UserTesting gives back: bringing connectivity to seniors through Zoom

All over the world, people are feeling the effects of the pandemic, but one thing, in particular, has everyone feeling a little bit crazy (or lonely, or bored, or anxious)—and that something is quarantine. When we have fewer options for entertainment and the familiarities that provide us semblance of normalcy are seemingly few and far between, it might seem difficult to feel connected.

Fortunately, in this day and age, technology and social media are able to bridge the gap between people when being close isn’t an option. However, while these outlets may be entwined in the routine of many, there are some people out there who are less familiar. 

That’s where we came in.

Connecting seniors with entertainment and fun through Zoom

Through a partnership with Roar, a charity with a mission to reduce loneliness and social isolation within the older age community by enabling them to stay mobile and connected, our community team in Edinburgh, Scotland organized a trivia Zoom event.

We all use Zoom every day at work, so we thought we could help others use the tool to have fun, stay connected, and fight loneliness. In addition to organizing the event, we also put together Zoom guides for different devices to help older people navigate the technology. We forwarded a PDF copy to each participant and printed hard copies to send out as well. 

For the first and second quiz we had a full list of participants join from Roar, and were able to create five teams total, each team paired with someone from UserTesting. We used breakout rooms after each round to discuss our answers as a team before submitting them. We even had a professional quiz master—Garry! 

The tech ran smoothly and all participants joined with their cameras to create an environment with lots of laughing, puzzling over questions, and hearty chat. We have one more quiz event scheduled and already have a full class lined up!

In the end, we helped some people realize that Zoom is an easy tool to use and that they can use it to keep in touch with friends and family. Not to mention, we discovered that some members had already been using it for church and singing groups—who would’ve thought?!