Travel budgets got slashed, people moved away to work remotely, or you simply want to connect with co-workers and collaborators to bring a little holiday cheer? Don’t worry, you don’t need a fancy location or a huge budget for food, drinks, and entertainment. Your trusty Zoom platform is here to help you out and connect you and all your friends (and colleagues) so you can relax and enjoy the end of the year.
Here are some of the ways you can use Zoom to bring some holiday cheer to your co-workers this holiday season:
Bring in-person, hybrid, and remote participants together with a virtual party
Just because your team is distributed or remote doesn’t mean the holiday party has to stop. You can host an amazing holiday party over Zoom by creating an event that offers a range of activities for your coworkers in different Breakout Rooms, including gift-wrapping sessions, cocktail classes, karaoke, trivia, or just a place to hang out and chat while enjoying a glass of eggnog. Even if you are in the office, don’t fret — Zoom Rooms has you covered! Thanks to features like the smart gallery, nobody feels left out of the fun.
dd fun and games with Zoom App Marketplace
Pro tip:Breakout Rooms! Participants can self-select the Breakout Room they would like to join. Co-hosts also have the same capabilities as hosts in Breakout Rooms, so it’s easy to delegate co-hosts to manage each one.
Need some help to get the party going? Check the Zoom App Marketplace for additional inspiration. There, our partners offer hundreds of applications that directly integrate into the Zoom client and your daily workflow. Besides apps for work, the App Marketplace has apps for games as well. Want to play a game of Bingo, Trivia, or find out which one of your friends and colleagues is a Werewolf? There are apps for that. Learn more about how to add some virtual fun with Zoom Apps.
Pro tip: The best game nights need a little bit of prep. That doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. Why not ask all of your teammates to send some trivia questions before the event and use them to get to know each other better? And don’t forget to check with your account admin beforehand so everyone can install the apps.
Share some tunes
Did you know that you can share music in Zoom Meetings or Webinars? Bring some holiday cheer to your virtual team by adding some tunes or jingles to the waiting room. Sharing is simple, you just need to play the sound on your computer. After that, use the sharing options, you find the ability to share computer audio in the advanced tab.
Pro tip: Keep it simple and clean. Let your co-workers contribute and send some recommendations for the Christmas playlist. And don’t overdo it, you still want to able to talk to each other.
White elephant
Keep the gift-giving tradition going with a virtual white elephant gift exchange! Have the team send their gift (via webpage links) to the organizer, and that person can randomize names and gifts to start the game. The organizer can then order or ship gifts directly to each person once it’s over. We recommend having a theme for the gifting, such as “Gifts that always bring a smile to your face for less than $10.”
Pro tip: Get super creative – and interactive – by making virtual backgrounds of each gift to show which items people have chosen (or stolen)! Once a person has a gift, send them the corresponding virtual background so everyone on the call knows which gift they have.
Do some culinary team building
Schedule a meeting that’s not a meeting at all but a team-building activity. We highly recommend a group cooking class with a professional chef! Share the recipe with the team in advance and allow them to expense the ingredients to create a fun (and delicious) culinary experience that everyone can enjoy.
Pro tip: Be sure to pin or spotlight the chef’s video. Other participants might be blending, cutting, and chopping away, and you don’t want their videos to constantly interrupt what the professional is showing you.
Share a meal
If you’re just looking for some time to connect outside of the daily work grind, send a DoorDash or UberEats gift card to your teams (or have them expense a meal) and schedule a long Zoom lunch. Use the time to socialize on non-work stuff, and open up the floor for colleagues to share their current Netflix binges, favorite holiday movies, or fun plans or trips coming up.
Pro tip: Use screen sharing to show off everyone’s lunch choices.
If you need more insights into running virtual teams, check the free ebook Making Deep Connections with Remote Teams, written by the Zoom People Experience Team.
By: Zoom
Title: Using Zoom for the Virtual Office Get-Together This Holiday Season
Sourced From: blog.zoom.us/using-zoom-for-the-virtual-office-get-together/
Published Date: Fri, 09 Dec 2022 13:34:35 +0000