The Coaching.com video platform has just taken a quantum leap, and now offers new functionality that is unique to coaching in a video conferencing platform. Coaches and clients will benefit by having Coaching.com's powerful set of coaching tools inline with the video calls in a single screen, offering efficiency and instant visibility into engagement details.

Track notes, action items, goals, tasks, and other engagement or session attributes now with a few clicks and directly within the video session experience. Now manage session schedules and status is more convenient than ever and can be done directly within a session video call.

In this release:

The video experience has some new elements that are explained below. The new features are additive and complementary to the experience. The 'Engagement Items' panel shown above is closed by default, and is there if you need it. The same is true for the new Chat panel.

When anyone joins a Coaching.com video session (Coach, Coachee, or Session Attendee), they will first enter the Lobby. This area allows for the microphone and video to be configured before joining the call. The page will be branded based on the subscription level of the coach or organization.

The video is disabled by default, and the microphone is enabled by default. Both can be toggled before joining the call. The settings option (Gear icon) opens a panel that allows for adjustments to the following:

The Settings Panel is shown below:

Virtual backgrounds are also available, and allow for the physical background of the attendee to be masked with special effects. Virtual backgrounds include degrees of blur along with various screen scapes shown below:

Coaching.com video will, by default, display the participants that have joined the call. The following image shows what the experience is like after joining a call, but still waiting for others to arrive.

There are some new controls that will appear once the coach or coachee joins the call. Additional session attendees, like invited managers to the call, will not see the Engagement Items menu option.

The following shows the experience of multiple people on the call with their video enabled.

Chat has always been a part of the Coaching.com platform, but not within the video calls, until now. Not only is chat introduced to the vide experience, but the functionality has also expanded.

The new Chat Panel within video allows for real-time chat conversations between participants. Emojis have been introduced as well to add extra communication flare (Seen below):

Also, chat on Coaching.com now include the ability to edit and delete chat messages, as well as add reactions (emojis)

These same great chat features are also now available in Message Center.

The Engagement Items Panel is squarely where a lot of the new innovation lives for this release. The Engagement Items Panel provides instant access to Notes, Scheduling, Action Items, Goals, and Program Items from the Engagement Roadmap. This panel brings all of the coaching tools into a convenient compartment that sits along the video's edge. Engagement Items within the call can bring a higher level of productivity to the session by being able to record information, make updates, and also review goals, task, form submissions and more.

Notes provide the same functionality as offered in the desktop view. When in a video call, the functionality of Notes is shown below. Notes can be added and edited. Any note taken in the video call will also be available in the desktop view, and vice versa.

The Scheduling Pane presents the session that is currently under way, along with the next available session for scheduling. The current session can be Completed, or Rescheduled if necessary. Meanwhile the next available session can be scheduled, setting up for the next meeting.

Goals are incorporated into the video experience, and provide instant access and visibility into the client's objectives for the engagement. Not all of the features from the desktop experience are included, just the essentials to track and maintain goals and milestones.

Action Items are similar to Notes in that they are a quick place to record information. In the case of Action Items, a due date can be set and they can be checked off when complete. Any action items that are created on the desktop experience will be displayed in the Action Items Pane in the video, and the same is true conversely.

The same Program Items that can be found within the Engagement Roadmap by the session participants will also be available within the video experience. This includes Forms, Files, Tasks, and Links. Some features have been removed to make the interactions quick and efficient.

In order to take advantage of the new Coaching.com video experience, each session should have the location set as Coaching.com video. Below is a screenshot showing where the location can be edited within the Session:

Coaches can also set their default location to the Coaching.com video in their calendar settings. This default location will then be used for future sessions.

Administrators and coaches have some new controls within engagement templates and engagement settings related to goals.

First, goals can be disabled completely for engagements. This may be useful in context such as an On-Demand engagement, where the coachee is meeting with many coaches.

The toggle "Enable the ability to create goals" (Shown above) is enabled by default. If the toggle is disabled, the Goals tab will no longer be visible for the coachee, coach, or administrator.

Next, if goals are enabled, there is an additional privacy control that is now available.

By default, when goals are created they are visible to "Everyone - Admins and engagement participants". There is a new 'Goal Visibility" toggle that can be disabled in the template or within the engagement settings. When disabled, any goals that are created are "Confidential - Only the coach and coachee can see the goal".

Coach profiles within the platform and on the Marketplace have been missing an industry attribute. Industry may be important for prospective clients. Industry is now added to the Coach profile as a new attribute. It is searchable via filters on the marketplace, and also during coach matching.