Uptree

From 20 March 2020, schools, colleges, nurseries, and registered childcare settings closed for all but the most vulnerable children and for children of key workers. Buzzwords such as ‘Zoom’ and ‘breakout rooms’ have quickly become the social norm, and people across the world have scrambled to make sense of our new virtual reality.

We’re now a month on, and online meetings, making banana bread and wandering around your local neighbourhood once a day resonates with most of us. An abundance of information has also surfaced around WFH strategies, productivity boosters and top tips for health and wellbeing.

However, the practice of social distancing is not an easy feat for education and Early Careers professionals who have previously relied on interactive groups settings and face-to-face events: it has left everyone asking the same question: How do we move all of this stuff online?

Here at Uptree, we want to share with you some of our best practices for creating awesome content to keep your students connected and engaged:

Interactivity is key

Uptree has delivered virtual work experience days, schools events and application masterclasses, attended by hundreds of students across the UK (online). These sessions have included a mix of polls, interactive whiteboards, virtual Q&A and students breaking out into smaller groups to share ideas.

Students taking part in a poll on DWF during an online workshop session

These tools for communicating are a great way to boost conversation during online events. Tech will soon become your best friend – and we think the more of it the better.

Top tip: Uptree loves Kahoot , an interactive quiz that adds some healthy competition whilst boosting focus.

Make it short

Young people’s phones alone have distraction down to an art, and this has a huge effect on their attention span – (some studies say we now concentrate less than a goldfish!). This should be top of the agenda when designing your online event, as hours of content are likely to fall on deaf ears.

Social cues are also lost online, so you won’t be needing that time to quieten a group, return from a tour or to share a bunch of handouts. These little things add up, so we recommend reducing your face-to-face session by up to 50%.

Let students speak

Successful online events are student-led.

Having open and honest discussions during online events boosts engagement and allows you to support students from afar. Best practices include encouraging microphones, splitting students into breakout rooms, and mastering the art of reactions (raising hand/claps on Zoom as an example!) – all of these features can create a great online environment for students to learn more about your business.

A student gives feedback from her group after a breakout room activity on a Deloitte work experience day

Over-communicate

It sounds simple, but it’s easy to forget that attending an event online is probably new for most of your attendees. Set the agenda from the start and check in regularly throughout to make sure you are providing clear, straightforward information on your platform and agenda. This avoids those awkward ‘ err…., sorry, you go next’ moments, whilst keeping things ticking over (and professional).

Practice makes perfect

That old saying ‘practice makes perfect’ comes into its own for online events. From ironing out your content to raising the confidence of your guest speakers, we think practising ahead of the day makes all the difference.

Use tech to schedule a virtual rehearsal and get everyone together to run through your presentations, videos and breakout rooms. Losing your team to cyber space half-way through an event isn’t cool… so best to get things sorted in advance.

So, what are you waiting for?

Coronavirus has arguably given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to brush up on our online skills. When it comes to events, this is the perfect chance to revisit your content, try out some new options, and to be creative in delivering fun, inspiring sessions for young people in your network.

Facebook deliver an Application Masterclass online (17 April)

For the team at Uptree, it’s our job to help you to get your business ready for this new normal. We’ll continue to share our resources and expert advice – so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you need any help. After all, we’re all in this together.