#TEAMS365 #1855 – Effective Virtual Conversations Tip 79

​This week’s Effective Virtual Conversation Tip is number 79 in the series.

The tip is a reminder of the importance of pacing and interactivity in virtual conversations. Whether it’s keeping the pace moving and making changes every 2 - 5 minutes as in a webinar, or whether it’s mixing things up and making it more interactive in your next team meeting, by structuring in at least 2 or 3 engagement opportunities for everyone, a rule of thumb which may be useful to aim towards is an engagement touchpoint every 5-7 minutes, especially when groups are not as connected or content is heavy.
Engagement touchpoints in these calls might look like:

• Asking a question and having people comment via chat
• Getting people to annotate on the screen where they are calling in from, or which of the shown items is their favorite
• Using polling to capture insights and ideas from the group

If you are working with a virtual or remote team, you might use a variety of engagement strategies to create alignment and/or connection, or more awareness of who the team is. This might include:

• Breakouts so different team members with similar or divergent areas share with each other for 5-10 minutes
• Using the whiteboard to do real-time planning – for example, if you have a new project which has come on board, can you map it out together using annotation?
• Use screenshots to capture key agreements and next steps – rather than going away to type up notes, can you be more strategic about capturing agreements and notes as part of your agreements. Circulate the screenshot (which is often saved as part of the recording) to everyone as the visual reminder.

What can you do to create more engagement in the virtual conversations you are facilitating?

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), Coaching Business Builder (2018) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
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