Originally created for education, the simple, engaging, and accessible video discussion experience for educators, learners, and families, empowers every voice in a lifestyle of learning! From conferences to family reunions to birthday and retirement celebrations and beyond, Flipgrid allows communities to come together any time, anywhere!

Single celebrations (such as birthday wishes)!

1. Create a free Flipgrid educator account at flipgrid.com

2. On the Discussion page click Add a Topic
3. Fill out the Topic

• Title: overview of the Topic; for example, Happy Birthday Alex!
• Prompt: instructions for participants - note you can change this at any point (for example, write the instructions for participants and then change to a message for the recipient before sharing); for example, We will be surprising Alex with this Flipgrid of birthday messages! Please click the record button and leave Alex a message: share a memory or special wish!
• Recording Time: this is the maximum video length for participant's video recordings
• Closed Captions: set the language and note you can edit captions
• Video Moderation: this feature enables you to review and approve videos before they can be viewed by fellow participants
• Media: record an opening message or attach an image or resource
• Permissions: for this use case, choose the Public Permission; this will allow anyone with the code to join the discussion and view the videos - note participants will need to sign-in with a Microsoft or Google account to record a video

4. Click Create Topic
5. Click Copy and then paste the unique Flipgrid link in an email, text message, on a social network, or wherever you are connecting with your community

 6. When the special day arrives, share the Topic with the individual; this person will open the videos in the same way as fellow participants and can record a video and can comment on fellow videos

Conferences and Events

If you are planning an event and want to discuss more than one prompt with your community, start by creating a Group. The benefit of having a Group is that you can customize the join code and this unique code (and Flipgrid link) will be the ONLY thing your community needs to open the Flipgrid discussion! Within your Group you can add multiple Topics - prompts - for your community to discuss before, during, and after your event.

1. Create a free Flipgrid educator account at flipgrid.com

2. On the Discussion page click on the Groups tab
3. Click Create a Group
4. Select the Public option - this will allow anyone with your Flipgrid code to open the discussion; if attendees at your event share a common email domain (such as @microsoft.com), you can make this Group Private, select the Student Email option, and enter that domain
5. Fill out the Group

• Group Name: the name of your event
• Join Code: the unique code - Flipgrid link - that your community will use to join the Flipgrid discussion; to align with your event, use the same characters as your social hashtag

6. Click Next
7. Click Skip for Now when prompted to Duplicate your Topics
8. Click Copy - this unique link is the ONLY thing your attendees need to join your Flipgrid discussion

9. Click Go to Group
10. To start the conversation, give your community something to discuss by clicking Add a Topic
11. Fill out the Topic

• Title: overview of the Topic; for example, Get Excited!
• Prompt: instructions for attendees; for example, What are you looking forward to at this year's event? Share your name, where you are from, and what you are most excited to see, to do, and to share at this year's event!
• Recording Time: this is the maximum video length for participant's video recordings
• Closed Captions: set the language and note you can edit captions
• Video Moderation: this feature enables you to review and approve videos before they can be viewed by fellow participants
• Media: record an opening message or attach an image or resource
• Permissions: leave this toggled-off - since you have already set the Permission at the Group level, you do not need to change the setting for the Topic(s) within your Group

12. Click Create Topic
13. Click All Set! - do not copy/share this unique Topic link; once again, the only link your attendees need to know is your Group join code

You can add as many Topics as you would like! Start with just one or a few and have some of your most active community members add a video before sending to your entire community.

The Dos and Don’ts of Using Flipgrid Socially

Do...

• Create a custom Group join code to make joining the discussion easy on any computer or via the app!
• Reach out to a selection of people to add a video prior to publicly sharing the Topic or Group.
• Explain the purpose and value of what you’re doing - why the given individual or community should add a video.
• Walk the community through what they should do: explain they will be joining "as a student" and can follow this guide for details.
• Consider using the Moderation feature to review videos prior to making them viewable by fellow participants.

Don’t...

• Use Flipgrid to build a non-existent community. Flipgrid is all about amplifying an existing community!
• Share a Topic with no videos: people are more comfortable joining a conversation rather than being the first to speak.
• Rely solely on social media to launch your discussion. Reach out to people via email, in-person, and through other creative means, such as posters with the QR code.