Tag: communication

Create a Splash Page for Your Zoom Meeting with Qiqo Pro (with early bird discount!)

Create a Splash Page for Your Zoom Meeting with Qiqo Pro (with early bird discount!)

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Sometimes you just want to add a little sizzle to your Zoom meetings.

Qiqo Pro is our newest product, and we built so that you can create a beautiful splash page with a permanent, custom link for each of your Zoom meetings. This works with the Zoom Pro account that you are already buying from Zoom.  Here is my example meeting space: https://qiqo.pro/lucas

Each meeting space that you create on Qiqo Pro also makes it easy for you to embed the documents and collaborative tools that you plan on sharing during your meeting. This avoids the pain of re-sharing links in Zoom chat when people show up late, and it’s easy for participants to find the notes and recordings from past meetings right from their calendar invitation.

Here is the 50% early bird discount (available through December 31st) which will save you $132 each year!

To get started, click the earlybird discount link above, and then browse the 2-minute tutorial videos to see how easy it is to set up your space!

Here is the link to our open office hours each week for free, live support.

Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome!

QiqoChat Written Conversations

QiqoChat Written Conversations

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We believe that standard commenting tools make it hard to have conversations, so we are launching a new tool for written conversations in each Qiqo circle.

What’s special about this tool is that it makes it possible for a large group of people to go in-depth in many different directions at the same time.

By default, participants will be subscribed to all new responses to anything that they have written. They can turn these on/off from email and can even respond directly from email or on the Web. Other notification options such as “Subscribe to everything”, “Subscribe to this keyword”, “Subscribe to this branch/thread” make it easy for participants to choose how to be engaged without being overwhelmed.

Conversations will show up in your circle’s activity stream like this:

Click on the comment icon to see all the responses, sorted by most recent like this:

Each conversation includes a “map view” to display which ideas have the most responses and which conversation threads/branches go the deepest:

The large purple dot represents the beginning of the conversation.

Members of your circle can add new conversation topics to the “General Discussion / Uncategorized” conversation category right from the activity stream.

To create a new conversation category in your circle, click here!

We see how this can become critical communication infrastructure for each Qiqo circle. Please feel free to send your thoughts and feature requests to support@qiqochat.com. We’ll see you online!

450 Participants in a QiqoChat

450 Participants in a QiqoChat

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We were thrilled to support the Festival Der Taten in Germany, hosted by the creative agency 17Ziele with support from the German government.  450 participants collaborated in breakout rooms to address challenges in sustainable international development.

Here is the impressive video 17Ziele made to summarize what happened.  You don’t have to speak German to see that they had a lot of fun!

Passwords for Your Zoom meetings on QiqoChat

Passwords for Your Zoom meetings on QiqoChat

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

By default, whenever you create a new event on QiqoChat, your Zoom meeting links will now have something like this attached to it: “?pwd=xxxxxxxxxxx”

That is an encoded password (it is not the password), and it prevents people from entering your Zoom meeting by just guessing the link to your Zoom meeting on QiqoChat.

No Change for Participants Who Join from a Computer

There is no change for any of your participants who click the green button to open the Zoom meeting; they will not need to enter the password because the link includes the encoded password.

Phone and Tablet Users will Type the Password

If your meeting participants do not click the green join-video button and if they want to enter the meeting by opening Zoom and then entering the meeting code manually, they will also have to enter the password.  They can find this password and the Zoom meeting ID if they click “Help” next to the green join video button.  The password is easy to remember it is a 4-digit number that looks something like this: 7777.  All of your breakout spaces will have the same zoom password.

If you want to test any of your Qiqo-Zoom Meetings (Optional)

1. You can go to an event that you already created on Qiqo (whether it’s in the past or in the future) and you can click the green button to open Zoom.  It will still work.  You can do this for a room that has already been used or a room that no one entered.  For rooms that no one has entered yet, we create the Zoom meeting at that very moment, so different code is used.

2. You can create a new event on Qiqo – in one of your existing circles or not in a circle – and click on the green button to open Zoom.  That will still work.

3. How to Find your Zoom Meeting Password on Qiqo: Click “Help” next to the green join-video button as seen in this screenshot:

Find Your Zoom Password on Qiqo

4. How to Find your Zoom Meeting Password on Zoom: You can see the To see the “join link” and the password for your Zoom meeting when you have it open, click the button with the letter “i” at the top left of your Zoom meeting as seen in this screenshot:

Find your Zoom Password on Zoom

5. How to Edit your Zoom Meeting Password on Qiqo: When you are creating (or editing) an event on Qiqo and you click “More Options” you will see the Zoom meeting password that we create for your event by default.  You can edit the password and it will change the password for the Zoom meetings in all your breakout spaces.  If someone is in the breakout space, it will not disconnect them, but the new password will be used for anyone who has not yet joined the meeting.

This screenshot is from the page where create/edit your event:

Edit Zoom Password on QiqoChat

 

Comparison to Video Tools like Google Hangouts, Skype, and Zoom

Comparison to Video Tools like Google Hangouts, Skype, and Zoom

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 2 Comments

Google Hangouts, Skype, and Zoom are similar; each tool provides video chat, written chat, and screensharing for groups of two or more people.

We chose to use Zoom as the video provider for QiqoChat.  That means every time you open a video chat on Qiqo, you are using Zoom.

Qiqo Event Screenshot
Example of a QiqoChat event with 31 participants across four breakout rooms. The host added the custom blue background and the Google Doc being used for notes on the right side of the page.  There’s a lot going on!

Qiqo extends Zoom functionality by “wrapping” Zoom video chats with additional functionality:

  1. Breakout Rooms: After you sign in and click “Participate” in a Qiqo live event (example) you arrive at the main table.  You will see 10 breakout rooms on the left (see the screenshot below).  When a participant clicks on a table name, they will open up the page for that breakout room.  When they click the “Join Video” button, the Zoom video chat for that breakout room will open.
  2. Participant Profiles: When a user enters a breakout room, their profile photo is visible.  Each participant can see who is in which room and make a decision about which conversation they want to join.  With their profile, each participant can share some basic info about themselves, making it easy for them to connect 1-1 and build relationships.
  3. Collaborative Notes: Each breakout room has a notes page on the right hand side (see the screenshot below).  As the creator of the event, you can replace this notes page with a Google Doc or any other collaborative tool so that people can interact with it while they use Zoom video chat.
  4. Group Calendar: Anyone in your circle (or just the admin) can schedule a Zoom video chat which shows up on the group calendar.  This calendar provides continuity between events and is connected to a weekly newsletter which announces upcoming events every Monday morning, saving you time and making it more likely that people who attended previous events attend the next one (or even schedule their own!).
  5. Additional Tools: All your participants become members of your “circle” on Qiqo.  The group calendar is just one of the collaborative tools in your circle.  Here is a list of all tools on Qiqo.
  6. Per-Minute Pricing: We are big fans of Zoom, and we think their $15/month pro account is very reasonably priced.  If you want the functionality of Zoom, but do not use it enough to justify the $15/month subscription, then there is a pay-per-minute option to use Zoom on Qiqo.  Any Qiqo user can set this up at this link, whether or not they have created a circle.  The price is just 1¢/min per participant.  You will receive a customized link which you can use to invite participants to your meeting space.  Here’s mine!  https://blog.qiqochat.com/meet/Lucas_from_Qiqo
Listening Circles on the Downtown Mall

Listening Circles on the Downtown Mall

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As QiqoChat’s founder, I’m quite interested in helping people collaborate.  We sometimes forget that the foundation for collaboration is listening.

Living in Charlottesville with all the recent violence between the Alt-Right protesters and opposing counter-protesters, I thought it would be helpful to create space for people to sit down and patiently & respectfully listen to each other.

Last Friday I asked for some volunteers across a few email discussion groups and 15 wonderful volunteers and facilitators came together to make this personal project happen.

NBC29 covered it (screenshot above) but their video link is no longer active.

Live Events on Qiqo

Live Events on Qiqo

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Our goal is to make it easy enough for people to join a live event on Qiqo without having to read any special instructions.

Sometimes people want instructions and sometimes instructions just make a task more complicated.  If your members need instructions, here are some simple ones below.  Remember to replace “[insert your event link here]” below with the link to your event.  It will look something like this:

http://atomic-temporary-73144363.wpcomstaging.com/e/long-list-of-letters-and-numbers-goes-here

Before the Meeting
Step 0: Download Zoom here.  You will automatically be prompted to enter a meeting ID.  There is no need to enter a meeting ID, because Qiqo will connect you directly (see below).  Close Zoom.

Instructions to Join the Meeting/Event:
1: Go to [insert your event link here]
2. Sign in and then click “Participate”.
3. Click “Join Video” to connect by phone or computer microphone.

That’s all! Participants will arrive at the main table.

Later, if participants want to go to a breakout table,
1. Click “Breakout Tables” on the left to see them all.
2. Click on one breakout table to see its page.
3. Click “Join Video” to be disconnected from the main table and join the audio/video for that breakout.

Repeat steps 1-3 to go back to the main table.

 

Qiqo + Slack for Assocations

Qiqo + Slack for Assocations

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Ok, so what’s the news?
We are opening a space on a tool called Slack for members of the association community.  If you haven’t received an invitation, please fill out this simple Google Form.
Why is this important?
Slack has the potential to be a very disruptive force for associations when they are setting up their own online communities, because Slack has a more live and friendly feel than virtually all community platforms.  Similar to the trends with Facebook and LinkedIn, we believe that if associations don’t stake out their ground on Slack, then their members will, so it’s best to be ahead of the curve.
Why are you doing this?
We didn’t build Slack, but we enjoy using it very much.  Because we have started integrating our community platform (Qiqo) into Slack, we are creating this space on Slack to learn–alongside each of you–to find the best fit for Slack in an association context.
How to use Slack?
Software developers leave this open all day since they do most of their remote team collaboration on it, but that may not be the best fit for associations. I think the healthy approach is to treat it like a water cooler. If you have a light day of work and you have some time to be social, it’s good to keep it open in the background (like being able to see the water cooler from your desk and dropping by when there’s something interesting happening).
What’s next?
In the days and weeks ahead, we will be kicking the tires.  If you have any questions or suggestions, please do reach out!
Rhythm, Critical Mass, and a Ladder of Engagement

Rhythm, Critical Mass, and a Ladder of Engagement

by Lucas Cioffi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

In this post, we’ll weave together the following concepts to help you create a vibrant network of collaborators:

A ladder of engagement is a way to think about how your members can move from simple ways to engage at the beginning to more valuable ways over time.

A regular group rhythm helps members know what to expect and it keeps them engaged over time.

Critical mass is the point at which you have enough members to sustain the community over time.  That number could be as low as 5 for groups where people already know each other, and it can be as high as 200 for online communities where members have not yet met.

Phase 1: Member Registration Opens

We recommend telling members that the first phase of building the community simply consists of members signing up and getting to know each other by browsing each other’s profiles.  You can mention that the circle will become more active once it reaches a critical mass of 50 members, so that they know there’s nothing else to do at this point.

When inviting new members to your new QiqoChat circle, think about how you can get them started moving up the ladder of engagement by identifying some simple activities which will get them started easily:

  • Create a free account. (1 min)
  • Fill out your profile. (2-5 min)
  • Browse info about other members (2-5 min) such as where they are on the map, what skills they have, what needs they have, and what they have to offer.
  • Set your notification preferences. (1 min)

Phase 2: Critical Mass

All the tools on QiqoChat are available for your members to use as soon as you create your circle.  You can turn them on/off if you like.

Once the community gets to critical mass, then we can encourage members to move beyond browsing each other’s profiles and to start moving up the ladder of engagement by trying the various tools:

  • Say “Hi” in the chat (or in the Slack community if you have set one up).
  • Ask a short question.
  • Browse articles and conversations.
  • Comment, create an article, or start a conversation.
  • Join a live event.
  • Host a live event.

Phase 3: Establishing a Regular Group Rhythm

All your members are different, and everyone is available at different times and on different days.

A regular group rhythm helps members know what to expect and it keeps them engaged over time.For example, if members know there is a certain type of recurring weekly or monthly event, they can put it on their calendar and they can join–even at the last minute–once their schedule opens up.

Here are two built-in features of each QiqoChat circle which helps establish a regular group rhythm:

  • Crowdsourced weekly newsletter to which everyone can add one announcement per week.
  • Daily digest emails which provide only the new top-level conversation starters.  People can then subscribe to if they are interested in following the topic more closely.

Additionally, if you schedule a recurring weekly or monthly live event using the audio/video tools that Qiqo provides, you will balance out the written tools mentioned above with an opportunity for people to speak with each other.

Summary

QiqoChat is a tool for peer-to-peer learning in online communities. Ten of our tools are free, and the two audio/video tools are 1¢/min per person. We look forward to seeing what you create!

 

This page is part of the Qiqo User Guide.