084 - Beyond Zoom: Behind the Scenes of Toasty, a new video conferencing tool with Kevon Cheung

Online meetings have risen in popularity since the COVID-19 outbreak, but they must cover more than ticking boxes from the agenda list. Creating stronger bonds and giving people that human connection they’ve lost from in-person meetings is so important. After all, we’re all in this together. The more we can be there for each other, the better.

Kevon Cheung is the Co-Founder and CEO of Toasty.ai, a new video conferencing tool that simplifies the process of meeting facilitation so that participants can express and collaborate freely. I was so happy to have him join me in this episode of workshops work because I wanted to know how Toasty works and how it combines facilitation exercises with a shared Google drive, amongst other things.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. I hope it helps you see how you can bring the human element back into your meetings, conferences, and workshops.

In this episode, find out about:

• How and why Kevon launched Toasty.ai
• How to change the dynamics of an online meeting
• What Toasty is and how facilitators can use it to create engaging meetings
• Why participants need to open up and how to make people feel comfortable to do so
• How to stop participants from getting distracted
• Why you must have a plan but also the freedom to adjust according to the flow of the session
• How to stimulate a group’s creativity using fun exercises

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Questions and Answers

[01:45] Would you call yourself a facilitator 

[05:08] What is the hashtag you would give yourself?

[07:30] How did you come up with the idea of putting a new video conferencing tool out there?

[09:34] What changes the dynamic of a meeting?

[11:33] What have you learned from your conversations with facilitators?

[14:53] How do you minimise the awkward feeling of when the first participants join the call?

[16:10] How did you change your own team meetings since learning about the art of facilitation?

[20:40] What has been the most surprising thing that happened in one of these calls?

[23:44] What would you recommend to someone who still hosts these boring meetings where they talk a lot, and feel frustrated at the end?

[26:09] Why do you think it takes longer in the virtual space than in the physical?

[27:31] How can you decide whether you're overdoing it and then it feels awkward, or whether you’re reluctant because of habit?

[29:54] What are the biggest challenges when translating solutions to problems to the software?

[32:50] Why did it take so long to have more competitors to platforms like Zoom?

[35:13] What are the prerequisites for these platforms to stay or leave?

[38:06] What makes a workshop fail?

[42:43] After all of your experience with online meetings, what did you learn about offline meetings?

[44:55] Is there anything you would like to share that we haven’t touched upon?

[47:32] What is the main takeaway you would like listeners to take from our conversation?

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