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Running an Effective Online Meeting

Q:   Dear Seymour, My supervisor suggested that I begin holding my monthly team meetings online instead on in-person. I have never held an online meeting. Have any tips to make sure it runs smoothly?

- Submitted by Laura Schmitts, Burlington, VT

A: Dear Laura,

Even if you aren't new to the world of online meetings, there are definitely some guidelines to follow to make sure an online meeting goes smoothly. As you may know, online meetings provide a central area on the Internet and an excellent way for people to share ideas and information regardless of where they are located.

Follow these tips and your first entrée into the world of online conferencing should be a successful one!

Select a provider. Check with your organization to see if they have already selected an online conferencing provider which you should use. If not, you'll need to do some research and most importantly, go through live demonstrations of every vendor solution. Identify the best fit for your needs, depending on the typical number of attendees, frequency of meetings, functionality needs, etc. This is a good time to take advantage of vendor's free trail offers to take a dry run at your meeting.

Always Arrive Well Before the Meeting. You'll want to log in at least 30 minutes before the online meeting begins to troubleshoot. Is the audio working properly? Video? Arriving early will give you time to fix any potential technical problems.

Make it Visually Stimulating. One of the benefits to holding online meetings is that this type of venue supports the use of visual aids. Use detailed Powerpoints, graphs or video to enhance your meeting. Avoid excessive text on-screen as you may lose the interest of your attendees.

Solicit the Help of a Coworker. Particularly if you plan on offering a live chat or online Q&A, having another person to facilitate will allow you to focus on running the meeting or delivering your presentation.

Have a Backup Plan. You'll want to consider a secondary plan of action if your server fails or a technical issue prevents you from continuing your online meeting.

With proper planning and these general guidelines, I'm sure your online meeting will go off without a hitch!

Seymour