Virtual Organization Engagement and Connection
With almost all our gatherings moving to a virtual format, it will be easy for fatigue to set in. This resource is a collection of many other resources to help you change up and make virtual gatherings fun, engaging, and meaningful.
- Don’t meet just to meet. Have a specific reason. What’s you “why” for your meeting? Keep this simple and make sure everyone understands that “why.” What’s the thing you are gathering around? Are you meeting to share information? Program or Training? To work on a specific project? Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, wrote a book on this very topic. Check their website out for some resources https://www.priyaparker.com/
- Familiarize yourself with all the Zoom features and use them to your advantage. Krystal Clark ’05 has a wonderful blog titled “Let’s ZOOM a Little Better Today than we did Yesterday.” From equity and access, to trivia games, Krystal provides a wide variety of suggestions to make your Zoom gatherings a little bit better. Carl Hooker also has 25 Ways to Engage on Zoom that go into further detail on the features of Zoom.
- Engage your members beyond just Zoom. Our friends at Virginia Tech provide this resource that goes beyond the Zoom call. One suggestion being to “recognize the role your organizations plays in your member’s lives.”
- Play some games online. This can be through Xbox, Play Station, Switch, or your computer. You can do board games, card games, word games, and many more! Dylan Jacobson’s Comics has a great document with many of the online game options out there in one place. .
- Set up other socially distant engagement opportunities. Have a Netflix watch party. Stream together on Twitch. Host a virtual book club. Visit museums together thorugh online exhibits. There are plenty of things you might not have thought of. Invite members to share ideas and to host these opportunities, don't feel like you have to do all of this on your own!
