Did you know we have an online conference about digital marketing coming up? Re:Brand will share strategies on how brands can still succeed in these unprecedented times.

GIF SEO is a thing! Missguided ‘s GIF content has received 2.1 billion views and Gymshark receiving 125 million because of this. Optimizing your GIF content to rank #1 is unchartered territory for so many brands, making it easy to own! Here’s how…

“Carrie, I’m wondering if you can help? We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of £££ creating video, ad, and campaign content in the past, all to be used once and never again! What can we do with it so it doesn’t go to waste?”

I’ve been asked this question a fair few times, with brands now more than ever looking at multi-platform marketing. Although there are quite literally so many things you can do with already existing content, one of the most simplest answers is Giphy.

What my failed ‘birthday button’ taught me about design

Boris is the wise ol’ CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur in tech — from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter!

Once upon a time, I was the CEO of an online birthday calendar startup (yup, that used to be a thing). I was also the lead designer, developer, and salesperson, and support helpdesk employee, since I was the only one working there.

I sort of inherited the company after it was built by a company which wanted to see it develop independently. The startup received some funding, and I was asked to run it from there. It all seemed simple enough at first.

The concept was that people would start a calendar, add a few friends, receive an email invite, and start their own calendars. It was viral marketing (or just a Ponzi scheme) and a social network all rolled into one. But I ran it from 2000 till 2001, so maybe it was too ahead of its time.

My own goal was simple: make the interface work so fluidly that each person invited at least two more people. If I succeeded at that, we would see exponential growth, and the company would be a success.

…but I never reached that goal. As simple as the interface was, and needed to be, I could never get it simple and attractive enough to reach that seemingly simple goal.

One day I was looking at the statistics and noticed people weren’t even adding birthdays to the calendar. This was the goal because when you entered someone’s birthday, you would also enter their name and email address, and an invite would get sent out.

I was completely stumped why no one was adding birthdays — the core function of the calendar — so I decided to do some user testing.

I observed a group of anonymous testers (also known as my mother, sister, and girlfriend) to see if I could figure out where they would get stuck. It was an intensely sobering experience, since they navigated the site in terribly unexpected ways, ignoring my subtle and not so subtle interface hints and guidance. I had a hard time suppressing my instincts to just yell out, “WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NOT CLICKING WHERE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO CLICK?!?!”

Almost every tester in my carefully selected test group turned around and said, “I don’t understand how to add a birthday.”

Now, this might not seem that interesting, but the interface we’re talking about was a weekly calendar view, with a large rectangular button that spanned the full width of the screen that said, in capital letters, “ ADD A BIRTHDAY .”

The reason they didn’t see that button was that they didn’t expect it there. What they expected was for the calendar to work like any other calendar: you click the spot where you want something to happen, and it happens. In this scenario, people wanted to click on the calendar, on a specific day, and add the birthday — just like you’d do with a physical calendar. Mine didn’t work that way.

The button I had could have been red, blue, and yellow and flickering and jiggling, and they still would’ve overlooked it.

That was my first-hand experience of how difficult it is to design a user interface. People assume things work a certain way, and then act on that assumption. If they think a particular setting is under a particular menu, and it isn’t there, they get annoyed instantly.

I often lose my keys, phone, wallet, glasses, and basically anything that isn’t tied to something. And one way to deal with that is to put the thing you found back in the first place you started looking for it.

So if you’re working on some sort of interface design — or dealing with customers or users in general — make sure to put important things where people look for them.

Can’t get enough of Boris? Check out his older stories here , and sign up for TNW’s newsletters here .

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How to run a great hybrid meeting (Hint: It involves emojis)

Nine out of ten organizations will be combining remote and on-site working in the post-pandemic future of work. That’s what the latest McKinsey research says. This new model will dramatically change the way we function and the way we meet.

Getting meetings right will be imperative for any business leader — whether they run a startup or big corporation — to create an inclusive and productive environment where people can thrive.

Here are five tested meeting design tactics that have worked for me and my team.

1. Ask everyone to join from their own computer

Even if there’s just one online participant, you should treat your whole meeting as a virtual one. It’s the only way to level the playing field for the online audience.

During our team meetings of up to 15 people, we ask all colleagues in the room to bring their own laptops and turn on their cameras individually.

It might sound counterintuitive — people sitting at their own computers next to each other in the same room. But it ensures that on the call, everyone is represented equally and for online participants, it’s so much easier to navigate.

Using this tactic, don’t forget to tell people to mute themselves to avoid a horrible echo. Just agree on the person who will share the sound from their computer.

2. Be intentional about engaging online participants first

When people gather in a meeting room, it’s easy for them to forget about their remote colleagues. Our brains are funny that way – people that we see in 3D seem more real and present than the ones on the screen.

As you enter the meeting, make sure to greet online people by saying something like, “Hey Sarah, thanks for joining us from London.” “Hey Luke, great to have you here with us.” It’s a small gesture that can go a long way.

In case you’ve got a large audience, you can run a simple word cloud poll asking people to submit where they are joining from. It works like a charm. It’s been a hit for the past year at many of the meetings and webinars we’ve run.

Another effective way is to turn to your online colleagues first whenever you ask an open-ended question. “Ok, let’s hear from our online colleagues first. Christine, what are your thoughts?” It will make them feel more included and respected. Also, this helps you to not forget about them!

Lastly, keep an eye out for people unmuting themselves, and be sensitive to other subtle cues. If I notice that anyone becomes unmuted, it’s a clear sign for me that they want to contribute. I instantly give them a word.

3. Ask for emojis to get instant feedback

One thing we desperately lack in virtual or hybrid meetings is physical feedback. We can hardly see facial reactions or read body language. Emojis can be an effective fix to this. And most video platforms support them these days.

To get instant feedback, ask people to send their emoji. For example, “Can we move on? If so, send me a thumbs up.” If you see thumbs flying all over your screen, you’re good to go.

Or if you celebrate a team achievement, just give people a small nudge: “I think it deserves a virtual clap” and celebrate the success altogether with a massive digital clap.

4. Use live polls to make discussions more productive and inclusive

You might also want to get more elaborate feedback from the team to find out what everyone really thinks. Live polling is your best pal here.

The other day we were introducing a new strategy and I wanted to make sure the team was on board.

To do this, I ran a quick poll asking: “On a scale of 1-6, how confident are you that these are the right priorities?” Giving everyone an opportunity to vote and express their opinion was important and empowering. But we didn’t end there. And you shouldn’t either.

Once you collect the results, engage in a discussion with the team. Trigger a conversation by saying something along the lines of: “I can see it makes sense to some of you, as you’ve voted 6. Who wants to share their opinion?” or “Let’s hear from those who voted 4. What are your concerns?”

The discussion that follows is the most valuable part.

5. Take questions throughout the meeting

The old paradigm is to address questions at the very end. We like to challenge that. During our monthly business review meetings, we ask participants to post their questions to Slido throughout the meeting.

Our chief of staff, Daniela, keeps an eye on the incoming questions, and if there are any, she answers them right after the leader finishes his or her section. The context is still fresh and we can address any unclarities right on the spot, increasing the value of the discussion.

To wrap up

Hybrid meetings are here to stay. As business leaders, we need to be intentional about creating an equally valuable experience for both types of audiences — online as well as in-person.

We can accomplish that by using technology to level the playing field, combined with some basic facilitation skills that will invite everyone into the discussion.