Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
Nobody likes to have to sit down and listen in on a meeting that could go on for hours on end, especially when they could be doing something more productive with their time. If you are the person who has the lead the meeting, it can be really intimidating to try and keep everybody interested in what you have to say. Thankfully, there are a few things that you can keep in mind in order to hook people in and have them participating from beginning to end. In this article, we will discuss five specific ways in which you can increase the engagement of the participants in your IT video conferences.
1. Start Out with an Interesting Entrance
Think about the most interesting conferences you have ever attended, whether in person or over the internet. How did the person holding the discussion get you interested in what he or she had to say? Most of the time, they start with interesting anecdotes, funny jokes, or interesting images or clips that they found from other places. Try something like this for your next meeting to keep your participants guessing, long enough for them to listen to the rest of what you want to talk to them about.
2. Make Use of Body Language to Get Your Point Across
As they say: actions speak louder than words, so be mindful of how you project yourself. If you keep your arms crossed over your chest, then that can signal that you are a proud person who will not listen to what anybody else has to say. On the other hand, if you keep your arms open, then that can show your audience that you are friendly and are willing to take in other people’s suggestions. Slouching may indicate that you are a lazy person, while keeping your back straight indicates that you are confident. Again, your audience may not be able to see your whole body, but the way you carry yourself can be projected even if only your upper half is visible to other people, so make sure to stay aware of how you’re sitting or standing.
3. Use Facial Expressions Whenever It Is Appropriate
Even if you are saying what you think are the right words, your facial expressions will make or break whether your audience will understand what you have to say, especially if you are trying to discuss business matters over video conferences for IT with services like BlueJeans. If you tend to frown, then people will be afraid to speak up. If you smile a lot, they will be more likely to trust you. Just do not over do the smiling to the point of forcing it, though, as they might end up feeling scared of you instead.
4. Display Visuals to Make the Meeting More Interesting
Visuals have been proven to help people retain information so much better than pure text or audio. According to an article by Jacqueline Whitmore on Entrepreneur, you can take advantage of this by creating handouts in PDF form and distribute them via email in order to give your audience a guide of what you are trying to talk about. You can also create a simple presentation that uses images that help get your point across.
5. Do Not Rely Too Heavily on Slides or Handouts
While these visual aids can definitely help audiences better understand your topic, you might be shooting yourself in the foot if you rely on them too heavily. Make sure that you give digital handouts only when you really have to. Better yet, give them out through email at the end of the presentation so that they have something that they can take home and remember your presentation’s main points by. If you are going to be using a presentation during your conference, make sure that it only contains keywords or images to keep them hooked. If you put a wall of text on each slide, then they will end up zoning out and just reading whatever you copied and pasted onto the presentation.
There are many more ways in which you can get people’s attention, but you are more or less sure to get people awake and listening with these five tips. Try to think of more ways to keep your meetings lively instead of lifeless. According to an article by Shirley Gatson on LinkedIn, At the end of each meeting, you can even conduct a short survey to ask for your participant’s opinions on how it went, as well as ask them for suggestions to make the next one better than the last. With enough practice and determination, you will never have to witness a crowd of people who look more like zombies than your fellow co-workers ever again. Good luck on your next IT video conference!
