“I've been a Toastmaster for roughly two years now and up until March, I never had to worry about what the picture window in front of my desk did to my round, cherubic cheeks. In the last eight months, however, I've added pro at lighting, make-up, and background-interior-design to my ever-growing public speaker toolbox.”

“I wanted to be the band on the Titanic,” comedian Paula Poundstone said in an article in The Washington Post this weekend about Zoom fatigue. She was posting almost daily bits and “Quarantine Corner” updates through April on Instagram but stopped by late May. “But the Titanic sank faster. It just occurred to me now that that’s what was wrong with my plan.”   Lesley Harris of Copyrightlaws.com was kind enough to email me last week suggesting this trending topic. Funny, because she was using Zoom before most of the rest of us—holding her SIPAward-winning 20-minute Zoom on Ins over lunchtime in 2019 and early 2020. As many as 450 people were registering for her sessions. Copyrightlaws.com holds many courses and certificate programs, so Zoom is a staple, but Harris is trying to mix it up.   “One thing I did in my last class this spring was a Slack Live Chat…similar to a ...

There was a wonderful Zoom event last week, out of which I believe brought some excellent lessons for putting on virtual events—even though it was a very popular subject and a few drinks were on the respective tables. It was the 2019 World Series Game 7 Reunion Special featuring coaches and players from the Washington Nationals who were all simultaneously watching a replay of their victorious Game 7 win over the Houston Astros in late October.   The biggest lesson to come out of this Zoomcast is to take advantage of a medium's strengths. Zoom, or similar platforms, can put a whole bunch of live faces on the screen, have them speak in turn and give viewers that reassuring Brady Bunch feel. Facebook allows people to comment a mile a minute, but most importantly feel a part of things. Here are a few other lessons:   Have a smart, well-respected moderator. The event, which took place on Zoom but was available for fans to watch on Facebook, actually had tw ...

In an article on ASAE about how they turned their major conference into a virtual event in a week, American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) Executive Director Bob Moore wrote about their keys to success. It's obvious from that success that they had built a popular community.   More than 50% of the 2,000-plus registrants converted their registration to the virtual conference, getting a 25% discount for doing so. Forty-four percent asked for and received a full discount. One hundred people deferred their registration to the 2021 conference. Five donated it to their foundation.   Some interesting notes to add to their takeaways:   Email, of course, but also pick up the phone. They emailed and emailed some more about the cancellation and options. But then "two days before our virtual conference started, we sent a text message to the 400 non-respondents. The next day, staff called the 200 remaining registrants who still hadn't r ...