New to virtual meetings, or find them unengaging? Here’s what you need to do
Do you want to be a virtual meeting hero? Let’s face it, virtual meetings can be monotonous. So, what needs to happen to make them more engaging and productive?
I’ve facilitated hundreds of virtual meetings and I LOVE them. The beauty of technology is that it is convenient and can make work that much more efficient and effective… when USED RIGHT. When you’re having a virtual meeting, there’s already the disadvantage of being far apart from everyone. So how do you combat this?
Right now, I’m going to share with you the same tips I follow that I’ve learned over the years of facilitating virtual meetings.
1 – Test your technology ahead of time
Have you ever been in a virtual meeting (or any meeting for that matter) where the first 15-20 minutes have been wasted by technical difficulties? How frustrating, boring, and stressful is this? Having precious meeting time wasted is the last thing you want, especially when meeting with a group of busy businesspeople who all have their own tasks to be doing. So, with more virtual meetings happening in the business world, it is CRITICAL to take 15-20 minutes BEFORE the meeting to check the tech and ensure everything is working properly.
2 – Meeting timing
Many people find virtual meetings rather dull, but this doesn’t have to be the truth. In a virtual meeting, you don’t have the luxury of taking a 5 minute break together or even putting the meeting on pause to do some exercises as a group. There’s no time for chit-chat before the meeting starts as people trickle in a few minutes early. This can really make the meeting seem unexciting. But it doesn’t have to be!
A great way to deal with this is simply to ensure that the meeting is running no longer than one to two hours MAX. And if you need it to be longer than that, break up the meeting when possible to keep people engaged.
3 – Turn on video
Video is a great tool because body language is powerful. Having only a voice call is like having a meeting in a dark room. So, if you have video capability, make it mandatory. It truly makes an impact on the meeting. Studies have shown that you get more information from people by seeing them in front of you. Take advantage of this knowledge by making video a RULE for your meeting. It makes the meeting more engaging, productive, and exciting.
What else?
These three tips have only scratched the surface of how you can have more productive and engaging business meetings. I’ve put the rest of my tips together in a YouTube video for you to access. Follow me on over to YouTube and we’ll keep talking about how you can have the BEST virtual meetings in business today!
-Adriana
