2 Simple Ways to Create an Engaging Online Meeting

First things first. Don’t forget to set expectations and clarify the duration of the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, you ask the group what they are hoping to gain from the meeting as a way of identifying their needs with the intention to either meet them or better manage expectations.

This is the opportunity to only keep people on the call who actually need to be there. However, if you have the agenda spot on this is just to clarify you are all online for the right reason.

Ensure to ask people to remove distractions.

Now, just because you are meeting online, it doesn’t mean you can’t mix up the format of your meeting. Here are 2 ideas for you:

1. Start with an ice breaker

Ice breakers are usually associated with groups who do not know each other, but there are many questions you can use to kick off your meeting to help relax people, spark their creativity, see how they are feeling and make people smile.

• What is your favourite song at the moment and why?

• What were the last 3 emojis you used and why?

• What is the first thing you will do when lock down is finished?

• Which one of the 7 seven dwarfs resonates with you most right now?

2. Use interactive tools to keep people engaged

Microsoft Teams has an interactive white board you can all post on. It also has an easy to use polling function.

Or you can simply get started using the chat function to pool ideas if there are lots of you on the call.

We hope this helps!

5 Things We're Doing as a Small Business During Coronavirus

A Quick Guide to Continuity Planning

Books to Help you Stay Positive in Any Situation

Tara Humphrey is the founder of THC Primary Care, a leading healthcare consultancy specialising in workforce transformation and the host of the Business of Healthcare Podcast.

Tara and her team also work with GP federations supporting the implementation of clinical services.

Tara has over 20 years of project management and business development experience across the private and public sector and has an MBA in Leadership and Management in Healthcare, is published in the London Journal of Primary Care and is the author of over 150 blogs.