As technology advances, businesses are looking to do more with virtual meetings and conferences. Whether you are a manager, business owner, or someone in charge of training sessions at your company, here are four things to do before using a video conferencing service to host your next virtual event.
4 Things To Do Before Hosting Your Next Virtual Meeting
1. Create An Agenda
As with an in-person meeting, a virtual meeting should have the details of what will be discussed and accomplished laid out for all attendees. Core tenets of an agenda include the purpose of the meeting and what topics will be covered. Ideally, you want to distribute your agenda ahead of time so that attendees can come to the meeting prepared.
An agenda enables participants to prepare questions and comments ahead of time. This helps attendees to know what to expect so they do not feel as though their time may be wasted by attending. Make sure to give some leeway for technological difficulties, as well as for questions at the end of the meeting.
2. Send Reminders Beforehand
In addition to the initial invitation, send a reminder an hour or two before the meeting is scheduled. This allows participants to make any quick notes or arrangements. It also permits people to ensure that their videos and microphones are working, eliminating pre-meeting jitters and embarrassment.
Having a routine of sending reminders can help you as the meeting facilitator, too. These reminders are your cue to review what you want to say and make any last-minute changes.
3. Set Out To Succeed With Engagement
Captivate the interest of your audience from the very beginning of the meeting by having an engaging presentation title. Use tactics such as playing music or introducing an icebreaker appropriate for the style and formality level of your company. Interactive content such as polls and quizzes offer a good way to get attendees to start thinking about the topic at hand. If you are facilitating a virtual conference that happens infrequently, consider introducing any new employees who have joined the company since the last conference.
4. Ask For Feedback
After nailing your presentation and staying under the amount of time you set aside for it, make sure to either formally or informally request feedback from your audience. This can be as simple as chatting with people after the presentation. Or, as methodical as sending out an online survey and analyzing the results. Either way, it is important to learn from the feedback and apply it to your next virtual engagement.
With workplace technology advancing and more people working from home, use these four tips to ensure that the next virtual meeting you host goes smoothly from start to finish.
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
