When you lead or attend a virtual meeting do you feel engaged in the topic? Do you sometimes wish you could be somewhere else? Virtual meetings don't have to be boring with attendees hiding in the background, checking email, and multitasking.

Fortunately, technology has made it easy to run virtual meetings efficiently, and boost collaboration and productivity - that is, if we prepare well and learn the tools available to help us engage our meeting participants.

Many organizations have integrated teleconferencing or virtual meetings into normal operations, because their staffs are often spread out in multiple locations. Today, it is more commonplace to have at least a few remote, even global, team members. To make these virtual meetings work, we need planning guidelines that acknowledge and engage the remote members of our teams.

In this 2-hour session, you'll learn to use activities to energize your next online meeting and identify what's unique about preparing for and running an online meeting. Find out what will make it an interactive experience. Explore the answers to these questions:

How will you generate participation and build cooperation?

What activities will keep your team members engaged?

What online tools will help you stay focused and on time?

Giving thought to appropriate activities and energizers that work online matters!

This session offers three components of an effective online meeting leadership strategy: pre-meeting planning, managing the meeting, and post-meeting follow-up. You'll participate in and examine meeting activities and online tools used to make your meetings energizing.