your favorite movie?” or “What’s your favorite food?” This can serve as an icebreaker in the beginning or middle of your Zoom meetings to create excitement and shake off Zoom fatigue..
Start your Zoom meetings with music or a short entertaining clip
When it comes to virtual meetings, people are usually looking for a way to connect, talk about work, and have fun . Music or short video clips can do just that. Including these in the beginning or middle of your Zoom calls can help participants feel more energized and enthusiastic. Also, brief video clips are a great way to get people excited about the meeting before they even start talking.
Rotate the role of a meeting host or facilitator
In order to make the experience of a Zoom meeting more interactive and engaging, it is good to rotate the role of the host or facilitator. This way, all participants will get a chance to lead and also learn how to be more effective facilitators. For example, one person can lead for 15 minutes before passing it on to another person who leads for 15 minutes. This allows people to take turns sharing their thoughts and opinions without feeling like one person or group is dominating the conversation.
Host an interesting Zoom meeting today
Virtual meetings are a great way to keep in touch with your team, no matter where they are. If you want to make these meetings more interesting, check out the Bar None Games’ library of virtual trivia, word puzzle games, and tons of virtual team building activities.
