Holding a virtual meeting can get pretty difficult. They can be noisy, glitchy and disorganized. With Action Card holding a Virtual Meeting on Field Management next week, we thought it would be a good idea to see how to make the most of it and how to avoid some of the on-line meeting pitfalls that can turn a conference call into a catastrophe.

Five Factors to Consider

There are five factors to take into account when preparing for a virtual meeting.

1) Use the technology effectively. Whether you decide to use Go To Meetings, Skype or another program, make sure that your meetings are scheduled well in advance and instructions on logging in are clear for the webinar neophytes.

2) Plan a viable agenda, let everyone in the meeting know what topics will be discussed and more importantly makes sure that this meeting is going to benefit everyone involved.

3) Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. The most important factor is to know what needs to be accomplished in this meeting. Distribute materials ahead of time if need be and send a copy or synopsis of the meeting afterwards if there is a call to action from the group.

4) Keep People Engaged and participating. This can be the most difficult thing. You want everyone to want to participate but sometimes distractions happen. The most effective ways to keep people engaged is by drawing active participation, visuals and being concise.

5) Cut to the chase: If you finish your meeting in 45 minutes instead of the allotted 60, call it a day and be a hero. It is important to know that those extra 15 minutes can mean a lot to people.

Etiquette for virtual meetings

 That title sounds weird doesn’t it? There are some things you do and don’t do during a virtual meeting. It is important to introduce people on the call, especially if not everyone knows each other. People want to know the group. If you are in a noisy location it is crucial to mute the phone while you aren’t speaking as to not distract other callers. Better yet, don’t host a conference call in a noisy location. Kids, dogs and traffic tend to ruin a good Go To Meeting. Set yourself up for success. The most important thing is to be on time. You don’t want to be late for a real meeting which means it is not okay to be late to a virtual meeting either. Log in 15 minutes before if you can to make sure you have the software needed since some products may require installations. Check out this hilarious video that depicts anything and everything that can go wrong in a virtual meeting.

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