7 Tips for Leading Group Virtual Meetings

3. Demonstrate professionalism.

Carry yourself as if you were leading the non-virtual meeting in a conference room, meeting room, classroom, or whatever. I'm often dressed professionally and standing while I'm presenting. If I were leading a six-hour meeting I might reconsider the standing thing. But if I'm delivering a valuable session to an audience of financial advisors and I'm being paid to share my ideas, I think it's important to deliver the same level of energy, information, engagement, entertainment, and professionalism that I would if I were sharing the same room.

4. Ask questions and generate responses.

As mentioned earlier, when I'm setting the expectations, I'll mention that, throughout the meeting, I'll be asking question, and it would be valuable to me and the other attendees to get their responses. Now I can ask questions throughout the meeting. It's a bit awkward at first, but when I ask a question, I'll take my slides off screen share so I can see everyone. After asking the question, I will wait through the awkward silence. Eventually someone will respond. The audience will always find the silence deafening. In fact, the attendees will find the silence much more awkward than a seasoned presenter. Provided it's a good question, someone will always respond. Now you have set the tone. The next time you ask a question, someone will respond much more quickly. Keep in mind, if you answer your own questions and don't wait for someone to respond, you have set a different tone and they may never respond to you. Setting the tone and expectation is everything.

5. Keep the meeting moving.

You never want the meeting to feel like it is dragging. If one attendee keeps going off on tangents, or if you are spending too much time on one topic, it's an incentive for attendees to drift into email land. Speak quickly, share relevant stories, and use the names of the attendees in the meeting. In fact, if you or a "producer" is reminding attendees to post questions or comments in the chat box, there will always be discussion points and sidebar banter to keep the meeting moving and interesting.

6. Make the meeting about them.

I almost called this point Don't Be Annoyingly Self-Centered. But I got the better of myself. Maybe it's me, but I find it annoying when a speaker spends the first 10-minutes discussing their family, hobbies, success, past clients, client testimonials, book, coaching program they're looking to promote, or anything else that has nothing to do with why you registered for the program. If you are truly coming from a place of service, get right into your material and the ideas that will be most helpful to your audience. If you deliver value, attendees will buy into your message and buy you.

7. Develop your public speaking skills.

Begin your meeting with your best stuff. A story, experience, tip, or even a quote. Think of the impression you will make with a powerful "open". Work on speaking at a rapid tempo while occasionally regulating your pace. Pause often between your speaking points. Laugh. Smile. Snap your fingers when making a point. Ask questions. Tell stories. Avoid using verbal tics like um, ah, and oh. (You can minimize the tics by becoming aware of them and practicing with a breath or a pause instead.) Avoid using verbal pauses like "like" and "so". You almost never need those words! After a while, verbal tics and pauses become annoying and can impact your credibility. Best to get feedback from others or record your speaking so you can assess for areas of strength and improvement.

Use some of these suggestions the next time you are leading a virtual meeting. All are actionable and can be applied immediately.

You will find yourself noticing these approaches (or the lack of them!) in other speakers as virtual meetings will be here for a long time.

All it takes is some planning, strategy, and practice.

Now, go and enjoy your pasta!

Michael Goldberg is a speaker, consultant, and the founder of Knock Out Networking. He's also the author of "Knock-Out Networking!"

(Image: fizkes/Shutterstock)