Techniques to Encourage Engagement in Virtual Meetings

How do you make your online meeting or program so engaging and useful that attendees readily participate, and can’t wait for the next one? In this article I’ll outline a few techniques I’ve learned from my own experience, then I’ll turn the floor over to Leslie Laredo, President of Laredo Group and its training division, the Academy of Digital Media.

Decades ago, when I was studying for the ministry, I had to run a lot of small-group studies, and I had to train other people how to do it. While there are a lot of subtle social skills involved, there were three main rules I wanted my small-group leaders to follow. These rules apply to in-person meetings, but are also critical for successful online events.

I’ll start with my three rules for managing small groups, then Leslie will add her insights for online events.

1. Warm up the room with an ice breaker. A lot of people show up to a “discussion” as if their lips are frozen. Getting that first word out of their mouth can break the ice and make them far more likely to participate. The best way to warm up the participants is to give them something to make them smile and give them a simple opportunity to engage – like giving their name and answering a non-threatening question. One of my favorites was “what did you have for breakfast today?”

2. Call on people who aren't participating. The ice breaker can get things started, but some people might still be shy about talking, or might not have the assertiveness to break into the conversation. The leader needs to keep track of who’s participating, and call on those who are not.

   It’s best if the leader knows enough about the participants to know when it’s best to call on which people. E.g., “Sandy, you do a lot with email marketing, what do you think about Joe’s question?” Encourage everyone to participate, but don’t put people on the spot with specific questions unless you’re sure they can contribute meaningfully to the topic at hand. You don’t want to make them feel awkward or embarrassed.

3. Slow down the people who are hogging time. On the other side of the equation, you have the participants who came to talk, not to listen. You can’t let them dominate the conversation. The other participants will resent it, and the conversation will be dominated by one point of view.

   Leslie had an interesting suggestion here for how to handle this in an online discussion. The leader can interrupt the speaker with “my you have so many interesting points, and I’m sure everyone would love to hear more, but we have an agenda to keep. If you put your email in the chat box, people can reach out to you after this session.” It’s complimentary and affirming, but keeps the program on track.

Those basics guidelines were in the back of my mind as I heard Leslie give a quick overview of the techniques she uses to ensure engagement in her online meeting and training programs.

Leslie has had two decades of experience delivering training, live in-person, virtually as well as on-demand, has led thousands of training sessions, and has facilitated dozens of sessions at industry conferences. She’s a recognized expert in moderating panels.

I asked her to expand on my brief thoughts with some of her techniques.

Set expectations before the event. Use your pre-event communications to make sure people know they will be expected to participate, and how, and ask them to review the engagement tools of the platform. Provide links to the platforms “help” or “knowledge” center that explains the engagement features.

Introduce the session and set expectations. Part of the warm-up should address the mute/unmute aspects of the meeting. You should ask people to mute themselves and make sure their full name is showing in their video so the moderator or host can call on them. As people respond in chat, the host should acknowledge a few by name and thank everyone for their answers.

Review the meeting agenda, what you hope to accomplish, timing, when Q&A will be available. Also mention if the session is being recorded and start with a quick poll or ask people to answer the “warm up” question in the chat box.

Boost user engagement. There are several options to engage participants. Ad hoc engagement includes asking participants to use the chat to respond to questions, or ask for reactions and give a “thumbs up” to agree or applause to show support. For planned engagement, having pre-programmed polls that you create and push to your participants during the session, as well as use at the end as a session evaluation survey.

Non-platform engagement. If your conference platform doesn’t have reaction features or polls, or you just want to get more physical interactions, you can ask your participants to use their hands to give a thumbs up to the camera or clap. With advance planning and preparation, you can ask your participants to hold up signs with emojis or index cards that they write on and hold in front of their camera. Just note, depending on the use of virtual backgrounds, camera positions and resolution, it may not be easy to see or read these signs or cards.

There’s an important training concept, referred to as Adult Learning Theory, which could be simplified to “adults learn best from talking to each other, not from being lectured to.”

Another important concept in training is called the “flipped classroom,” where homework is assigned before the class, not after, and the classroom is used to discuss the homework. Another benefit of homework is that thinking about a topic ahead of time greatly increases what you retain from the subsequent discussion.

Leslie’s thoughts remind me of two strange quirks of human psychology.

The first is that a person is more likely to attend an event if you ask them to do something. If you’re having a potluck supper and someone signs up to bring a salad, they’re more likely to come than if you leave it open and people can bring what they want, because now they know everyone will be expecting a salad – from them.

The second is that it’s more blessed to give than to receive. If you want to make a connection with someone, ask them to do something for you. It’s a little counter-intuitive, but it works.

I hope you find these tips helpful. If you want to explore the concept further, contact Leslie. She’s connecting the dots between the skills professional trainers use and the skills and processes needed to host highly effective virtual meetings and events.

Leslie Laredo can be reached at Leslie@AcademyDM.com.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslielaredo/
http://www.AcademyDM.com
www.LaredoGroup.com