Virtual meetings require a different type of organization and facilitating skills than face to face meetings. Here are some point to consider as you are preparing to facilitate your virtual meeting:
During the meeting:
1. Consider that there will be some chat before getting to the agenda. Acknowledge this and decide what to do about it. I prefer to engage in these conversations to warm up the meeting. But keep in mind that you will set the tone about punctuality. Stick to what "being on time" means for your group, and others will follow. Punctuality means different things across cultures, so set expectations.
2. Create an agenda with specific times for each item. Identify clear outcomes from the meeting and summarize them at the end (or assign someone to do so).
3. Assign a time keeper (not you!) who will inform everyone when time is up for each item and when it is time to move on to the next item (or to agree on more time).
4. Agree on how each member will take turns speaking. Usually there is a “raise hand” feature or people could raise their own hands on the screen.
5. Identify who will be taking notes and who, when, and how the items that were agreed on will be followed up.
6. Decide if videos for participants will be “on” or “off”. I prefer to have videos “on” to see facial expressions as people are talking (that is the Psychologist in me) as well as to avoid people trying to multitask during the meeting (and they will), but that is up to you.
7. Remind participants to have mics off unless they want to speak (you don’t want to hear in the background spouses calling, kids fighting, dogs vomiting, etc.).
8. If your video conference has a “chat” feature agree on how the “chat” feature in the meeting will be used and keep an eye on it so you don’t miss what people are saying-asking. You could also assign someone in the meeting to alert you of specific questions posted on the chat. In zoom you can decide if people can chat among themselves as well as with the presenter or only with the presenter (settings).
9. Make sure to go around the virtual room and ask everyone for input. Some cultures believe that participating is only needed when there is something important to say while others believe that brainstorming ideas as they happen is important (cultural competence in virtual meetings is the topic of another long post-video)
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