Designing a great virtual meeting is more important than ever

The coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) is presenting complex challenges to the way I am thinking about meeting governments and their partners this year to have effective, productive conversations.

The global coronavirus outbreak is evolving rapidly and it is changing the way we work and convene people. To keep people safe in an attempt to slow and reduce the number of people affected: airlines have cancelled flights and grounded their fleets; some offices have advised staff to arrange their remote working, while others have banned handshakes altogether.

I have designed and facilitated over 1,000 workshops, conferences and convenings across the globe, I love what I do — when the magic of group genius drives collective action and real impact. The effect is indescribable. At the same time, the past decade has seen a growing focus on technology enhancing the human experience and collaboration. Never before has there been so much global attention focused on getting it right.

When a meeting goes wrong it can be even worse than not having a meeting at all. Worse still, stagnating and delaying urgent and important public sector conversations to late 2020, or even 2021, will slow us all down as we contribute to the problems and societies we’re all so committed to making better.

Before you cancel your meeting, consider taking it virtual.

I, as I’m sure you are, am seeing numerous meetings cancelled across the globe — whether they be roundtables, workshops, meetings or conferences. Despite this, a fast trend towards taking the conversation online is emerging.

Governments and their partners recognise that important conversations still have to take place, while appreciating the impacts of coronavirus on the global economy. Working closely with governments, we at Centre for Public Impact know this is because the quality of human relationships matters a great deal. This becomes more apparent in hard times like these, especially when governments and other actors are struggling with how to build trust with their people.

Tough times require tough decisions.

For some government teams, taking an important conversation online will be radical, hard and nerve-wracking. That’s normal! In others, it’s a no brainer to transfer to video conferencing, and that’s exciting. Either way, I hope the simple framework below supports you to shape a great virtual meeting.

Refocus your scope, objectives and outcomes.

Particularly if you have to rapidly change from an in-person to virtual meeting

80% of the success of a virtual meeting comes from adequate preparation.

Hold a planning session to refocus and refine the meeting’s scope, objectives and outcomes:

• Scope means the range of conversation your meeting will cover and what time frame you’re referring to. Importantly, define what is out of scope.
• Objectives means defining the 3–5 things that will be achieved, both by individual participants attending the meeting and in working together as a collective. For example: Share the journey so far and state of play; Identify or design initiative/s; Explore or discuss topic areas.
• Outcomes means what you’ll walk away with after the meeting. This could be clarity on a decision, a road-map of action, or insights and inspiration on a new topic area.

Once you’ve agreed on the above, tell your participants in advance of the virtual meeting, so they know what to expect, otherwise you may lose momentum. Virtual meetings can sometimes be like online surveys — without firm commitment, intention and energy behind the fact that it is still taking place — your turnout rate could significantly drop.

Three design principles for a great virtual meeting

1. It goes without saying, ensure your tech doesn’t let you down!

Open the video conference 30 minutes before the formal agenda kicks-off, providing participants adequate time to get comfortable and troubleshoot. Make sure as each participant connects, their audio and video connections are checked to ensure they can have a productive conversation.

In practical terms, you could achieve all of this with software like Zoom, one example of video conferencing software that allows you to move seamlessly from a plenary session to smaller breakout discussions, then back to plenary. A lot of video collaboration software exists on the market, so choose the one that’s right for your participants and make sure it has a phone-in option.

2. Have the right skills in your delivery team.

Despite thinking you can deliver with a leaner team, you actually need to re-purpose the team you would have had on-site:

• Process facilitator: It’s worth recruiting one of your teammates as a process facilitator for the virtual meeting to chair the meeting and guide the participants through the agenda and timekeeping. Think of them as you would a theatre stage manager, the behind-the-scenes making sure it runs smoothly.
• Plenary facilitator: The front-of-house facilitator leading and shaping the conversation, the person that the participants interact with and who ultimately drives the conversation to the desired outcomes. Think of them as you would a lead actor on stage.
• Breakout facilitators: Just as important of a role, when you want to have smaller group discussions during your virtual meeting, having a number of breakout facilitators on hand to ensure a smooth transition and to give participants confidence they are on track.
• Tech specialist: or at minimum, a teammate who is confident with using the software!

3. Focus on the design process as much as you would on the agenda.

The design of your agenda is dependent on the scope, objectives and outcomes you set. Despite this, every meeting can follow the following:

• Allow time for every participant to check-in and check-out.
• Provide a 30-minute break between sessions to encourage participants to take a break and refresh.
• Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said. Delivering your messages well, have them displayed on a shared screen so there is no room for assumptions or confusion.
• Finally, over-communicate outcomes. Virtual whiteboarding or good note taking to capture the highlights of the conversation and share with the participants after the meeting.

The Centre for Public Impact team is small, but our reach is large because of our expertise with convening governments and their partners across the globe. I hope you and your team are safe and healthy through these challenging times. If you’re considering cancelling your meeting, feel free to schedule a video call with us to discuss your virtual meeting requirements.