Connecting Clubs with Video Conferencing

How do you bring 15 people together while maintaining six feet apart?

I found out with when Timberline Toastmasters club hosted its first online meeting Tuesday. It was a great success.  

As more teams, clubs, groups, families, and friends move to online meetings, I want to share the tips that helped create a successful experience.

Before the meeting

The club president, Joyce Feustel provided the club members with a set of guidelines in advance of the meeting. This included everything from how to log in to Zoom to how the meeting would differ from our in-person meetings. She provided great detail to what would happen in the meeting.  This was in addition to the regular meeting agenda that is prepared for each meeting.

In the beginning of the meeting

Joyce did a quick tutorial on the site that included how to mute and unmute your microphone, how to message the group and how to message an individual.  

Great tip: Everyone’s microphone remains on mute unless you are the person speaking.  This really helps to have people listen to each person and not have people speaking over each other. 

We agreed we would not eat in the meeting so that no one would be caught with their mouth full.  This was something I had not previously considered as I have been in many working meetings, but it has a different feel over video. 

 During the meeting

Fellow toastmaster and sergeant at arms Joshua George provided more specific video conferencing tips for effective communication in virtual meetings: 

·      When is your turn to speak, Introduce yourself.  This is particularly helpful when there are a lot of people in the meeting, when people don’t know each other or if not everyone is using the video function.  

·      Use your voice, not your eyes. The meeting host/facilitator calls on attendees by name to speak.  This prevents everyone responding at once, or people hesitating because they don’t know whose turn it is to speak. 

·      As a facilitator, guide the conversation.   Open ended questions such as "any comments or any questions” can lead to people talking over each other or silence.  Ask each person for their response in sequence. Be sure to ask each person in attendance. 

·      Prepare responses  that you can use for interruptions or someone goes off track. when you talk at the same time as someone else). Example:  Great question, Henry.  We will get to that at the end of this session. Would you note that in Chat so that we don’t miss it. 

 After the meeting

You may want to allow time before and after the meeting for people to connect outside of the agenda just as they do when they attend a meeting. 

If you have recorded the meeting you can share the file with your participants. 

In summary

Our regular toastmaster meeting is a highly structured efficient meeting. This online meeting was no different.  The club members all expressed appreciation for being able to meet and continue our personal and professional development. 

I have used zoom for my one on one coaching sessions with clients.  Working with a larger group requires new skills that I am happy to learn.  I am grateful to Toastmasters for providing me with this opportunity.  

Another tip 

Yesterday I had a zoom meeting in which the other person’s video kept freezing.   With the current increased demand you may find limitations to your internet and your screen may freeze.  Make sure you have a photo in your profile.  If your video freezes, stop video and Zoom will default to your profile photo so that you don’t have a goofy image of you on the screen.   

That call underscored how we will continue to bump into new modifications these days. Patience and humor are helpful accompaniments to any meeting.