Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed

Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*.

Key Points

• Be apparent about the purpose of your meeting: connect, align, decide, ideate/brainstorm, plan, or produce. Discover more from Mamie Kanfer Stewart.


• You need to be more apparent and intentional about timing, transitions, and facilitation in an online meeting than with an in-person one.


• Use a service like BombBomb* for video messages that don’t require live interaction.


• Unless background noise or size of the meeting prevents it, invite people to “unmute” so you can have richer dialogue without interruption.


• Alert people if they have audio issues. Get headsets for your team, if possible. We use and recommend the Jabra Evolve line* of USB headsets.


• Number one rule for lighting: position light in front of you and not behind you. If the front light can be natural (i.e. facing a window) even better.

Resources Mentioned

• BombBomb* (free 14-day trial)


• How to Combat Zoom Fatigue by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy


• COVID-19 and Videoclassism by Taharee Jackson

Related Episodes

• How to Lead Meetings That Get Results, with Mamie Kanfer Stewart (episode 358)


• Seven Tools to Create Margin and a New Podcast (episode 411)


• The Power of Why Over How, with Gina Bianchini (episode 460)


• Connecting Over Video (The Look & Sound of Leadership)

Discover More

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