What could possibly go wrong with a Virtual meeting?

Everyone wants to have a meeting free of glitches, however at times there is nothing much you can do about them. You can prepare all you want, practice on your presentation, know how to share your screen, know how well to use the whiteboard for the engagement of the participants. When the power goes you are off the meeting.

There are a number of things that go into making series of virtual meetings successful, each treat one as it were the only meeting you are running without loosing sight of the big picture.

There various perspectives-

Speaker perspective

Participants

Meeting producer

Meeting moderator

Successful virtual meetings with purpose of educating participants have various perspectives.

The meeting moderator needs to know their panelist and be leading the discussion, more like a journalist probes. The moderator needs to know the good questions to ask.

The meeting producer. Their role is to ensure a memorable meeting is had, what appears on screen for the meeting, visual rich event are a pleasure to attend.

The meeting producer is the meeting manager, ensures coordination with the speakers , the moderator and the participants. If there is any engagement activity in the session, if there are break out sessions. The event invites management and admission to meeting are the producers areas of intrest

The speaker ,The speaker needs to have their presentation if they are running any Power point or screenshare . The key thing the speaker needs to be knowledgeable in the subject matter of the session.

Confidence to present is also key. I have meet virtual people who confidently tell me how they lack confidence to speak. The biggest fear for any speaker is the fear that someone else knows more than them on the particular area. Never be afraid to be wrong, never fear to fail, be optimistic and expect the best in as much as you have put effort into it. As a Subject matter expert, you also will be learning. You learn from each session you are in whether as a learner or the one sharing the learning. I have ran over 200 virtual meetings and some were great and others great disasters. Running a multiple meeting Pan African HRe Conference in 2020 October , had great learning on what to do and what not to.

The best approach to get into a virtual meeting that’s a series, anything that could go wrong will go wrong and be prepared for it, some you can prepare others will be on the fly decisions in session. This is from a producer, moderator and speaker perspective. If it won’t be the power, it will be the internet. Equipment failure is also not uncommon, you planning to start your meeting and your machine just gets a mind of its own and decides to day is not the day. Having a spare device helps minimize equipment.

At the start of the virtual meetings brought to prominence by the lock down, many virtual programs emerged, some braved time, some ran a few times and with time just fizzled out.Ranning virtual session is no easy thing. Especially if you have to do the full works, speakers, moderators,participants . Many sessions in the start of virtual meetings trend were free, not easy monetize sessions, however sessions like this present an opportunity to show case what you can achieve, either as an individual or a firm that is invol ved in learning or has something to teach a specific audience.

Knowing your audience is key , you cant tell much from the registration forms, however in session depending on the prowess of the moderator it is possible gain insight on geographical spread of participants , their profession and their key expectation of the session, well, if you are good, you can also gain insight on what they know and think about the subject matter.

What does one need to have a successful virtual meeting and a series of them?

Agan depends on whose perspective

Moderator, know which sessions you are running, the panelist and the subject, be curios ,be wanting to learn, ask the questions you think the audience would like to ask, and give the audience space and time to ask the questions you don’t ask, top of all this, have fun, what’s the use if its not fun and having the time of your life. I remember one session in particular from 2020, has the highest views to date on our youtube channel, https://youtu.be/ewqjsaUTelQ Snakes in suits. I had such fun in that session, possibly more than the other sessions.

If you are moderating, know the subject or be very interested to learn, here you will need powerful questioning skills.

At the end of each session, review what you could have done better so that the next on is better.

As Speaker, your presentation if you are having any is key. Don’t turn your session to a lecture, be engaging with the audience or the Moderator.

If you are a participant, learn and network, one way to network is sharing your LinkedIn profile so any other participants can connect with Your .Don’t ?be such a good participant that you key role is just opening your ears, open your mind too , ask questions on chat, between the speakers and moderator , the question would be either answered on chat or on mic.