Leave a Lasting Impression on Your Guests and Make Your Meetings Memorable
Online meetings make business life much more convenient. When you’re strapped for time and colleagues work in different offices, an online meeting saves everyone the hassle of making the effort of meeting in person. What’s more, it’s even easier to stay connected with global partners when using an online conferencing platform. With more online meetings happening each day, coming off as an expert is becoming increasingly important in leaving a lasting impression on leads, clients and colleagues. We’ve come up with six tips for hosting an online meeting so you can come off as a professional and make your conferences more memorable.
- Have an Agenda
- Use a Reliable Network
- Share Something Valuable
- Make Your Information Relevant
- Engage Shorter Meetings with Supplemental Content
- Send a Follow-Up Email
1. Have an Agenda
Going into a meeting without an agenda is like joining a marathon without running shoes; you can definitely make it to the finish line, but it will be a very painful journey.
To avoid hiccups, you’ll want to come up with a game plan so you don’t fumble a few steps from the end zone.
Choose talking points and schedule them in relation to how much time you want to spend on the topic during the meeting. These numbers may not be exact, but it provides a rough estimate of how much time you should spend on any given topic.
You’ll also want to send that agenda to your attendees prior to your meeting so guests can start brainstorming before your team gets together.
2. Use a Reliable Network
“What was that? You were breaking up.”
People hate having to re-explain complex ideas over a bad connection. Not only does it make it harder to get your information across to your audience, it makes for an all-together bad experience for the hosts and guests.
Use a reliable network that supports high definition audio and video. Working with a platform that supports a strong connection makes online meetings as efficient as possible.
3. Share Something Valuable
Hosting a meeting just because you have it scheduled on your calendar isn’t a good reason to host a meeting.
Every meeting should have a purpose. Whether it’s to update the team, present new data or provide feedback, each of your meetings should always have an underlying reason or motive behind it.
Are you looking to keep everyone updated each week about initiatives between team members? Then a weekly online meeting may be your best option for keeping your workflow, and the workflow of your team, as efficient as possible.
4. Make Your Information Relevant
No one wants to join a meeting where they don’t belong. Likewise, when a meeting addresses information that’s not relevant to guests, it’s a signal for them to mentally check out early.
Make sure the information you want to discuss in the meeting is relevant to all your attendees in one way or another. Your goal as the host is to make the information important to your guest.
Hosting a company-wide meeting about the success of your sales team? You’ll want to communicate how the development and customer service teams are integral to that success.
5. Engage Shorter Meetings with Supplemental Content
Meetings that are too short should be omitted completely. When you can get your point across to your team in less than 200 words, you’re more than likely saving everyone a lot of time and effort.
However, some meetings are necessary for your project, regardless of length.
To make sure everyone understands what their role is on the project, bring supplemental data to your meetings so you can provide your guests with example aids. Supplemental data offers clarification and makes your concepts easy to understand. That way, even if you hold a short meeting, you’re sure that everyone understands exactly what their role is. To make sure you’re getting the most from your meeting, supplement shorter meetings with articles, infographics or other outside resources to help you get your idea across with clearly and concisely.
6. Send a Follow-up Email
After your meeting ends, send an email recapping everything you and your guests discussed during the conference. This email serves two purposes: 1. You remind attendees of the most important talking points during your meetings; and, 2. You give guests a referenceable resource that they can continue going back to.
These six tips for hosting an online meeting are sure to improve your skills and help you come off as a professional.
