Collaboration made easy with FigJam plugins

When the pandemic first hit in 2020 and we all began working from home, I really struggled to host and participate in live collaboration sessions with my colleagues. After multiple failed attempts using online whiteboards and other collaboration tools, like Google Docs, to conduct brainstorming sessions, I thought it wasn't possible to generate the same level of engagement as you can get in person. That was until I first experienced the power of FigJam. Out of the box, FigJam is a one-stop shop for all your collaboration needs. With its level of interaction, templates and tools, FigJam makes online collaboration not just easy, but also fun!

In this article, I’m going to share with you some banging plugins and widgets that will make collaborating in FigJam an absolute breeze. Whether you work in a team of two or 200, these amazing tools will boost engagement, productivity, and all-around enjoyment levels in your future collaboration sessions.

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Simple Vote

Conducting an online poll when hosting a live session can be a downright pain. Typically, you have to either use a third-party software, which someone always struggles to connect to or have to do a manual count of raised hands. Both of these methods take time to set up and conduct, are frustrating to manage and, most importantly, are not on the canvas. That’s where Simple Vote comes in to save the day. Simple Vote is a widget in FigJam that allows you to conduct live polls directly on the canvas. With a click, you can have your team vote on which design is more appealing for the new landing page, the focus of the team’s next sprint, or their favourite flavour of ice cream!

While simple, this widget provides you with just enough customisable options, where you can conduct almost any type of poll. Want to avoid awkward confrontations? Easy, make the poll anonymous. Want to limit the number of times someone can vote? Simply, set a response limit per user. It’s as easy as A, B, C.

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FlyOver

This next plugin is one of my personal faves. FlyOver basically turns your FigJam, or Figma Design file, into a presentation. So sorry, Bill, it’s finally time to leave PowerPoint in the past. Insert tears of joy. FlyOver is fantastic for when you need to walk your clients, team members or other stakeholders through a project. With a few clicks, you build a custom path through your file to blow your audience away with a guided tour of your amazing work.

With smooth transitions and simple navigation controls, FlyOver is a fantastic tool that will not only make you look like a pro but save you from ever having to panic scroll and zoom in/out on a trackpad again…a feeling I’m sure we’d all like to leave behind.

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Lil Todo

Sometimes there is nothing better than a good collaboration session to boost inspiration, creativity, and morale. The momentum generated in these sessions is often lost as soon as the session ends, with people left unclear on the next steps or their responsibilities. Lil Todo is a super cool widget that allows you to capture all the required actions your team has agreed upon in the form of a to-do list. Items can be instantly added, removed, or marked as complete by anyone in the file, reducing the reliance on one person to capture all notes and actions from the discussion. If you’ve ever had to be the note-taker, you’ll understand how much of a relief this is. Similar to Simple Vote, Lil Todo lives on the canvas, making it there for reference long after the session has finished.

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FigJam’s Timer

While not a plugin or a widget, the built-in Timer is one of FigJam’s best collaboration tools. It is easy to use, visible to everyone, and has four different types of background music that can be played whilst the Timer is running. Because let's face it, hearing someone type or breathe into the mic while doing an activity is just plain annoying. Throw a timed activity into your next session to boost engagement and get those creative juices flowing.

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FigJenda

FigJenda is another super useful widget that will help stop your meetings from turning into the wild west and help them run like a well-oiled machine. As the name suggests, this widget is an agenda that lives on the canvas with a few tricks up its sleeve. In addition to clearly communicating the topics to be covered, it’s also connected to FigJam’s Timer. This integration will help keep everyone on topic and ensure too much time isn’t wasted on less important topics. Most importantly, it will help ensure the session isn’t derailed by someone who just wants to tell stories about their holiday last summer in Cancun. The widget also comes with several pre-built brainstorming and collaboration templates.

Cool, right? Need to run Crazy 8s in your next sprint? Simply select the option from the templates field and you’ll be off and running in no time. Agendas are gatekeepers for achieving the desired outcome of any session. Get familiar with FigJenda and never leave a meeting disappointed again.

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Voice Memo

When working in small teams, it’s relatively easy to align calendars and get all the key stakeholders in the room, physically or digitally, to participate in a session. However, the larger the team, the harder it is to get everyone together. This often results in team members being left behind or having to watch hours of recordings to catch up on the discussion. Ain’t nobody got time for that! This is where the final widget we’ll discuss today is so useful.

Voice Memo allows you to record voice notes in FigJam and leave them directly on the canvas. This is fantastic for explaining why certain decisions were made or for elaborating on your point of view. Additionally, it can be used by those who are absent from the meeting to either share their opinion ahead of time or save a future meeting by responding to questions and/or key action items that arose in the session. And let’s face it, sometimes it's just easier to leave a voice note than write a thousand-word essay.

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Wrapping Up

FigJam has literally changed the way I collaborate with team members, clients, and key stakeholders. It’s made it significantly easier to work with larger groups of people and much more fun to use in a digital environment. In this post, we’ve only scratched the surface of the available plug-ins in FigJam. And while these are my personal favourites, I’m sure you’ll find there are others out there that can supercharge your next collaboration session.

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