Effective Virtual Meetings: How to Run Effective Virtual Meetings

Effective virtual meetings require more structure than most leaders expect.

When people work from different locations, a meeting cannot rely on the natural energy, side conversations and visual cues of an in-person room. The leader must create a clear purpose, establish how people will participate and keep the discussion moving toward an outcome.

Without that structure, virtual meetings can quickly become familiar sources of frustration:

The agenda is unclear.
Too many people are invited.
A few voices dominate the conversation.
Participants are unsure how to contribute.
Decisions take longer than necessary.
Everyone leaves without clear next steps.

The problem is not necessarily virtual communication itself. The problem is trying to lead an online meeting exactly as you would lead a conversation in the same room.

Effective virtual meetings are designed intentionally. The discussion may feel natural and conversational, but the planning behind it should be deliberate. From prework and participation to facilitation and follow-up, every element should help the group accomplish something together.

Has it really been eight months since we shifted to a different way of working? Somehow…it has! In fact, it’s been long enough that email tags have shifted from “working from home” to “back at work,” “in and out of the office” and “still at home.”

We’ve talked to people through the different iterations of virtual work, and some interesting trends have emerged around how people work and communicate with each other.

In March, the early response we heard was: “This really works!” “This is great.” “We got this.” “We’re much more effective than we thought we would be.”

At the time, we assumed virtual work was going well because people knew the work they needed to do. Big initiatives were already in place for 2020. Most people were in a phase of execution, and once home, they focused on the things they had to do.

Fast forward six months, and the insights have shifted significantly. Now we hear:

“This is really hard to do.”
“It’s impossible to get the input you need.”
“I feel like I’m missing direction.”
“I’m so sick of working alone.”

People hear about others going back to work and seem envious. They say they want to go back to the office. I think they really want to go back to working with each other. Because one consistent theme we’re heard all along is: virtual communication is harder.

People say:

“There’s just no response when you lead a meeting.”
“I can’t get people to participate.”
“It takes twice as long to get a decision.”
“I’m always misunderstood.”

And it’s why we’ve dubbed this a trend: meetings going nowhere.

Virtual meetings aren’t as effective as they need to be. In fact, they seem a little chaotic when you ask people what’s going wrong.

“There are too many people talking.”
“Agendas aren’t clear.”
“No one seems sure what the point of the meeting is.”
“There are too many people in the meeting.”
“No one seems to be in charge.”

A virtual meeting is different than an in-person meeting. It can be run effectively, but it takes a lot more work to get it organized. And even though it’s been eight months, few people have built a skill set for leading effective virtual meetings. They’re relying on skills they’ve used for years, and from a listener’s perspective, they don’t translate well.

Here’s the root cause: while the “work from home” setting made everything about communication feel more impromptu and casual, it’s actually the opposite. An effective virtual meeting requires more structure to keep a group focused and on task. The discussion itself may be informal, but it takes work to get a group involved.

Here are a few of the differences that we’re helping managers and leaders consider when it comes to effective virtual meetings.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Rethink Brainstorming Sessions

This is the hardest format to transfer to a virtual setting. Hard to believe, because most people love these meetings! They start with a few concepts and quickly build to some great ideas. It’s the strength of an in-person discussion, and it works because people are 100% focused on being in the room, and they build off of energy and enthusiasm of others. People are very visible, and they work hard to contribute. In fact, they feel a little pressure to show up well.

Virtually, it’s much harder to build on ideas and attach to someone else’s energy. Instead, we tend to stay wedded to our own thought and we just reinforce it when we have an opportunity to speak. And reflection time is dead time in a virtual meeting. If you tell a group to take 10 minutes to write down their thoughts, they’re more likely to take ten minutes and get a snack.

A virtual discussion has to have guardrails and direction to be productive. A virtual group does better with choices of concepts and focused work on supporting a recommendation for a choice versus trying to come up with the broader concepts.

We learned this ourselves as we transitioned to virtual workshops. We gave groups one of our standard exercises and quickly saw they did very little with it. When we modified the scope of the exercise to making a choice between options, they were able to collaborate better. They needed defined roles and specific instructions of what to do. Their input was very good, but they got there differently.

The same may be true of your discussion sessions. Which is why effective virtual meetings is so important.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Use Prework to Make Meetings More Productive

Do more of this for effective virtual meetings. Everyone seems exhausted and overworked, but people miss connection. And it will simplify your discussion if you have people work together prior to the meeting instead of in the meeting.

Plan ahead and assign partners to discuss prework together. It’s a benefit from both perspectives. This makes the large meeting discussion easier on the leader because you have reduced the input by half. And, it ensures everyone feels heard because they shared perspective with a partner prior to the larger meeting.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Create Clear Agendas and Meeting Templates

It’s the routine meetings that people dislike the most. The feedback is lack of structure, lack of direction and just no real takeaways. If you’re leading standing meetings, you owe it to a group to improve the takeaways.

Meetings have become more transactional in a virtual setting, but people still want to feel as if their attendance mattered. It takes more formality and structure to help it run well.

Our rule of thumb is cover less. Simplicity over complexity. These virtual meetings are a hybrid of conference calls and in-person meetings. There’s still a lot of clunkiness in how we experience each other online. So, keep it simple.

Agree on a flow of an agenda and stick to it in every meeting. A consistent structure makes it easier to follow a meeting and easier to hear what’s being said. Agree on how to participate. It’s like learning a new game. Give everybody the rules, and they’ll get a little better each time you hold a meeting.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Establish Expectations for Participation

Companies may have sent the wrong message about the video early on. It was with the best of intentions because they knew that people were dealing with a lot in their homes. But the camera is a signal of focus. It says, “I’m here and focused on this conversation.”

No camera or darkness around someone’s name, says the person isn’t fully there.

And it changes the very essence of communication: Connection. No matter what your role is in a meeting, turn the video on and be fully there as a communicator.

We aren’t as chaotic as we were eight months ago. We’re working differently and we’ve learned a lot from our experiences. If your company is headed into another six months or more of virtual meetings, then learning to lead a meeting that’s going somewhere will be an important skill in 2021.

If you’d like a little help resetting your annual planning session or your team’s routine meetings, we can help you transition to an effective virtual model to help drive more effective virtual meetings.

Effective Virtual Meetings Need a Clear Outcome

A well-organized agenda is helpful, but an agenda alone does not make a virtual meeting effective.

The leader also needs to define what should be different when the meeting ends.

Is the group expected to make a decision, solve a problem, generate ideas or align around a plan? Are participants being asked for input, or are they receiving information? Does everyone understand what they should contribute?

When the outcome is unclear, participants interpret the purpose differently. One person arrives prepared to make a decision while another assumes the meeting is an early discussion. The group spends time exchanging information but makes little progress.

Before scheduling an effective virtual meeting, complete this sentence:

By the end of this meeting, we need to have ____________________.

If the meeting leader cannot complete that sentence clearly, the meeting may not be ready to happen.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Decide Whether a Meeting Is Necessary

Not every update requires a meeting. This takes work to ensure companies are having effective virtual meetings.

Information that does not require discussion can often be shared through email, a recorded message or a collaborative document. Participants can review the material on their own time and use a meeting only if questions or decisions remain.

A meeting becomes valuable when people need to interact.

Schedule one when the group needs to evaluate options, resolve disagreement, coordinate responsibilities or make a decision that requires multiple perspectives.

This distinction protects people’s time and gives the meetings that remain a stronger purpose.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Design Participation Before the Meeting

Leaders often begin a virtual meeting with an open question and wait for the group to respond.

The silence that follows does not always mean people are disengaged. Participants may be processing the question, waiting for someone with greater authority to answer or wondering whether their perspective is relevant.

Do not leave participation to chance.

Tell people before the meeting why they have been invited and what input they should prepare. During the conversation, direct questions to specific participants or functions. Use smaller groups when a topic requires deeper discussion, and give the group a clear way to return and report its conclusions.

Structure makes participation easier. It does not make the conversation less collaborative.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Manage the Conversation in Real Time

Effective virtual meetings require active facilitation.

The leader should help the group recognize when the discussion is moving forward and when it is circling familiar points. Summarize areas of agreement, identify unresolved questions and redirect comments that move too far from the meeting’s purpose.

When several people begin talking at once, establish an order. When one voice dominates, invite other perspectives. When the group moves into unnecessary detail, return to the decision or outcome.

A leader might say:

We agree on the direction. The remaining question is whether we begin in October or January. Let’s focus the next ten minutes on that decision.

That simple reset gives the conversation a destination.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Measure Engagement by Contribution

Participation should not be measured only by camera use or how often someone speaks.

There are valid reasons an employee may not use video in every meeting. A participant may also contribute through chat, a shared document, thoughtful preparation or a concise response at the right moment.

Leaders should define engagement according to the needs of the meeting.

If the meeting requires active discussion, explain that expectation. If someone is there only to receive an update, reconsider whether attendance is necessary. When participants consistently remain silent, follow up to understand whether the issue is preparation, confidence, relevance or meeting design.

The goal is meaningful contribution, not visible attendance.

Effective Virtual Meetings: Close With Decisions, Ownership and Next Steps

A meeting going somewhere should end somewhere.

Reserve the final few minutes to summarize what was decided, what remains unresolved and what happens next. Assign an owner and deadline to every follow-up action.

Before ending, confirm:

What decisions were made?
What actions are required?
Who owns each action?
When is the work due?
Who needs to receive an update?
What issue will require another conversation?

Send a short written summary afterward so participants leave with the same understanding.

The strongest virtual meetings do not attempt to cover everything. They create clarity around the few things that matter most. When leaders define the outcome, structure participation and close with ownership, meetings become shorter, more focused and far more likely to move work forward.

Call us when you need us! Whether for effective virtual meetings or anything else.

Also Read: Strengthening the Impact of Leadership Teams

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