The last couple months have brought a new perspective to our LeTip families. We have moved 90% of our meetings to the virtual world of Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, Join.me or Google Hangouts. As we started this process in February and March, we all anticipated a few weeks or maybe a few months of doing something different. Now, over four months into the disruption, we are learning about what might be a new normal for the rest of the year in some places.
Virtual meetings have brought challenges and opportunities and we have all stepped up to the challenge or as some may say, we are “Falling Forward” (the first couple minutes of this speech by Denzel Washington may help you understand this).
Leslee Fielder of LeTip of Tigard/SW Metro, OR, recently said in a Monthly Leadership Call:
“The benefit lately has been how much we as a board have sharpened our tools as a leadership group. It’s spilling over into our businesses and a lot of folks are seeing 60+% growth over last year for simply being in the constant state of mind of getting creative. That benefit is fantastic alone. We have been forced to find every single ounce of value for our members and every week they are finding it. We have better attendance on Zoom then we did in person. It’s been great. We will go back to in person when the time comes, but we are finding a lot of success.”
This is Falling Forward. Leslee and the Board of her chapter are taking on the challenge and winning.
Many chapters are telling us that Showboating has become more creative during the virtual meetings. Here is a great example from Peter Brunner – Signs Banners Category of LeTip of Pacific Coast, CA showboating at his office.
LeTip has brought training to our members throughout this crisis on how to make these changes. Here are some links to review these trainings if you did not make them.
Spring LeTip Board Training – May
In the Spring Board Training, Kim Marie addresses the structure of the LeTip meeting and the importance of running by the Flip Chart whether you are in person or virtual.
The key points you will find in the Leadership Call are about meeting etiquette, which includes remembering that your LeTip Chapter meeting, although online, is still a professional meeting where you should dress appropriately, sit at your desk, not eat or drink or walk around with other distractions. You are the sales force of all of your members and more than ever, they are depending upon you for Tips.
In addition, there are great Tips and Tricks about showboating, suing a virtual flip chart (PowerPoint), using breakout rooms and onscreen naming conventions. These all take some formalization of the structure, but are worth it in the same way as the structure of an in person meeting brings value to the meeting.
One more “Tip” for Zoom meetings is to use the Side by Side View Option if your chapter is using a presentation. This way you can still see many of the member’s faces while watching the presenter’s screen share. Here is a quick explanation of how this works.
LeTip has also invested in new mobile technology and new communication tools. Here are links to some of those:
LeTipWired new technology – The LeTip Wired Extended Network App.
LeTip Virtual Meeting Example PowerPoint – search for “virtual” in the Wired Document Library
YouTube Videos: Using B.A.N.K. in LeTip and B.A.N.K, Why They Buy
Remember, there are 5 Reasons to Join LeTip. The most important one that will get us through this is
#3 -LeTip is a family and members are loyal to one another!
To read more of Kim Marie’s Blog, click here
Kim Marie Branch-Pettid
LeTip.com
(800) 495-3847
Over 40 Years of helping build businesses just like yours, everyday of the week.
