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04/23/2020

Daily Buzz: Avoid Online Meeting Madness

How to decide who speaks during virtual meetings

Meetings are most productive when everyone has the appropriate amount of time to speak. Virtual meetings are no different, but the digital setting means hosts need a different approach to managing the conversation.

“Determining who goes next during an online meeting discussion poses additional challenges to those of a face-to-face meeting,” said Adrian Segar of Conferences That Work. “That’s because we don’t have all the signaling options that are possible when all participants are physically together.”

In an online setting, a round-robin meeting won’t work. Instead, have the meeting’s facilitator choose who speaks next.

“For a small group, the facilitator’s memory may be sufficient to keep track of who has spoken and who hasn’t,” Segar said. “Alternatively, meeting platforms generally allow the host to display a list of participants, and the facilitator can use a screenshot of this list to invite and track who goes next.”

If everyone in the meeting has a webcam, the facilitator can also have participants raise their hands when they have something to say. Then, the facilitator says aloud who will speak next. Just don’t forget mobile users.

“If you have a few people on phones, the facilitator can check in with them periodically, asking if there’s something they want to contribute,” Segar said.

Meeting platforms such as Zoom even have a “raise hand” button that alerts the host.

Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.

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