What words come to mind when I say “meeting”? Is there a unique gut feeling if you’re attending as the leader or chairperson? Now what does your gut do when in-person meetings are required to happen virtually overnight?
There are templates and frameworks and tips and tricks for facilitating all types of in-person meetings, but depending on how comfortable you are with that role already, switching over to virtual meetings can seem like a fun challenge or a dreaded barrier.
The good news is that the majority skills for hosting in-person meetings are just as valuable for virtual meetings as well. The Matchbox staff live largely in a virtual world, and we’ve certainly had our fair share of wonderful and productive virtual meetings.
That being said, I have learned some lessons over time that have helped get the most out of every virtual meeting. Without further delay, I would like to share my 6 greatest tips for hosting a great virtual meeting!
1. Turn on that video. I repeat, turn on that video! Being connected is more important than ever, and it’s much easier to “read the room” when you can hear and see your participants. I recommend informing everyone that it will be a video chat beforehand since some will have to prepare themselves differently by modifying their background, sitting more comfortably, or making sure their outfit is appropriate.
2. The small talk is important. This is particularly useful at the very beginning of the meeting when folks start logging in at slightly different times. I recommend greeting each new person by name as they enter the zoom room so they have been actively welcomed into the conversation. This helps make every participant more comfortable, and more likely to speak up as the meeting begins.
3. The ideal conversational combination consists of four people. This is actually why the speaker panels for our virtual conferences are four people. Fun fact: this is also true in in-person settings.
4. Use “gallery review” for the best overall communication. Encourage all participants to use gallery view as well, so you can all see each others’ facial expressions and reactions. By getting the social and nonverbal cues of the group, the conversation will flow easier and more naturally.
5. Less is more. Once your virtual meeting is larger than 8-10 people, it’s going to be significantly more challenging to maintain a conversational dialogue. So much so that I personally try to avoid this all together. Two things tend to happen: participants start taking turns to speak (and the environment loses its conversational tone) or they don’t take turns and you hear much less from the shy participants (while the others adopt a “public speaking” tone). Keep this in mind as you’re planning how you’re going to run the agenda, or try to mitigate this situation by encouraging people to write into the chat if they have an idea.
6. Make their first virtual experience as easy as possible. Getting participants to contribute for the very first time is challenging, especially for those who are already shy to speak. Consider breaking the ice to help people get comfortable before diving into the heart of your meeting. For example, think of some questions you can ask at the beginning of the meeting, just make sure the barrier to entry is low so everyone present can answer effortlessly.
Normalizing the process may take a little time, but I promise that the outcomes are worth it!
