Ceiling of Washington DC train station

HOW CAN 180 SECONDS BE SO PIVOTAL?

One of the biggest challenges in a virtual meeting is capturing and keeping the attention of your audience. Consider these statistics:

The opening of your video call is absolutely critical to your success. This is when you grab them…or you don’t.

Let’s begin with what’s going on with your client…

At the beginning of every call, there is that awkward period of time when everyone gathers. Those who join early are working on something else while they wait for the others.  

When you begin the meeting, they may still be distracted, but the part of their brain that tunes in is immediately judging whether this meeting will be worth their time.  

Within the first few minutes, your client will decide, consciously and subconsciously, whether to commit to this meeting or move on mentally to the next thing.

Your first imperative is to pull them away from what they are doing and get them focused on you.  

Here’s how: Show them very quickly that you are focused on them and their challenges, not you and your solutions.

You now have 180 seconds to convince them to fully commit to this meeting.  

Here’s how: Make it clear during your opening that they will gain helpful information throughout the call.

Your take away

Take time before every call to determine exactly what you want to share during your opening. This is a make or break time, so you want to prepare for it.  

Grab the client early by making it all about them, and then engage them as active participants in the meeting. Right from the start, this meeting will be very different from what they expect!