Engage with Super Engaging Virtual Meetings
Who is the most challenging segment of members for you to engage? I’ve been asking this question A LOT this year during workshops all across the US, and the usual answers are new members and prospective members. During my last keynote + workshop combo program, I decided to add “online attendees.” You know what? The group said online attendees are more challenging to engage than any other segment.
One participant said, “They come with their cameras and microphones off with no intention of turning them on, and that’s not a good recipe for engagement, right?” So, let’s tackle this hardest of all engagement problems!
Start before the start.
Every virtual event has early birds. Early birds log in a few minutes before the official start, so open up the event and let everyone in 3-5 minutes early. If a few people are online, welcome them and chit-chat. For bigger groups, like more than 12, have a more structured activity in your back pocket that everyone can participate in. When meetings are recurring, run the unofficial start a few minutes past the official start to let everyone know it pays to be on time or early.
Start at the start.
Waiting a few minutes for everyone to log on signals to everyone already there that it is okay to:
Be late next time.
multi-task—aka dive into email
Once attention is lost, getting them back is hard, so start right at the starting time, if not before.
Start with the shortest intros ever.
Attendees can read your bio in the email or online, so don’t repeat what they might have already written. Instead, offer a few lines that grab their attention and add more credibility to the speaker. The introduction I provide event hosts takes about 30 seconds to read.
Dive into something interactive quickly.
Participating is engaging. Most webinars and virtual panels are sage on the stage-type events where attendees listen. You can signal that this isn’t just the usual webinar by offering an opportunity to interact within the first minute. Interaction can be as simple as a question.
Lean into the chat function.
Some of your participants are happy to unmute, turn on the camera, and speak, but this tends to be a tiny group, and that group gets smaller the more attendees there are. Keep up the interaction on the chat throughout the event so more people can engage.
Want to see all this in action? I have a 60-minute online workshop demonstrating all these strategies and more for wildly engaging online meetings and events. Contact me for more info.
