3 Business Templates for Effective Screen Sharing

You’ve made it through months of remote work! So… are you and your team experts on video conferencing and screen sharing yet? 😉

You’re now managing a distributed team where each individual is in a different location. Fun, right? It’s a lot to tackle—juggling time zones and schedules, managing your team's productivity, and dealing with all the new technology necessary to do your job. On top of that, you have to make sure everybody's on the same page.

Screen sharing during your team meetings should be the least of your problems. So we're here to help with a screen sharing template you can share with your managers and colleagues.

Screen sharing 101

Nowadays, your entire staff should know the basics of effective screen sharing during a video call. Everyone should use the same screen sharing software or a video conferencing tool with screen sharing built into the platform. Designate a specialist who knows how to screen share to train your staff on this software through tutorials and 101s. You can even set up a channel in Flock for your team to ask questions and troubleshoot problems in real-time. 

Of course, your team also needs the right hardware—a reliable computer, a webcam for video conferencing, and a high-speed internet connection for streaming. Provide these for your team before establishing these guidelines.

Screen sharing education guideline template:

Introductory information for employees who partake in video conferencing and screen sharing

1. Each employee at [XYZ Company] should use Flock video conferencing [or enter your favorite here] for all video meetings and screen shares
2. Before screen sharing, the employee will take part in a tutorial and 1:1 meeting with a supervisor to familiarize themselves with the software
3. [XYZ Company]'s Screen Sharing Q&A channel on Flock will be available at all times for troubleshooting errors

Screen sharing best practices

First off—do you have video conferencing guidelines established? This is critical for a productive meeting where everyone's focused on an agenda, technical difficulties are minimal, and nobody considers it a waste of time. You'll also want to avoid easy-to-prevent mistakes, especially when screen sharing—like exposing someone's private info or stumbling through technology. Here are some protocols you can put in place. Choose the ones which fit best with your business style.

Screen sharing best practices and protocol template

[XYZ Company]'s virtual meeting and screen sharing protocol:

1. Provide an agenda and/or pre-reads before each meeting
2. Identify a host for each meeting who will hand off the conversation to avoid interruptions and enforce these guidelines
3. Establish a notetaker to gather important details and action items
4. Raise your hand if you need to speak up
5. Keep your microphone muted unless speaking to the group
6. Participants in video meetings should keep their webcams on whenever possible
7. For smaller ideas and asides, use built-in chat to cut distractions
8. Before each meeting, open all necessary documents and a new browser window with relevant tabs only for seamless and appropriate screen sharing
9. Set your computer to "do not disturb" mode for meetings to disable all pop-up notifications while screen sharing
10. Stop screen sharing immediately after a presentation

Staying secure while screen sharing

Once your staff is set up with screen sharing know-how, it’s critical to protect your business’s privacy. You can prevent screen sharing security risks like information leaks or Zoombombing. Here are some hard rules for screen sharing security.

Screen sharing security guidelines template

[XYZ Company]'s protocols for security protection

1. All meetings should be password protected
2. Close all unrelated documents and browser tabs before screen sharing
3. Restrict screen-sharing access to hosts and grant access to attendees when necessary
4. Lock all meetings or enable waiting rooms 
5. Do not post meeting links in public channels or external social media
6. Users must check screen sharing and video conferencing software for updates weekly and immediately install any updates when available

You’re now one step closer to getting your team work-from-home certified! Start using Flock’s video conferencing and screen sharing tools right away, or choose from our list of the best screen sharing apps for your business.