B L U E P R I N T HOSTING REMOTE MEETINGS Summarize Discuss what was talked about during the last meeting so everyone is on the same page for the rest of the call. Connect the At the end of the call, Ask “We agreed that the end goal of this Wagons make sure the end goal you meeting was to accomplish understanding went over at the beginning of what your requirements are and seeing if it’s the call was achieved. If they a good fit to move forward. Did we achieve say no, then you have about 5 that today? minutes to handle it. If they say yes, you can move on with the next steps. HOW TO ENGAGE AN ONLINE AUDIENCE Let’s talk about how to engage everyone on a call of more than 5 people, and assume everyone has their own camera and you can clearly see each person’s face. The first thing to do is to make sure you know everyone’s name by turning on the setting that puts the name next to each person’s face. A best practice of how to ask questions to an entire group vs individuals is The risk of asking questions to the entire group is something called the tragedy of the commons. Everyone expects someone else to answer and now you’ve lost momentum. You can avoid the tragedy of the commons by calling someone out, “Sari, this next question is for you…” and then add context so even if she wasn’t paying attention you are setting her up for success, “We were talking about xyz” … then, ask the question. This technique is powerful for audience management, so make sure everyone is engaged by rotating throughout the entire group. Also important when you’re on video is to smile. People will naturally mirror each other’s behavior so spread the positivity! HOW TO INTERRUPT DURING ONLINE MEETINGS Keeping your agenda on track is tough. Time management when you’re running online meetings is challenging. There are techniques to keep an online meeting on track. First, roughly timestamp how long each section should last, and give yourself wiggle room. The opening of the call, including context and stating the prepared agenda should take about 5 minutes. If you sound like you’re doing it your way you may come off as a pushy salesperson or someone that just cares about themselves.