Hosting Virtual Meetings

Now that your club is connected via Skype, how do you conduct a virtual meeting? Many of the standard conventions at a usual meeting apply, but some need modification.

First of all, you'll want to do a check in (15-30 minutes ahead of time helps if you can, so that problems can be resolved). The VPE can use this to track who attended in Easy Speak. The presiding officer should go through your list of attendees to verify that everything is working for them (video and voice). Don't stop yet to have them fix things; just make a note of it and continue through the list. Let your tech team work behind the scenes to resolve the issues, then double check with them before starting.

Second, instruct anyone who is not speaking to mute themselves. This will cut down on interruptions and background noise.

From there, you can proceed with your normal opening. Be sure that any handoff includes the reminder to unmute themselves - this will take some practice to become a good habit.

When it comes to roles, there are a couple modifications to make. First, since the word of the day can't be displayed all the time, you may want to instruct members to write it in large print on an index card in front of them where they can see it - also have the Toastmaster, Table Topics Master, and General Evaluator remind people to use it. Second, because the timer may not be seen, you may want to try different approaches with the role:

• Have speakers run a timer application or device. A timer should still record times, however.
• Have the timer use audio cues ("Green", "Yellow", "Red") at those times.
• Have the timer use group chat messages with the same.

Vote counting can be done by private messaging the vote counter after each section.

For speakers, depending on if they want their stage presence seen, they will need their cameras and audio equipment setup in such a way that facilitates their presentation. Screen sharing mode can be used if they are using slideware. They will need to send the electronic version of their evaluation form to their evaluator ahead of time.

For speaker feedback, comments can be sent via e-mail or private message.