If you think it’s more difficult to lead a meeting when it’s conducted online, you have plenty of company. Nine out of ten meeting organizers say virtual events are more challenging, according to a recent poll by the ​software company ​Slido, being prepared for the virtual environment is becoming increasingly important every day.

Fast-changing technology has upped the game for virtual meetings. Innovative apps and video chat services are available to connec​t​ ​remote teams​ ​from all over the world. However, ​remote meetings pose challenges if you’re not prepared​, and because a large part of our future success is based on virtual collaboration, we’re ​providing you with a few quick tips to make your virtual meetings more effective​.

According to​ ​Harvard Business Review​, one study found that despite the prevalence of meetings today, 75% of those surveyed had received no formal training on how to conduct or participate in them. We know at WorkLife that the most ​effective meetings consider all four functions of the ​Birkman Color Map – planning (Yellow), communicating (Green), thinking (Blue), and taking action (Red)​. Each of these aspects/perspectives become even more important when bringing meetings into the virtual world. Explore each one below to set a solid foundation for your remote success.

Being prepared for virtual meetings not only allows you to feel more confident when running the meeting, but it also shows respect for everyone else’s time. Therefore, if you are leading the meeting, make sure to:

• Create and share an agenda in advance​, and include the time allotted, the topics of discussion, and talking points,

• Provide the team with the background information​, relevant documents, and details, or necessary research beforehand as well.

By providing the agenda, everyone will know who the leader is, who is involved in the meeting and the roles that each is expected to play, and their respective topics of discussion.

With voice-only meetings, you miss a lot of important messaging from body language, facial expressions, and emotions. Since these are very good indicators of alignment, agreement, or disagreement, be sure to enable the video - feature to fully communicate with one another.

• Greet each other. Log in early so you can spend your first minutes socializing. Small groups can ask for brief updates from each participant. Larger groups may want to introduce themselves.

• Knowing each other’s names and roles will make it easier to interact. It’s also important for participants to feel connected, even from afar.

• Consider setting aside 2-5 minutes at the start of your meetings to let everyone “check-in” and share what is going on in their lives either professionally and personally.

In today’s world, a lot of our meetings evolve around solving complex challenges and coming up with creative solutions to problems. ​Blues need time to reflect and imagine how what they’re contributing supports the future vision. Because the sharing of these ideas needs to be generated by coming together, ​it’s imperative that virtual meetings are conducive to creative collaboration.​

• Consider breaking out. ​Separating into smaller groups often leads to deeper conversation and greater inclusiveness.

• Choose video platforms with features that support such options. Leveraging platforms that allow for idea sharing and brainstorming can be very helpful, such as Mural, Invision, ConceptBoard, SharePoint, and Confluence

• Engagement and involvement can allow ​the team to maximize brainstorming sessions, solve complex challenges, and identify solutions.

Wrap it up. Meetings are different when employees won’t be running into each other in the hallways afterward for casual conversation.

• Spend your final moments reviewing what you’ve accomplished.

• Clarify deliverables and next steps.

• Give each employee a chance to comment.

• End with a checkout.

In addition, virtual meetings will be more successful when you include these additional key pieces:

Rehearse thoroughly. Practicing what and how you want to present will increase your confidence and enhance your performance. Record yourself and review – it definitely helps!

Run a test. Safeguard precious meeting time by checking your technology in advance. Test for video and audio quality. Have microphones and other devices on hand if needed. Become familiar with the technology by practicing with it.

A few other things to consider prior to the meeting are:

• Test the technology and have a back-up plan if the technology does not work properly.

• Mute your sound if you’re not speaking - this will eliminate background noise to be respectful of other participants.

• Stay focused. If the discussion goes off-topic, step in and make a note to discuss at a later time (Parking Lot technique). It’s one thing to go off-topic when people are all sitting around a table, it’s another when everyone is sitting at different corners of the globe.

• Use video or webcams to better monitor that your team is staying focused. According to Harvard Business Review, ​73% of survey respondents admit they use meeting time to do other work!

• Ensure that everyone attending ​should​ be attending.

And finally, all meetings need to drive actionable next steps! During the meeting, create a list of action items and deliverables. Share your screen, the action items, and the person responsible to get the task done. ​It’s important to end the meeting with clarity around ​who​ is accountable for ​what​ needs to get done.​ If you don’t know what the next steps are, speak up and ask! Just because the meeting is virtual, doesn’t mean there should be less impact or fewer results afterwards. In addition, the end result of the meeting should be shared with the group via email post-meeting to increase clarity and accountability. This will ultimately increase productivity after the meeting has ended.

What technique(s) have you found helpful to implement for virtual meetings?