How many workshops or meetings do you sit in on during any given week or month? If you’re like many employees, your days seem to be full of these events. By now, you probably know that some of these meetings run better than others. Some are more efficient, engaging, and effective. But what exactly makes some stand out for the right reasons while others go down as a waste of time? Often, it comes down to the online tools for workshops and meetings a presenter uses.
Best Online Tools for Workshops and Meetings:
Next time you’re in the presenter’s seat rather than an audience member, here are some online tools that will help you create a better experience for both you and your audience.
Live polling for PowerPoint
Do you think all PowerPoint presentations are the same? That you’ve seen and done them all? Not so fast! When a PowerPoint presentation includes live polling, it’s bound to be more memorable and effective than any other presentation your audience has seen before. With polling apps that offer live polling for PowerPoint, you can embed a poll directly into your PowerPoint. This means there’s no need to navigate between tabs or windows. Your audience members are more likely to actually participate in the poll this way, and it also makes it faster and more seamless to collect real-time feedback from them.
Other live polling tools
If you’re doing a workshop or a meeting that doesn’t involve PowerPoint, there are still plenty of ways to incorporate live polling into your content. For example, you could run SMS polling. That way, even attendees who don’t have smartphones or computers in front of them can text to vote using their mobile phones. With online polls, smartphones and computers can be used to participate in polls from a designated link you share with them. With a short event code, they will quickly be able to access polls and you’ll start collecting results before you know it.
Quizzes and gaming
There’s nothing like live quizzes and gaming to transform a boring old meeting into an unforgettable experience for attendees! If you include quizzes and gaming in your presentation, your audience is more likely to interact and engage with your content. At the same time, it helps your event stand out for all of the right reasons. With tools like Quizzes Live by Swift, you can even display a real-time results leaderboard to promote a friendly sense of competition between your attendees.
Q&As
Whether you want to hear from your audience or you want to offer your audience a way to ask you questions, incorporating a Q&A into your workshop or meeting is the best way to get the job done. One of the advantages of electronic Q&As is how it sorts and streamlines questions for you. It gives the presenter or moderator the ability to sort through repetitive questions, and it can also be used to help you save questions for the end and answer them all at once. Additionally, you can offer attendees the ability to ask (or answer) questions anonymously. This helps ensure even the most reserved attendees feel empowered to speak up and share their ideas, questions, or concerns.
Note-taking apps
If you’re participating in a meeting or workshop, there’s bound to be some information you want to recall or have on hand for later use. With digital note-taking apps, it’s easy to include all of this information on your phone or computer rather than relying on having a pen and paper nearby. Tools like Evernote and Microsoft OneNote make it easy to take notes on the fly and organize them effectively.
Free video conferencing
More workshops and meetings took place virtually this past year than ever before. In the future, video conferencing is expected to remain as popular as ever. Luckily, there are several free video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Hangouts to help make it easy to conduct these events from anywhere in the world.
Free online design tools
Do you want to create fun and informative graphics to use in your next workshop or meeting? There’s no need to shell out big bucks for expensive graphic design suites or services. Instead, you can utilize a number of free online design tools, including Canva, to create thumbnails, graphics, and other visual elements to include in your presentation.
Online whiteboards
With an online whiteboard, your team can collaborate from anywhere in the world as if you were all in the same physical meeting space. Tools like Miro and Mural let your meeting or workshop attendees visualize concepts, share ideas, and collaborate more effectively.
Task management tools
Minimize the odds of meeting attendees coming away unclear about the expectations of their role or their responsibilities for a certain task with the help of digital task management tools. Software like Trello or Asana helps you visualize tasks and responsibilities, assign tasks to certain team members, and organize everything else that goes into a project.
Document sharing and file storage
Want to quickly share a file or document with workshop attendees? Rather than navigating to your email inbox and attaching a file to share with each attendee, try a document sharing and file storage tool instead. For example, with Google Drive, you can quickly offer access, invite members to collaborate, and share information in a secure and quick manner.
Workshop design tools
If you’re conducting a long workshop with several different components planned for the duration of the event, it’s important to be as structured and organized as possible. At the same time, it’s helpful to share the workshop schedule with attendees so they know what to expect. There are a number of group facilitation tools to work with, including options for groups of different sizes and with different needs. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Hyper Island Toolbox, Design Method Toolkit, and Gamestorming.
Put These Online Tools to Work for You For Your Next Workshop or Meeting
Now that we have covered 11 useful online tools for your next workshop or meeting, it’s time to get out there and try them for yourself! With these tools, including live polling and gamification, you’ll have the ability to create engaging and effective workshops and meetings your audience will love.
