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Step 1
Select the right technology. To do this, you need to know what you want to accomplish and what kind of information will need to be shared. Make use of things like file sharing, interactive text chat, polling, whiteboards and Internet co-browsing as needed. Live Meeting works best for presentations. Group Support System is good for team problem-solving. Collaborative document-building tools like Google Docs help remote groups create deliverable products.
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Step 2
Send out items for participants to review well in advance. These should include a clear agenda, background information and any meeting ground rules.
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Step 3
Test the technology an hour before the meeting. Make sure you, as meeting moderator, know how to use it.
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Step 4
Keep participants focused and engaged. This is even harder in a virtual meeting. Assume participants will get distracted after about 10 minutes or three presentation slides. Break up speeches by asking for questions, taking polls or initiating team brainstorming.
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Step 5
Direct traffic during discussions, so everyone won’t run all over each other. Unless you have video conferencing, the visual clues that usually indicate when someone’s finished or who has the floor are missing. Call on each person separately, make sure everyone knows not to interrupt and ask, "Anything else?" at the end to make sure the speaker isn’t just sipping his water. Of course, don’t let anyone filibuster.
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Step 6
Think continually about the remote users’ perspective. This is the most important trick to running an effective virtual meeting. Be very clear in your explanations, because you probably can't see puzzled looks and most participants won’t interrupt to say they don’t understand. Talk into your microphone or phone at sufficient volume and minimize distracting background noise on your end. And don’t forget to use your usual meeting skills to build a rapport with your team.
