☑️ Confirm you have the correct Zoom account type. You must have a Zoom Pro or Zoom Business account connected to Maven. Check your Zoom account settings to confirm.

☑️ Prepare for ~20% of all Lightning Lesson signups to join live. Many more will watch the recording.

☑️ Confirm the Zoom meeting date & time in your upcoming Zoom meetings. You should see a Zoom meeting with the exact same title as your Lightning Lesson.

☑️ Important final test: Test your Zoom link before your session by accessing it in an incognito window or by asking a friend to click the link. Make sure you see the correct Zoom landing page with the right date and time for your Lightning Lesson.

☑️ Double check your Zoom settings. Make sure Cloud Recording is ON and Active Speaker is being recorded.

☑️ Disable the notification sound that plays when someone joins (Zoom help article with steps).

☑️ Join early. Great speakers are relaxed speakers, give yourself time to "arrive". Reminder: The recording will automatically start, and you can always trim & upload a new recording later. Here is our guide on managing your Lightning Lesson recording.

☑️ Go into your Zoom host tools or security settings to enable waiting room. You can then turn off the Zoom waiting room when you're ready to start the Lightning Lesson. Here is a guide from Zoom on managing your waiting room settings.

☑️ Spotlight the speakers (Zoom help article with steps).

☑️ Check your teach setup. Make sure you can screen share, and that your audio & video work.

☑️ Start on time. Turn off your waiting room and admit all live attendees. Dive straight into your content no later than 2 minutes after the start time.

☑️ Be welcoming. Greet everyone with your no-fail/icebreaker question.

Don't (these lead to a poor student experience):

❌ Start late

❌ Make technical Zoom errors like not knowing how to screen share

❌ Dispense generic advice that doesn't go deep into the "how"

❌ Skip Q&A

❌ Make it a sales webinar for your course (a max of ~10% sales works best)