Toward More Engaging Virtual Meetings: II

Keeping attendees engaged in virtual meetings is inherently valuable. But it also reduces the need for techniques to re-engage attendees after they "check out" or become distracted. Engagement prevents many other problems, such as inattentiveness, distractedness, poor decision making, and the need to repeat what's just been said.

Here's Part II of a set of techniques for keeping attendees engaged.

Solicit agenda items from attendees in advance

Some meeting chairs distribute agendas for their meetings without first soliciting suggestions from attendees. In effect, they're imposing an agenda on the meeting.

Even when the agenda is obvious, soliciting suggestions in advance enhances attendee engagement. Attendees who suggest items tend to feel an affinity for the items they suggested, which can enhance their sense of engagement.

Publish a "Not Agenda" in advance

Items on the Not Agenda are off limits for the meeting. They're less likely to arise during the meeting, less likely to be appended to the parking lot, and less likely to waste valuable meeting time.

Including the Not Agenda along with a solicitation of agenda items keeps attendees from suggesting items that are known in advance not to be agenda items for the meeting.

Track who is actually present

If you don't know who's present, it's Even when the agenda is obvious,
soliciting suggestions in advance
enhances attendee engagementdifficult to keep them engaged. Ask people to "check in" when they arrive, or when they return from breaks or from stepping out. Ask that they announce their departures if they must step out during the meeting. This custom lets everyone know who is present, which can be important for conducting discussions.

But it can require a bit of bookkeeping. For meetings of more than a few people, designate an "attendance scribe" who tracks this information, and posts it on screen in a manner visible to everyone. Two columns work well: Present and Not Present. When people know that everyone else is aware that they're present, they're less inclined to succumb to distractions, because they realize that anyone might address them directly at any time.

Don't maintain a queue of people who want to speak — use rotation

The speaker queue is widely used for allocating speaking time. Whether executed by catching the facilitator's eye in face-to-face meetings, or by technological "hand-raise" tools in virtual meetings, speaker queues have limitations. They tend to scramble discussion threads, especially for complicated or controversial topics. And the queue can get very long indeed.

Rotation addresses both issues. Using Rotation, the facilitator asks each attendee, in turn, for a contribution, perhaps in the order of the "Present" list (see above). Attendees who have no contribution say, "Pass." The facilitator repeats the poll until a round completes with everyone passing. Rotation has the added benefit of providing a natural reason for the facilitator to ask each attendee for a contribution, without the risks attendant with singling out individuals.

Most important, don't meet unnecessarily. Taking up people's time for no good reason leads to disengagement that can't be overcome by even the most powerful techniques.   First issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

Are your virtual meetings plagued by inattentiveness, interruptions, absenteeism, and a seemingly endless need to repeat what somebody just said? Do you have trouble finding a time when everyone can meet? Do people seem disengaged and apathetic? Or do you have violent clashes and a plague of virtual bullying? Read Leading Virtual Meetings for Real Results to learn how to make virtual meetings much more productive and less stressful — and a lot shorter. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Workplace Bullying:

Dealing with Deadlock

At times it seems that nothing works. Whenever we try to get moving, we encounter obstacles. If we try to go around them, we find more obstacles. How do we get stuck? And how can we get unstuck?

Responding to Threats: I

Threats are one form of communication common to many organizational cultures, especially as pressure mounts. Understanding the varieties of threats can be helpful in determining a response that fits for you.

What, Why, and How

When solving problems, groups frequently get stuck in circular debate. Positions harden even before the issue is clear. Here's a framework for exploration that can sharpen thinking and focus the group.

Pre-Decision Discussions: Reasoning

When we meet to resolve issues related to upcoming decisions, we sometimes rely on reasoning to help find solutions. Contributions to these discussions generally use mixtures of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. How do they differ, and what are their strengths and risks?

Lessons Not Learned: II

The planning fallacy is a cognitive bias that causes us to underestimate the cost and effort involved in projects large and small. Efforts to limit its effects are more effective when they're guided by interactions with other cognitive biases.

See also Workplace Bullying and Workplace Bullying for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming February 26: Devious Political Tactics: Bad Decisions

When workplace politics influences the exchanges that lead to important organizational decisions, we sometimes make decisions for reasons other than the best interests of the organization. Recognizing these tactics can limit the risk of bad decisions. Available here and by RSS on February 26.

And on March 5: On Begging the Question

Some of our most expensive wrong decisions have come about because we've tricked ourselves as we debated our options. The tricks sometimes arise from rhetorical fallacies that tangle our thinking. One of the trickiest is called Begging the Question. Available here and by RSS on March 5.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenjTnUayrCbSnnEcYfner@ChacdcYpBKAaMJgMalFXoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info