Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to use the chat feature to improve
Speaker 1: your video calls. When chat is used for good, it
Speaker 1: can be a great way to deepen connections and keep
Speaker 1: people thinking about the topic at hand, As we have
Speaker 1: learned during the massive rise in remote work over the
Speaker 1: past two and a half years. Most video conference applications
Speaker 1: have a chat feature that allows you to type a
Speaker 1: message to one or all of the participants. Sometimes people
Speaker 1: use chat for snarky side conversations with one work friend.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is an incredibly risky strategy. One
Speaker 1: false move and the comment goes to everyone yikes. Instead,
Speaker 1: use chat as a tool for making sure everybody is
Speaker 1: with you on a video call, reinforce what's set out
Speaker 1: loud with typed messages, and invite others to use chat
Speaker 1: to share their insights and questions as well. One simple
Speaker 1: technique that can be incredibly helpful is to type any
Speaker 1: proper names or acronyms that you say into the chat.
Speaker 1: People are often embarrassed to ask others to repeat or
Speaker 1: spell a name, or to explain an acronym for fear
Speaker 1: of seeming out of the loop, but no one benefits
Speaker 1: when people don't know who or what you're referring to.
Speaker 1: By typing names and acronyms plus what they stand for,
Speaker 1: into the chat, you help keep everyone following along. I
Speaker 1: also recommend pasting in the chat the question that's being
Speaker 1: discussed or the agenda item that you're on. This keeps
Speaker 1: everyone focused on the topic and avoids the awkward moment
Speaker 1: when ten minutes into a discussion, someone asks the facilitator
Speaker 1: to repeat the quest, gener worse, makes a comment that
Speaker 1: reveals they are clearly not thinking about the same thing.
Speaker 1: If you send people to breakout groups to discuss a
Speaker 1: particular topic, also paste those discussion prompts into the chat.
Speaker 1: If you use the chat in meetings that you lead,
Speaker 1: you may find that participants start to use the chat
Speaker 1: more as well. This can be great. The chat box
Speaker 1: is an excellent way for people to pose questions and
Speaker 1: share ideas without interrupting the flow of a presentation. Chat
Speaker 1: is especially valuable for larger groups and for SHIRE team
Speaker 1: members when it's hard to contribute orally. The chat can
Speaker 1: offer a less intimidating forum. Of course, people can't really multitask,
Speaker 1: and so you don't want the chat to be where
Speaker 1: all the action is happening. It needs to be integrated
Speaker 1: into the meeting to really work well, So, especially in
Speaker 1: larger meetings that you are leading, you could ask a
Speaker 1: trusted colleague to monitor the chat. The person can feel
Speaker 1: empowered to interrupt you with appropriate questions or points that
Speaker 1: have been made in the chat and need to be addressed.
Speaker 1: That way, you don't have to follow the chat and
Speaker 1: lose your focus, but people's ideas get hurt as well.
Speaker 1: I'm also a fan of meetings that use the chat
Speaker 1: in the awkward moments as people are logging on, when
Speaker 1: the conversation out loud is mostly saying hi and where
Speaker 1: are you logging in from? When a new person logs
Speaker 1: in every few seconds, the chat can be a forum
Speaker 1: for relationship building. If you post a light, engaging question
Speaker 1: in the chat and reposted every few minutes as new
Speaker 1: people arrive, you can spark interactions over a chat that
Speaker 1: connect people before the meeting begins. Questions like favorite summer
Speaker 1: memory for a meeting right after Labor Day or favorite
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving food right before the holiday, or who are your
Speaker 1: oscars picks? The night of the awards show can create
Speaker 1: low pressure opportunities for participants to get to know each other.
Speaker 1: Two and a half years into hybrid work, we are
Speaker 1: still figuring out how to do it well. I think
Speaker 1: the chat function is an under used feature of a
Speaker 1: lot of meetings, so why not try to use it
Speaker 1: for good. If you have additional ways that you like
Speaker 1: to use chat, I'd love to hear them. You can
Speaker 1: reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkamp dot com. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart
Speaker 1: media dot com that Before Breakfast espe out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
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