Zoom for fun and non-profit

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Zoom has become a word, like googling before it.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting state-mandated refuge-in-place requests, so many Zoom meetings are taking place that it’s a wonder the system holds up.

Zoom meetings can be fun for the family and morale builders for staff, but they are also emerging as key connection points, especially for nonprofits that want to maintain relationships with constituents who support them. Since the social context we live in, the new normal, changes hourly, predicting more online meetings is a safe guess.

For an indeterminate period of time, nonprofit development staff are unable to travel and the economy is slowing, so Zoom meetings are becoming a good way to manage relationships. Consequently, we all learn as we go.

With that in mind, here are some recommendations to make your Zoom nonprofit meetings (or similar online meeting software like Skype, GoToMeeting) profitable:

1) Develop a digital-based, rather than travel-based, six-month plan for each segment of your donor base. This can be determined by donation amounts, age, or some other designation that is significant to the mission of your nonprofit organization.

2) Give each of these initiatives a title and come up with a focus or journey, number of meetings (avoiding donor fatigue), talking points and value-added contributions that reinforce donors, then build the number of meetings around what works best to keep them informed. , enthusiastic and committed.

3) Create a template for your invitation, reminder, and follow-up emails, a professional appearance that presents the nonprofit with its best forward foot.

4) Recognize that donors are also learning online meeting software, so make joining the meeting link as simple as possible, probably without using passwords unless it is deemed absolutely necessary for security.

5) Script of the meeting, that is, do not improvise. Identify the topic, presentation points, desired results, action steps, and how long the meeting will last. In general, shorter is better.

6) Check the lighting beforehand. Better lighting improves your image and professional impact. Lighting: What lighting technicians call key lighting (directly to the speaker), hair lighting (top) and fill lighting (side), make the difference between a meeting that looks like it is happening in a studio and one that is it feels like it takes place in a tunnel.

7) Check the sound beforehand. Use an external microphone almost always

produces a fuller, fuller sound and reduces echoes.

8) Determine what backdrop you want to share behind the presenter and / or panelist speakers. Is it virtual or do you need to set up a green screen? Does your backdrop dominate the speaker? The backdrop could be the logo of the nonprofit organization, if this is not distracting in some way, or it could be a map or some other image relevant to your mission.

9) If there is a possibility of your WiFi becoming unstable, use an ethernet cable to connect your computer directly to your router. This helps reduce lag and interruption.

10) Decide whether recording of the meeting is necessary and appropriate, and if recording, determine that you need to inform participants of this at the top of the meeting.

11) Once your donors join the call, direct them to the upper right corner of

their screen and suggest they click Speaker View so they can focus on the person presenting and reduce distractions from others. And tell them about the Chat button at the bottom and how to use it to ask questions.

12) Welcome your guests, thank them for their time, tell them, if this fits your

purposes, which will be muted to reduce unintentional noise from coughs, children, pets, etc., then Wow … making sure to finish at the scheduled time.

Well-presented Zoom meetings can create as much or even greater impact than face-to-face meetings. Prepare and practice. Run your Zoom reunion like the Oscars.

© Dr. Rex M. Rogers – All rights reserved, 2020

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