You're struggling to convey your message in a virtual meeting. How can you ensure clarity and understanding?

To ensure clarity and understanding in a virtual meeting, simplify your message and use clear, concise language. Pause frequently to check in with participants, encouraging questions to ensure everyone is following along. Utilize visual aids like slides or diagrams to reinforce key points. Pay attention to the tone and pace of your speech, and engage the audience through direct interaction, asking for feedback or summaries. If necessary, follow up with a written recap to ensure everyone has a clear takeaway from the meeting.

Some of the leg work of virtual meetings has to be done before the meeting even begins. Has there been an agenda with relevant documents (proposals, FAQs, talking points, data, etc.) sent out beforehand? Have team members met with the team leader leading up to the meeting to go over talking points? You cannot always depend on the limited, technology-mediated time frame of a virtual meeting to convey a message fully.

Virtual meetings are a norm right now so we have to ensure we communicate effectively in this environment. What I always like to do it to see colleagues' faces so I can react to their expressions. Facial expressions and body language matters. Therefore I set my screen to have a group's view rather than speaker's view. Pausing frequently during your narrative and asking attendees for their comments will help engage the audience and will help you assess how your messages are landing. Make eye contact with the camera but glance regularly at your audience to see their reactions. You may also ask specifically if the points you are making need additional clarification. Convey your message briefly, get to the point, avoid long monologues.

To keep things clear, break your message into smaller, easy-to-digest bites. As you go along, pause and ask something like, “Does that make sense? Should I explain anything further?” to check in with everyone. Using visuals or sharing your screen can help make more complex points easier to understand. At the end of each topic, do a quick recap to ensure everyone’s on the same page. This can help to avoid confusion and keeps your message from overwhelming people.