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Virtual meetings are a high engagement activity with low commitment from the attendees that can help your members connect on a new level. There are many details to keep in mind when planning and executing, so I'll be doing a short series on virtual meetings. On Tuesday we covered how to prepare for your virtual meeting, For this second post, let's cover creating anticipation for your virtual meeting.

1. Advertise

Now that you have the basics of your meeting set, it’s time to build anticipation! As soon as you’ve planned your agenda, publish a blog announcement with preliminary details and send out an official invitation with a registration link, which can be done with an IMWUC survey. Creating a survey will help you manage attendees and send important updates.

• Navigate to your group's homepage. 
• Click the "..." icon on the Actions Menu and click, "Add Survey." 

2. Create Content

Don't go into your meeting bare handed. Come prepared!

• Download this IMWUC PowerPoint template to help your audience follow along.
• Incorporate different types of media in your meeting such as a poll, available within GoToWebinar.
• Example: If a speaker is presenting about an upcoming product release, poll your audience to find out how much they already know about the product to keep the audience engaged as well as the speaker informed.
• Add diversity to the meeting by including some light-hearted topics:
• Newcomer Welcome
• Member Spotlight
• Birthdays
• Leaderboard Updates/Awards (highest participation, etc)
• Accomplishments of members in the community

3. Remind, Remind, Remind

Don't let your attendees forget about the meeting! Send reminders 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day before the event. Consider incorporating a call to action (CTA) in each email whether it’s a survey, a discussion thread, or a blog post that can ramp up excitement. Here are a few ideas:

• Have speakers post a sneak peek about their topic in a blog so attendees can start thinking about what questions they have.
• Collect questions through a survey ahead of time for your IBM Liaison so they can come prepared to answer these questions. This saves time and ensures questions are answered!
• Encourage continued feedback and tweak the agenda as necessary. When the community feels they helped create the meeting, they’ll be more committed to its success and more engaged during the meeting.

Last, re-send participation information the day before the meeting. Be sure to include...

• GoToWebinar link 
• Call-in number
• Access numbers they might need
• Agenda

Be as clear and concise as possible in these emails to make it easy for your attendees to participate. Lastly, keep your speakers up-to-date with any additional information they might need.

Now that your attendees are sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for this meeting, make sure it goes off without a hitch! Check out the next post, "Am I Running a Successful Virtual Meeting?"