
Virtual meetings have never been so hard or so vital. These days with the lack of day to day interactions it becomes much harder to ensure our message is accepted and understood.
So if you are finding yourself hosting meetings that are a little lack lustre, where people aren’t learning anything, which result in the same mistakes over and over. Then try the technique mentioned here, which also adds a little life to your meeting.
Firstly, when you (as the host) have any open question to the group, ask the question to the entire group. Then have the entire group answer it together using WhatsApp (simply because most people have this app). Just make sure they understand the question, write it into WhatsApp, DO NOT send it instead signal they are finished. Once everyone signals they are ready, everyone sends together, then as a group sift through the answers. This is a variant of 1-2-4-ALL called 1-ALL and we will be using it in the rest of the meeting.
Now to the topic at hand, once you have finished your meeting, perform a debrief!
Using the 1-ALL technique with WhatsApp, ask a variation of the following “What happened? What did you notice, what facts or observations stood out?” Allow up to 5 minutes to enter and a few minutes to sift through the answers together.
Next, using the same technique, ask a variation of the following “Why is that important? Do you see any patterns or conclusions emerging? What does this mean to us?”. Allow up to 5 minutes before sending the answers. As a group discuss for 10 minutes.
Third and final stage, “Now what? What actions make sense?”, 10 minutes max.
This debriefing technique using WhatsApp is a great way to breathe life into your virtual meetings, and allows you, the host, to see if the meeting met your goal. You may also see that debriefing is a vital and often overlooked step in every meeting.
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