Online Meetings: Grab Attendees’ Attention – And Keep It
Create an interactive, productive, and entertaining meeting to increase engagement and participation.
We all know it's easier to hold an audience captive when they're sitting in front of you. So, how do you keep that same level of engagement during online meetings? You need to make them want to come, be heard, and get involved.
As you think about how to make online meetings more interesting, consider how you'll prepare, organize, and present your team meeting ideas. Are they interesting? Motivating? Use these steps in planning a meeting to create an interactive, productive, and entertaining session that will lead to better engagement and encourage greater participation in future online meetings.
Get Them to Show Up
There are various approaches on how to get people to come to meetings. You could make attendance mandatory, but wouldn't you rather have eager participants rather than reluctant ones? Knowing how to boost meeting attendance without having to resort to strong-arm tactics will make a big difference in your team's overall engagement and productivity.
- Be accommodating
Hold meetings during the scheduled workday, if possible, when everyone can attend. If you have a long-distance team working across multiple time zones, select the earliest possible time of day for team members in the latest time zone. Meeting attendees should perceive your online session as a positive tool that will help them do their job better rather than an unwelcome, time-wasting interruption that derails their workday.
While it's tempting to schedule meetings for Mondays or Fridays, these are the least productive days: people are either putting out Monday morning fires or dreaming of the weekend. If you want them staying focused in meetings, schedule a Wednesday morning meeting. This allows you to discuss the week's progress thus far, and plan ahead for next week.
- Encourage everyone to be heard
When you create a collaborative team meeting agenda, you'll experience better online meetings. Send out a memo before the meeting, asking attendees to place items on the agenda or share an online document that can be expanded upon in the days or hours leading up to your meeting.
Review these pre-meeting matters and assign time in the online team meeting agenda to discuss them. Not only will this keep your online meeting flowing smoothly, but it will also prevent it from going off-topic. Incorporate new items into the existing agenda where they make the most sense, and highlight items that should be addressed offline rather than in the public meeting dialogue. By asking for and accepting suggestions, you give team members another reason to show up and contribute.
Get Them Involved
There are many ways to encourage participation in meetings. Start by having meeting attendees introduce themselves. As each participant speaks, ask if they have a cool or funny nickname that they like, and then refer to them by that name throughout the meeting.
Assign everyone a task. Put someone in charge of keeping track of ideas presented during the meeting. Ask someone else to keep notes on agenda items to be followed up on later. Make another participant responsible for recapping each team member's assignments and distributing them after the meeting.
Extroverts are always willing to participate in meetings, but how do you get the introverts to join in? Interactive meeting ideas that involve behind-the-scenes activities are great ways to engage those less likely to contribute vocally. These tasks include formatting the agenda, sending out reminders, recording attendance, and compiling highlights from the meeting to send to non-attendees.
Get Them to Lighten Up
One Want to know how to make meetings fun? Start with a few virtual icebreakers. Invite attendees to share the funniest or most embarrassing thing that happened to them this week, or ask members to share what animal they would choose to be and why. Have each member offer a fun name for your current project and let everyone vote on the best one. These exercises only take a few minutes, but they kick the meeting off on a high note.
Make time for casual conversation, but remember to maintain control. Once everyone's had a chance to get comfortable, it's time to get down to business. Follow the set agenda, taking short breaks to ask if participants have anything they'd like to add.
Get Them to Listen Up
What do you do when members are not paying attention in meetings? It can be hard to keep people on track during a lengthy meeting, so get them interested right from the start and keep them engaged throughout. Follow these helpful tips:
- How to get people interested at the beginning of the call
Begin your meeting with a hook that instantly attracts everyone's attention. Let them know at some point in the session you'll be sharing some news – and have that news ready in your back pocket when you feel their attention dropping. - How to keep members engaged from start to finish
Schedule breaks during the call and have members unmute themselves so they can ask questions. Throw out questions of your own as well. For those who tend to tune out during meetings, have them prepare to weigh in on a topic in their area of expertise – this way, they'll be eager for their turn to speak. - How to manage work-from-home employees during an online meeting
These team members can sometimes feel disconnected from the team, so find ways to draw them in. Remote workers know how to effectively manage their time, so before the meeting, ask them to share productivity or work/life balance tips with the team.
Get Them to the Finish Line
There are many fun ways to close a meeting. As the session is wrapping up, ask participants what plans they have for their downtime. This is a good way for team members to get to know one another, and a reminder to make time for themselves.
Remember, your meeting is only productive when it's engaging. When you encourage participation in the planning and execution of your meetings, you're likely to keep online meeting attendees engaged. Incorporate some of these interactive meeting ideas into your next session and watch the enthusiasm and productivity speak for themselves.
Get answers to all of your questions.
Holding an Online Meeting
- What can I do with GoToMeeting?
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With GoToMeeting, you can deliver presentations, perform product demonstrations, brainstorm with colleagues and securely share confidential information online from anywhere at any time. Your meetings can be one-to-one, or you can meet with multiple people at once.
Presentations: Give a slideshow to your online audience and reduce travel costs.
Demonstrations: Show prospects how your product works by inviting them to view a demo in real time, whether they are across town or a thousand miles away.
Work together: Meet with others online to share, discuss and edit any document. Transfer presentation controls to other attendees.
- How do I start using GoToMeeting?
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Simply register for your free trial now. After the quick automatic setup is completed, you can immediately begin using it.
- Do I have to be at my computer to hold a meeting?
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No, you can hold a meeting from any computer – or even a mobile device – as long as it has Internet access. Just log in with your account email and password at www.gotomeeting.com.
Hold a scheduled meeting: Your scheduled meetings will be listed under My Meetings – just click the Start Meetingbutton next to the meeting you want to start.
Hold an instant meeting: Click the Host a Meeting button, then choose the Meet Now button. Your meeting will start immediately. To invite people to your meeting, click the Invite Others button in the control panel. A window will open with instructions for joining that you can email, instant message or tell your attendees over the phone.
To schedule a meeting: Click the Host a Meeting button, then choose the Schedule Meeting button. Fill out the meeting information and click the Schedule button. A meeting invitation email will launch automatically. - How do I start an impromptu meeting?
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On a PC
There are several ways to start a one-click impromptu meeting:
· Double-click the GoToMeeting system tray icon.
· Click the Meet Now button integrated into Microsoft Outlook and various instant-messaging applications.
· Scheduled meetings can be started with one click from the My Meetings web page after logging in to the GoToMeeting website.
On a Mac
Just click the GoToMeeting icon in the dock and then click the Meet Now button.
Your meeting will start and the GoToMeeting organizer control panel will appear on the right side of your desktop. - How do I schedule a meeting?
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On a PC
To schedule a meeting in advance, right-click the GoToMeeting system tray icon on the bottom-right corner of your screen, select Schedule a Meeting... and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the Schedule Meeting dialog box, enter your meeting information and click the Schedule button.You will be notified that your meeting has been scheduled. If you are using Microsoft Outlook, a meeting reminder will be generated and give you the option of inviting attendees via an Outlook Calendar appointment.
On a Mac
To schedule a meeting in advance, click the GoToMeeting icon in the dock, select Schedule Meeting and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the Schedule Meeting dialog box, enter your meeting information and click the Schedule button. You will be notified that your meeting has been scheduled. - How do I set up recurring meetings that I can use any time?
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On a PC
To set up a recurring meeting, right-click the GoToMeeting system tray icon on the bottom-right corner of your screen, select Schedule a Meeting... and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the Schedule Meeting dialog box, click the check box next to Recurring meeting. This will disable the scheduling settings, keeping the meeting open and available in My Meetings until you delete it. Click the Schedule button.You will be notified that your meeting has been scheduled. If you are using Microsoft Outlook, a meeting reminder will be generated and give you the option of inviting attendees via an Outlook Calendar appointment.
On a Mac
To set up a recurring meeting, click the GoToMeeting icon in the dock, select Schedule Meeting and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the Schedule Meeting dialog box, click the check box next to Recurring meeting. This will disable the scheduling settings, keeping the meeting open and available in My Meetings until you delete it. Click the Schedule button. You will be notified that your meeting has been scheduled. - How do I start a scheduled or recurring meeting?
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On a PC
To start a previously scheduled meeting, right-click the GoToMeeting system tray icon, select My Meetings and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the My Scheduled Meetings dialog box, select the meeting you wish to start and click Start.
On a Mac
To start a previously scheduled meeting, click the GoToMeeting icon in the dock, click the My Meetings button and log in by entering your account information and clicking the Log In button. Then, on the My Meetings – GoToMeeting dialog box, select the meeting you wish to start and click Start. - Can I use GoToMeeting with email or instant-messaging applications?
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GoToMeeting integrates with Microsoft Outlook and other popular email and instant-messaging applications, so you can easily start or schedule meetings while using them.
- How do I save chat sessions from my meetings?
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Under the File menu select Save Chat Log... This opens the "Save Chat Log to a File" dialog that allows you to store it locally.
- How do I share one application and nothing else?
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On a PC
A presenter can share a single application by right-clicking the screen-sharing icon on the control panel grab tab and then selecting the application to share from the list of applications presented.
On a Mac
Since specific screen sharing is not yet available for Mac users, we recommend you close any application you do not want to share before initiating screen sharing. - What do I do if my attendees can't see my screen?
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Screen sharing needs to be turned on after starting a meeting – GoToMeeting starts with it turned off to prevent early attendees from viewing your preparation.
To enable screen sharing, click Show My Screen in the organizer control panel.
If attendees still can't see your screen, please contact Global Customer Support.
