Running an online meeting is a necessary skill in today’s business. Good leaders know how to run a meeting. Exceptional are also every bit as skilled with online meetings.

You’ve heard the hype. Web conferencing can save your travel budget, important in today’s expensive environment. Run them right and you’ll improve communication and save money at the same time. Nice. Here’s 8 tips to help you get started.

1. Start with a written agenda, from the beginning. Don’t take this lightly. Without the usual visual and verbal cues online meetings can be harder to keep on track.

2. Learn how to use your internet conferencing software. Invest a half hour in yourself and learn the application. If you’re worried about the cost, most of the vendors offer free trials – sign up for one and practice.

3. Check on whether participants have done their prep work. For reasons I’ve never understood, people seem more willing to blow off preparing for online meetings. You’ll want to gently nudge with a reminder. I prefer to do this over the phone.

4. Pay attention to your tone of voice. Your verbal tone almost always follows your face. It’s a subconscious reality. Call center trainers often give staff a mirror to hang on the wall of their cube as a reminder to smile. If you’re the leader you’ll want to aim for an expression of friendly confidence.

5. Keep background noises to a minimum. Start with a request that cell phone ringers be turned off. Don’t type near the phone’s receiver. If you’re at home, put the dogs in a different room.

6. Assign someone else to take notes. Unless the purpose of the meeting is to fine-tune a document, I can promise your attendees don’t want to watch you type on the screen.

7. Do participants understand (or agree on) the key points? We don’t have facial expressions to help us know if everyone’s in agreement. Instead, online meeting leaders have to ask specific questions after each major topic — use that feedback to gauge the participants’ understanding.

8. Manage the participants. Some online meetings tend to mushroom – people pull coworkers into the conference to listen in “just in case” and suddenly you have a lot of unexpected inputs. At the very least, you should know who’s participating. Start the meeting with a request to quickly list who’s in each location – your participants will appreciate knowing who’s hearing their input.

These guidelines should help you understand how to run a meeting online. If you’re still feeling undertain, I suggest you sign up for a free trial with a internet conference vendor (see resource box for helpful links). Take a few test runs with the software — hold a practice meeting with a friend and get comfortable. You’ll do fine.

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