Virtual Meetings Don’t Have To Be A Bore

If you want to be a successful speaker, it is important to connect with the audience. It is critical to be free and feel natural so that people connect with your content more deeply.
Sometimes, online teaching and coaching can become boring because of a lack of personal interaction. If you want to make virtual meetings successful, be it with your students, team members, or your boss, there are specific tips you need to remember.

Make it personal

Virtual settings can lack that personal touch because of physical and psychological distance. But you must be creative so virtual meetings aren’t redundant and boring. Be ready for the online meeting a couple of minutes early so that you can greet every participant. If you plan to have a video call, give the participant enough time to prepare.

You can also try to imagine the reactions of people you’re interacting with, especially if you’re presenting to a large group. Remember to show a warm, amicable smile and have a friendly tone. Also, make sure you address people directly using their names. This creates a more personal touch, and with the chat function, you can talk to the participants in real-time to get their ideas and feedback.

Convey warmth and presence

When you look at the screen, it isn’t as effective as an in-person meeting. But when facilitating an online meeting, you must adopt an engaged and active persona even if the setting is not as favorable.
Many things can be done to capture the sessions, like making eye contact with the participants, talking to them directly, ensuring the camera angle is set so everyone can see you correctly, etc.
Virtual meetings also have specific unsaid rules like – starting with a greeting, making the right setting, ensuring there is no distraction or background noise, and looking poised and professional.

Get used to delayed feedback

Having meetings or presenting virtually means learning to become comfortable with a different mode of receiving feedback. In face-to-face meetings, people nod, make eye contact, and laugh at your jokes, and you can move around the room and connect with the audience. In an online setting, all of these are absent, so you need to get used to delayed feedback.

At first, you might find it distracting, and your thoughts about your performance and its effectiveness or ineffectiveness can interfere. But it would help if you got used to the new challenge.

Make it interactive

Using the right tools, it is best to make your presentations more exciting and engaging. One example is to use the chat feature. This allows you to get instant comments and can involve participants in a discussion. A significant advantage of a virtual setting is that it lowers the bar for participation, and you tend to talk to even those people with whom you might not interact face-to-face. You can also use the poll feature to get the meeting rolling.

Working remotely has become a standard feature, which means more virtual meetings. This doesn’t mean that you need to have boring ones. Use the latest technology and apps to make your meetings productive and captivating for more tremendous success