Months after stay-at-home orders were put into place across the globe, business continues on, virtually, with no clear return to “normal” in sight. Workers have found ways to fine-tune their work from home routines but, while the need to connect and collaborate has not gone away, it does look and feel much different.
With the massive shift of work interaction, events and social interaction shifting to digital, people are beginning to experience a healthy dose of fatigue. Couple that with distraction—the entire family and the dog are at home in the office—and there is a serious risk of losing the interest of distracted attendees. What can you do to host the BEST virtual meeting?
As trained facilitators and experts in event strategy and engagement, we’ve been auditing 50+ digital events and webinars and have seen various approaches to facilitating engaging virtual meetings, all to varying degrees of success.
Here are our tips to keep everyone focused, engaged, and thinking creatively. Scroll to the end of the post for some additional "no-brainer" tips for presenters.
Six Strategies for Hosting Engaging Virtual Meetings
1. Start Strong & Acknowledge Our Situation
You’ll want to provide opportunities for participation right away to set the tone for an engaging meeting. Whether you set ground rules collectively, begin with a brainstorm, or coordinate an ice-breaker activity, we want attendees to understand that this won’t be a meeting to nod off in.
Be sure to directly acknowledge our mutual circumstances. You can make light of the fact that kids and pets may interrupt the meeting and if that happens, we’ll turn it into a game of distraction bingo. Let participants know you understand that it's exhausting being in front of a camera all day so you'll be offering breaks to allow them to slouch, stretch and make all the weird faces. We’re in this together, right?
2. Make Smart Chat Choices
In a virtual setting, participation must be multifaceted. The natural flow of an in-person conversation now happens via multiple sources—presentation, chat, reactions, etc. We can’t rely on the usual cues, like body language, to gauge the room and assess engagement. That is why it’s so important to have another person assigned to monitoring contributions and questions during the presentation. This allows even the most timid introvert to participate.
We recommend turning the chat function on only when you are seeking specific input so it doesn’t become a distraction for the entire meeting. If you are worried about the chat function taking over (unfortunately, we’ve seen many examples of this in our Digital Event Audit, there are options in platforms to divert all comments to the presenter. This is a great way to evaluate common questions or comments and use this fodder to inspire group conversation.
3. Use Live Polls
Polling is a great function that can be both informative and fun. Just like in-person meetings, having the opportunity to ask attendees questions throughout the presentation allows presenters to understand the audience (and their expectations) better in order to expertly tailor their presentation. Plus, it allows the presenter to set a new tone, shake up the energy and encourage participation, further enhancing engagement and commitment. Share results from polls “in the moment” and, if time allows, ask a few people to share more about their response or their reaction to the results.
We’ve seen many creative uses of live polls—everything from fun ice-breaker questions at the beginning of a meeting to questions that allow you to glean important user data. Be thoughtful with how and WHY you’re using polling in order to avoid “overkill” and to keep audiences engaged with (and not overwhelmed or annoyed by) the feature. The ultimate goal is to allow your audience to take part in the conversation.
Let participants know you understand that it's exhausting being in front of a camera all day so you'll be offering breaks to allow them to slouch, stretch and make all the weird faces.
We’re in this together, right?
4. Encourage Play & Add In Breaks
Here’s your chance to embrace your inner-child and encourage the same for your participants. There is so much research out there that supports play-based learning—and not just for school-aged children. Games and activities might feel like a distraction, but they have been clinically proven to increase engagement, refresh our energy, decrease stress and inspire us to think creatively or strategically.
This is also a fun way to build company culture and community—especially for a group that may still be getting to know one another. If you have a long meeting, be sure to take breaks to allow participants to use the restroom, get more coffee, check email, etc. Facilitated group stretches or physical energizers following a group break are also valuable.
5. Use Active Language
The words we choose, the tone of our voice (soft, harsh, monotone…), and the unique cadence of our sentences (how and when we use breaks or create sound patterns) all lay the foundation for how others hear, understand and relate to what we’re saying. If you have the time and resources to work with a speaking coach, we definitely recommend it, but you don’t have to be a linguistics expert to run an effective meeting.
Start first by becoming more conscientious of the words and phrases you can use to bring your meeting attendees back to the conversation, focus their attention or engage them individually. “As you can see here,” “we were particularly struck by these four examples,” or “Joe, I’m curious to get your thoughts....” will help you better engage your audience.
6. Consider Having a Facilitator
Facilitating conversation is a true art form. Many of the most effective leaders may still find it difficult to participate in the meeting and play the role of a neutral facilitator. It’s human nature to unintentionally insert your own biases or opinions into the conversation before participants have a chance to weigh in. A facilitator offers a neutral position, without any stake in the game; one that can help maintain meeting objectives while also bringing out the diverse perspectives in the room.
A facilitator (or, depending on the size of the meeting, a facilitation team) can monitor engagement, help pivot the conversation, keep content and time on track, and use a variety of tools to encourage participation.
There are many nuances to hosting an effective virtual meeting and there is no guidebook written for these challenging and strange times in which we’re living and working. However, we know the ultimate need and value in keeping our meeting participants engaged and excited, even in situations where “distraction” is being taken to the next level. Ultimately, we’re working to embrace the current circumstances, stay connected to each other and focus on the message and the objectives at hand—whether our meetings are in-person or through the screen.
If you think your virtual meeting could use an objective, third-party facilitator, let’s talk. Our trained facilitators help our clients design meetings, create consensus and keep everyone engaged and motivated. Click here to learn more about our services.
— Nicole Lewis & Katie Wall