Meet me in cyber space...

Set the agenda

No different than a face-to-face meeting, an agenda will help you and your participants prepare for the meeting. If possible, email it about a week before you plan to meet, including an explanation of the way the meeting will be conducted. Since this meeting is virtual, consider your agenda items carefully. Could some of them be handled just as well by email? Get a lot of the detail out of the way through email, and you may need an agenda item only to discuss the conclusions. At any rate, limit your agenda to no more than about ten items.

Test your venue

We've all been to meetings where the room was too small, or too hot, or just plain felt wrong for your group. Online meetings are no different. Where do you plan to hold your meeting? Are you using software or an online facility that everyone can use, regardless of their hardware? Do you know if there is a limit to how many participants who can be handled without facility overload? How reliable is the service? And, importantly, can you save the conversation for minutes purposes? You'd be surprised how many services do not offer 'Save' as an option. Once you feel secure about your choice, give participants an opportunity to test it. Offer a couple of times when you will be online for practice purposes. This will save much panic and confusion when the real meeting happens.

Choose a secretary/facilitator

Again, just as with a face-to-face meeting, one person needs to be responsible for secretarial duties. Since you are saving your meeting conversation, minutes may not be necessary. Here, the secretary has a different function. He or she is responsible for facilitating the meeting. We'll see more about this as we move on.

Don't forget techies

At a face-to-face meeting, it's always good to have someone who knows where the thermostat is and who can jump in to coax an uncooperative overhead display, VCR or television set. At an online meeting, technical support is slightly different. His or her email address is sent to everyone on the list. This support person will spend time (over the phone, if necessary) helping those who can't get the hang of things and have trouble accessing the meeting. Don't make your secretary double up as technical support.

Assign a rota

Buoyed by the novelty of meeting online, some people get excited and talk too much. Don't let it happen. Post an order of speaking schedule: First Bill, then Mary, then Charles, then Peter, then Amy, then Emma, always in that order. Your secretary will prompt each one to begin speaking. Decide how long each person can speak, then when everyone has had their say, add a sufficient time for a free-for-all so that people can comment. Above all, the secretary must make sure people stay within their time and that nobody interrupts. If this is a keyboard meeting and people have a lot to say that, suggest they type several lines at a time followed by more or end rather than typing everything at once. Silence while someone is typing his or her thoughts can be very confusing.

Introducing your agenda items

Each person who is introducing an agenda item already knows what he or she wants to say to open the discussion. So if this is a keyboard meeting and Mary has agenda item six, ask her to type out her introduction ahead of time. When her agenda item comes up, she can cut and paste it into the conversation window quickly. This saves time and keyboard fumbling. Each introducer should be given the last place in the order of speaking to wrap up, both before and after the free-for-all. Again, the secretary will announce the agenda item, and the person who will introduce it and when to move on.

Don't be afraid to defer

More so than with face-to-face meetings, online meetings need to finish on time. Video-conferencing, for example, can be costly. If a topic is taking too long or evokes too much controversy, ask for a deferment. Perhaps a smaller group needs to discuss the issue and bring their conclusions to the next online meeting.

Save the conversation

These minutes are different. Everything is being recorded, including the inevitable socialisation before, after and throughout the meeting. Once the conversation is saved, the secretary has the job of weeding out the chatter and tightening up the threads of conversation. As with any meeting, clearly mark the action items. With a videoconference, old-fashioned minutes work well along with an opportunity to watch the conference again from whatever site you have stored it. And, incidentally, the chatter can't be avoided but do get your meeting started on time. If members want to arrive early or stay longer to gossip, build that into your plan.

Evaluate!

Always evaluate your meeting. What went well? What might have gone better? What things do you need to consider for next time? How can you avoid the pitfalls you encountered? Make sure everyone has their say, and carry through with the workable suggestions for a smoother meeting in the future.

Your first meeting may have hitches. Don't despair. You'll get better as you go along. There are many fun and practical elements of meeting online that will make it all seem worthwhile.