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If you are about to plan a large-scale meeting or are just curious about the world of professional event planners, take a look at the top five questions GCFA’s meeting planners are asked. 1. I am planning my first large-scale meeting. Help! No problem! Our meeting planning professionals have decades of experience to draw upon to help you get started on the basics for your next meeting with over thirty participants. Keep these in mind as you begin your pre-planning. The scope of the event – What are your goals? How would you define “success” at the end of your meeting? Timeline – Pre-event, during the event, and post-event estimated dates and deadlines? Location - Will attendees travel by plane or car? What size venue will you realistically need? Budget – How much do you have to spend? Will you charge registration fees? 2. What is an “RFP” and what should I include in one? A Request for Proposal or “RFP” is a solicitation by your organization to potential suppliers. You ask for a service (hotel guest rooms, meeting space, food, and beverage, etc.) and prospective vendors submit business proposals to offer you that service. Send out an RFP to potential venues and vendors as soon as you have confirmed dates. Give a detailed overview of your group, preferred dates, and offer multiple options such as – the number and type of hotel rooms, food, meeting rooms/space, and all other relevant meeting details. List concessions you would like (breakfast included, suite upgrades, etc.) and non-negotiable contract terms (ex. 80% attrition). Provide a due date, decision date, and your contact information. Review proposals submitted and remember to negotiate what is important to you. 3. What should I consider when negotiating with a venue for our meeting? Hotel room rates Meeting space costs Food and beverage minimums Non-negotiable terms Parking Resort fees Audio/visual costs Wi-Fi costs Airport transportation Penalties And more … 4. I have planned the goals of my meeting. I have a venue chosen. Now, what do I do? The nitty-gritty work of meeting planning logistics begins now. Planning ahead will help your meeting run smoothly. Liaison with hotel or convention and other vendors and clarify as many details as you can. Here are some particulars to consider. What are the meeting room set-ups with audio/visual requirements? What signage and other vendor services will be in place? Does attendee registration capture all the information needed for the vendors and the program itself? Are there changes that need to be made to the rooming list? Is ground transportation arranged for arriving flights? Are food and beverage numbers and dates/times confirmed? There is a lot to consider; however prior planning prevents poor performance! 5. There is so much to do for our upcoming meeting! Can you clone me so I can get everything done? We cannot clone you, but we can help you! GCFA’s meeting professionals can help manage the event logistics for your organization so you can concentrate on making sure the goals of your meeting are accomplished. We can provide complete on-site management, on-site attendee registration, auditing services and review of bills on a daily basis. Our meeting professionals can ensure vendors are living up to their contracts and deal with problems that arise. Our registration software and mobile app can save you money and make it easy to keep track of and communicate with your participants. GCFA’s Travel and Meeting Planning Department can help you to focus your time and energy on doing God’s ministry by taking care of the administration of your meeting, event, conference, or assembly. From pre-conference RFP, site/venue location and travel arrangements to conference support including development of registration websites and post-conference billing and invoicing, we make event planning easy for you. Contact GCFA Connectional Relations at (866) 367-4232 or ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org for more information.

Recently multiple organizations have released interesting survey results based on opinions of professional meeting planners. If you are in charge of event planning for your organization, church, or a venue hosting meetings or events, read up on the latest trends.[i] 95.7% of event professionals believe venues need to invest more in technology for groups and meetings. In today’s connected world, even venues that promise a “back-to-basics” atmosphere need to supply a baseline of technology to meet the needs of events. Technology also helps a venue streamline its event management, including payment tracking and accessibility of venue representatives and event coordinators beyond email. WIFI is no longer a luxury but a necessity, even in remote venues. With enhanced environmental consciousness and smaller budgets, the use of paper is becoming obsolete. Assessing the technology capabilities and budgeting for technology and audio-visual investments is now a prerequisite for any venue wanting to host meetings or events. 95.2% of event professionals understand event emails to attendees could be better. In the flood of emails people receive every day - even with specialized streams of “primary,” “social,” and “promotions” - all attendees need emails from their registered events which stand out and capture their attention. A flood of emails may not get the information that is needed by event managers and venue coordinators, but carefully crafted and branded emails just might. Personalized emails are now the norm. They must be personable as well. How can attendees begin to interact with one another before arriving at the venue? How can an event begin engaging attendees the moment someone registers? 96% of planners and venue professionals surveyed report events are expected to be more personalized than ever before. Event attendees want something beyond the traditional meeting or event. They want to be able to choose personalized options that engage them at multiple levels of interest and attention. Meeting planners are now experience creators. 92.3% of planners and property professionals believe events are more likely not to be booked at a hotel than five years ago. To create more authentic, local, and personalized experiences for events and meetings, planning professionals are considering venues outside the usual hotel or resort. If a venue, traditional or non-traditional, can help create a personalized experience, the wider its customer base. 72.5% of event professionals believe a venue’s check-in process for groups arriving need to be improved. In service industries, immediacy is a precondition to making a good first impression. People hate standing in lines. Private group and digital check-ins can be helpful. Can a venue’s technology meet the needs of an event and its attendees efficiently? GCFA’s Travel and Meeting Planning experts can help you plan an event for fifteen or thousands. Using the latest technologies and building on decades of experiences, our meeting planners are creative, efficient, and cost-effective. Our team also offers online event registration services with Aventri, a cutting-edge event management vendor, as well as an attendee event app, called UMC Meet. Let GCFA show you how we can transform your conference or meeting into an easily manageable event for you as well as a convenient and informative experience for your attendees. Contact our Connectional Relations Team to learn more at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org or via phone at (866) 367-4232. [i] https://www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/the-atlas/2018-global-meetings-events-forecast/ http://www.iacconline.org/meeting-room-of-the-future-june2017-download https://www.cvent.com/en/resources

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that necessary records and documents are adequately protected and maintained and to ensure that records that are no longer needed are discarded at the proper time. This policy is also for the purpose of aiding staff and volunteers, so that they have an understanding of their obligations in retaining electronic documents - including e-mail, web files, text files, sound and movie files, PDF documents, and all Microsoft Office or other formatted files.

You’ve probably attended an event in recent years that had an event app, or planned to include an app at your event. Within the last few years, we’ve seen the shift from event apps being a ‘wow factor’ to an expectation. However, it still may not be a necessity at your particular event. So how can you decide if you need an event app? Below are 6 questions you can ask yourself to determine if you need an event app: 1. Do your attendees use smartphones/devices? First and foremost, know if your attendees are smartphone users. If your target audience is made up of younger, tech-savvy individuals, you can safely assume that the majority (if not all) of them are using smartphones. These are the types of attendees that have come to expect an event app. These power users are already glued to their phones so it makes sense to focus their attention on your event, even if it’s through their smartphone or mobile device. For those attendees not using smartphones, they can always access your event app through a web browser. 2. How complex is your event schedule? Is your event spread over multiple days? Do you have several different tracks? In these instances, having an event app is extremely beneficial. It helps keep attendees organized and on top of sessions. The My Schedule feature allows attendees to add sessions from the main schedule to their personal schedule so that they don’t miss any break out sessions they are interested in. In addition, the What’s On Now feature will display everything that is happening right at that moment. This makes it easy for attendees to plan accordingly and hit every session that is relevant to them. Without an event app, interesting sessions can easily get lost in the mix, causing attendees not to get the most out of your event. 3. How likely are things to change over the course of your event? Every successful event planner knows that you have to expect the unexpected when planning an event. Certain factors come in to play that can make change inevitable. Weather, for example. If your event is outside and suddenly the weather takes a turn for the worst and you have to move the event inside. The best way to communicate any sort of unexpected change on the fly is through an event app. Using push notifications, you can send an alert or update to all attendees mobile devices in real-time. As long as they have your event app installed, they’ll be notified of the change. 4. How important is networking to your attendees? We conducted a survey and found that the majority of attendees place the most importance on networking at an event. However, if you’re anything like me, networking can seem a little daunting and even scary. An event app can greatly help with this by facilitating networking. Through the event app, attendees can connect with each other via Like Minded, a feature that matches attendees based on similarities in their Attendee Profile. In addition, there is a plethora of other networking features available in the app such as, Messaging, Contact Exchange, Quick Meetings and more. 5. How many exhibitors does your event have? Do they need lead gen? If you have a huge exhibition hall, having an event app is a great way to assist both attendees and exhibitors. Attendees can search for specific exhibitors contact information, and links for finding their booths on an interactive floor map. This ensures that they take full advantage of breaks and spend their time visiting the exhibitor booths most valuable and relevant to them. On the flip side, an event app also comes in handy for your exhibitors. Using a badge scanner built into the app, exhibitors can easily capture attendee details. 6. Do you need to provide attendees with documents & resources? Many attendees appreciate additional resources at an event. For example, presentation slides, speaker notes, guides, eBooks and other supporting documents speakers use in their presentations. This ensures attendees get the most education out of your event as possible, and are able to bring key takeaways back to the office immediately. You can use your event app to distribute these resources, and attendees can conveniently save any resource they like to their phone using the My Briefcase feature. We hope this article, written by our partners at Quickmobile have helped answered your questions around your need an event app at your next meeting, conference, or event. If you would like a demonstration, have more questions, or are interested in our mobile event app UMC Meet - personalized to your meeting - email our Connectional Relations Team at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org or call (866) 367-4232 today. We’re here and happy to help with all of your event needs, including comprehensive meeting planning, online registration software, and more!

The United Methodist Book of Discipline assigns the responsibility for the annual audit of financial records to the committee on finance. The committee “shall make provisions for an annual audit of the financial statements of the local church and all its organizations and accounts. The committee shall make a full and complete report to the annual charge conference” (¶258.4d). The purpose of this audit guide is to assist the committee in its work.

The 2020 pandemic forced the cancellations of meetings and important events across the board. But rather than focus on the loss of connection, hosting a virtual meeting allows event planners to reimagine and refocus on what is important. Certified Meeting Planner Melanie Payne discusses "Ten Things to Consider When Hosting a Virtual Meeting": Reprioritize Your Goals – It is easy with events and meetings to stick to a status quo and use the same successful pattern year after year - registration, welcome worship, morning plenary, afternoon breakouts, evening social time. A virtual event gives you flexibility to mix it up, to strip down all the excess and get back to the real purpose and goals of the meetings. A virtual event allows you to be creative, concise, and effective and focus on completing your work and meeting your goals. Do a Dry Run – The old adage “practice makes perfect” holds true for a virtual meeting. It is inevitable with technology that something on some front will have a glitch. The day before, ideally the same time of the virtual event, make certain you do a full dress rehearsal. This will help highlight if you have internet connectivity issues during a certain time; if daily noises (like that neighbor mowing his lawn or the trash truck) will be heard by attendees; that your equipment is working properly and presentation slides are all in order. Have Presenters Mute Their Notifications – There is nothing more distracting for attendees than hearing a loud bing in the middle of a presentation. Make certain all presenters mute their notifications and silence all devices. Think Through Ways for Attendees to Feel Included and Engaged – If you create opportunities for engagement, your audience will be more involved. It’s as simple as that. One of the things we love so much about in-person events is the ability to connect with those around you and have a common experience. Think through the ways you can encourage those same feelings of inclusion, connection, and common experience even while people are not together. Choose Dynamic Presenters – Let’s just admit it, when listening to a virtual event our attention spans are small. Each one of us can sit down and spend 30 minutes to 3 hours watching a movie or TV show, but you sit in front of a 30-minute presentation on a single topic and it’s hard to stay focused. Choosing dynamic presenters is like choosing the right soundtrack for your movie. You think the point will get across without it, and it may, but it just isn’t as effective. Whether your presenters are experts in their field or high energy, make certain they know how to engage your audience. They may be the most engaging presenter during your in-person meeting, but consider if that translates well in the extra engagement efforts that a virtual event needs. Technology is Simply the Medium – There still needs to be a flow and narrative to your meeting that stems from your goals and through your presenters. Focus your content with a clearly recognizable beginning, middle, and end to each presentation to keep the attention and allow participants to feel involved. Think Mobile – In such a digital and mobile world, many attendees will be using mobile devices to access the virtual event. Depending on timing and life, some may move between a mobile device and a computer as their day progresses. Thinking through what the mobile view looks like can inform your slide text, how many features you may enable, and quality of presentation. Assign Moderators to the Chat and Q&A Features – It’s important for attendees to be engaged but also for presenters to focus on what they are presenting. We all have experienced those long moment lags where a presenter has to read through the chat conversation and attendees are left twiddling their thumbs. Or even worse, when an important question is asked and it didn’t get addressed. Assigning a moderator to respond to the “quick” questions and bring to the presenters attention the longer questions will allow for a better presenter and attendee flow. Create a Calendar – Many people think a virtual event will take less time to plan than an in-person event, but oftentimes virtual events come with a large learning curve that ends up taking lots of time. Creating a production schedule for the event early will allow you to have time to train presenters, delegates, and cross all you t’s and dot all your i’s. Pick a Time and Date - When picking a time and date, think about the day-to-day activities of your audience. If you’re appealing to the 9-to-5 crowd, Monday is probably not going to work. But later in the week, when they’re needing a mental break from their workload may be better. Is your event international or does it cross time zones? Think of all of your attendees when picking the date and time. Virtual meetings can be intimidating. But with a well-thought-out plan, practice for presentations, and a focus on community, these meetings can be just as successful. If you are interested in hosting a virtual meeting and don’t know where to start, reach out to the event planning professionals at UMC Support. Visit our Virtual Meeting Service page, email us at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org, or call us 866-367-4232.

In May 2020, the IRS released proposed updates to the rules for group exemptions. It’s important to understand these are currently only proposed changes. We will continue to monitor this issue and pass along any important developments. In the meantime, we are here to help you. Please contact us via legal@gcfa.org if you have any questions. Question: In addition to reading the article and being informed, what else should we do? We strongly encourage any United Methodist organization that wants to apply for inclusion in the group exemption to do so as soon as possible. This will allow us to process the application under the current group exemption rules (which remain in effect until the IRS releases the final version of the new rules). To apply: Local churches, districts, and annual conferences should visit org and utilize the website’s automated process to receive an inclusion letter (typically in 10 minutes or less). United Methodist organizations (that are separate legal entities) connected to local churches, districts, and annual conferences should send an email to legal@gcfa.org, to start the application process. Examples include foundations, daycares, preschools, food pantries, camps and retreat centers, etc. Because the eligibility requirements for such organizations are more detailed, processing of these applications takes more time, and could result in the applicant making changes to its organizing documents before inclusion can be finalized. Thus, it is especially important that such applicants contact us as soon as possible. Question: Is my local church at risk of losing its tax-exempt status? No. While the general rule is that an organization must apply to the IRS to be recognized as tax-exempt, this application requirement does not apply to local churches (or to districts, annual conferences, and jurisdictions). A local church is tax-exempt because it is a church – it doesn’t need to apply to the IRS, nor does it need to be included in the group exemption. That is not changing. What may change is our ability to add local churches to the group exemption. That would impact a local church’s ability to obtain verification of its tax-exempt status, but it would not impact the local church’s status as a nonprofit organization. Question: What are the downsides of not having verification of tax-exempt status through the group exemption? The local church (or district, annual conference, or jurisdiction) would have to verify its status by citing the tax code provision that exempts it from the application requirement, rather than providing an inclusion letter from GCFA. The local church might also have to verify it is in fact a “church” when contacting organizations like Google, GuideStar, and Walmart for grants. Or, the local church would have to apply directly to the IRS for recognition, which could be costly and time intensive.

Webinars have become a critical tool for educating and informing audiences in our new virtual world. Making the user experience relevant and convenient is essential to a successful event. Give your webinar a solid foundation by taking care to properly create your virtual event. Goals and Outcomes The cornerstone of any meeting’s success is understanding why you are meeting. Understanding what you want attendees to learn or get out of the Webinar is no different. Organize a brainstorming session with leadership and presenters and write out all potential goals and outcomes. Then narrow it down! Ensure your webinar is designed to clearly communicate your main goals. Determine Your Platform There are many technological platforms out there and choosing which one helps you get to your goals most effectively is the next key step. Do you want attendees to interact with the platform? Do you want them to be able to be seen and heard? Or do you merely want to track if someone has watched something and can take a quiz on it afterward? Your goals will help determine which platform can be right for your Webinar. GCFA’s A/V and Meeting Planning staff are familiar with many different platforms and can help talk through the benefits to each based on your goals. Make a Production Schedule and Agenda An agenda is key. It keeps the Webinar on track to hit your goals. It can also be a tool to entice attendees to attend. Agendas that are distributed early help guide presenters but it also allows attendees time to think of questions. Make certain when you are setting the agenda, you plan the webinar for a time -- and time zone -- that is convenient for the majority of the attendees. A production schedule is best managed by a professional. This is someone who can ensure there is enough time between all segments of the Webinar and can make sure the platform technology can keep up. This keeps attendees from getting information whiplash when switching topics and presenters. Send out Invites and Track Registration Invites are your first step to getting people at your Webinar. Send the invite to your email list, post about it on your website, social media, and in some cases ask people to share it, even via word of mouth. The more people you invite the more people who will attend. But don’t simply invite people and hope they show up, get them to commit. The easiest way to do this is through a registration website, like Aventri which streamlines tracking attendance and communication. Always capture people’s intent to attend and their contact information. If someone RSVP’s, they are more likely to actually show up! A registration website, like Aventri, can be used pre-event to communicate easily and effectively by sending automatic confirmation emails with links to get on their calendar, reminders prior to the event, and any updates mid-meeting. Pre-Record and Finalize Presentations A well-recorded video of a presentation or a polished slide deck or document can engage your Webinar audience to stay involved for the duration of the Webinar. Make certain the professionalism of all presentations matches your message and your brand. Train the Audience and Leadership It is always good to ensure everyone is on the same page with how to use the platform you have chosen. Even if the platform is not new to your audience and leadership, it is still best to plan testing for each group to explain how each feature will be used in the specific context of your Webinar. In some cases, a simple introduction to the software and where questions should be directed could be included in the first few minutes of your Webinar. For completely new Platforms and for those who may not be as familiar with technology, it may be best to plan trainings prior to the Webinar’s date to ensure everyone has access and is comfortable using the platform. Test your Platform Log on EARLY. Make certain the kinks are all worked out before your attendees log on. You shouldn’t be handling technical issues while attendees are entering the Webinar – you should be welcoming and helping them look forward to is to come. Engage Audience Keep the Webinar moving! Downtime of virtual Webinars is much more taxing on attendees than downtime of in-person trainings. Ensure you continually ask questions, get feedback, allow for breaks, and present attendees with information that will keep them tuned in to the content. Make certain leadership and presenters have brainstormed different ways to keep people involved through each presenter and each transition. Send out Materials or Publish the Recording Giving people tangibles to take away from your Webinar keeps the information fresh in their minds. Whether you publish the recording of the Webinar on your website or send out follow up materials via email, just make certain you follow up with resources that help drive your goal. One caution, if you do plan on publishing a recording of the Webinar, be mindful of confidentiality, and be sure to disclose your plans to record to your attendees. Send Follow Up Survey Feedback is key! Virtual gatherings are here to stay. Understanding what went well and what didn’t will help you plan an even better Webinar in the future. And guess what, the contact information gathered during registration or registration site like Aventri makes it easy to send out post-event surveys and gather streamlined responses! Your audience will appreciate the care you take in providing a simple and informative webinar. UMC Support’s Travel and Meeting Planning team can help your ministry plan and produce webinar events. Contact our Connectional Relations Team today to begin the process.

As virtual events make it even easier for guests to decide last minute if they want to attend an event, having guests commit early of their attendance is important. A terrific way to do that is with registration. For in-person meetings, you must give your food guarantees weeks or months prior and plan the proper amount of space, so registration is a great way to know who is coming. No matter which type of event – virtual, hybrid, or in-person - registrations are important. So, if they are important, what should you be looking for in a registration platform? Well, this article hopefully helps answer that very question. Cost We’ll start more generically with the cost. A registration site/software is a solution to a lot of difficult problems in the event world - getting your attendees' information, helping manage those attendees, and communicating important information. Therefore, it is wise to budget for this helpful solution, but it shouldn’t break the bank either. Shop around and see what a reasonable cost for the time is – especially considering what you will save by using registration software. The ability for the software to take payments is often a large cost, and how much you may save on communication costs to do everything in the software matters. The cheapest option may not be robust enough, but the biggest option may come with a painful price tag. A “Copy Event” Feature Not all your meetings are first-time meetings. Most of your meetings are annual meetings or conferences that have similar questions, agendas, and layouts year after year. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to recreate your site from scratch every year? Look for a registration platform that will allow you to copy or duplicate your event year after year and spend your time only changing the things that need changed and not coming up with the full framework. Custom Reporting When an event is quickly approaching, do you want to spend your time focusing on final details or trying to manipulate that excel spreadsheet to produce the exact report you want? I’d definitely choose the final details. A good registration software allows you to create custom reports that are a quick, one-button press to get the data you need when you need it. Make certain your software will let you create these extremely helpful custom reports. Custom Landing Pages Your marketing team has worked so hard to create your event logo, colors, and fonts. An ideal registration site would allow you to continue to use that event marketing in the registration site and the website. Check when shopping for a registration platform that you can edit all those features and more to truly make each registration site the same level of quality that attendees will be receiving at the event. That being said, also make certain you don’t have to have a computer science degree to make your site is user-friendly and looks the way you want. User Access Profiles As there are many important figures in the life cycle of a successful event, being able to use your registration software to customize what each person can see and do within your registration platform is extremely helpful. Some of your staff may need to be able to put up new information for attendees to see, others may just need the ability to pull reports, and others may just need to view information without having to ask you each day for something. Choosing a registration platform that allows you to customize your user’s access profiles can save you time and unneeded headaches. Surveys After your wonderfully successful event is finished, having a registration software that will link with those registered for surveying will allow each year to get better and better. What better way than not having to manually cross-tabulate survey responses with which items each attendee registered for, etc. Having a site to do that can help you quickly wrap up each event and present survey responses to your stakeholders is extremely important. A One-Stop-Shop The best registration platform can do it all and keep it all within the site. This is easier for attendees, and yourself. If your site can give discounts, apply that to an attendee’s invoice and then take a payment, you just saved a ton of time manually doing any of those steps. If your software can send out automatic reminder emails for important dates and things to know and show you who all it was delivered to, that is great! And if your registration site can simply merge with an event website, you just saved yourself the difficulties of learning different computer code! Make certain when shopping around, your platform is robust and can be a one-stop-shop. Good Support Is anyone more frustrated than someone who has been staring at a computer screen for 45 minutes trying to make a discount happen, move that logo ½ inch to the right, or simply just see who registered? As with all technologies, there is a learning curve, make certain you have a great support team you can pick up the phone and call and get a quick response or solution to what had you frustrated in the first place. As a Certified Meeting Professional, I have used many different registration sites and Aventri remains high on my list because it does all the above and more! Contact our Connectional Relations Team at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org for a free demo of our preferred software.

As you prepare for a large virtual meeting or event, we want to help your ministry cross your T’s and dot your I’s. Our certified Travel and Meeting planner and A/V Specialist have developed a checklist to help you build a solid foundation for a successful, fully-virtual or hybrid event.

Appearance Start with the basics - comb your hair, shave your face, apply your makeup, etc. – whatever you would do to get ready to speak on stage, mimic it for the virtual meeting. Think strategically about your clothing. It is best to wear plain, solid colors, and only white or black if you have good contrast with your background (if your wall is white, don’t wear white, etc.) Avoid anything with an intricate pattern because it can wreak havoc with the camera and be a distraction to viewers. Connectivity/Internet Check your internet several days prior to the presentation to help uncover lags in audio or video. Use a reliable, high-speed internet connection to ensure a smooth Zoom presentation. If available, hardwire your internet connection for the meeting. Power If using your laptop, ensure it is plugged in! You do not want to disappear cause of a power drain. Sounds simple but it is worth doing. Lighting Make certain you are presenting in a well-lit room. Have a light source in front of your face – whether that light is coming from a window, a professional ring light, or even a desk lamp – just make certain you are front lit. Avoid being back or side lit. If a window or lamp is directly behind you or immediately to your left or right, you are going to end up looking dark and shadowy on one side. Shift your light source or move your setup if needed. Equipment Good audio or video/ lighting quality may simply mean getting a new webcam or external microphone. Built in laptop microphones and cameras are not known for their high quality. If you can, purchase an external microphone and camera to ensure higher quality. Background You want people focusing on your presentation, not what is around you. Ensure the background is not distracting from your face. Many people like to be photographed in front of a bookshelf, but professionals in the field of video production say the "trinkets" on the shelf could cause distractions. For the best result, "plain and simple" – like blank walls, or a wall with nothing but one piece of art hanging works well. Keep Your Camera at Eye Level The audience doesn’t want to see the top of your head or up your nostrils. Whether presenting from a sitting or standing position, make sure the camera is at eye level. Even virtual eye to eye contact is more comforting and more personal. If needed, grab a box or stack of books to prop up your computer, to make the adjustments until you get it at eye level. Test Ahead of Time Take the time in the days leading up to your presentation to go onto the video/ audio platform you will be using and make use of the test features to ensure your setup, lighting, audio, and video are working properly. It is much easier to arrange your setup and get a webcam or borrow another computer ahead of time. Do this in the days leading up to the meeting instead of the minutes prior to the opening session. Manage External Sounds We have gotten used to the noises of the “home” office in the background of Zoom meetings. Manage your noise around your house. Everything in your surroundings can be heard. Let the family know when you will be presenting so no appliances or tools start up during your presentation. Make sure the pets know as well! Mute Your Notifications Make certain you mute your notifications and silence all devices prior to the meeting. When a loud notification happens during a speaker’s presentation, attendees will immediately shift over to checking their own notifications. This may cause you to lose some of your audience. Only Share What You Mean to Share When sharing your screen, ensure you are only sharing what you want seen by everyone. If you share your whole screen, remember that attendees will see EVERYTHING you see. Days ahead of time, practice choosing which screen you will share so that you do not lose valuable presentation time searching for the right screen. Did You Know? UMC Support has a certified Travel and Meeting planner to help your ministry with all its travel or meeting planning needs? Whether you are hosting a virtual, in-person, or hybird event, our planner has you covered! Reach Out If you need help with any of the above points, email UMC Support’s Connectional Relations at ConnectionalRelations@gcfa.org who can connect you with our Virtual Events team.

Pre-planning is one of the most critical parts of meeting planning. Why? Defining the objectives and goals of an event is the key to hosting a successful one.