This month I’ve been to Dublin to the PMI Global Congress EMEA. One of the presentations – the last slot of the Congress – was called The Seven Secrets of Successful Virtual Meetings and was presented by Dr Penny Pullan.
Penny’s presentation was very interactive. She used her iPad to capture the discussion in the room instead of a flip chart, projecting the iPad screen directly on to the wall. She turned the slides off (that’s ‘B’ in Powerpoint to black out the screen) when she was introducing her ideas, and only put the slides back up when they were required.
Penny’s presentation was the only one I attended which had full audience participation – a group simulated a virtual meeting by wearing blacked-out ski goggles so they couldn’t see each other. They had to agree on a place to eat that night if they were all going out for dinner. I was in the ‘control’ group that had the same task but didn’t have to wear goggles. We found it really easy to agree on a location, and even planned our ideal menu (the Irish equivalent of Pizza Express, in case anyone is wondering). The ‘virtual’ group found it much harder without the positive body language, and with having to cope with the noise levels in the room. It was a very visual way of making the point that conference calls are difficult.
Virtual meetings can be challenging. Penny shared some considerations for better virtual meetings and also her ‘secrets’ for successful virtual meetings. I will pass these on to you now:
Technology isn’t the silver bullet
“Technology on its own will not make your meetings wonderfully successful,” she said. Unless you can get the behaviours right, technology won’t solve anything. “Always prepare for failure,” she added. In other words, have a back up plan for when the technology lets you down.
Make the most of different time, different place
Do you all have to be present at the meeting? Make the most of technology to make your meetings accessible to people who can’t attend. Record them and have them transcribed, for example. Use blogs and wikis to record information that people can review at a later date.
Preparation is crucial
What are you having a meeting for? Start the discussion with: “Today we will...” Set a time plan too. “You don’t need to have everyone in the virtual meeting from beginning to end if you keep to time,” Penny said. Agree on how you are going to work together and make sure someone keeps a track of the actions.
Create a level playing field
If three people are meeting in the same room and one person isn’t able to make the meeting in person, have everyone dial in. This happened to me recently: we had ten people in the room and one on the phone. The meeting went very well, but it could easily have been much harder for the person on the phone if we hadn’t stuck to the meeting etiquette.
Keep people engaged
“We need to work harder to keep people engaged virtually,” Penny said. Have a break if the meeting is going to be long. Use virtual meeting software to create polls and use them to ask questions. Ask the participants to use the software to put forward their questions and suggestions. Use stories, because it helps people remember the points made and to build relationships. Use visual reminders of who’s who and where they are, like an illustrated world map with team members drawn on.
What other techniques do you have for managing virtual meetings successfully?