Designing and Facilitating Engaging Virtual Meetings

learning objectives:

• Know how to create a virtual meeting designed to hold peoples’ attention and achieve goals in the allotted time.
• Understand the factors that contribute to keeping people engaged or losing their attention.
• Learn tips and techniques for maintaining energy, balancing participation, and drawing out reluctant participants.

Pre-course Assignment

Participants will read a case study in advance of the first module and will be asked to respond to a brief series of prework questions in an online conference area prior to all three modules.

Module 1: Great Virtual Meetings – Essential Building Blocks

• Special challenges of virtual meetings and unique facilitation skills required
• A practical model for getting consistently great results from virtual meetings
• Why prework is vital for virtual meetings, and ways to make it compelling
• Setting and enforcing ground rules for virtual meetings with people you can’t see
• Starting off right: making people feel welcome, valued, and energized

Module 2: Guidelines for Success – Planning and Designing Productive Conversations

• “Best practices” design principles for planning your next virtual meeting
• Blending the best of asynchronous and synchronous participation
• Choosing the best combination of tools for more participation with less effort
• Selecting the right participants at the right time
• Designing for interactivity with groups of 5 to 5,000
• Building in opportunities for multitasking “on task”
• Practical tips for planning leading successful “hybrid” meetings (combining remote and face-to-face participants)

Module 3: Keeping Remote Participants Engaged and Focused

• Understanding why people become disengaged and who’s really responsible
• Learning and demonstrating tips and techniques for drawing people into the conversation and keeping them there
• Knowing how and when to stimulate conversation and when to stop it
• Practicing using winning interventions in real-life situations