Remote Meeting Facilitation: 3 Tips for Assertiveness and Management

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Contents hide
1 Have an agenda for your remote meeting
2 Start off the meeting with strength
3 Plan for audience participation
Leading Remote Meetings: Assertiveness and Management Tips

In this video I cover 3 simple ways you can convey more assertiveness and leadership during remote meeting facilitation.

Right now countless people are running meetings remotely over video conferencing like Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts or other apps.

How can you project competence, keep your meeting organized and focused, and avoid unnecessary interruptions or disruptions?

Have an agenda for your remote meeting

First, you need to have a clear agenda.

And that agenda needs to be sent out to all the meeting participants in advance of the meeting, so they know what’s going on, and in what timeframe.

This gives the meeting structure, it helps people follow along more easily, and it minimizes the risk of unplanned interruptions.

People are much less likely to disrupt or take time away from a meeting with a clear agenda and set of tasks.

Start off the meeting with strength

Second, you need to start off your remote meeting with a strong tone and demeanor.

I demonstrate in the video above two versions of the same person opening the same meeting with the same basic agenda.

Notice the difference in energy between the two versions.

Setting the stage from the very beginning that you are in control, focused, clear on what your role is and what everyone else’s role is, will make a big difference in your appearance.

And it will help to keep things on track throughout the rest of the meeting.

remote meeting

Plan for audience participation

Third, you should give people the opportunity to speak up and contribute, but in a structured and planned way.

Don’t leave people’s contributions up to chance.

Specifically plan out and schedule time in the agenda for meeting participants to speak up.

Not only will this make them feel more at ease (because they won’t feel the need to jump in randomly to get themselves heard), but it also allows you to keep control over everything.

If you don’t set aside time for them to speak, then you run the risk of them interrupting your flow and reducing overall focus and productivity, hurting your assertiveness.

Remote meetings can make people feel more distant. By planning interaction, you will bring the group closer together and make it more productive and rewarding for everyone.

Justin Aquino
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