Hello Friends,

Greetings from Barcelona ☀️where I am preparing for the final week of the Breakthrough Facilitation course! So I’m keeping it short and sweet this week.

🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest.

A special welcome to IAF Spain friends. If you are joining for the first time, welcome to our deep dive into all things creativity, facilitation, and learning.

You can catch up on the last edition 🪄What Stories Teach Us about Great Session Design and all past editions here.

🤔I often wonder how I can use Zoom in new ways.

I’m amazed to see how creative facilitators have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible on Zoom.

Over time, I have learned a set of “secret” Zoom hacks that have now become an key part of my facilitation toolkit.

Secret because you won’t find these on the official Zoom website.

As far as I know, they aren’t even written down.

Like a lot of facilitation games and tools, these hacks have been passed around from facilitator to facilitator.

I am grateful to the exceptional facilitators who taught me these hacks.

I have passed them on to others. And I hope you will try them out too.

Do you have any secret Zoom hacks? Share them with me by hitting reply to this email and I’ll share them in the Quest!

Six secret hacks that that will add zing to your zoom sessions.

1. 🎥Cameras on and off

We all know that turning cameras on improves the online experience. But did you know there are ways that you can also use the camera to add more engagement? I learned that from facilitator Stef Turner. You can get an idea of who is in the Zoom room by asking everyone to turn their cameras off. Yes, the screen will be dark. Then read out a statement like “it’s morning for me”. Ask participants to turn their cameras on if the statement is true for them. Everyone turns their cameras off again and then you read the next statement. And you can read out a statement at the end that is true for everyone so that everyone ends the activity with their cameras on. Cameras on and off works well for connecting participants and increasing participation.

2. 💥Chat storm

This is a good one that I picked up from facilitator Cam Houser. You are probably used to joining a Zoom call and introducing yourself in the chat. The Chat Storm invites people to write something in the chat at the same time. For example, you can ask a multi-lingual group to write in the chat how they say hello in their language on the count of 3. It’s like unleashing a burst of energy into the chat. Chat Storm works well for connecting people at one moment in time when they can’t be in the same physical space.

3. 💬No name …

I learned this one from facilitator Devon Little. You may be familiar with changing your name on Zoom. You can also ask your participants to change their names to 💬. Everyone will then have the same name – three dots. This allows for people to contribute to the chat anonymously. For an added layer of anonymity, you can ask participants to turn off their cameras. No name works well when people want to share experiences or ideas without being identified.

4. 📍Pin a partner

I learned this one from facilitators Silvia Giovannoni and Xoli Fuyani. Anyone who has taken an online workshop over the past year will now be used to joining breakout groups. But when breakout groups end, you can lose track of your breakout partners once you are back in the main space. With pin video, you can pin your group members so you still see them once you are back in the big group. This can be helpful for teamwork. And it makes a big group feel smaller. How to use pin video.

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5. 🍸Everyone a co-host

I learned this one from facilitator Misha Glouberman. A year ago Zoom only allowed a limited number of co-hosts. Then Zoom made an upgrade to the system so that you can make everyone co-host. You can use this function to allow participants to roam freely among breakout groups. Everyone a co-host is good for giving participants more autonomy, and for creating open space conversations. How to add co-hosts.

6. 🖊️Annotate

Annotate is one of those Zoom features that people can easily forget exist. Annotate allows your participants to draw, stamp, and write over a shared screen. I find that even before I finish giving instructions on how to annotate, people are already drawing across the screen. You can use it to vote, make collaborative drawings, and do informal polling. How to share screen and annotate.

💌Thanks for reading The Quest

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Creatively yours,