Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash

When you're leading participants in a Group Coaching session, it really pays to start the zoom early and make sure you're in a good mental and emotional place, so you can, in turn, create a safe, transformational container that your participants and customers know they can expect from you.

A huge part of that is the energy that YOU bring into the session.  Are you grounded?  Do you know what you're doing?  Or are you just winging it and hoping for the best?  Even if you CAN wing it and "get away with it," you can probably dial up the experience through the uncommon practice of pre-session preparation, which sounds like common sense but really isn't.

We all too often see coaches coming in from some other critical activity without the time to really dial in their own energy, tech, and key items for the session to flow smoothly.  (We're not going to pretend we've never dropped the ball here ourselves!)

Here are a few things from our Pre-Flight, which just means "pre-session checklist."  Feel free to steal it for yourself or add to it.  Better yet, please reply and let us know what you include in yours! 

• Host/Cohost settings - Are you co-presenting with anyone?  Have you granted them cohost abilities?  Do they need to enable the waiting room?
• Audio check - Are your microphone AND sound working?  Is the quality clear?  Has someone else verified how you sound?  If there's a new problem, you'll need time to solve that.
• Sharing & Recording - Are you planning to share your screen or use a whiteboard?  Double-check it works the way you think or that you're prepared to do it.  Will you record the session?  Do you have the permissions or settings correctly working?  Has your cohosting team tested their ability to share?
• Links, Files, Music ready - Are you planning to use music or clips in your session?  Do the links or files work as expected?
• Distractions, Devices  - Have you eliminated all sources of potential distractions, including your own device?
• Session Plan & Timing - Review your session activities plan (you should have one!) and double-check timing - Do you know your plan? Is there anything that you notice that you aren't quite ready for that you need to tighten up?
• Personal reminders/intentions - How are you planning to show up?  What intentions do you have?  What intentions do you have for your participants?  Are you clean on their outcomes?

Like in a live event, virtual events can become stressful if potential issues crop up at the last minute.  For example, the time we updated our offer and realized the link was broken 10 minutes before the session.  It happens, but it's a good thing we have Pre-Flight to help us.

That goes along with having a great session Design, too, because that improves your confidence too.  The best way to get really confident at that is to join us for our group sessions and keep getting the reps in.

Sending you Virtual Hugs

Rob & Daniel

P.S.  If you already know you want to go deeper, consider joining us in 6 days. The Surefire Group Coaching System 6-Week LIVE Training & Coaching Experience is coming soon, with experiential coaching and training.  You transform as a participant, learn as a coach, and are supported in a community, and you get all the templates, session plans, and resources on our best tools.