>> Jennifer:
I'm going to go ahead and get our recording started.

And I'm so honored to be here today to welcome my colleagues, as our presenters for today.

These are folks that all work on our -- in our division.

And I'm thrilled it to be able to introduce them and did I not have -- where is my little -- I'm going to go back here.

Okay.

We're going to go ahead and have Nancy kick us off and get us started.

Welcome, Nancy Lensemayer.

It's so great to have you here.

>> NANCY: Thanks, Jennifer.

To those of you who have joined as participants, thank you as well.

I'm Nancy Lensemayer and with me are my colleagues, Betha Gutsche and Kathleen Gesinger.

We hope you have a favorite beverage in hand and are ready to relax and learn with us.

As so many of you do, we spend countless hours online, connecting with others, while staring at a screen.

The reality is virtual is here to stay.

That said, we believe that online sessions can be fun and focused not only for participants, but also for those of us who plan, design and host online events.

Our goal is to share some connection and creativity strategies that will energize and encourage your audiences to settle in, participate and learn.

We've all been tempted to multitask and disengage, especially when we're in back-to-back online sessions.

We found that intentionally including activities that encourage participation and, in some instances, an element of surprise, help foster that connection and engagement.

This holds true whether we are delivering virtual programs, leading and participating in staff meetings, or planning and hosting online conferences.

So, we invite you to connect and get creative with us, as we share some best practices and ways to learn and stay engaged.

As we begin, we ask you to participate in a brief letting go exercise.

Close your eyes and take a few minutes to breathe in deeply.

Slowly exhale.

Do this again.

Letting go of any stresses you're feeling.

And center in the moment.

Take one more deep breath, and slowly exhale.

Now open your eyes.

Turn to the right, looking away from your screen.

Tilt your head and look up.

And then look down.

Turn to the left, looking away from your screen.

Again, it tilt your head up, and look up, and then look down.

Now, after this gentle stretch break, return your eyes to the screen.

Thank you for participating in this exercise.

We've included this as a reminder that taking time throughout the day for visual resets is important.

But why?

Studies have shown that Zoom fatigue, which is also called screen fatigue, is certainly real.

Stanford University's virtual human interaction lab identified four consequences of spending hours per day on video conference platforms.

These include intensity of eye contact, the stress of constantly seeing our own images, reduced mobility as we sit for long periods of time in front of our screens, as well as an increased cognitive load.

Jennifer is placing the link to the study summary in the chat.

We encourage you to read this not only for details on why video chat fatigues humans, but also for some recommended solutions.

It's no doubt that given the amount of time we're online with work colleagues, with family and with friends, it is no wonder we are fatigued.

On the positive side, pivoting to virtual has presented some new opportunities in our professional and personal lives.

We can easily connect with colleagues, family and friends in distant locations.

Many who couldn't attend in-person events now have options.

Virtual is safe and has reduced or eliminated commutes and travel expenses.

And online sessions offer flexibility and new ways to engage.

And, of course, there are many more reasons why virtual is also good.

So we asked you to take a moment now and consider, in your experience, what are some additional benefits of virtual life.

We encourage you to share some of these benefits in chat.

We'll give you some time to do that.

Good point.

Presenters from out of state.

I like the word discreetly after multitasking.

New skills that we hadn't used previously.

Many ideas coming through in chat.

Less intimidating.

Good point.

Another good point about encouraging participation from those who would be discouraged by public speaking.

Don't have to set up chairs.

That's another good point.

The list is many.

We could keep going and adding to this list for some time.

Thank you for sharing some of these great examples.

I think it's a good reminder to all of us that even in the midst of our Zoom fatigue or our screen fatigue, it really is important to remember these benefits, because they are many.

A key message you'll hear in this webinar, and one that Jennifer mentioned up front has to do with the use of the specific tools.

Being strategic in how you engage online, both as a presenter and as a participant, is important.

Of the many ideas we'll share, we would like to highlight one up front, and that is learner guides.

Learner guides are tools that can help participants focus and engage during online sessions.

Although they may vary in terms of content, typically they provide a place to reflect, take notes, aha moments.

They made lead with reflection prompts such as asking participants to identify their goals for this session.

In some cases they'll include intentional spaces for coloring or doodling.

Jennifer has included a link to this webinar's learner guide in your session emails and sharing the link in chat.

She's also sharing a link to some others as models.

We urge you, encourage you to use this guide and, where appropriate, perhaps to consider developing and using your own.

So, speaking of tools, Kathleen is now going to introduce another tool.

Kathleen?

>> KATHLEEN: Hello, everyone.

Thank you, Nancy.

We are, indeed, going to experiment with another tool, the screen annotation tool.

It will allow you to mark on the screen.

That mark will be available to everyone.

So I'm already seeing a couple of folks given it a try.

I would like to invite you to move your curser or click on the screen in front of you.

When you do that, you'll actually engage or enable a new tool.

You'll see a pill on the left side of your screen.

And there is a little squiggle.

I'll invite you to click on the little squiggle.

And when you do that, that actually opens up a new menu on the left side of the screen.

So, clicking on the squiggle will open up the menu to then see a square.

Now here is the trick, everyone.

You'll want to click on the little arrow next to the square to enable your checkmark.

It's a little tiny thing.

It's really hard to find.

But it is a really helpful tool.

I'm going to encourage you to find the checkmark if you can.

And I am appreciating that everyone is practicing today.

This is great.

Now, we are going to be stepping into an exercise in just a moment.

I want to give everyone about five more seconds to start or to get their tools.

And just wanted to acknowledge if some of you are joining us from mobile devices or an  iPad, you may not be able to, or you won't be able to do this exercise.

Don't stress about that.

But we invite you to sit back and enjoy.

It becomes a very dynamic view right on the screen, doesn't it?

So as tempting as all of this is, I am going to invite you to take your hands off the screen, off your click, off your mouse.

Okay?

So I'm going to ask you to hold on any marks.

I'm going to step into our next exercise.

Ready?

Okay.

So this is just an opportunity for all of us to really consider the following statement.

And that would be I do a great job taking screen breaks.

So with that checkmark in hand, I encourage you to click in that White box and kind of select where you fall on the continuum.

Do you strongly agree with this statement?

Do you disagree?

Do you strongly disagree?

It could be I disagree that I do a great job taking screen breaks.

Unfortunately I would probably end up right over there, too.

But we think it's a good opportunity just to think about how engaged we are online and how much we are really taking and putting energy into staring at a screen.

There's a lot of engagement.

A lot of connections.

A lot of stuff getting done.

But it is also an important thing to consider.

So, what do we see here?

Pretty wide -- pretty good spread.

It seems like we're not as strongly -- ready to strongly agree we do a great job but I'm glad to see that folks are doing that.

And then just seeing we fall all along the continuum here.

Thank you so much for sharing with us and taking that moment for reflection.

And so again, as hard as it can be, I'm going to ask that we all hold our annotations as we step into our next section.

So, thank you.

So, you know, as we consider the benefits of being online, like our time together today, we wanted to really highlight the importance of taking breaks.

And I don't know about you, but I have found, as many of us just showed on the last screen, that I have, especially over the last two years, I have evolved to habits that include really moving from my work screen to a quick break on either the same screen or another device and realizing that there have been entire days where I have stared at my screen.

And not so good.

So, now this is an exercise that begins with pen and paper.

So, if you happen to have a pen or pencil, or any kind of writing device next to you, I encourage you to take just a moment and think about your favorite ways to take screen breaks.

So, using your learner guide as one place to write on, or a piece of paper you might have next to you, or if you have your phone on a notes piece.

But I encourage you to just take about -- we're going to take about 30 seconds and allow you to write down some examples of how you take a screen break.

And as you begin to write out a list of examples, just kind of explore if this list comes easy to you, or if you're having a hard time of thinking of ideas.

These can be aspirational screen breaks, that you wish you were doing.

These could be the things that you do and that work really well for you.

And, as you begin to compile the list, I encourage you to kind of review that list and if you have an idea that you think is unique and would benefit others today, please feel free to share that example in chat.

I do not skateboard, but it is kind of my aspirational alter ego, that I get up and skateboard a little bit out in the front.

I'm seeing some great ideas.

Take a walk about the library.

Not a bad idea.

Laundry, if at home.

Good break and productive.

Tea.

Snack.

Just get up and move around.

It's so true.

Hardcopy book outside.

This is a great example.

So this is a great strategic idea.

At work you run upstairs to a far away copier.

That way, you need to take a break, get some exercise.

You can do some productive things, but still taking a break from that screen.

You might have been writing something for an hour, or an extended amount of time and you can get up and go print it far away.

That's a great idea.

So, stretching, sitting, standing.

Lying on your back.

I'm not going to be able to read all of these in the moment.

But it is so inspiring to see these great screen break ideas.

Ooh, making a new book display.

That's a wonderful idea.

And that benefits so many people.

Not just your eyes.

And then I see a message here, since I work from home, I walk through the house and greet my cats.

You have to say hello to your cats.

That's okay.

You're in good company.

Hot tea, stretching, doing a puzzle, meditate.

Such great examples.

Well I really appreciate and thank all of you for taking a moment just to think through that list.

And if your initial list, as you're jotting it down, was really lengthy, that is great.

And if it was kind of on the short side, it just wasn't flowing from your pen, we hope that you collected a couple new ideas today that you can begin to try and even include in your daily routine.

So, thanks for sharing these ideas.

You know, just as we reflect on ways we can and should take small breaks from our computer during the day, it's also really important to consider the ways we show up as participants when we are online.

So, as Nancy mentioned, there are several reasons why our brains feel tired.

Being online is an additional cognitive load.

And adding to our already busy lives.

It really is exhausting.

And it can feel lonely.

We don't have the same immediate feedback or connections that happen in person.

So, one way to find a little success in your day is to give yourself space to feel prepared with a meeting or training you're about to step into.

Grab a glass of water, cup of coffee, a favorite drink, and stretch at your desk while you're logging in to your meeting.

So you might not have a lot of time to take breaks or stretch, but you have that time as you're logging in to the system.

And just allow yourself that space to do so.

Encourage you to close or at least, at the very least minimize your browser that you may have all those tabs open.

I know I do.

So, minimize your browser.

And, if possible, close your email for that time, that point in time that you're going to be in a meeting, in a training, in some kind of event.

Really commit to being present and focus as a participant.

In our busy lives, this can be easier said than done.

We encourage you and ourselves, and myself, to commit to really being an active listener, a viewer and a participant.

So we can all hope to, or expect participants will be engaged and active learners.

And as a host or presenter, or trainer, there are ways to really prepare and support participants.

So one of those is to plan and design a meeting that is welcoming, right?

So, prepare everyone for what's at hand.

Greet participants as they join the room.

And just as you would, or you should, say hello to someone joining the table in person.

Say hello to your online participants.

It's something that Jennifer models so well in the Web junction webinars.

Greet people by name.

Hi, Nancy, hi, Betha.

Welcome.

So glad to have you here today.

We often sit in a, quote, unquote, Zoom room in that awkward silence waiting for the clock to tell us when it's time to start.

That silence can actually add concern or confusion to an already isolating experience.

So, as a virtual meeting host or producer, let people know that you see them joining.

Welcome them.

And use the opportunity to actually connect and share.

You can share about the technology we're using, how to settle in, feel ready.

But it's really an opportunity.

So next would be really to help participants get ready to be participatory so indicate you're looking for feedback and let folks know how they can best do that at any time.

Set the expectation early.

Are you looking for a chat response?

Should they turn to a certain page of a learner guide?

How do you plan for participants to engage?

It does take planning ahead of time.

How do you plan to communicate what you want them to do?

And then acknowledge the experience and ideas that are in the room.

We have already established that today.

You know, while decisions need to be made or communicated during a meeting, seeking input and ideas can really make those decisions stronger and with more buy-in.

Acknowledging experiences can also allow people to be heard and hopefully feel safe.

We all bring our experiences to the room, even in the virtual room.

In some ways, I saw it in chat here, it can feel easier to be seen or it can sometimes be easier to feel invisible online.

Other ways it can feel empowering to share your thoughts through chat or screen activities from your computer rather than a roomful of people.

So kind of lean in to those different opportunities to share your ideas.

This may feel like an empowering way to do that.

And then provide orientation to the platform and any tech that you're using in advance.

Allow time and space to practice and even have some fun.

So, ways we have found success is to let your team know that if they're not feeling comfortable with the tool or platform you'll be using for an upcoming meeting that you'll be online 15 minutes before the meeting officially starts so they can actually just practice.

This can include, you know, getting audio to work with the new lap top or headset.

It can include practicing annotation tools or video backgrounds if you're using tools like Zoom or Teams.

Practicing the technology side of the gathering when stakes feel low before a meeting can really set us up for success when we want to focus on the content and reflection and not, you know, where to find the right button for your audio or annotation tools.

So, empowering participants in our virtual world is incredibly important, and is really key to our success.

And so I'm excited for Betha Gutsche.

She's going to be discussing the value of considering the whole environment.

>> BETHA: Thank you, , Kathleen.

Thank you, Nancy.

Hopefully you can see the slide.

If you can't, I'll describe it.

It's an autumn scene in the woods, with the changing leaves and it's sun set.

Think about the richness and variety that's encompassed in that environment.

I want us to take that thinking, that visual into the virtual world, because the virtual is also an ecosystem.

There's such a strong tendency to think of a single live event, such as we're doing now, as "the" thing, "the" virtual thing.

But it's really -- there's a time and a space envelope, a raft around that that extends the whole experience.

Time that elapses from the first time you hear about it until after, in the wrap-up.

And the space, all the homes and offices that participants are joining from, all the experience that participants and presenters, and everybody brings into this space.

So it's really about creating a sense of that shared virtual space as something that's also rich and varied.

According to Priya Parker, the author of a wonderful, wonderful book called "The Art of Gathering," engagement starts as soon as the event is announced.

This means that everybody is forming an impression from the time they see the announcement and receive a confirmation for registering until after the event, when they receive a follow-up, usually with the link to the recording.

So, the opportunities to start building connections and creating that sense of community start right from the beginning.

Even if it's a short-term event.

Such as a webinar, like we're doing now.

There is an offline beginning.

You saw an announcement.

You registered.

You got a confirmation.

There is an offline end.

There's some sort of follow-up with the recording.

If you're looking at an extended engagement, maybe a course over a series or a series of related live online webinars, on a topic, or a series of meetings, that really emphasizes this whole environment idea.

And by creating and thinking intentionally about that whole environment, you can be very careful about enriching it, and putting things in place that will maintain motivation, provide continuity along the duration over time of the environment, make the space, the offline space feel like part of the whole engagement and just, in general, start to form -- help people form connections and build a social cohesion around the engagement that is really conducive to better learning.

From the beginning, there's a tendency to focus on what are we going to do in the live online event.

Instead of focusing on that, the primary focus really is the people.

It's all about the people.

So, setting it up, and Kathleen talked about a lot of this, ways to empower the participant right from the beginning.

Being welcoming with your confirmation message.

Providing orientation to everything.

I feel like it's very essential to have some sort of asynchronous conversation space, discussion form or some other way you can construct for people to talk with each other and introduce themselves before they dive into the learning material.

Just who's here in the room?

What are your favorite movies?

Where do you like -- what do you like to do in your off time?

And if it's going to be a really extended event, you might even consider in favor of making those powerful connections, taking all or part of your first online live event to get acquainted.

So rather than plunging into, okay, here is our outline and we're going to plow through it.

Take that time to let people feel relaxed, get to know each other, and that building of connections and that social cohesion will really boost the learning throughout the rest of the time.

There are opportunities here to collect resources.

In particular, that's a great learning strategy, because I think any of us who have produced or delivered presentations in live online, it's a very compressed environment and you have to pare your content down.

You can add additional resources, provide readings, ask people to read something before they come to a session.

And then this also includes that wonderful learner guide that Nancy described so wonderfully.

And then carrying on that whole sense of a continual learning experience in between all of the live online sessions.

Wonderful way to do that is through sessions, reflections on what was spoken in the live sessions.

You can introduce new discussion questions related to the material.

It's great to have assignments, small assignments that just help people apply what they heard in the live online.

It could be more projects that people with work on throughout, and they start to build from one part of your timeline to the next.

You might want to break people into subgroups where they can form more personal relationships with other individuals.

And then keeping in mind that the final live event isn't the sudden, abrupt end of the learning experience.

It does extend beyond.

You might want to have more discussion room for people to share their projects, maybe critique each other, reflect on their entire learning experience.

And all of that wrapped up with a follow-up message that takes the time to appreciate everybody's participation, thank them for being part of the learning experience and for their contributions.

So I would like to know what you value most from all the things you heard so far.

This is going to be another annotation exercise.

I know some of you will be really quick to find your checkmarks.

I will say right up front, when you do, please check in the boxes to the right of the text so you don't cover up the choice text for other people.

If you -- I'll just give you a reminder, hover over your screen and you will see the vertical pill menu.

Choose the squiggle icon, click on that.

That opens your tool menu.

Find that square and that teeny tiny arrow to the right of the square to open the menu where you can find the checkmark.

This is whether you are coming pr the perfect expectative of someone who is delivering and designing presentations and learning experiences or whether you're on the learning side of the equation, what would you value?

Maybe you haven't enjoyed it yourself, but what would you value in your virtual learning experience?

And for people who are designing and delivering, what are the elements that you feel are really important to include that you want to do going forward?

And if you have other ideas, please post in chat.

I like Montoya talked about a prereading link.

There are various ways to sort of cobble together -- cobble may not be a positive word, but put together various tools to create this environment if you don't have a formal learning management system.

But what I love here is that I feel like the distribution of checkmarks is all over the map.

And what that tells me is that all of these elements are really important to creating that continuous learning experience that generally integrates the offline with the online so the learners don't get the idea that they only learn at the online events.

It's a learning experience that extends across time and space.

And I love this.

I'm going to get a screen shot of this later for my own records.

But if you will withhold your checkmarks now so we can go on and do some more learning.

I just -- hold all those ideas.

As you go forward and create your virtual engagement ecosystem, I just have great confidence it will be successful for everyone.

And now Kathleen will lead us into the next part.

>> KATHLEEN: Thank you, Betha.

There's a great question in chat that was asking about how often should you take breaks.

And I would argue even in a 60-minute session, just encouraging everyone to look away from the screen is a great option.

But we -- and we have all been staring at the screen for a good while now.

So let's take a quick break, just to rest our eyes.

Part of online fatigue is staring intently at your screen.

Imagine if you were in a face-to-face meeting right now.

Would you be staring at your colleagues with the same intensity?

Let's take 20 seconds, sitting or standing if you're able, and stretch your arms and rotate your wrists.

Look away from the screen.

I would argue as presenters and hostses this is equally as important to keep your own energy and focus up.

Okay.

So, let's continue.

And now we recognize it's possible that you may have just taken that quick stretch break while next to coworkers, patrons, family members or even pets.

Or you may be sitting alone in an otherwise empty room, which is my situation today.

But here, we see one of my favorite memories of our copresenter, Nancy Lensemayer, with her curious and loveable sheep dog, Pearl, in 2020.

Lots of work was still getting done those days, and these days, even with a sweet pet looking on.

But she provided much-needed levity when times were tough and sweet puppy Pearl, provided a break from work in an otherwise busy day.

It's important to acknowledge that in so many ways we are all online in the real world.

While it's not always ideal, acknowledging the real world during our workday really gives us space and grace to be human and the reminder of the multi-faceted employees we have always been, but now that others may begin to see.

So, virtual is here to stay.

I think it's safe for all of us to say that.

We may be stuck online.

That doesn't mean that you can't build in fun and really still get things done.

So, having a clear meeting agenda is still really important.

We just kind of wanted to offer that opportunity to consider your modalities.

Are you speaking to a group when you incorporate breakout rooms, or small groups, or one on one conversations?

How will you build in engagement?

You know your audience and your meeting agenda needs best, but consider the purpose of your event and tap into that creativity.

It's been our hope to model some of these activities to see if any resonate with you.

And if you might consider adding something similar to a meeting that you're planning to host in the near future or, you know, looking far ahead.

And so I would like to add a few more ideas as we ponder this virtual road.

So, some simple ways to begin.

For smaller meetings or events, if you're using Zoom or other virtual tools, turn on the video so people can see the real you.

I think we've all really involved to that as a norm over the last couple of years.

We are not Avatars in face-to-face meetings.

So we encourage you to change it up and include the real you from working wherever you are.

We've seen people attending meetings from their desks, kitchen tables, backyards, cars.

You name it.

And while that was out of necessity, it was a helpful reminder that we are whole people, living busy lives.

So, seeing each other is really great.

And at the same time, real life can become really distracting.

So, we need to create a culture of meetings where if you need to keep your video off to focus, or to let life happen when it's important, to feel empowered to make that choice and to really build cultural norms to support those needs.

So, can you turn video on for the start of the meeting to greet each other and say hello?

And then maybe turn them off to focus, you know, on the conversation or the rest at hand.

And then one addition to consider is adding a virtual background to your participant video.

There's a range of options and existing images, free images that you can add.

We have shared a link that has a nice little collection of images that you can share.

But we had, you know, Nancy and I had some really recent success leading a three-day online meeting where we invited a room full of school librarians to add a virtual background of their actual school library.

It was such an easy, quick, fun way to connect.

Throughout the full three days, we easily felt like we were able to enjoy each other's spaces, get a view into their library space during an otherwise very virtual meeting.

Another simple step is to use visuals to enhance your meeting slides.

And the tools we use to connect virtually, even in person, like Power Point, or Google slides, can be a blank canvas to set the tone, set the mood for learning, gathering and getting things done.

And then, finally, the last thing I'll share is that one way to keep cognitive overload -- or to reduce -- one way to reduce cognitive overload is to keep it simple and, you know, share one idea at a time.

One slide at a time.

If you're running out of room on your slide, how can you break it up so that your participants are really focused on bite-sized learning?

We have been in a meeting or training where time is running out and there is so much more to share.

And while the tendency is to start speaking faster, clicking through the slides, like we're accomplishing more, what are participants retaining?

How will they take in a firehose of content?

So the truth is, they are not.

So, we encourage everyone, ourselves included, to keep your content focused and consider how you can share additional ideas in other formats in the next meeting.

So now Nancy is going to share some additional ideas around including fun into our virtual working lives.

>> NANCY: Thank you, Kathleen.

So, as Kathleen mentioned, we believe that our online sessions can be fun.

So some of the ideas to help make our sessions fun can be very simple and quick, with zero cost.

Others involve more time and perhaps some expense.

Whether you're opting for the simple or the complex, taking time to incorporate some fun can liven up your virtual sessions.

And we've all heard the phrase variety is the spice of life.

And that certainly is true as well for online events.

We encourage you to do the unexpected.

Change things up with new activities.

And, of course, whatever you're considering, tailor your ideas to your audience and your goals.

We're going to share some examples with you.

One easy, quick win is to celebrate special events.

For instance, today is National Vanilla Cupcake Day.

So here is a virtual cupcake for you.

As librarians, we're familiar with different resources that list national holidays.

These are from the serious to the totally fun.

Personal recognition is another element that engages.

Birthdays, anniversaries, individual and team accomplishments can be acknowledged creatively and easily.

Here is an important note.

You don't need to do all the work as the organizer.

You might consider asking your team members to select their backgrounds or perhaps submit their own photos and slides of accomplishment.

So, whether you're incorporating celebrations and special events into routine meetings or if you are hosting these as their own special events, celebrations can be a fun and creative way to connect and engage.

Encouraging collaboration and physical activity during virtual meetings is another plus.

You might take ten minutes with brain yoga cards that stretch your imagination.

As we've already discussed, incorporate some physical movement of some sort.

Consider intentionally building in time for art prompts, such as asking participants to draw or create an image that reflects a library goal.

You might put participants into breakout rooms.

Quite often we think of breakout rooms as places of serious small discussions and report backs, which they can be, but breakout rooms can also be places of discovery, creativity and collaboration.

So, all of these types of activities, which are things that provide a change of pace from screen sharing help engage participants and foster collaboration.

Budget permitting, you might consider sending pre-event surprises.

For example, you might send items that would be useful for work, such as a bullet journal, or a do not disturb door sign or table tent, or just some fun snacks.

Sometimes even the smallest things can be a nice way to brighten a virtual day.

Many multi-day conferences and events shifted from in-person to virtual.

If you are one who plans such events, you might be able to shift the budgets that were originally intended for transportation and lodging to meeting boxes.

Creativity totally reigns as yours to consider.

But boxes might include things like snacks or conference workbook.

Depending on your budget, items such as headsets and ring lights can contribute to the success of a virtual conference.

Quick note, pivoting a multi-day in-person conference to virtual has many, many components, far more than meeting boxes.

But our experience has been that with intentional, strategic planning and design, virtual conferences can be engaging.

They can be informative.

They can be collaborative.

And they can also be enjoyable.

Finally, I wanted to mention virtual contests and games.

These can be a simple way to add some fun and engage participants.

Perhaps a quick Zoom background content or a game with a customize library theme.

A lively game of virtual Balderdash.

Simply no limit to creativity of librarians.

Only thing we would add to that is consider your audience and event goals.

From that, just go out and be creative.

On a related note, if you have options, including prizes for winners, whether they are virtual or tangible, if your budget permits, can also be a plus.

So all of these examples that we've shared truly only skim the surface.

But we hope that these have sparked your imaginations and offered you some new ideas for livening your sessions.

As we stated at the beginning, virtual is here to stay, but there are so many different things that we can do strategically and intentionally to help make our sessions fun and focused.

I'm going to turn things back over to Betha for our wrap-up.

Betha?

>> BETHA: Thank you, Nancy.

And thanks, Kathleen, again.

We firmly believe in the thinking that learning isn't learning until you apply it.

And so I'm very curious, I think we're all very curious, to know what you might be taking away from this session that you want to put into action.

Just what stood out to you, what are you excited about that you want to go back to your own setting and try?

And so we're going to have an activity.

And rather than doing this in chat, you've already put some great ideas in chat.

But we're going to use a tool called Padlet, which is something we can try and do some interactivity.

I'll give you a brief orientation.

Jennifer popped the link into chat where it says go to this Padlet.

You're welcome to go there right now.

At some point, all of you will follow that link and open the Padlet in your own browser.

Right now, if you are not familiar with that, I will orient you.

When you go to that link, you will see a very orange screen and down in the right lower corner there is a pink button with a plus sign in it.

You will start by clicking that pink button.

So that's step number one.

Step number two, when you click that pink button, a note, a Padlet note will pop up in the middle of the screen.

That's your opportunity to write down what action you will take.

I encourage you to do one action per note.

You can post as many notes as you want.

Just give a brief, very brief phrase of what the action is.

And then in that second text box, you can add some more details about what you -- any customization or anything you want to say more about the action.

You do have an option in that middle area of the note to add photos or links, if you really want to get creative.

And when you have your note the way you like it, you will go to step three, which is find the publish -- again, it's pink.

They like pink at Padlet.

Click that pink publish button and your note will appear on the screen.

There are a lot of us here.

A lot of notes are going to be appearing.

You may have to scroll down to find yours.

Yours will -- they appear in chronological order.

Hopefully, you got all that.

And the link is being put in chat numerous times, so you won't miss it.

So if you go there, I will also go there by sharing my screen.

So we can see it all happening.

And, wow, okay.

I'm not surprised, but there are a lot of notes here already.

And you also might notice that you have the option to -- if you like somebody else's idea, to click the little heart.

It's just like facebook.

If you like it, click the heart.

And just looking at -- okay.

Love it.

I just had total confidence that this group would be very creative and expansive in the ways you engage.

Of course, my eyes latched on to the note that says this was an excellent webinar.

You're going to take screen breaks, engage more participants.

You're going to do welcome ice breakers.

It's always a great way to just do, even if you just want to devote a little bit of time to getting people to feel relaxed and feel more collegial.

Just do a five, ten-minute ice breaker at the beginning.

That's always a good one.

That works in-person, too.

Why not in-virtual?

Providing more opportunities for interaction, including eye breaks.

Yes.

For people who are very visual, we like to have breaks where we're looking at something nice and relaxing, or looking away from the screen.

I like this.

Include a relevant link, picture or cartoon in the invite or the agenda that people see before.

That's a wonderful strategy for building that anticipation.

So, taking advantage of that time between the announcement and the first live event.

Don't let that go to waste.

Use that to build some anticipation, start to build connections.

Greeting participants as they enter the meeting.

Even within the last two weeks, I have been to an online webinar where it was absolutely silence.

Couldn't see if anyone else was in the room.

The whole time leading up to the top of the hour, I'm wondering, did I get the wrong link?

So, that's huge.

I just feel like that's really important.

Oh, I like -- somebody said do a background contest.

Do more preand post event engagement.

Wonderful.

Stretch breaks.

Get participants moving.

Incorporate those into the live sessions.

It's really tricky with the live session.

You know you have a finite amount of time.

Almost always presenters want to cover more than they have time for and then say, yes, but we're taking three to five minutes for stretch breaks.

Just know in the bigger picture, that's going to enhance learning better than squeezing a little extra bit of content.

And that whole notion of trying to squeeze content into the live, constrained, time-constrained piece of the overall event, knowing that you can lead people to the additional information that they can absorb on their own time and own space in a less hurried environment offline.

Adding fun to Zoom meetings.

Yay.

I think lots of learning experiences.

Switching it up mid-meeting by inviting people.

I'm having a blast looking at these.

But, Jennifer, are there any questions that we could take this opportunity while people are having fun on Padlet?

>> Absolutely.

This is a great time.

Yeah.

One of the questions early on was around how often do you think there should be breaks, screen breaks?

This person said if it's only a 60 to 90-minute program, we don't break, because we think it might break the flow of the presentation, but if it's a longer session, then, yes, that makes sense.

But you've been touching on a couple reasons why even maybe in the shorter session breaks can help the learners reset or certainly physiologically affect how our eyes are working or our ears are focusing.

Any other thoughts on that in terms of deciding how long the session should be when you decide to add a break?

>> BETHA: I will look to Nancy and Kathleen to respond to that.

>> KATHLEEN: This is a great question.

I often live by the rule if we're hosting a 90-minute meeting to include a 10 or 15-minute solid break that is away from your computer.

Go, get a cup of coffee.

Go, step away.

But even in an hour-led session, as we shared today, taking 30 seconds to remind everyone to take a nice pause to look away from the screen can be a really efficient use of time.

So that 30 seconds can really help re-engage folks.

It might feel like you're losing some time in your schedule, it's actually enhancing everyone's experience, even for a presenter or your participants.

But I think if you're planning a 90-minute session, it's really a good rule to incorporate even two 10-minute breaks.

As we talked about early on, staring at our screen the way we do so intently is just a really hard thing for our brains to deal with on a sustainable basis.

So, giving each other that space is so important.

>> NANCY: One thing I might add, too, is to consider what is happening within that session and the intensity of it.

Even if it's a shorter session, and a discussion has been very intense where minds and presence at that screen have been really, really focused for a time period, it might be good to factor in breaks for that as well.

>> Excellent.

There was another question, in terms of handouts or prework, you all kind of touched a little bit on that.

But they were wondering about the pros and cons.

So, I would be curious if you've experienced situations where maybe prework was assigned and folks don't do it.

How do you encourage that or address it?

Obviously, again, depending on the kind of session it is?

Kathleen, you were nodding in agreement.

>> KATHLEEN: Well, I think one thing I would add is just to be realistic in what we're asking each other to do before the meeting.

So, for example, we posted a video -- rather, a quick article.

So, we figured it was kind of a low barrier, low entry to participation.

It's a quick read.

But, you know, if you were to ask folks to read an entire book before you joined the meeting or -- just really think about what would be a reasonable way to encourage people to not only do the thing, but feel prepared stepping into the meeting rather than feeling behind and overwhelmed before you even had your meeting.

Just thinking about that balance and time.

>> BETHA: I'll add that you need to be prepared that not everyone will do the pre-work.

Rather than assuming everyone has done that, start with a little bit of a summary and help people move into it, even if they haven't had time to do the pre-work.

It looks like we're running up against the top of the hour.

I'll say one thing about Padlet, as I stop sharing.

This board and that link will stay live.

If you want to go there and keep adding, you can do that.

I'll keep it live for the next month.

With Padlet, you can turn that into a PDF, which we'll do and share with the resources here so that you can preserve everything that was created.

It's a wonderful tool.

And thank you all for being such wonderful participants.

We kind of did the comments and questions and we are all, three of us, available to be reached out to if you have any further questions, thoughts or just want to have a conversation about this.

We'll do that.

>> Fantastic.

Thank you so much, all three of you.

My apologies.

I did not have good practice at the beginning of the session to have your names and faces.

It was great to see your video.

Somebody posed a question about how virtual 3D meeting spaces might help with an engagement, and that's a whole new world that we'll have to see, right?

Oh, my.

We'll keep practicing here in, I guess, 2D virtual world.

But thank you so much, Nancy, Betha, and Kathleen.

Again, there are lots of additional resources.

We will be sure and update the event page and, as Betha said, share the summary of the Padlet.

And this is a huge area of passion for us through our webinars, through our projects.

So, we look forward to keeping the conversation alive.

And thank you again, everyone.

Have a fantastic day.

A couple reminders, we will send you the recording once it's available later on today.

I'll also send you all a certificate for joining today's session.

You don't need to request that.

I'll send it to you next week.

And I'm going to send you to a short survey as you leave the room.

We encourage you, if you don't have time now, the link will be in the email as well.

But we would love to collect your thoughts on the presentation.

And I'll be sharing that with our presenters today as well.

So, thank you all.

Thank you to our captioner.

Everyone, have a fantastic rest of your week.