That day has come – your meeting is going online! Everything will be great, but keep in mind these steps:

 

TECHNICAL CHECK

15 minutes before the actual start of the meeting ask everyone to join and check all technical issues – sound, video, screen share, discussion platform etc. In case everything works, this is a perfect time for an informal chat to break the ice.

 

INTRODUCTION

This is a perfect time to repeat the goal of the meeting, explain again the rules. Also, it is suggested to give a very short introduction round to all who are there (except the cases when you’re meeting in a very close group or the group is too large (more than 30 people). How to organise introduction – if you have a list of participants, add all participant names on a slide and ask them to introduce themselves following that list.

 

BE STRICT ON YOUR AGENDA AND TIME

Follow the agenda! In case you are falling behind the agenda, try to speed up the discussions, also use the time planned for breaks – agree with all participants that breaks will be shorter. Always inform all participants about the changes of agenda, write this information in your chat platform to remind it.

 

ALWAYS ANSWER ON ALL QUESTIONS THAT ARISE

Don’t ignore anyone. Follow your chat and collect all questions, ask them after the speaker has finished the presentation. Let the participants to ask questions also directly to the speaker and follow the discussion, time and your agenda.

 

IF SOMETHING IS NOT CLEAR, ASK TO REPEAT

Some technical issues can sometimes come into a play and the question asked might be not heard well, ask to repeat it so that it is clear to all. Ask to repeat or repeat on your own important deadlines and decisions.

 

BE READY TO ACT EXTRAORDINARY

You cannot always predict what can happen during the meeting regarding technologies, if you are not too keen about technical issues, ask someone to be nearby and help you with technical problems. Have an email list of all participants and inform them right away in cases when your connection is disrupted and you can’t reconnect the meeting.

 

END WITH CLEAR TASKS

Sum up the meeting with general conclusions, remind of the next tasks, who’s doing what and clear deadlines. Thank all participants for the successful meeting and remind that the notes will be sent to all in the next days.

 

TIP: ICE BREAKERS TO START THE MEETING 

Informal activities and ice breakers during the meeting always help in communicating the serious topics later in the meeting. If you have time, plan a short activity after a break or before the meeting. Think of a good activity that could be suitable for online interaction. For example: a drawing game – ask everyone to prepare a pencil and a paper, imagine a thing (car, cat, table, TV, house etc.) and give instructions to others so that they can draw it, but don’t say what it is, eg, ‘draw a circle, draw two more circles inside’ until you finish the picture. Then ask people to guess what it was. If people are willing to share their ‘piece of art’ ask them to make a photo and send to you, you can later share this with others.

When planning informal activities, be careful. If the meeting is planned high-level, think twice of the activity and need for it. Otherwise, such activities help to clear the mind between intense work as well as familiarise with each other and keep the positive atmosphere during the meeting.