The concept of hosting meetings over a virtual format sounded bizarre a few months back. But now, it has become a prominent part of the virtual events industry as well as associations. If hosted right, virtual meetings can leave behind the traditional concept of organizing important meetings. However, like every format, virtual meetings also have their own advantages and disadvantages. But by following a few efficient steps, you can eliminate all the downsides and ensure a productive virtual meeting with improvised outcomes. For example, you might have heard of virtual meeting fatigue or zoom fatigue, which refers to the feeling of exhaustion and tediousness that one feels after attending long or a series of online meetings. However, by providing your attendees with mini-breaks and shortening the meeting duration, you can overcome online meeting fatigue to a great extent that your attendees begin to enjoy the meeting.
In this blog, we will walk you through the top steps to ensure the success of your online meeting and make the most out of it productively.
How to Run an Effective Virtual Meeting
#1 Predefine Your Goals
Determining your goals before you begin to plan and strategize different aspects of your online meeting can help you in different ways. But most of all, it helps decide your requirements and further improvise all the components of your meeting. Therefore, define the goals that can facilitate you with a guiding tool while planning the rest of the event. Mentioned below are a few questions that can help you determine your goals:
- What is your purpose behind organizing the meeting?
- What outcome do you expect by the end of the meeting?
- Who is your target audience?
- How will you share the meeting details with your attendees?
- Which engagement and interactive tools do you require during the meeting?
- What will be the components of your online meeting?
#2 Choose the Most Suitable Virtual Event Solution
Opting for the most suitable virtual meeting platform is one of the most significant steps you need to follow to organize a successful meeting. Today, the market is flooded with countless virtual meeting solutions that provide you with different sets of tools and features. However, you need to choose the one that suits your meeting requirements the best. Based on your goals, opt for a platform that renders you with top-notch tools and features to enhance your online meeting.
#3 Pick the Right Tools
Based on your meeting goals, plan, and strategies, select the right tools that you require from the opted virtual event platform. For example, Dreamcast is a renowned virtual meeting platform that provides you with the best features and tools like- immersive 3D experience, customizable tools, multi-format communication, recorded content features, innovative engagement tools, countless networking opportunities, complete event analytics & report generation tools, full-time backend support, and a lot more.
#4 Schedule the Online Meeting Carefully
With the help of the virtual format of hosting meetings, you can gather your attendees at a global level without any restrictions. However, you must schedule the meeting very carefully to make sure that none of your attendees face difficulties in attending the meeting. For example, try to plan the date when there is no other significant conference in the same field. Because if you choose such a date, your attendees might get divided, which you would not want. Also, make sure that the time you choose for the virtual meeting is suitable for all your remote attendees who are present in discrete-time zones.
#5 Plan the Meeting Agenda
A well-planned virtual meeting agenda can efficiently ensure the smooth execution of your online meeting. It helps you maintain the flow and pace of your event while moving ahead to achieve the defined outcome. It is so because if you have a pre-planned agenda, you don’t need to waste time discussing what to do next in the meeting. Following are a few points to give an insight into what your online meeting agenda should contain:
- Key sessions and topics with the time duration
- List of attendees involved or needed in different sessions
- The role of all the attendees throughout the meeting
- What the participants are required to bring with them to the meeting
- Relevant content like documents, slides, presentations, etc
An excellent virtual meeting tip for attendees is to follow the event agenda, so they don’t miss out on anything. Apart from all this, a pro-tip is to provide proper breaks during the meeting. Also, keep the sessions as short as possible.
#6 Provide Excellent Interactive Opportunities
Interactivity is the primary key to keeping your attendees engaged in the meeting. Many global pieces of research and reports have proven that, with the help of interactive tools like live polls, contests, Q & A sessions, chat rooms, you can reach the success prospects of your meeting. Therefore, make sure you incorporate enough interactive opportunities in the meeting that your attendees don’t feel the virtual meeting fatigue. The virtual meeting platform of Dreamcast also renders you with the reactions tool where your attendees can react with emojis like raised hands & thumbs-up or sound effects like claps by the end of a session.
#7 Use the Engagement Features
Most of the advanced virtual event platforms are well-resourced with the latest engagement features that can effectively engage your attendees. For example, you can opt for the feature of gamification and photo booths to enhance the fun element at the meeting. While on one hand, you can dedicate a session where your attendees can engage in a fun game with the help of gamification; on the other hand, your attendees can click a picture to remember the virtual experience with the help of a branded photo booth.
#8 Collect the Valuable Feedback
Collecting feedback from all your participants is a vital step that can help you comprehend the efficacy of your meeting strategies from the perspective of your attendees. You can also call for suggestions for your future meetings, as it can assist you in improvising your upcoming virtual events. For further assistance, contact Dreamcast, book a virtual meeting demo, and gain a better understanding of the efficient process to ensure a productive online meeting for your association.
