A Guide to Virtual Town Hall Meetings

As we step ahead, virtual events and virtual conferences are gaining momentum and becoming immensely popular. Hosting recurring day to day internal virtual meetings and conferences have become an integral part of businesses today. A sudden boost in web conferencing platforms has been witnessed on the internet that offers interactive & engaging online meeting solutions.

Many organizations have moved their town hall meetings online to carry out business communication seamlessly. A virtual town hall is referred to as an online gathering of the remote employees of the organization for specific updates, announcements, or meetings. It is conducted by the CEO or senior management of the organization.

When the organization holds its presence in different remote locations, connecting all the employees under one roof becomes nearly impossible with on-ground town hall meetings. Some fall out due to different working hours while some get stuck amid project deadlines or busy schedules resulting in missing out the meetings.

As technology advances, online town hall meetings help corporations to connect all employees of the organization under one roof virtually. It enables them to make important announcements and conduct meetings while keeping all the employees in a loop. Virtual town halls overcome the hassle of gathering the employees in a room for important discussions.

Selecting a virtual meeting platform that offers interactive virtual town hall meeting solutions is the best bet to rely on. It allows employees to tune in from their remote locations to be part of an online meeting. Virtual town hall meeting services allow you to reach employees who might miss attending a physical event.

While hosting a virtual town hall meeting, privacy, and security are the top concerns of an organizer. Going with the key players of the online conferencing platform that offers user-friendly and comprehensive virtual town hall meeting services is the best bet. They keep the company’s privacy intact and restrict the authorization of third-party access.

In this article, we have shared a brief guide about why you should opt for virtual town halls and how to host the one securely & successfully. To know more about Virtual town halls, read on:

1. High accessibility:

Unlike in-person town hall meetings, virtual town hall meetings are highly accessible as it takes place over the internet. It allows attendees to tune in from remote locations wherever they are. They do not have to struggle to travel to attend a meeting. Attendees can join the virtual town halls using any device such as computers, tablets, mobiles, etc from any browser. Easy setup steps make it easy for attendees to register for the conference or meeting, thus making it even more accessible.

2. Makes it easier:

Hosting a virtual town hall makes it easier for attendees and organizations to gather at one place virtually. All corporates do not hold expertise in conducting virtual conferences or meetings. Selecting a web conferencing platform is the right choice to host online town hall meetings. Interactive and engaging virtual meeting platforms carry the events right from planning to the execution stage. It makes it easy for organizers and attendees to gather online at one place with its capabilities.

3. A scalable way to expand the reach:

Many organizations have a global employee base located in varied locations worldwide. Online town hall meetings make it easy to reach global employees. A versatile and brilliant virtual meeting platform helps in extending the reach, capabilities, and execution of your virtual town halls, and virtual conference seamlessly. The platform that has the feature of no audience capping and can host as many numbers of attendees as you want helps in expanding the reach in a scalable way.

4. Interactive Features and Traceability:

Virtual meeting platforms offer interactive features that help in making your online town hall meetings interactive. It allows attendees to put across their point and interact with the presenter in real-time from their own desks. A presenter can simply moderate the meeting or the sessions. Apart from it, virtual town halls keep a complete track of all the attendees who registered, joined the meeting, and interacted. Organizing QA sessions, making important announcements, organizing LIVE polls, share screens, etc makes the online town hall meetings interesting, interactive, and engaging.

5. Offer on-demand video content:

With an on-ground town hall meeting, if an employee once missed attending a meeting it's missed. It can result in the loss of important information for the employee. Virtual town hall meeting solutions allow employees to ask for an on-demand video to gain valuable insights and highlights of the meeting or important announcements.

6. Acquiring feedback becomes easy:

Online town hall meetings make it easy for corporates to acquire employee feedback with ease. Feedback from employees definitely results in improving your next meetings or conferences. Virtual meeting platforms allow you to gather feedback from employees in a collected format. It helps in gaining the insights and opinions of your employees.

7. Overcomes the barrier of multitasking:

Virtual town hall meetings overcome the barrier of multitasking as it will keep the employees engaged and focused.

8. A cost-effective measure:

Virtual town hall meetings are far more cost-effective than in-person meetings. The cost of travel, event set up, venue, etc. all get resolved as it takes place online over the web.

9. Have complete access to analytics:

Obtaining the analytics of attendees and meetings becomes easy when you host virtual town halls. A good web conferencing platform allows you to have full analytics to analyze the results and effectiveness of your town halls.

After gaining the insights into the benefits of virtual town hall meetings, we now proceed to how to host a one.

How to host a successful virtual town hall meeting?

Select the right virtual meeting platform:

To host an online town hall meeting, select a virtual meeting platform that offers interactive and engaging online meeting solutions. It enables you to engage attendees by organizing QA sessions, polls, surveys, and so on. Dreamcast.in is a good virtual event platform offers you all the possibilities and functionalities. Right from offering interactive features to seamless delivery to 24×7 customer support, a virtual meeting platform serves all.

Keep time zone consideration in mind:

While scheduling your virtual town hall meeting, keep the time zone of the employees in mind. Many organizations have a global presence. To connect with the global employees with an online virtual meeting, considering the time zone is a must. Schedule your online virtual meeting at a time that enables the maximum number of employees to tune in and do not miss out on important discussions or announcements.

Send invites and pre-meeting updates to employees:

Send invites and update to your employees beforehand via emails about the meeting so that they can get prepared.

Illustrate the agenda of the meeting:

Inform your attendees about the agenda of the virtual town hall meeting. Provide them with a schedule of virtual town halls as the communication gap will result in a lot of confusion. Inform the date, time, and purpose of the virtual meeting beforehand.

Ask your attendees to post questions in advance:

Asking your employees to post questions in advance is a brilliant idea. You can address the most relevant and important questions asked by employees in virtual town hall meetings.

Test the technology before going live:

Test the software and its functionalities before you go Live with your virtual town halls. Run a test to spot out any technical glitches and difficulty and sort it in advance. It helps in running out your online virtual meeting seamlessly without any constraint.

Acknowledge your employees:

A little acknowledgment makes your employees feel valued and appreciated. Acknowledge the presence of attendees and their time it helps in boosting their confidence and engagements during a meeting.

Enhance networking possibilities:

Develop a plan to engage employees even before the meeting starts. Work on pre-engagement activities to make your virtual town halls successful. You can develop engaging activities that take place before, during, and after the meeting.

You can plan to organize polls, competitions, quizzes, or contests to engage attendees. Apart from it, organizing one-on-one meeting sessions is an outstanding way to engage attendees.

Breakout sessions amid meetings help in igniting the spark and keep the environment light and engaging.

Take feedback from attendees:

Acquire feedback from attendees and presenters about town halls. It helps in gaining the valuable insights and opinions of the attendees. It helps in understanding which part of the meeting holds their interest and which they don't love at all. It helps in making meetings even more effective the next time.

Measure the analytics and success of the virtual town halls:

An online conferencing platform keeps a complete track of online town hall meetings and enables you to analyze the data.  It allows you to compare the data with your set expectations, thus making it easier to determine the success of the virtual event.

If you have not yet planned to move your next town hall meetings online, now is the time to get started. Connect with your employees globally by hosting virtual town halls on the best web conferencing platforms.