Doing the Electric Slido

Ever do the "Electric Slide" at a wedding? More on that later.

Slido is a technology company that enhances communication and increases interaction at events and meetings. Live or virtually.

Slido (the product) is an audience interaction platform for meetings and events. It allows meeting and event organizers to crowdsource top questions to drive meaningful conversations, engage participants with live polls and capture valuable event data.

Since 2012, Slido has helped to transform over 320,000 events across more than 130 countries by engaging millions of participants. 

This past week, NYDLA attended an event (live) in NYC with the Slido team and their client Spotify. We learned about how Spotify handles internal communication across multiple global offices. We learned about meeting design techniques, and how to organize and facilitate effective all-hands meetings that have a positive impact on company culture and growth.

Just some of the "tips and tricks" that we covered during our live Slido event:

1. Crowdsource and discuss your team's highlights
2. Celebrate your silent heroes
3. Acknowledge personal triumphs
4. Review seasonal numbers in a quiz
5. Share your customer success stories
6. Don't forget to have fun!
7. Make sure your AV setup is flawless
8. Appoint a moderator for the online audience
9. Include remote presenters
10. Give a warm welcome and re-engage
11. Have a remote champion for the Q&A
12. Share the meeting recordings
13. Dedicate 25% of the time to Q&A
14. Start collecting questions in advance
15. Consider allowing anonymous questions
16. Review the questions and prepare outputs
17. Have a moderator lead the conversation
18. Rehearse before your Q&A
19. Manage expectations
20. Crowdsource the questions live
21. Acknowledge the tough questions
22. Take questions from the floor
23. Address any outstanding questions in writing
24. Start "Ask Me Anything" with the CEO
25. Ask for feedback directly during the meeting

Like everything in the world, meetings and events need to evolve. 

What will meetings and events (live or virtual) look like in the future? At NYDLA.org we believe that meetings and events will be interactive, collaborative, inclusive and transparent. Most of all meetings and events need to be experiences that people look forward to!

Whether your company (or your team, or your school, or your class, or....) is made up of 10 or 10,000+ people, you need to give people a voice. With the mantra "employees are the company's first customers," an all-hands meeting is a space where people have the chance to express themselves and have direct, face-to-face conversation with their leaders. To be able to do that, an all-hands meeting has to provide them with enough opportunities for engagement and personal interaction.

With teams often distributed across different locations and time zones, all-hands meetings are one-of-a-kind opportunities to engage remote colleagues and help them to feel a part of the team. At NYDLA, we know how easy it is for online participants to tune out or feel excluded unless they are compelled to pay attention and contribute.

Using tools like Slido and via using proven techniques perfected by industry experts, you can engage your remote colleagues, make it easier for them to participate, let them be heard and get the most out of each all-hands meeting. 

We are proud to offer Slido as a value-added member benefit of NYDLA. It's a game changer. 

Now back to the Electric Slide: The dance is a four wall dance set to the hit song "Electric Boogie" which hit the USA in 1976. Today, you cannot attend a wedding, bat mitzvah, school dance or just about anyplace people gather who want to dance and have a good time - without the Electric Slide making an appearance. 

It's easy to learn, it's easy to do, and it's fun.

Kinda like using Slido. 

Members of "Team Buckley" dance to the electric slide during the Air Force Ball

MASTER SGT. J. LAVOIE/BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE