3 Pain-Free Steps To Boost Your Confidence in Your Next VBM in English with the English You Have.
#1: Before
In an in-person meeting, you could get away with little preparation. But you don’t have that luxury with VBMs because they’re shorter. It’s very hard to stay concentrated for a long time. Consequently, you only have a short window to get and keep people’s attention.
➜ Giving Information
If you have to give information during the meeting, prepare and practise. In a VBM, it’s especially important to be crystal clear with your message.
If you have to give information during the meeting, prepare and practise. In a VBM, it’s especially important to be crystal clear with your message.
Think through your what (message), who (audience), why (reason) and how (technical or plain language).
If you anticipate you’ll be asked questions, you could email the participants an outline of the content before and invite them to submit their questions. That way you have time to prepare your answers. (A lifesaver if you’re an introvert and hate communicating via video.)
➜ Asking Questions
If you’ve been given the agenda and have questions to ask during the meeting, you can prepare them by going through the same process of what (do you want/need to know), why (do you want to know), to whom (you want to ask the question).
Practise asking the questions. Speak slowly and don’t be afraid of pausing so that your questions are clearly heard. There are often connection issues or someone is distracted by background noise. Don’t assume they’ve heard you or that your English is not good.
If you’ve been given the agenda and have questions to ask during the meeting, you can prepare them by going through the same process of what (do you want/need to know), why (do you want to know), to whom (you want to ask the question).
Practise asking the questions. Speak slowly and don’t be afraid of pausing so that your questions are clearly heard. There are often connection issues or someone is distracted by background noise. Don’t assume they’ve heard you or that your English is not good.
#2: During
This step requires implementing strategies and observing the response.
➜ Giving InformationGive your audience the time to digest your information. Bear in mind that people’s attention span is far shorter during a VBM, so if you can break down your content, do so.
Pause and ask people’s opinion as you go along. . “What do you think of this point?” “Could you see this working in your context?” “What questions would your customers have?”
If you need them to take notes, give them time. Stop speaking. r. Don’t be afraid of silence. It can feel strange in a virtual setting but silence is good.
➜ Asking QuestionsOften people talk over and interrupt each other during a virtual meeting. This can cause people to miss key information or not listen to your question which is infuriating. This only adds to your stress of speaking English. One way of avoiding this is to suggest to the host or your colleagues that you all raise your hands before speaking or ask your questions in the chatbox.
Don’t ever apologise for your English before asking your question. If you do that, you risk everyone focusing on your English and not your question. If you didn’t understand something, ask a checking question. “You mentioned that…could you tell us more about it?”, “What do you mean when you say…”, “If I understand correctly, you’re suggesting we…”. The responsibility is on the other person to confirm your understanding or to clarify.
If they’re talking too fast, don’t apologise for your English. Some people speak too fast and aren’t aware they’re doing that. You need to remind them that they need you to hear what they’re saying and for that, they need to slow down. One strategy you could use is to say that you’re going to make a note of what they’ve just said. “That’s an interesting point. I’d like to make a note of that/write that down, could you repeat that last bit?”
The best excuse for asking someone to repeat is to blame it on a bad connection. “Sorry, I just lost you there for a minute…”
➜ Taking questionsIf your audience submitted their questions and you’ve prepared your answers beforehand, that’s a great help. Now you need them to listen to you. One strategy to get them to listen to your answer is to call out their name before answering. “Sergio, you asked me about…. It’s a valid observation…”.
If your audience asks you a question to which you have an unprepared answer, listen carefully and show them you’re listening by looking at them without fidgeting. Staring at someone in person can be intimidating but on video, it’s easier. Also, it’s the only way the person can know that they have your attention. You can also take notes but don’t keep your head down all the time.
If you didn’t understand their question, paraphrase. “If I understand correctly, what you’re asking is…” DON’T say “Sorry, my English isn’t that good”.
#3: After
Post-meeting reflection is often overlooked by business professionals. There’s simply no time before the next meeting.
➜ Focus on what worked
Was the information well-received? Did you answer the questions with ease? Did you ask the questions without fear? Were you able to successfully follow the meeting?
Was the information well-received? Did you answer the questions with ease? Did you ask the questions without fear? Were you able to successfully follow the meeting?
➜ Ask yourself why.Start with YOU and reflect on why you communicated well. >> You paused; you gave your audience time to digest the information; you broke your content down; you used plain English; you paraphrased; you resisted the temptation to apologise for your English; you were well-prepared; you listened to understand.
Why did you ask the questions without fear? >> The person made you feel relaxed. How? You’re an expert in your field and the question was easy for you. You needed to know the answer and that need superseded your fear.
Why were you able to follow the meeting? >> The person was clear. They paused and checked for understanding. You knew the content. You had context.
➜ Focus on what DIDN’T workNow reflect on what didn’t work as well as you’d have liked. The key is to be objective. Resist the temptation to be critical and assume that all miscommunication was because of you and your ‘bad’ English.
Go through the same approach as above and ask the opposite questions. >> The information wasn’t well-received, you found it difficult to answer the questions and so on.
➜ Ask yourself why(The other person/people): Why couldn’t you follow them? It might be only one or two people who were hard to follow.
(You): If you hesitated at one point, maybe it was because you lost your train of thought; didn’t know the answer or stumbled over the words.
(Don’t automatically assume the latter problem was about your English.)
➜ What could you do differently next time?Some things are beyond your control in a virtual meeting.
the background noise
a bad connection
people switching their video off
the background noise
a bad connection
people switching their video off
In which case, focus on what you can control :
Here are some suggestions of what you could do to take back control.
if you:
- Lose your train of thought:
You can pause and check your notes. Don’t be afraid of doing that. - Go blank:
Have some keywords with you to use as prompts, give examples or paraphrase. - Difficulty answering a question:
email the answer later.
