I’ve spent a great deal of time in virtual meetings lately and am learning a great deal about facilitating online learning sessions for educators. I’ve compiled many of these tips in my virtual coaching Padlet, but one inspired by Jessica Young has been a game-changer for creating a comfortable presence online: Virtual Coaching Office Slides. This is a digital slide that acts as a window into your virtual coaching space and welcomes teachers online, just as your physical coaching space might do in person.

The slide is completely personalizable to your coaching, your personality and your purpose. Your slide might have any of the following elements:

  • Your office furniture
  • Bookshelves with the books you are reading.
  • Inspirational quotes on the wall
  • Reminders of upcoming important dates on a bulletin board
  • Links to needed session materials
  • And more!

Here is a picture of one of my own virtual coaching office slides. I created it in Google Slides and change them often based on the time of the year, the content I am coaching for and whatever I seem to be into at the time.


I start virtual meetings by sharing my screen for teachers to browse as they enter, just as they might in your physical coaching space. It brings the feel of an on-site coaching space to a virtual session and adds the bit of homeyness that helps foster a culture of learning.

So, how do you create your own? Follow these simple steps:

  1. Create a new Google Slides presentation and choose the ‘blank’ layout.
  2. Format the background with images and colors that suit your content and personality using the Insert dropdown menu.
  3. Insert transparent images to create the various elements of your office space. Get creative: remember, you have an unlimited budget!

I found this tutorial from Jenn Scheffer incredibly helpful. She breaks down each step of the process with some helpful tips for easily creating your own.

With just a few easy steps, you can create a welcoming coaching office that invites teachers into your virtual sessions and sets the stage for professional collaboration. What elements would you include on your office slide? Share in the comments below!

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  1. I love this! Do you link your picture books to a video read aloud of the book or to a site where teachers could purchase the book?

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    1. Yes! I link either to a read aloud or to the book on my Goodreads account. When leading professional learning sessions, I often display and link to professional texts related to the content, too!

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    1. It is linked in the post above, but here it is directly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-P_WdQWPc8

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