What is a Free Video Meeting?

What is a Free Video Meeting?

A Free Video Meeting is a 15 minute session for you to meet your prospective student and / or their parent to see whether you're a good fit to work with them.

This is an opportunity to discuss the details of the tuition they are looking for, communicate your experience and how you're able to help, and break the ice before your first lesson.

How to nail your Free Meetings 

Follow advice from some of our top tutors and use our PDF in the lesson space to guide you!

A few hours before...

• On the day of your Free Meeting, why not send a quick message to let them know the meeting is still on - and to share some advice about how to launch the session.
• Get there a few minutes before and run a setup test to troubleshoot any tech issues.

Introduce yourself!

Firstly, introduce yourself and get the conversation flowing. Why do you love your subject? Where do you study?

Ask them to say a little bit about themselves, and what are they looking for?

Give them the floor to explain what they’ve been struggling with, but be positive.

“So, I hear you’re looking for some help with your subject…is there anything in particular you need help with?

Then say why YOU can help!

Show you totally understand - you’ve been through exams too and know they’re tough. It’s reassuring for students to see you can relate to them.

This is your chance to show why you’re such a great tutor, and why they should choose you!

Explain how you teach, and it’s a good idea to demonstrate the lesson space. Lots of students enjoy visual learning, so videos, diagrams and mind-maps can be useful.

Get the ball rolling

Last but not least, it’s time to get logistics sorted. Know your availability and check when works for them, and also make sure you know how often they’d like lessons. You can then set a date for the first lesson, so that you can start preparing. Check if they need any help with how to book it in.

How do I book a Free Video Meeting?

You'll need to find a time that suits you both. Either you or the parent can initiate the booking. 

If you want to suggest some times when you're free, you can do this by selecting 'Suggest a Booking' on the right hand side of any message thread in your Messages.

Once you've sent this, your suggested times will appear in your message thread and the parent can confirm the slot they'd like by selecting it. This will confirm the slot which will then appear in both your and the parent's Bookings.

If none of these times suits, either you or the parent can suggest more times. 

Alternatively, the parent can send over a request for a Free Meeting. You can read the guidance we offer parents here.