Interactive meeting options
Have your video meetings become a little boring? Have you found it increasingly difficult to engage your participants when you have a video conference or hosting a webinar online? Well, in this video, I'm going to show you how Butter can make your next video meeting that much more exciting and also easier for you to host.
Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And today, I've got my friend, Rex, joining me for this video demonstration
so I can show you all the ins and outs of Butter and why this is going to make Zoom meetings and Microsoft Team meetings and most other video conferencing meetings look boring in comparison. So right off the bat, I love the simplicity of Butter.
Here on the left-hand side, we have our interactive options where we can decide if we want to mute ourselves, unmute ourselves and also react to things as well and you'll notice right away that things are big and bold.
So if my participants want to react to something, if they want to give a shout out or a hand of applause, it's big, it's bold, things are moving around. And as a host, I can even go one step further and add some sounds.
If I want to (cheering) give someone a round of applause, because I thought their comment was fantastic, I can do so at a click of a button
or by using a shortcut key here on my keyboard. Now on the left-hand side,
Built-in agenda
we have our interactive options. And then on the right hand side, I've got some additional tools available to me as a host.
And that's really where I want to start, because this is where I think Butter sets itself apart from so many other video conferencing tools. Right off the bat, we can create an agenda in advance so that not only can I stay on track, but everyone who's joining me for this meeting can see this agenda as well.
And as I'm adding the agenda, it's going to do the math for me. So I can see the total length of this particular meeting. Of course I can adjust this on the fly if I want to, but I always have access to the agenda here.
If I want people to see the agenda and resume the agenda with me in real time, all I need to do is click this button here at the top. And here you can see it's actually starting a timer, which is great to help us stay on track.
How often have you been involved in a meeting, number one, there's no agenda or the agenda is buried in the calendar invitation, and then number two, we spend way too much time on a particular topic? This has the timer built right into the agenda items.
Of course I can adjust things. I can choose to see the full agenda here to see
if we're on track or if we need to move on to something else. But these are great productivity enhancements to make the meeting so much more enjoyable, but also so much more effective.
Timers for smooth meetings
Now, if we just want to use a timer, we can do so as well. Here's a timer feature and I've set up one called, "Let's start to wrap this up." You can create as many custom timers as you want, or just start a quick start timer whenever you like.
So in this case, maybe when there's about five minutes left in the meeting, I'm going to start this timer on my end and down at the bottom of the screen, everyone is going to see this timer.
So they know "I mean business" or "Listen, we should really wrap this up so that we can get on to our next meeting or our other commitments as a part of the day."
So I love these little enhancements that can make our meetings that much more effective and help us to stay on time.
Polls that are worth sharing
You'll also notice below the timer function. We have the ability to create polls. Now we can, of course, create as many polls as we want in advance, but we can also create new polls on the fly.
So in this case, I've decided to add this question, "Which app should we integrate with next?" And I'm going to say, see the results so I can show this on screen. I can see who voted for what and who the overall winner was as well.
So again, if I want to export this data, if I want to reuse this poll multiple times in the future, I can do so as well, all at my fingertips here. Now below polls, you'll see that we have a breakout rooms feature as well, but I'm going to come back to that in just a minute.
Back over on the left-hand side, I've already given you a sample of some of the reactions and sounds in which we can include and enhance our meetings.
Better comment & question management
But one feature that I really love here is called the queue. How often have you been trying to manage questions and comments and other things that are coming at you through the chat window? But what if someone does have a specific comment or a question.
Those are two very different things and you want to actually hand over the microphone to them. Well, that's where the queue comes into place. Where people can decide, do they have just a comment or maybe an idea, or do they have a specific question? So in this case, I'm going to say that I have a comment.
And what you'll see in the top right-hand corner is that there is a queue building up. A queue for the host to manage and to see who has a question. I can see that Rex has a question and I can see that Scott has a comment.
What I can do now is I can hand over the microphone to Rex. People can see that Rex has the floor, so to speak, and he can ask his question. Then at my control, I can hit X, remove him from the queue and then answer that question or maybe start a discussion.
So this is a great way to manage those questions and or those comments in a queue style format and separate from the chat. Of course, Butter is going to have a chat window here.
So if you prefer text management, or if you prefer to have your participants be able to communicate with one another, they can do so here in the chat as well. But this idea of a queue I think is fantastic.
Add private notes
Speaking of ad-ons that really make Butter shine and stand out from the competition, you have an opportunity to collect and record your own personal notes.
And no, I'm not just talking about the facilitator, I'm talking about participants as well.
So each user has access to this private note space, and you can even do some basic formatting, such as bolding or creating bullet points in real time. And the great thing about my notes, here are some notes for example.
Let me just type in a few things here, is that they don't go away. Even if I close this dialogue. So let's say I'm taking some notes here, but then I want to get back to the discussion, or I want to listen in on what others are saying.
All I need to do is hit that notes tab and my notes remain here. So I can collect notes along the way. Then I can export those notes and save them for use later. A great tool to, again, keep your participants engaged, giving them the opportunity to take notes without having to switch tabs or to open up another application on their computer.
Host & facilitator tools
But let's go into some of the other facilitator tools that we have available to us, just to show how easy it is to set up your own Butter sessions. So here I am within my Butter dashboard and you can see I've already created two different rooms.
I've got my Team Brainstorming Meeting, which we were just in. I also have a, another one called an awesome Workshop. What I really appreciate about Butter is that I don't have
to create a new meeting each and every time. I can create as many rooms as I want
and repurpose them for very specific purposes. It also gives me an opportunity to prepare materials in advance so I don't have to be sharing my screen, sharing other documents or preloading other websites. Let me show you what I mean.
If I hit set up here for my Awesome Workshop, you can see I've already created a few defaults here. I've created a color scheme. This is actually going to be the intro screen here
on the right-hand side. I can choose things like background color. I can even include some elevator music. (calming music) So when people are first joining the meeting,
maybe testing out their camera and microphone or entering in their name.
Again, something to liven things up a little bit, make them get excited about joining my video conferencing. But on the left-hand side is where we have some of those features that we saw in meeting. And I want to show you just how easy it is to create and set this up.
How to create an agenda
So here under agenda, I can say, well, let's start off with some introductions, for example, and maybe we're going to do that for about 10 minutes. I'm going to hit save. And then we're going to review the last meeting minutes or something along those lines.
That should only take us about five minutes in length. I'm going to hit save here. You can see it's summing up the length of my meeting so I can see exactly how long each section is going to take.
And as you saw in my previous example, everyone can have access to this and to see that agenda in the meeting, not having to go back and reference another document.
How to setup timers in advance
Here under timers, I can create my customized timers. So maybe I want to say that this is going to be our twenty-five minutes for a particular game or an activity.
I can set the time, give it a specific color, even give it some specific music if I want. Polls or another great feature in which we can repurpose across our meeting rooms. But if you really want to get your participants engaged,
Breakout rooms that are easy to use
I encourage you to use the breakout feature. Here you can see I've created a breakout room in advance. In fact, I've created three distinct breakout rooms.
I've added a few specific tools. I've even set a time limit. If you are hosting a webinar,
if you are running a class or doing any type of teaching,
Butter breakouts are the choice for you. In this breakout rooms example, I've created three different rooms and I've given them each a specific title, Watch and Learn; Win, Lose, or Draw; and Mind Map Mania.
I don't know how many times people have asked me, "Scott, I'd like to set up something in advance in Zoom, where there's an activity or something waiting for my participants and then I can just cycle them through those different rooms." Well, that's exactly what Butter allows you to do here within their breakout feature.
So for example, in Watch and Learn, I have already uploaded a particular YouTube video. No, I don't have to share my screen. I don't have to just give them a link and hope that they all watch it on their own.
The video is going to be waiting for them in that breakout room. In the Win, Lose, or Draw room, I've already uploaded and set up the whiteboard here within Butter so that they can just start playing the game immediately.
They don't have to hold up a piece of paper from their desk or do something else or have someone know how to initiate the whiteboard. The whiteboard is going to be waiting for them there.
And here in the Mind Map Mania, maybe I've got something else prepared. If I click on the tool section down below, you can see the direct integrations that are available to us right here.
And it's just as simple as dragging them into the tool section. Now I have that whiteboard waiting for me and waiting for my participants in the breakout rooms. But let's go see how this looks like for the host because it gets even better
Managing breakout rooms like a pro
with how we manage those breakout rooms. So here I am back in my Butter session
and on the right-hand side, I'm going to open up my breakout rooms here. I'm going to select start now, or if I need to make any adjustments, I can do so on the fly. I'm going to select start now here. And I'm going to say, "Yes, I want to assign these participants in advance." So I've got my participants here on the left-hand side.
I could assign them randomly, but maybe I want to make sure that Rex starts in the Watch and Learn. And I'm going to maybe start myself in the Win, Lose, or Draw room,
just cause I want to give them some additional instructions. I'm going to select start breakout at this point. And those breakout rooms are going to be launched. I'm going to say yes, bring me there right away.
And now I can start with this whiteboard. Remember I said that whiteboard should be waiting for me. Here it is. I don't have to launch anything. I don't have to share my screen. I can do so right here. But as a facilitator to the meeting, it gets better. If I come up here to the top of the screen,
I can see all of the breakout rooms and join any of them at a click. But maybe let's start out by just taking a look at the breakout overview screen. So if you're managing several breakout rooms, you can see exactly who is in which room, what's going on,
and you can choose to observe that room without having to join the room. Something that is lacking in Zoom meetings, for example, is that you actually have to join that room and everyone in that room knows that you're there.
But if you're the facilitator, you can somewhat just eavesdrop just like a teacher would in a real classroom and just see how things are going. You can choose to join the room later if you want to, but you don't have to show your presence at any time.
So this really makes the teaching and the facilitation of these rooms so much easier. You'll also notice that there is a timer at the top of the screen. Why? Because when I was setting up my breakout rooms, I decided that I wanted to spend 10 minutes in each room
and then I want everyone to switch or move to the next room. Others will have access and be able to see this timer as well. So they can know when to wrap things up and then we can move to that next breakout room.
So again, very thoughtful features here for both facilitators and for participants to make these workshops, to make these trainings and these conferences that much more engaging and effective.
Easiest way to share video in a meeting
And one more thing. How often have you tried to share a video in your online meetings only to forget that you have to both share your screen and oh, you have to hit that checkbox to share your sound as well. Butter makes it so much easier because we have a direct integration to YouTube.
So you can preload all of your YouTube videos. If I click on this video here,] it's immediately shared right here within my Butter interface. So I can hit play, no more stumbling around or asking people if they can hear the video.
So if you're tired of boring video conferences and would rather spruce up your meetings, (dramatic music) be sure to check out Butter. See the link in the description below for more details. If you have any further questions about Butter and its video conferencing features, be sure to let me know in the comments down below.
Remember being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
