Building engagement in speaking events, where audience participation is welcomed, like training, has always been very important to me. However, building the same type of engagement is different with the loss of in person body language. Note that in a virtual environment – it's the loss of your and their body language. Short of begging for engagement you have to set your audience up for engagement right up front.

To those seeking more insight into improving your virtual meeting environments, these suggestions are practical and easy to implement.

In less than a few minutes you can teach them how to engage technically with you. You can set the engagement expectations up front. Every tool has tools like reactions, participant panel options, and chat...