Strategic Discipline Blog

Virtual meetings are the norm today. No matter your industry, virtual meetings are not only formal, but they can also be engaging. How? By looking to these 6 helpful tips on virtual meeting engagement.

1. Prepare For Virtual Meetings

“First and foremost, virtual meetings must be well-prepared at all times,” says Jade Caesar, a writer at Eliteassignmenthelp and Revieweal. “Going into a meeting unprepared is like trying to perform a violin solo without a violin. Therefore, you’ll need the right materials, the right equipment, and so on, to make your virtual meeting a success.”

One way to prep for a virtual meeting is to create a to-do list. Make a list of things that you’ll need for the event, and then check off everything that you’ve completed or obtained. In this way, you’re more prepared whenever something goes wrong during the meeting, or if there’s a sudden change of plans. One of the best online tools to create to-do lists is Smartsheet.com, where you can manage tasks, projects, etc. from your computer or mobile device.

Source: Smartsheet

2. Poll Your Attendees Before Meeting

Make sure you have your attendees in mind by creating a poll days (or weeks) before your meeting. This allows you to see your attendees' expectations before putting the finishing touches on your event.

You’ll learn:

• Who will actually attend your meeting, meaning lower no-show rates
• How they’ll participate (i.e. computer, smartphone, etc.)
• Any accommodations your attendees might need (i.e. hearing-impaired)

The type of polling you enable depends on your audience size. For small groups, consider using word clouds, as shown in the example below.

Source: University of New England

For larger groups, use multiple-choice questions, so a consensus can be drawn.

3. Use The Right Tools

Nothing is worse than having equipment not work or having the wrong equipment during a meeting. Make sure you:

• Have the right online collaboration tools
• Have the right equipment
• Make sure your equipment works
• Test your collaboration tools (i.e., video conferencing tools, screen-sharing, etc.)
• Test your messaging methods (i.e., texting, instant messaging, etc.)

Prepping your tools and equipment can make sure your virtual meeting runs more smoothly.

Online collaboration tools like Monday.com help you to ensure that your virtual meetings are well-prepped and nothing is left untouched.

Source: Monday.com

4. Have Attendees Enable Push Notifications

Source: Conference Compass

Push notifications are a great way for attendees to be informed of upcoming virtual meetings. Instead of having attendees turn on notifications for when it’s time to head to the correct room or grab a quick snack in the hallway upon entering, have them turn on your notification’s days or weeks before the meeting for fun tidbits (i.e. facts, quizzes, etc.) about the topic to be discussed.

5. Use Gamification

“Gamification is a fun way to get virtual meeting attendees engaged,” says Cameron Howarth, HR at UKWritings and Essay Services. “One strategy is to assign points to attendees that are interacting with the meeting the most. The attendee with the most points can get a prize at the end of the meeting. Whether your virtual meeting is holding a small group or a large crowd, this strategy can work for any scenario.”

Online tools like Todoist allow for gamification to help keep your attendees engaged.

Source: Todoist

With its feature Karma, people can advance to higher levels as they engage with the online tool more and more, with the highest Karma level being “Enlightened.”

6. Ask For Feedback Post-Meeting

How did your attendees feel about your meeting? You can send attendees a survey.

Here are considerations when creating a survey:

• Make your survey short, no more than 5 to 7 minutes (shorter is better).
• Ask your attendees how familiar they were with a certain subject.
• Present multiple-choice questions in quiz or opinion form.
• Present true or false questions in quiz form.
• Allow attendees to write about their experience in an open-forum section of the survey.

Surveys help you understand your audience expectations, what went well, and where you can improve your performance.

Here are some online survey makers to consider:

• Google Forms
• Survey Monkey
• Typeform, etc.

Conclusion

A virtual meeting is more than just meeting attendees online. A good meeting takes a lot of prep, good equipment, and cooperation from everyone involved. And above all, engagement should be at the forefront of your virtual meetings. No matter the topic or industry, keep your virtual meetings both professional and engaging.

Lauren Groff is a content writer for Top Canadian Writers and Custom Assignment Writing Service. Lauren writes on a wide range of topics, including social media posts for restaurants. She is also an editor at Paper Fellows.

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