Hate meetings? A quick skim of the Blogosphere confirms that must of us do. That being the case, the movement towards phone meetings and webinars seems to accelerate as one of many solutions short of canceling them altogether. Wayne Turmel, CEO of Great Web Meetings, and host of the Cranky Middle Manager Show visited with us recently and here are his six tips for making web meetings work
- Don’t get so caught up in getting it over with that you ignore human connections. Webcams or even pictures of participants help create a sense of a real team. For one meeting it might not matter, but over time it’s easy to forget these are real people, not disembodied voices on the phone
- Plan what you’re going to say, and build questions and interaction in. there is a tendency for most presenters, especially newbies, to “ want to get it over with”, and the presentation becomes one-way broadcast rather than a true meeting or collaboration event. Even sales demos should be more sales and less demo…..
- Don’t talk and move the mouse at the same time. Your voice follows your eyes, and if you are demonstrating something and are trying to direct the mouse, you’ll talk haltingly and the “ummms” and “errrrs” start
- Speak slowly but clearly
- Share the lead…. Let others present as well. Studies show that a variety of voices and changes in tone keep people engaged
- If you’re going longer than an hour, you’d better have a darned good reason. People can only withstand so much and then the siren call of email starts.
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