Has your home become your permanent virtual meeting room? In virtual meetings, are you seeing presenters, slides and the chat tool? Then you’d benefit from a screen for each.

Here, red10 ‘s Karen Hyde explains how to set-up your virtual office, because two (or more) screens are better than one.

Adapting to the New Norm

Controlling everything through one laptop or screen is demanding. Keeping track of presenters, observing reactions from the team, keeping an eye on chat and looking for the right moment to respond…there’s a lot going on. With multiple screens, you can keep up with it all and organize content the way you want it.

In this article, we highlight:

  1. A great two screen set-up for Zoom
  2. A great multiscreen set-up for MS Teams
  3. A way to use your iPad to create a second screen if an extra monitor isn’t possible
  4. An advanced set-up using a hub

 

Basecamp

If you find this article useful, have you seen our Free Kit for Virtual Meetings ?

Free Kit for Virtual Meetings

This is one of the Basecamp articles in our 3Bs Virtual Kit –Basecamp, Behaviours and Bag of Tools.

1. Zoom Set-up

You’ll need to alter your Zoom settings to make use of what it calls ‘dual monitors’

Main Screen, i.e. your laptop The Gallery View  
Zoom uniquely provides a view of even the largest of teams (up to 49) on one screen. Psychologically, it helps for the team to see each other and be seen.
Second Screen Chat window
Zoom allows you to separate this
and
Screenshare from others on the call or apps that you may want to screenshare to others

2. MS Teams Set-up

Main Screen, i.e. your laptop The main MS Teams app – showing presenters or screenshare
Phone MS Teams installed as an app.
Allows you to use the chat function for the meeting on your phone whilst still seeing the screenshare on your laptopWe’ve found teams prefer to use the structured and formatted Chat within an MS Teams Channel – responding to new conversation streams started for each agenda item.
Second Screen Apps that you want to share
And/or
A shared app with live actions or meeting notes being taken – such as OneNote or the MS Teams Wiki tab
Note: To use the MS Teams Wiki tab, you would need to open your second version of MS Teams through a browser: https://teams.microsoft.com/
And / or
The MS Teams Channel – opening it through a browser

3. Using an iPad as a second monitor

You can connect an iPad to your laptop and use it as a second monitor.

The Duet App needs to be installed on your iPad, and also installed on your laptop.

4. An advanced set-up using a hub

With some further investment, you can create an advanced multiscreen set-up that still allows you to plug your laptop in elsewhere.

By adding a hub, a camera, a headset, a keyboard and a mouse, you can create this aesthetically beautiful two screen set-up and still undock the laptop for when you need to be on the move.

What tips would you like to share about your home set-up?