If it’s your 7th Zoom meeting today, I’ll bet you are tired. Five move tomorrow and it seems like you have even less time to prepare. People are asking for answers and you don’t have the time to hunt down each one, each time the question is asked, and typing out the same answer is starting to wear on you thin. With a little planning ahead, we can save you some brainpower each meeting by creating chat templates you can copy, paste, and personalize to keep you productive for each meeting.
Here are a few from the participant chat templates I use.
#1 Guest before the start time.
If you join the meeting prior to the official start time and there are others waiting too, find a way to introduce yourself to let others know you are there.
Hi, it’s Doug Devitre. Thank you for inviting me. I’m really looking forward to this.
Before we get started, I wanted to say thank you for inviting me. This is Doug Devitre, Author of Screen to Screen Selling https://dougdevitre.com.
#2 Meeting host before the start time.
When you are a host, you need to be proactive in the chat. It’s the technical way of letting others know you are serious and ready to share. If it’s a one to one, you might use a more informal tone. If there are housekeeping or participant rules, it’s best to share them upon the start for others to review.
Hello, this is Doug Devitre, Author of Screen to Screen Selling. Thank you for joining and please be patient before our official start time. Please say hello in the participant chat and I will know you are ready to begin.
Hello _________, I’m here and ready to get started. Thanks for joining today.
#3 Host welcome greeting to start.
If everyone is talking when you join, how do you know the meeting has officially begun? In some cases, it will be obvious the meeting has started. Others, not so much.
Good morning everyone! Good afternoon everyone! Good evening everyone!
We are ready to begin our scheduled meeting today. Please keep yourself on mute until it is your turn to speak. If you become distracted, please also disable your webcam too. Thank you.
#4 Ice breakers used to get to know guests.
When new teams are formed, it’s critical to get to know everyone as individuals. There are multiple ways you can do this virtually. Here is my favorite.
If you were reincarnated as a file format, what kind of file format would you be? Examples include .doc for Word doc, .key for Apple Keynote presentation, .xls for a spreadsheet, etc.
#5 Most requested links by participants.
If you like typing these keystrokes in each time you need to share them, there is something wrong with you.
Visit our website at https://dougdevitre.com/ for more ideas, videos, and guides.
Connect with me on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougdevitre.
Like and subscribe to Facebook notifications https://www.facebook.com/DougDevitreDelivers.
Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/dougdevitre.
#6 How to take conversations offline.
At times you won’t be able to answer someone’s question in the chat or from the live video feed and that’s ok. Implement a consistent way you can follow up during the meeting privately as a direct message so you can move on without disrupting the rest of the meeting.
Thank you,_________. That is a really good question. Let me look into it for you and get back to you. What is your best email and or mobile phone number to respond to?
I’m sorry you are experiencing this. What can we do to make this right?
I’m sorry about how you feel. Can I follow up with you after this meeting so we can speak about it one on one?
#7 Troubleshooting technology and support.
You can guarantee one person will have technical challenges during your meeting.
I’m sorry you are experiencing issues. Let me see what I can do. First, click this link to see a list of issues that might be causing this and type the issue in full detail. If you prefer, you can email support at dougdevitre.com and I will email you a reply.
#8 Acknowledging others.
Are you a leader? Great. Let’s see how well you can demonstrate your technical ability to lift others up while using one of these in your next meeting.
That was really great. Thank you, _________.
I knew I could count on you, _________.
I’m really glad to be on your team, _________.
Thanks so much for your help, _________. I couldn’t have done this without you.
This is one of the best sessions I’ve ever attended. Thank you to those who made this meeting possible.
