My Take Aways From Teaching Instagram for Business via Zoom

Since New York City went on lockdown in late March, I’ve been on countless video and Zoom calls.

Just a few days ago, I taught my first Instagram workshop on Zoom.

Needless to say it was a different experience.

Usually I teach live, in-person, workshops and I really enjoy the interaction. In fact I tell participants to feel free to chime in with questions at any point during my workshop. I think it’s more effective to address questions right on the spot as I’m teaching the material vs. holding on to questions until later.

It’s hard to maintain that feeling of  interactivity on Zoom. Maybe that’s something I need learn and improve on.
During my presentation of the workshop material through my powerpoint slides, I choose to turn off the video screens of participants as I presented because I thought it might be distracting, but in hindsight, I probably should have left the video screens on so that I could see everyone’s faces, which would have given me some feedback and visual cues. 

It’s definitely a different way of teaching. There’s lots to think about in adopting my workshops to virtual online courses, or into a pre-recorded online version of my workshops. 

I have the sense that teaching via Zoom or in an online format  gives me the opportunity to be more focused and detailed in the way I explain things.

Teaching live or online, one thing remains constant- No matter how many times I’ve given this workshop people always seem especially impressed when I share a live screencast of my iPhone and demo how things look and work on Instagram.