When working remotely became the new normal for many of us, one of the immediate changes was that team meetings and client calls became online experiences. While we may have got to grips with the technology involved in a meeting via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, getting our message across effectively online can still present many challenges.
Susan Heaton-Wright, a communications and speaking coach, who specialises in helping people to make an impact in both virtual and real-life conversations, recently ran a virtual masterclass for our members on how to get the best out of online meetings.
Her ninety-minute workshop was incredibly interactive and jam-packed with hints and tips on making an impact in online meetings and calls which included.
Before the meeting starts
It's important that you know your audience and to give some thought to the meeting's objectives.
Know exactly who will be on the call or in the meeting
Research the topic and your audience/participants on the call.
Ask yourself what they (and you) want to achieve from this conversation?
Make sure you have all the information you need to hand
Check out your technology – fully charged batteries, wifi connection, etc
Engaging with your audience
In online meetings, there are inevitably distractions (children interrupting, emails and phones pinging, etc) and it's more difficult to judge when people are distracted or losing interest than when they are in the same room.
To help you and your audience remain engaged:
Use body language where you can to demonstrate you are engaged e.g lean forwards.
Ask lots of questions.
Change things regularly to keep people alert and give lots of opportunity for interaction
Avoiding online fatigue
A lot more focus is required on the small screen than in face-to-face meetings and attention spans are shorter. It could help if you:
Keep meetings as short as possible
Invite only as many people as absolutely necessary
Don't have a meeting at all – would a phone call suffice?
Ensure everyone has the chance to contribute so that they stay motivated.
Performance
In face-to-face meetings, it’s much easier to make an impact than it is online. To increase your presence online:
Make sure what you say is impactful and memorable
Use techniques such as storytelling and anecdotal examples
Engage the audience with questions
Speak and contribute as succinctly and briefly as possible
Make more impact by speaking less
Etiquette
It's very easy for people to talk over each other in a virtual call. To make sure that an online meeting runs effectively, a strong facilitator needs to set ground rules which include:
Muting participants when they are not required to speak
Using the chat box efficiently
Ensuring participants' videos remain switched on and that everyone is fully, albeit virtually, present.
These are just a few examples of the many hints and tips we took away to make us more impactful in the virtual world. Susan has recorded a number of podcasts on this topic which you can find here.
Our thanks to Susan for giving her time to bring us this really inspiring and valuable virtual masterclass. It was clearly a great success, judging by the comments from our members
“This was honestly the best workshop I’ve been to in lockdown and perhaps in the past couple of years!”
“I found the workshop extremely useful. I came away with clear actions that I can start implementing in my daily job - a great sign of learning time well spent “
“Really engaging and inspiring workshop, one of the best I have joined recently (and I’ve been on a few!)”
“ was lively, energetic, very positive and eloquent, She really grabbed my attention and I left the call energised and optimistic”
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