Latest Zoom Updates Aim to Increase Collaboration and Engagement
The video conferencing company hopes that new collaborative tools will make virtual meetings more productive and a little more fun.
The latest Zoom Apps updates help give meetings another dimension.
Video conferencing company Zoom announced a host of new collaborative tools in a blog post Thursday. Zoom says that the updates are intended to enhance interaction between meeting attendees and make its breakout rooms even more engaging.
With many businesses adapting to a more flexible, hybrid work model, Zoom is looking to innovate and help virtually reproduce some of the impromptu, serendipitous interactions that often happen in person at the office.
For example, Zoom's Collaborate Mode "enables engagement by elevating the screen-sharing model to be interactive," the company says. "Hosts can start collaborative experiences for any app during all-hands meetings, brainstorming sessions, and more."
Breakout rooms have also helped foster collaboration and engagement in Zoom meetings by breaking large meetings into smaller units, thereby relieving the barriers some attendees may have with speaking up in a large group. But with Zoom Apps now incorporating tools that can re-create physical meeting spaces and add in-meeting games and activities to breakout rooms, Zoom wants to help companies even more effectively engage meeting attendees.
Here are some of the apps that can help make your Zoom meetings more engaging and productive:
- Miro: A virtual whiteboard where attendees can collaborate and co-create in real-time.
- #AskAway: A game that works well as an ice-breaker where attendees take turns guessing the answers to randomly generated questions about other attendees.
- Mural: Another virtual whiteboard where attendees can collaborate in real-time or asynchronously. Attendees can collaborate through diagrams, images, drawings and sticky notes.
- Coda: A document-sharing app that helps attendees collaborate together rather than having one person present to the entire group.
- Funtivity by Hermis: An app that lets attendees play interactive games and engage in team-building activities.
- Welo: Re-create physical spaces for breakout rooms where attendees can see where in the virtual room others are located and move around between groups naturally.
- Twine for Zoom: A breakout room management app that helps keep things organized, productive, fun and on point.
Here's how to get started with Zoom Apps:
- Download the latest version of Zoom.
- Open Zoom and click the Apps tab.
- Click Discover to see what apps are available.
- Or click on the links above to download any of the apps on this page.