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Start Here leaders’ guide

Whether you’re a CU of two or two hundred, we’re delighted that you’re running Start Here!

We know that it can be daunting running sessions for others – but, by looking at God’s word together, and giving new students a warm welcome, you’ll be a huge help and reassurance to them.

This page will help you as prepare to run sessions and gives you all the information you need. Take a few minutes to read these instructions.

Making Start Here your own

Every CU is different, so tweak things to suit your context.

You’ll need to consider in advance how big you think the call will be. Will you need break out rooms? If so, how many? How many returning students will you need to run breakout rooms? Smaller groups are generally better for discussion… so if you’re expecting eight freshers on your call, you might split in to two groups of four for the discussion sections. Having some sort of sign up system (a DM on Instagram, a Google Form or something else!) will help you plan.

As you read the material, you find a section that you don’t think will work because of size or other practicalities. Think about why that section is there and what it’s achieving. If you arrive at the same goal by another route, then that’s fine!

In each session…

General format

Instructions for you as leaders look like this in normal type.

Things that you need to say / explain to the whole group are in a grey box like this.

Don’t read these out word for word – but they’ll give you a good guide of what needs said when! We want you to sound like yourself – not a Start Here robot! If you want to rephrase these boxes, do so in advance so you’re not making it up on the spot.

Questions to ask the group for discussion are:

  • Bullet pointed
  • And in
  • Bold font!

Components of the sessions

Each session includes the following components:

Welcome. The aim here is to welcome people, setting a friendly tone as people arrive. Some people will feel very nervous, so think about a way they can avoid arriving to awkward silence. You could include a slide with some music playing in the background. You might just want to have two hosts who will have good banter just chatting away and people can slot in!

Each week there’s a starter discussion, game or quiz – they’re there to provide some fun and to help those on the call get to know each other. If you use break out rooms here, keep them the same for the rest of the session.

Activity. This is one of the sections in which you get to showcase your uni and help Freshers get to know the place before they arrive. Look for returning students who will be warm and clear to help with these sections. Let them know in advance exactly what you want them to do so they have time to think about what they’ll say. And make it clear how long they have so they don’t steal all your time!

Hearing from God. Explain what’s coming next in a clear way so that everyone knows why we’re watching a video, and why the people in the video are talking about the Bible. You might just have been having lots of fun / banter in the activity so you’ll need to get everyone to concentrate again, ready to engage with more serious content. Have someone ready to read the passage and paste the bible.com link in to the chat. Then play the longer session video.

Thinking it through. Here’s where we help new students engage and respond to the video. Leading a discussion on zoom can be tricky – be patient with the group members and yourself. Be willing to wait longer than normal for answers - Zoom silences feel like forever while people think! Be ready to give an answer yourself or ask another returning student on the call to say what they think. Keep an eye on the clock – if discussion gets going you could chat for ages!

Story videos. As with the last video section, everyone in the call needs to know what’s about to happen and why we’re listening to a student from another uni tell their story. Then play the shorter interview video for everyone.

What about us? Discuss as before in groups. Encourage people to share honestly about how they’re feeling and what practical next steps they might take. Sharing some of your own experiences might help others open up here.

Until next time. Wrapping things up well will give people time to listen to the information you have to share at the end. Make sure to include any links/instructions on how to get in to group chats or where to find more information. If what you’re talking about sounds great but nobody can find it then it isn’t much use. The last moments of the call will stick in people’s minds so this is another chance to continue to be warm and friendly!

Specific notes on the sessions

Session 1: Different… Everything?

  • This session involves giving a short fun virtual tour of your uni, using Google Maps and photos. You’ll need to think in advance where you want to include. You might want ask another returning student to join the session in order to lead this activity.
  • Think in advance about practical ideas you can give to Freshers for ways they can get off on as good a footing as possible with the new friends they’ll meet.
  • Plan how you’ll set up a group chat. Will you use Messenger, WhatsApp or something else? And how will students get their details to you – DM or some other means? One clear opt-in option is a link to a WhatsApp chat. To create a shareable link on WhatsApp, create a group, go in to group information, then press share. You could leave the QR code to join up on a slide at the end of the session.

Session 2: New Place, New Opportunities

  • This session opens with a short multiple choice quiz. Think in advance how you’ll run this – will you get group members to discuss what they think outline? Type answers into the chat? Or use Zoom’s poll function?
  • You’ll also need a returning student to talk about moving into new accommodation. This could be one of you as hosts, or you might like to get another CU member in. Show them the questions you’ll ask them in advance and remind them to keep to time!
  • It’s worth also having an easy means that group members can join your Start Here group chat.

Session 3: A New Course

  • You might like to have a few ideas in advance to share for the ‘Fantasy Care Package’ activity.

Session 4: The Welcome You Long For

  • You need a returning student to talk about finding and settling into a church. Again, give them the questions you’ll ask them in advance, emphasise the tone you’re after and ask them to keep to time!
  • Be ready to post details of whatever your CU is doing in Freshers’ Week into your Start Here group’s chat.

Keeping Start Here safe

We’ve probably all heard a Zoom-bomb horror story by now. Because Start Here is going to be one of the first impressions that people get of your CU, it’s important to think about Zoom call security.

Pre-call measures

  • Don’t share the Zoom meeting link or meeting ID on a totally public domain. Share this information by direct message or via a closed group.
  • Do not send the link to the call until the day of the call but do send reminders to all those who signed up that the call is happening, when they will receive the link and that you are looking forward to meeting them.
  • Make sure your Zoom is password protected and only share the password directly with people who you are inviting to the call.
  • Ensure that the Waiting Room function is enabled. You can set up a personalised Waiting Room message for your meeting to make sure people know they are in the right place.
  • Have a list of the names of people who you have invited to your Zoom call (CU members, people in your CU Freshers Facebook Group, people who have signed up via Eventbrite) – only accept people into the call from the waiting room if they are names you have on your invite list.
  • Make sure that everyone in the waiting room has labelled their screen with their name so that you can check them against your list of sign-ups. Do not let anyone into the call if their screen name doesn’t match a name on your signup list.

In-call measures

  • Set “Screen Sharing” to only be possible for the tech host.
  • Turn off in meeting file transfer and turn off the virtual background.
  • If you are expecting large numbers, mute everyone upon entry into the call and do not allow participants to unmute themselves. Questions can be asked in the breakout rooms - you need to then remember to unmute everyone just before you send them into their rooms!
  • If anything untoward happens, immediately remove the person involved from the call.
  • You need to make the breakout group leaders co-hosts so that they can mute people in their groups if necessary.

More information on avoiding Zoom-bombing is available here: How to Keep Uninvited Guests Out of Your Zoom Event - Zoom Blog

Using Zoom’s features

You’re probably an old hand at Zoom – but, in case you need any extra help on any of its features, check out these links:

And finally…

Get to know new people, enjoy yourselves and know that you’re playing your little part in helping new students have the best possible start to university! We are praying for you!