How to create a successful virtual meeting.
Creating a successful virtual meeting is an art, and many different elements must be used to optimize the experience and create employee engagement. Having successfully delivered virtual presentations since 2006, I have identified 7 strategies for creating successful virtual meetings.
7 Strategies for Creating Successful Virtual Meetings
- Create a detailed outline, do your homework.
Organization is the cornerstone to creating a successful virtual meeting. By creating a detailed outline that includes exercises, polls, and pre-planned Q&As, you’ll be able to keep attendees engaged and on topic.
Having a guide is essential to ensure all vital content is covered. Additionally, it’s important to design supplemental material for employees to support virtual training long after the meeting is over.
- Understand the goals and objective outcomes of the meeting.
When planning your virtual meeting, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the main goals and objectives are for your attendees. When you create your meeting schedule with your management team, you’ll better understand what needs to be accomplished.
This will keep you focused on the material, any interactivity and engagement needed to achieve results!
If your team needs to learn specific skill sets during the virtual meeting, you can incorporate exercises, discussion points, and real-world examples that can help them develop those skills.
- Be sure to communicate details about the meeting/training well in advance.
Someone once said that “luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” If you want the full participation and commitment of your team for the virtual meeting, you need to prepare. Be sure to consistently communicate meeting details and attendee benefits for showing up.
Since many of us operate remotely and send out reminders, emails that include the details in your company newsletter and message board will help ensure full participation.
- Make it easily accessible.
Your virtual meeting should be easily accessible, even for non-tech-savvy team members. Access and navigation should be simple and straightforward, and everyone should know how to log into the system to attend the live event or webinar.
Another alternative is to record the virtual event and upload it to the company website for future reference or for those who missed the live event. Also, some companies may prefer a recorded version to ensure there are no tech glitches for your live meeting.
- Include polls, questions and answers, and interactivity to drive engagement
Creating a virtual meeting or event is always enhanced when you include polls, Q&A opportunities, and attendee interactivity. Often times, the use of meeting rooms and pre-planned interactivity drive retention and ensure a positive experience and outcomes for attendees.
- Encourage and promote group collaboration in social networks.
Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn can be valuable tools to support collaboration and discussion before, during, and after the event.
Entertaining questions from people on the platform or watching the live stream enhance the meeting and encourage and motivate attendees to collaborate long after the event is over.
- Avoid information overload.
When hosting a virtual meeting, it’s easy to want to pack 25 pounds of information into a 5-pound bag. That is an error! Try to keep sessions as short as possible and include only the information that is necessary. It’s important to keep having fun to keep attendees engaged while staying on topic. I believe that if you follow these seven strategies for creating successful virtual meetings, you’ll find that your attendees are more engaged, motivated, and productive, even if they’re operating remotely.
Since 2006, Dr. Rick has successfully provided virtual programs for his clients in the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe. Tea Solution-oriented virtual experience™ is a unique and powerful process designed to deliver phenomenal results, your team will be highly focused, refreshed and reinvigorated to serve your clients.