How to run a meeting online: A beginner's guide
Tyler Vaughn
Knowing how to run an online meeting is becoming more and more important in business. Top leaders are equally comfortable working online or face-to-face.
Online meetings can save you money on travel, boost communication between workers and clients, even increase sales. If you run them right. Follow these 8 tips and you'll be ahead of the game.
1. Send an agenda in advance. Yes, I know this is a standard recommendation. It's still an important part of a successful meeting. More so online, where we have to add more visual and verbal cues to keep things on track.
2. Practice with your web meeting software. As a leader, you should know how the features work. Planning to use the whiteboard? Figure out how to use it before the meeting. Only want to share one document from your desktop? Again, practice once and learn what to do. Few things are more irritating to meeting participants than waiting five minutes while the leader mumbles "hmm can you see this now?" in vain.
3. Make sure everyone's prepared. Participants seem less likely to do their prep work (homework, if you will) for online meetings. I recommend a quick "how are you doing" phone call to anyone needing a nudge.
4. Remember to smile while you speak. Call center staff the world round know that your facial expressions translate into your voice tone. Even if there's no one to see you, smiling (with authority) works wonders.
5. This should be obvious, but just in case: keep the noises out of the background. Have dogs? Put them in a different room. (Mine are guaranteed to bark at a car 5 minutes into a call.) Ask participants to turn their cell phones to vibrate. Don't use a keyboard near the phone. No eating. You get the idea.
6. Don't be the note-taker. Ask someone else to handle this responsibility. Managing a good online meeting requires your attention. Don't distract yourself with the additional task of taking minutes.
7. Do participants understand (or agree on) the key points? We don't have facial expressions to help us know if everyone's in agreement. Instead, online meeting leaders have to ask specific questions after each major topic -- use that feedback to gauge the participants' understanding.
8. Keep track of who's joined the call. This is particularly important if it's going to be an interactive meeting (as opposed to a formal presentation). Your participants will want to know who else is on the call. Ask everyone to identify themselves at the start of the meeting.
These guidelines should help you understand how to run a meeting online. If you're still feeling undertain, I suggest you sign up for a free trial with a internet conference vendor (see resource box for helpful links). Take a few test runs with the software -- hold a practice meeting with a friend and get comfortable. You'll do fine.
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