3 strategies for creating engagement in your virtual meeting events.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• The difference between virtual and in-person
• Strategy #1: Create a warm atmosphere
• Strategy #2: Use a multimodal method
• Strategy #3: Maximize interactive tools
• The key to taking your virtual meetings to the next level in less than 5 minutes
• Conclusion
• Video

Introduction

In fact, research shows that professionals spend an average of 26% of their time each day in virtual encounters. However, once we're in the meeting, we behave differently than if we were in person. Here are a few statistics that show what people actually do in virtual meetings¹.

• 65% do other work;

• 63% send e-mails;

• 55% cook or eat;

• 47% go to the bathroom;

• 44% text;

• 43% watch social media;

• 25% play video games;

• 21% store online.

The reality is that it's extremely difficult to get people's attention in 2021, especially virtually.

Some players have figured out how to adapt. Take TikTok, the trendy new social network. They rely on short 15-second videos that follow one another. It's the most effective way they've found to engage people, and IT WORKS! They've passed the 1.1 billion user mark.

"We are moving from a world where computing power was limited to one where it is almost limitless, and where the real scarcity is now human attention."
-Satya Nadella

With the growing demand for attention and the popularity of virtual meetings, it's important to understand the human mechanics that really engage our audience. It's no longer a question of simply presenting our content as we used to do. It's about finding ways to make your content compelling. You owe it to yourself to wrap and prepare your content in its finest packaging. That way, you'll have the best chance of really engaging your audience.

The difference between virtual and in-person

The big difference we see is that you'll need to have a more rigid framework in a virtual environment than in person. You'll also have to spend more time preparing for your meeting. However, you'll spend less time on the meeting itself, because you'll be more efficient. You'll also spend less time after the meeting compiling your data.

In a virtual meeting, all participants contribute with interactive tools. This means that, with the right preparation, everything that happens in the session is documented and retrievable, making your compilation work much easier afterwards. You don't have to group the post-its and working documents for each sub-group as well as in person.

The other observation is that virtual meetings save time. For example, if you have to create sub-groups in person, you have to send people to their sub-group and then bring them back, which can sometimes take up to 15 minutes. Virtual meetings, on the other hand, require more preparation time on your part as a facilitator.

Let's take a look at 3 strategies you can implement now to prepare your meetings and engage your participants.

Strategy #1: Create a warm atmosphere

Imagine walking into a restaurant with a great atmosphere. There's a roaring fire, a little music, beautiful decor and you're even greeted with your favorite drink. Your experience will certainly not be the same as in an ugly restaurant that offers none of these little touches.

In fact, this staging and personalization is what makes many companies so strong and different. For example, when you arrive at the École d'Entrepreneurship de Beauce for the first time, you'll notice the care taken to create a warm atmosphere. First, the staff make a point of learning your first name before you even arrive, so you're greeted by your first name. Then, the music and decor in each room are chosen to create a particular emotion according to the pedagogical objectives of the training.

Who says we have to do things differently online than in person?

Why not keep these good habits virtual too? Did you know that you only have 7 seconds to create a good first impression? So, as a general rule, before you've even spoken, people will already have their first impression of you, which is all the more reason why a warm atmosphere is so important.

In virtual meetings, if you leave the staging of your entertainment to chance, you're depriving yourself of a good first impression and the commitment that will follow. Here are a few ways to create a warm atmosphere:

• Use music. Use music to create the mood you want. When we talk to managers, we're surprised to find that very few use this powerful technique.

• Ask an ice-breaker question. As soon as they arrive at the meeting, have a slide with an ice-breaker question. Ask participants aloud to answer the question in the chat menu. Participants will be engaged from the start and less distracted while waiting for other participants to arrive.

• Be ready when the meeting starts. We've all been to those meetings where screen sharing doesn't work, or the person can't create the subgroups. Take an extra 15 to 30 minutes to make sure all your tools are working before you start. Technical problems are the #1 distraction for participants. What should I do if I have technical problems? "The Show Must Go On", do your best without your tech tools.

• Have the camera open. We're often surprised to see teams doing their meetings without cameras. Give yourself the chance to capture the non-verbal with the camera, and the impact will be much greater.

Now that people are feeling good, let's look at a 4-step method for generating more engagement.

Strategy #2: Use a multimodal method

We've all been on Zoom or Team meetings that are long, monotonous and never-ending. As facilitators, we've probably already realized that we've fallen into the same trap. The aim of the 2nd strategy here is not to reduce the size of your content, but to ensure that you use a multimodal method in your content delivery. That is, through your presentation, you move from the smile, to the screen, to the tablet and finally to interactive tools. A bit like TikTok with its 15-second videos, the aim here is to keep attention levels high.

The aim of this 4-step method is to switch from one modality to another. If you watch sports on TV, you'll notice that camera angles and shots will change every 30 seconds. This is a rather extreme example, but you'll understand that the aim here is to keep attention levels high.

1. Smile. The first modality is to establish the human connection with a smile. The aim here is simply to get people to see you. Have the camera at eye level and look at it as you speak and, above all, as you smile. Try to get a slightly wider shot so people can see your shoulders and hands, especially if you're gesticulating.

2. Screen. As you may have guessed, the second modality is screen sharing. Screen sharing is very effective for videos and photos when you need to tell stories. However, the mistake people make with screen sharing is to hide behind it by delivering all their content with a screen share. Most of the time, this content is theoretical and boring, and what's more, people can no longer see your smile in large format.

3. Tablet. The third modality is the tablet. This involves sharing the screen of your ipad or tablet. This strategy is very effective for completing or drawing sketches. For example, in the graphic above, we could have just drawn the arrows and then taken you to the tablet to complete the drawing with the words.

4. Interactive tools. The fourth modality is interactive tools such as polls, chat, subgroups, the participant guide and other collaborative tools like Miro. The intention of interactive tools is to put participants into action to keep them on their toes, i.e. engaged. If participants know you're used to asking them questions, answering surveys or getting them to work in sub-groups, you'll be more likely to get their attention.

What's interesting is that, in person, this switching between different modalities happens naturally. So the idea is to reproduce the best practices of face-to-face in virtual by switching from one modality to another to maximize people's engagement. Finally, don't fall into the trap of using just one modality for your presentation - you'll be depriving yourself of powerful tools.

Strategy #3: Maximize interactive tools

The interactive tool is the last step in the multimodal method. It's also the step most people don't take, because they believe they're not good with technology. They also harbor the fear that it won't work. We're here to reassure you that all these features are accessible to everyone. It's just a question of getting started.

If you're already using interactive tools in your presentations, congratulations, you're already more advanced than most. However, the question is: are you maximizing all your tools to their full potential? We'll look in more detail in this section at how you can make significant gains with your tools.

Note that we use Zoom for our interactive tools, but these tools are also available on Microsoft Teams.

• Poll. Surveys are a very effective way of polling your group on multiple-choice questions. Whether it's for an ice-breaker, to get answers to a question or even as feedback at the end of a meeting, the poll option should be prepared in advance of the meeting. You can prepare your questions before the meeting and even download a survey report afterwards. You can even reuse the survey from one meeting to the next.

• Conversing. The conversational thread, better known as "chat", complements the survey tool. It allows you to poll participants on open-ended questions. The big difference with polling is that chat is more spontaneous and allows you to go further than the polling option. Sometimes, as a facilitator, you'll come up with inspirations of the moment, and you can then ask people to answer your question spontaneously. The other great thing about chat is that you can keep control of the meeting while giving participants a voice. Giving participants a voice can sometimes be a time-consuming virtual exercise.

• Subgroup. The intention of sub-groups is to spark conversation around a specific topic. The sub-group option lets you divide your meeting into several sub-groups. You can choose the composition of the groups in advance, or go in randomly. It's a great option for ice-breakers or a collaborative session on a specific issue.

• Participant's notebook. The participant's notebook is a tool to be sent to participants in advance of the meeting. The aim of this pedagogical tool is to facilitate note-taking and learning retention. We ask participants to print it out before the meeting. It's a great opportunity to further engage your audience, much like an in-person training where you have a physical notebook.

• Collaborative tools. There are many other collaborative tools available to enhance your events or team meetings. For example, we use Miro for brainstorming exchanges between participants. Each person can log on to the platform and add their own ideas. post-its live. It's the closest thing to the strategic thinking exercises of sticking Post-its on walls in person.

Here are our recommended applications for brainstorming and collaboration:

• Brainstorming: Miro, Conceptboard, Wall

• Collaboration: Asana, Trello

The important thing here is to find the tools you're comfortable with and see a real impact with your teams. Test, test and re-test your tools before using them in animation. Technology should be at your service, not the other way around.

The key to taking your virtual meetings to the next level in less than 5 minutes

Another key to taking your virtual meetings to the next level in under 5 minutes is to use end-of-meeting satisfaction surveys to ask for instant feedback. Before the advent of the virtual, we used to do the survey in person at the end of the activity. However, at the start of the pandemic, we lost this good habit and got into the habit of sending the survey after the event. Our response rate dropped from 100% to 30%. So we went back to sending surveys at the end of the event.

Here are 3 simple questions you can use in your survey:

• How would you rate the overall experience? (on a scale of 1 to 10)

• What were the positive aspects of the activity?

• If you had to improve anything, what would it be?

There are a number of simple, easy-to-use survey tools available, such as Google Forms or Microsoft Forms. All you have to do is prepare the survey before the meeting and drop the link into the discussion thread when the time comes. In less than 5 minutes, you'll have clear action points for improvement in relation to your presentation. You can then implement this feedback for your next presentation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many similarities between virtual and face-to-face training. The big difference is that you'll need to prepare yourself properly, i.e. invest more time in mastering your tools and ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Also, as a facilitator, put your own spin on it and find ways to differentiate yourself from others. At Hubu Expérience Humaine, it's all about music and simplicity. Our intention is always to keep things as simple as possible for our participants. What's your intention and, above all, what's your animation color? The best way to engage people is simply to be yourself and deliver your best.

Sources

1. Virtual facilitation | Henrik Horn Andersen, Iben Nelson, Kare Ronex

Video

Here's the interactive workshop for this article, as well as aparticipant's booklet.

Hubu: Because We Are.