HOSTING TROLL-FREE/PLAYFUL/INTERACTIVE 
VIRTUAL EVENTS WITH ZOOM

Dear Friends,

A few years ago I was hosting my very first         open Zoom info-session for work. Everyone was invited! We shared the link on Twitter / Facebook / Everywhere. “It will be great!” We thought, “What can go wrong?” When the meeting began, I noticed something off was happening. Let’s just say it was akin to this.  Here is a snapshot of my reaction:

I didn’t know what to do and my colleagues didn’t have co-host powers so they couldn’t save me! I kept blocking the user while simultaneously trying to present to an audience and they kept coming back in, showing their X-rated content, and writing things on the screen (there were at least 2 trolls).

This document is intended to not only give you some tips on hosting beautiful interactive and playful online events, but also to help you set yourself up for success with the right preferences so this doesn’t happen to you!

There are lots of virtual event tools out there, like Google Hangouts, YouTube Live, Vimeo Live. For this guide I’ll delve into how to use Zoom specifically. However, a lot of the best practices explored here are broadly applicable to other tools. My goal is that reading this document will give you all the tools you need to be able to set up a meeting and host it on Zoom (or other platforms) in fun and interactive ways.

This is an unparalleled and out-of-time moment in which we have an opportunity to come together and bring our gifts to the world in a digital manner. There are no shoulds implied in this document. This is only for people for whom hosting virtual events gives you energy. If not, no need! I know that this is a difficult time and that switching from in-person to online meetups is hard. I hope that this will ease the process and answer some of your questions. If you’re nervous about hosting and want to get a glimpse of other events, check out our CreativeMornings Virtual FieldTrips and Virtual Events!!

If you have follow up questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! Also, this doc, as everything I do, is iterative. It will change. There will be typos. Thx for understanding. ❤️

DOCUMENT CONTRIBUTORS
I am so grateful to CreativeMornings (Julie for the edits!!), CreativeMornings/Austin (shout out to Marty Robbins for the A/V setup), and CreativeMornings/Denver, for piloting the first-ever virtual CreativeMornings events, and for their incredible contributions to this document. Their work inspired me to compile and illustrate this guide for the CreativeMornings community and beyond, in hopes that everyone can host beautiful events like theirs. I would also like to shout out the Scratch Educator Meetups crew and T550 (Hi Karen Brennan/Laura Peters/Wilhelmina Peragine) for teaching me everything I know about pedagogy, hosting virtual events, and creative learning. And to Grrz for reading this doc and editing it. And for being in my Zoom GIFs. Love y’all.


Table of Contents 

Section 1. Before the Event

Step 1. Book Your Event Space

Create or Update Your Zoom Account
Schedule Your Zoom Call

Step 2. Send Announcement, Registration, & Emails

Send your Event Announcement & Registration Info

Send A Reminder Email!

Step 3. Virtual Event Setup

Zoom Preferences (Software) *most important*

Video Setup (Hardware)

• Lean Tech | High Tech

Video / Audio Setup (Atmosphere & Lighting)

Learn Zoom Features

• Exploring Display Options | Sharing Slides, Videos, & Music | Spotlighting a Speaker | Breakout Groups
  

Step 4. Pre Event Setup

Section 2. Event Play-by-Play — In Three Parts

PART 1. Opening & Introduction

Open the Doors

Welcome the Participants + Introduce Zoom Features

PART 2. Music & Participant Interaction

Feature Local Music and/or Speakers & Performers!
Hold a Q&A
Bring People Together with Breakout Rooms

PART 3. Closing the Event

Closing Comments & Group Photos

Ending the Meeting

BONUS: How to host a ZOOM PARTY!

FIVE RULES FOR HOSTING VIRTUAL EVENTS

1) HAVE A CO-HOST: Have at least 1 Co-Host on your call to help troubleshoot.

2) BE KIND TO YOURSELF:  Things will go wrong (maybe). It’s ok! Have patience, experiment, relax.

3) GET YOUR SETTINGS DOWN: Finding the right zoom settings for your event is essential! Figure out what you like and make sure they’re all set up before you press go!

4) DO AT LEAST ONE PRACTICE RUN: Get friends or family or anyone to join you in a practice round. You don’t know what you don’t know until you bump into a question. Troubleshooting is ESSENTIAL.

5) DO NOT SHARE YOUR LINK ON SOCIAL MEDIA: You will get zoombombed. Its awful.

Ps. I know this guide is mildly overwhelming. It’s kind of ugly too. Still, I hope it brings you everything you need to run your event!

Pps. YOU GOT THIS!

Section 1. Before the Event

Step 1. Book Your Event Space

Create or Update your Zoom Account

Go Zoom Pricing Page — https://zoom.us/pricing

• When Zoom says “# of Hosts” it does not mean Co-Hosts. The “Add Host” option actually means that you can host multiple meetings simultaneously. Most of you will not need this feature! You can use the co-host feature and with only one “host” on thee account. Unless you are hosting multiple synchronous meetings, you don’t have to pay for extra hosts.
• A free zoom account will allow you to host up to 100 participants for up to a 40-minute call. This is a great option for anyone who doesn’t need an hour for your event!
• For larger events A Pro account will work perfectly.

• You can add on 300-1000 attendees this way through paid upgrade packages.
• You can have up to 24 hours of meeting time (but who wants to meet for 24 hours?)

Schedule your Zoom Call

Watch this 1-minute Zoom video to learn how to schedule your first Zoom Meeting:
How to schedule meetings. If you are not sure which Zoom package to get, learn more under Zoom Pricing. I recommend making your event password protected.

Step 2. Send Event Announcement, Registration, & Reminders

Send Your Event Announcement & “Register” Attendees

There are many ways to announce your event and register attendees! You could use a platform like Eventbrite or Meetup, or keep track of everything yourself.

Zumba instructor extraordinaire @LauraPeters used a google form as a simple way to get a list of friends who would participate in her Zumba class, and also let her participants know what the rules and regulations were. Notice (below) that she did not share her zoom link on social media. This method ensured that only people she emailed directly (those who signed up) would be able to have access to her Zoom Link. While this is not the only way to avoid having spammers, it is certainly a great way!

You could also create a private, invite only facebook group and share the Zoom link there, allowing only friends-of-friends to be invited and to join.

Send A Reminder Email!

Whether you have chosen to include your link in your initial posts / emails or event announcements, it is always important to send a reminder email to give people the link again in case they lost it! This is also a great time to follow up with any other important information that you need to share. Below is another wonderful email from LP about her ZOOMba class.

Step 3. Virtual Event Setup

Zoom Preferences (Software)

When you’re hosting a Zoom call, it’s really important that you and your co-hosts feel like you have control over the space. Here are some recommended settings to help get your meeting off to a good start (and help you avoid ZoomBombing)… 

Go to Settings (Meeting) — https://zoom.us/profile/setting?tab=meeting

Under Schedule Meeting

• Participant video (Off): Sometimes people are surprised when they enter the chat and are seen in their PJs! Make sure to give people the option to be on camera. You can make an announcement about this when the call starts if some folks don't realize they can turn their video on. Simply say, “We’d love for you to join us by turning your cameras ON!” (We’ll share more about this in Opening & Introductions.
• Join before Host (Off): Make sure that you are the first one in the room so that you can welcome everyone.
• Only authenticated users can join meetings (Personal Preference): This is a useful way to make sure that only CM attendees come to your meeting. When a link is open and there is no barrier to entry, anyone can join. This can invite trolls and cause disruption (you'd be surprised...it can happen!) Just make sure you’re confident with how to set this up!
• Mute participants upon entry (On): This ensures that there is not a ton of noise when the event starts. The host can control when participants can un-mute. — NOTE: It is also helpful, once you’re in the meeting, go to the ‘participants panel’, click more and UNCheck ‘Allow participants to unmute themselves.’

Under In Meeting (Basic)

• Chat (On): This allows participants to chat and say hi to one another during the event and through the talk. It's a nice way for people to connect through the event. We’ll share some tips on how to use this in Section 2.
• Play sound when participants join or leave (Off): If you have an event of over 15 people, this could get a little much.
• File transfer (Off): Given that you’ll be sharing an open link, you don’t want anyone sending any explicit content or viruses through file transfer!
• Co-host (On): It is important to add a few of your organizers as co-hosts on Zoom so that you can have solid control over the virtual space. It can be difficult to do this with only one person. Once you have this setting on, to make a co-host, click “participants” on the Zoom control panel, and then in the pop-up box, hover over a person’s name in and click “make co-host”. Learn more about enabling and adding a co-host in Zoom’s FAQ.
• Polling (On): Add “Polls” to the meeting controls. This allows the host to survey the attendees.
• Allow host to put attendee on hold (On): If you have a disruptive attendee, this feature is very useful. It allows hosts to temporarily remove an attendee from the meeting.
• Always show meeting control toolbar (On): If you're unfamiliar with Zoom it can be helpful to have your meeting controls visible at all times.
• Screen sharing (All Participants) (Off): If you have a speaker who is sharing slides, or you want your community to be able to share their screens, it is good to keep this on. However, if only you and your Zoom co-hosts will be sharing your screen, we recommend keeping it off so as not to have any disturbances. If you are sharing an open link (you don’t know everyone who is attending, keep this OFF.
• Annotation (Off): This allows participants to use annotation tools to add information to shared screens. This can be very distracting, since this allows people to draw all over the presentation for everyone to see.
• Whiteboard (Off): Allowing participants to share whiteboard during a meeting can get tricky and busy.
• Allow removed participants to rejoin (Off): Again, if you have a troll, they may try to come back over and over. Ensuring that removed participants cannot rejoin is a helpful way to make sure you don't have to deal with this issue!

Under In Meeting (Advanced)

• Breakout rooms (Personal Preference): Breakout rooms can be a fun way to get participants to chat with one another in small groups. You may want to have an icebreaker question and breakout groups of no more than 6 participants each. These can be nice ways to say hello, but should be held for no longer than 10 minutes each.  Learn more about how to Bring People Together with Breakout Rooms. 
• Waiting room (On): Given the number of participants you'll have, you don't want to have to let every single one of them into your event. I recommend having the waiting room On and then disabeling it once you’re ready for the event to start.  This way you don’t have to worry about letting people in throughout the event. You can disable the waiting room by going to the participant panel — more —  deselect enable waiting room.This can also be tricky if someone arrives late— it is easy to miss them and they’ll be stuck in the waiting room! It basically makes it easier for you as the host.

NEW Zoom Security Settings [DECEMBER 2020]

All Zoom meetings require you to either have a password or a waiting room.

If you use the password option, share the Zoom link that includes the password embedded in the URL. An example link would be https://zoom.us/j/94435127428?pwd=UFCUMfxCZjd3eTNpOVpBVDNKd0lvdz09. (This might look like just a jumble of letters at first, but the characters that follow “pwd=” are the password that’s built into the link. This will prevent your attendees from needing to input a password upon entry, which will add extra time or require them to go back to your reminder email to find it.

If you use the waiting room option, you’ll need to have host or co-host privileges in Zoom to be able to let people in from the waiting room. The waiting room cannot be deactivated during the meeting when this setting is active, so you’ll need to keep an eye on the waiting room for the duration of your event.

Go to Settings (Recording) — https://zoom.us/profile/setting?tab=recording

Under Automatic Recording

• Record meetings automatically as they start (On): With everything that’s going on, you may forget to record your event! Make it easy for yourself by keeping it automatic. To make sure you’re recording while the session is happening, just look for the red dot in the left hand corner of your Zoom application.

Video Setup (Hardware)

When it comes to hosting an event on Zoom, you can take many approaches to delivering a high-quality experience. Here, we’ll highlight two ways you might record your event: Lean Tech and High Tech.

1) Lean Tech: Use your Computer!

At its most simple, you can simply use your computer camera as though you were on any other Zoom call. This applies to everyone on the call—all hosts, co-hosts, musicians, and speakers.

• If you are using "Lean Tech" make sure you are connected to a land-line or ethernet internet connection for the sake of stability and dependability.
• When using your computer as the vehicle for your video recording, you’ll want to make sure to follow best practices for finding a great hosting atmosphere, and that your audio is clear and uninterrupted.
• Implement the “spotlight” feature to keep the screen on your speaker or musician while they present.
• When it comes to sharing slides, it can take a little tinkering to figure out how to best use Zoom with a different program. If you are using Google Slides, for example,  make sure to share only the particular window of your slides (see how to share slides and videos).
• Turn your computer on “do not disturb” mode, and turn off notifications so nothing disturbs your screensharing.
• Practice, practice, practice! For tips on testing your video, read Zoom’s quick tutorial on how to test your audio.

2) High Tech: Use External Equipment

CreativeMornings/Austin has graciously outlined the hard work that they put into using high-tech recording and audio equipment to run their first live event. You can find their setup checklist here:

• Watch a recording of the CMATX A/V set-up walkthrough 
• Watch a complete recording of the CMATX virtual event

Audio and Video Setup: Atmosphere and Lighting (For High and Lean Tech)

Whether you choose to go High-Tech or Lean-Tech, being mindful of your video background is very important! As you test out Zoom with your fellow organizers, take note of what you see in the background of each window. Is it hard to see a participant because of too much or too little light? Is the background extremely busy or extremely bland? Here are a few tips for choosing the right spot to record.

Video Backgrounds Best Practices

Audio Background Best Practices

If you are using your computer for audio and video, make sure that your camera and mic are both working while you practice your event run-through. Go to a quiet space so that background noises are less frequent. For example, if you host your event in your kitchen and your family is making breakfast, it could be disruptive sound-wise for the participants, making it hard to hear you, the host, as you present. You also want to make sure that while your host or speaker is talking, your entire audience is muted. In order to ensure this, you need to make sure to UNcheck allow participants to unmute themselves. You can find this in the participants panel, under MORE or in the Security settings...

Adjust Security Settings

Learn Zoom Features

Adjust Display Settings

There are a few ways to make sure you can enjoy a comfortable viewing experience. The zoom video preferences are your friend!

Exploring Display Options

Get comfortable with the different viewing experiences! (Words remixed from Zoom.com)

Sharing Slides, Videos, and Music

Sharing slides is easy in Zoom! You might use these to add jazz to your event opening!

1. Turn your computer on “do not disturb” mode, and turn off notifications so nothing disturbs your screen sharing. Make sure there is no personal information open on your computer.
2. Open your slide deck or video.
3. Toggle back to Zoom and click “Share” on your control panel.
4. Chose the specific screen that you’d like to highlight (see GIF below).
5. Check “Share Computer Sound” — this ensures that any music or sound will project from the file itself, rather than from your own computer (which can get choppy).
6. Click “Share.”
7. Make that screen full-screen. Have a co-host on hand to make sure the participants are seeing what you’d like them to see.

Zoom Resources:

• Sharing your screen
• Screen Share A Keynote Presentation
• Screen Sharing a PowerPoint Presentation
• Optimizing a Shared Video Clip in Full Screen
• Switching Windows During Screen Sharing

(Scroll down for more ways to share)

Spotlighting a Speaker

As you may have noticed, when you’re in “Speaker View” if many people are chatting at once, the “main video” (the large one on the screen or the one with the yellow rim around it) can jump around from person to person. When you have a speaker, or if you want you, as the host, to be the main speaker, use the “Spotlight Video” feature. If you have all participants muted, you don’t necessarily need to use this feature because the spotlight will automatically fall on whoever is speaking. The main reason to spotlight is to avoid the spotlight going on someone who accidentally unmutes. This is resolved if partiipcants cannot unmute.

More Zoom Resources:

• Spotlight Video
• Pin VS Spotlight Video

Step 4. Pre-Event Setup

Pre-event Checklist (adapted from CreativeMorning/Austin)

• Send out an email to attendees with the link and brief instructions on how to download Zoom on their at home devices.
• Check and confirm Zoom Settings are good to go
• Send Zoom link to participants 
• Set up computers and connect to internet (with ethernet)
  
• GET YOUR ZOOM SETTINGS READY!

• When you enter the room, make sure to Enable Waiting Room. Think of this as your green room. Don’t let participants in until you are ready!
• Make sure all mics are muted upon entry. If you have a large group, also ensure that participants cannot unmute themselves.  You’ll get a lot of unnecessary sound otherwise.
• Host assigns Co-Host capabilities to team — co-hosts can unmute at anytime, so be sure that any speakers are co-hosts unless you plan to manually unmute them.
• “Rename” each co-host to reflect that you are on the hosting team. We always include an emoji in our name to show that we are on the team! On a mac, you can access emojis at any time by using ctrl+command+space

• ❤️ Alexa | Brooklyn | she/her ….❤️ Lisa | Brooklyn | she/her

• Make sure you’re comfortable with your video settings.

High-Tech Setup

• Get video cameras in place and connect to computer
• Setup audio board and connect to computer
• Confidence monitors are set up
• Set up and check n-room audio
• Make sure both computers have the slideshow in Keynote
• Check that the clicker is working and that there’s an extra battery ready to go

• Check that iPhone is logged in and set to share video

Lean-Tech Setup

• Practice slide sharing computer audio

Host Roles and Responsibilities (adapted from CreativeMorning/Austin)

Whether you choose to do a High-Tech or Lean-Tech event, I recommend having at least one extra person [ a Co-host] on board to support running the show. Note — this is not the same as having multiple Hosts on your zoom account, which costs extra. ANYONE CAN HAVE A CO-HOST! Here’s how…

1. Make sure you’ve turned on the feature [see in Zoom Preferences]
2. When you start your meeting, before you open the waiting room make sure to have your team set up. Make all your team members co-hosts:

Here are some helpful roles and tasks laid out by the CreativeMornings/Austin team! If you are a solo-act, you can always bring on a friend to act as a co-host and take some of these responsibilities on!

Section 2. Event Play-by-Play — In Three Parts.

@KarenBrennan and @Tfivefifty taught me that every great event is run in 3 parts.

Here is a step-by-step outline of how you might want to run your virtual show on event day. I’ve included various options for interactive activities inspired by CreativeMornings chapters that you can pick and choose from if you’d like.

As you plan your event, practice with friends and see how each activity feels to you. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable facilitating and running the show (this is where your co-hosts can really help, btw!).

Click on a link below to go to a specific section, or explore them all!

PART 1. Opening & Introduction

How to open a virtual event in a way that is welcoming, useful, and full of joy.

PART 2. Music, Speakers, and Participant Interaction

How to mimic some of your favorite in-person event features.

PART 3. Closing the Event
End your meeting with warmth and love. Here’s how!

---

PART 1. Opening & Introduction

Open the Doors

You’ve started the meeting! People are trickling in! It takes time though. What do you do while you’re waiting for the group to arrive? I have recommended in Zoom Preferences that you turn off the waiting room feature. As participants trickle in, it can be hard to know what to say or do. Here are some ways to engage participants while they wait for the event to start.

Welcome the Participants + Introduce Zoom Features

Once the bulk of your attendees have arrived (perhaps 5-7 minutes after the stated ‘start’ time), let them know that the event is beginning! To start your event, walk the audience through a few things they can do in Zoom to be active and engaged audience members. This is a friendly way to help participants feel comfortable with a new platform and to ensure that everyone can participate in the experience. We recommend that you also encourage participants to use these features throughout the call.

PART 2. Music, Speakers, and Participant Interaction
Here are more great ways to make your event interactive, engaging, and warm.

Feature Local Music and/or Speakers & Performers!

If you are a musician or performer, or you’re hosting one, follow CreativeMornings/Austin’s lead. They did a great job of featuring their musician and the participants loved it.

Introduce the Performer

• Share an information slide (thank you CreativeMornings/Austin!): This slide has information about you or the performer / speakers’ website, social media info, and venmo for donations. Make sure to call attention to this in the chat box as well, so participants can easily access the information from multiple points of reference!
• You can share this screen for the duration of their performance if they don’t have slides to share, or show it before and after and tell participants they can screenshot it if they’d like!
• This is also a great opportunity to ask for venmo requests for either the performer OR a local support initiative that you’re giving donations to (thank you for that idea @laurapeters)!

SAMPLE SLIDE:

Spotlighting a Speaker / Performer

When you have a speaker, or if you want you, as the host, to be highlighted, you may want to use the “Spotlight Video” feature. This will make your speaker the main view on the screen. Learn more about the pro’s and con’s of spotlighting and how to do it.

More Zoom Resources:

• Spotlight Video
• Pin VS Spotlight Video
  

Participant Engagement Ideas

If you’re hosting a speaker or talk, the in-person experience doesn’t always convert when it comes to video. It can be helpful to include some of these fun things for participants to do!:

• Sing along? Sing alongs are GREAT! HOWEVER, on Zoom, I recommend that you keep all participants muted. The platform doesn’t translate well to 100 people singing at once. Have your song-leader be heard by all, and have each person sing along in their own homes with them, but don’t let anyone unmute themselves or it can get cacophonous, sadly!!
• Take a picture of yourself with the performer: Get into “speaker mode” and take a screenshot of yourself smiling with the speaker.
• Use the chat box to give snaps and claps:  Use text to respond to things that you enjoy about what the speaker is saying. Participants can use emojis (control+space+command) 🙌 👏, or write in words of affirmation.
• Encourage participants to be expressive: Ask them to show the speaker that they are responding to their talk by keeping their videos on while during the talk. Let them know they can smile, wave, laugh, cry, give jazz hands — It makes a difference!
• DIY Signs: Make fun signs [links to twitter] to hold up as “reactions” during your meetings!

Hold a Q&A

• If you’d like, encourage participants to ask questions using the chat box. (Note to chat moderators: this is your time to shine and reflect questions back to the speaker!)
• Remember to ask participants to share their questions throughout the event. If you have a chat moderator, ask them to be collecting questions and adding them to a google doc — this way, your main speaker or MC can have the questions ahead of time and know which ones they’d like to answer.
  

Want participants to come onscreen?

• Participants can also use the hand raise feature and the moderator can call on them and unmute them. Participants will show up in the order that they’ve raised their hand.

Bring People Together with Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms create the opportunity for beautiful participant interaction. Think of them as “small tables” where participants can get to know one another on a more personal level. When you have groups of over 10 people, not everyone will be heard. Breakout rooms create the potential for everyone to feel connected at your event.

Here are best practices for initiating breakout rooms.  

Note: You must be signed in as a host or co-host to initiate Breakout Rooms.

Explain the Activity

Let participants know that you’re going to try something new. Share a question or prompt on your slide deck and read it to participants. Let them know that they will be sent into different breakout groups to discuss this. Be sure to be clear about how long your breakout room will last. Not everyone loves being thrown in a room with other people for an undisclosed length of time!

For Example: “Once you get into your breakout room, introduce yourself by sharing your name, where you’re coming from, and your personal super power. Then, share one thing that you’ve looked to for hope during this time of isolation and transition.”

Create your Breakout Rooms

1. Make sure you have breakout rooms enabled in your preferences. [See: Zoom Preferences ]
2. Click Breakout Rooms on your Zoom Control Panel. [See GIF Below]
3. A window will pop up. Choose how many rooms you want to create. Zoom will show you based on the number of participants in the room, how many people will be divided into your rooms.
4. Click “Automatically” to let Zoom randomly place people in the rooms. You could also do it manually if you have a small group.
5. Click “Create Breakout Rooms”
6. Go to Advanced > Options and

1.         Adjust how long your Breakout Rooms will be open for. This will create a timer in the top right-hand corner of everyone’s screen so people can know how much longer they have in their groups.
2. Check the box that asks you if you’d like to put participants in breakout rooms automatically. This means that they won’t have to click anything to be sent to their Breakout Room.
   

7. Let Participants Know they are about to be sent in their Breakout Rooms.

Remind participants how long they will be in the room, and to be mindful of sharing space with one another. Also let them know that if they need assistance, click “ask for help” and it will ping the host. It will also send the host into their room. Let them know that their screens may go blank in a moment...

8. Click “Open All Rooms” and send everyone off!
9. Note: Any late-comers will not be sent to breakout rooms automatically. Make sure to have a co-host (or yourself ) in the main room to keep them company, or add them to a breakout.
10. Watch this Zoom tutorial for more information about how to create a breakout room.

Interact with the Breakout Rooms

As the host, you will not be placed into a room, however, there are many ways to engage participants as the host in the breakout rooms.

• Broadcast a message to all breakout rooms: In the GIF below, you’ll see me writing, or “broadcasting” a message to all of the rooms. It’s helpful to remind participants of the prompt after you send them to their breakout rooms, and then to also give them a heads up that they’ll be returning to the main room about 1 minute before it’s time to go.  (see gif below for the how-to)

• Visit different breakout rooms: In the GIF below, you’ll also see me hopping into one of the breakout rooms. This is a great way to pop in and see that everything is going smoothly for your participants. (see GIF below for the how to)
• Help out:  If someone “asks for help”—in each breakout room participants will see a button on their control panel that says “ask for help”—you can also go directly into their room.  

More Zoom Resources:

• Managing Video Breakout Rooms
• Participating in Breakout Rooms

PART 3. Closing the Event

Closing Comments & Group Photos

• Ask everyone to share an answer to a question in the chat box synchronously (such as “How are you feeling?” or “What’s one word that reflects what you’re excited about today?”). Give everybody a chance to scroll through and read this before you end the meeting. Read some of your favorite sentiments aloud and allow the community to share some of their favorites, or give dedicated time for participants to read them in silence. (Thanks Bridget!)
• Take a screenshot of the gallery view, with everyone raising their cups of coffee. OR, draw something together special and hold it up for everyone to see!

Ending the Meeting

• It can sometimes be awkward to end a Zoom call. Have everyone wave “bye” and give people some time to leave before ending the call.
• Reminder: When the host leaves the meeting, it will ask if you want to end the meeting for all!

BONUS: How to Host a Zoom CELEBRATION/BIRTHDAY PARTY / RANDOM EVENT

Ground Guidelines (take or leave)

(Note...In this thread, BDP = Birthday Person)

1. Have a facilitator: As cheesy as it seems, it can be helpful to put someone in charge of “hosting” the event. If there is no facilitator, chaos and awkwardness might ensue. That’s ok too. It’s your party.
   
2. Waiting Room ON: Turn the waiting room feature on, so your BDP doesn’t accidentally come in while you’re scheming. (Click Participants> more>Enable Waiting Room)...But make sure to let everyone else in!
   
3. Popcorn/“I choose…”: If you are doing go-arounds, have each person choose the next person to go. That way you’re not stuck in an awkward “who's next?” situation.
   
4. Arrive Early: Have everyone arrive 5-20 minutes before your event starts so you can prepare and practice with anyone else who needs to be let in early!

Make a Zoom Celebration Atmosphere

5. When your guests arrives, they will feel like they’re at a real party!

1. Make a GIF Slide: Share your screen with a google slide in honor of the moment! I learned many of my tricks for Google Slides in @Tfivefifty with @karenbrennan. You can do so many things, but here’s a simple and easy intro slide with tutorial for Birthday parties and holiday parties. Copy or DIY : https://bit.ly/3cJ5Ccl. To add a GIF to a slide, simply drag it form GIPHY.com onto a google slide and resize / adjust transparency through ‘format options’.
   
2. Share a favorite song while they enter.
   Add some gr8 tunes so your audience makes a grand entrance. — If you’re celebrating a specific person, share their favorite song! If you’re sharing slides, make sure when you share your screen, “share computer audio” is also selected in the bottom left hand corner. Alternatively, you can simply share audio only. Learn more here. You can also use this feature to host a mini-dance party. Make sure to turn this off after a bit, so you can hear everyone.
   
3. Decorate IRL:
   Add some flare to your own real house with balloons / send your participants (or the Birthday person) some balloons or flowers in the mail for their own house! @Creativemorning has done a great job of this with their events!

4. Matching/Themed Virtual Backgrounds:
   Invite anyone who can to update their Virtual Background around a specific theme. At my friends’ birthday, we had everyone (with Zoom capabilities) upload a photo of a corgi onto their Virtual Background because our friend loves corgis. Is this totally weird and kind of silly? Yes. Is it also awesome? Yes. (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/210707503-Virtual-Background). For Holiday parties, add in a fireplace!

5. DIY SIGNS: Make your own signs for a more expansive set of reactions to share with your friends! In order to have words be read, make sure that under “video preferences” you click “mirror video”.

ZOOM ACTIVITIES

6. Have a protocol / some protocols!
   It’s helpful to have even the tiniest of plans at any event. I’d also recommending writing these down so that you can copy and paste them in the chat for anyone who arrives late. Some ideas include….
   

1. Chat Love Shower! (Needs Pre-Setup)[for Birthdays specifically]:
   Before the Birthday arrives, tell their friends to type something in the chat box — It could be “one thing that you love about [birthday person]”, or “One word that describes [birthday person]”. Remind them NOT to press send until you say “3-2-1...GO!” I recommend doing this at a random point in the call, or maybe a minute or so after they arrive. It’s a nice surprise!
   
2. Far Away Friends!
   Ask friends to go around and introduce themselves — share how you know the host or birthday person and share one thing that you appreciate about them (or a fun fact).
   
3. NEW YEARS EVE FASHION SHOW
   Who wears clothes anymore? Why? Give your friends a reason to dress up — get the jams going and have your friends show off their new years swag! Use Spotlight and Computer Audio — have a contest with different prizes for folks wearing weirdest, sparkliest, and sheekest outfits!
   
4. BDPP: Birthday Person Portraits!
   Draw a portrait of the person next to you and share it!
   Zoom: Force Host View— Ask friends to get a pen and paper and take 2 minutes to draw a portrait of the person to their right. What is salient about these drawings? We do 2 minutes because this isn’t supposed to be fancy. Keep it weird. Let’s see what everyone comes up with! Then, ask everyone to hold up their drawings and spotlight some of them. If someone wants to describe what they drew, let them!
   
5. If Birthday — Sing Happy Birthday + “blow out” “candles”  (to mute or not to mute, that is the question, and it’s up to y’all!) and have them “blow out” the birthday candles with a GIF. Sample here: https://bit.ly/3cJ5Ccl
   
6. Play PIctionary with the Zoom Whiteboard feature
   (Thank you @karenbrennan!). Use Zoom’s Whiteboard feature ) and https://randomwordgenerator.com/ to get a random word and illustrate it for the group. Make sure you make each guest a co-host so they can share their screen, if you have screen sharing disabled for guests (which you normally should to avoid zoombombs!) Make sure you also have annotations and whiteboard enabled in your zoom settings. And then make sure to turn these off to avoid Zoombombs in future meetings.
   
7. Have a Zoom Dance Party!
   Play music with audio only and go to gallery view to see all the dancing! Spotlight some of the craziest dancers and it will feel like a jumbo-tron at a sports game! Don’t forget to REMOVE the spotlight though!
   
8. Watch a show! Schedule an hour to watch your favorite show with your BDP and friends. You can share Netflix through Zoom Screen Share, as long as you're sharing audio, and watch the show together!
   
9. Chop and Chat! 🌮Have a small group of friends get the same set of ingredients from the grocery store and make a recipe together on Zoom, then eat!
   
10. Slide Show Mania! Make a google slide show of your Birthday Person from growing up and share it! Bat Mitzvah style.

HOSTING TROLL-FREE/PLAYFUL/INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL EVENTS WITH ZOOM by Alexandra Kutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Based on a work at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KLRrnm6g5YvD8QRSPwwNWq6NPk9FYvMpZPy_XEyOmMM/edit#.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at alexakutler.com.