Taking your Customer Advisory Board Meetings Virtual

As my colleague Camille Antonetti wrote in her recent blog, COVID-required social distancing and stay at home measures have necessitated organizations to shift their in-person events and meetings to virtual platforms. In our work at Farland Group, we have conducted customer advisory board virtual sessions for years. Here are some key areas we focus on to create a valuable experience for all participants.

Agenda realignment. Going from a content-packed 8-hour agenda spread over two days to a 1-2-hour virtual session requires taking a good look at the areas of highest priority – for your organization and your clients. Which topics are the must haves? What are the areas that you need advice in order to keep your strategies and plans moving forward? If you start by looking at your agenda through that lens, you will arrive on a topic that you can really dig into during a shortened session.

Session facilitation. Webinars and teleconferences require a different type of facilitation. Not being able to see the audience and taking in their physical cues such as facial expression or body language, makes it a bit tougher to gauge how they are reacting to the content being presented. Seasoned facilitators know that this type of situation requires planned pauses to check in with the audience. Does the information resonate? What are they experiencing in their organizations? Selecting a few individuals in advance of the session to call by name to provide perspective also helps to keep the engagement high and the discussion flowing.

Over the last 6 weeks the world has changed dramatically, and it will likely be a while before we are all back meeting physically face to face at customer advisory board meetings and events. Virtual sessions are a great way to keep important areas of your strategy moving forward and stay connected to your customers.

Related Stories

CXO Perspectives: Leading Change Agendas

Posted on 07.24.2023 by in Featured, Understanding the C-Suite

We share what we have learned about the state of digital transformation through our in-depth conversations with CXOs, and how the C-suite has moved beyond early debate to take action in five key areas to drive competitive advantage.

Continue Reading »

Set Your Customer Advisory Council Up for Success: Recruit Your Internal Team First

Posted on 06.22.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards

When launching a Customer Advisory Council significant thought and attention goes into recruiting members – what criteria to use, whom to invite, and ensuring the mix is on target. However, the same care is not always taken when putting together  

Continue Reading »

Customer Advisory Boards: How Difficult Conversations Drive Change

Posted on 04.27.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards

One of my first jobs out of university was working in the headquarters office of a local business with several locations. In this role, I worked closely with the customer service representatives, and we received feedback, questions, and  

Continue Reading »

Putting the Peer in Client Engagement

Posted on 03.6.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards, Featured, Understanding the C-Suite

In this era of social connectedness, opinions and input from peers are of paramount importance to driving buying decisions and the adoption of new enterprise products and services. In working with executive engagement programs, the power of peer  

Continue Reading »


Customer Advisory Boards

Customer Advisory Boards are powerful engines of engagement, insight, and business transformation. Make the most of yours.

Meeting Facilitation: Virtual and In-Person Boards » Taking Your Customer Advisory Board Meetings Virtual »

Learn More »

Engagement Strategy

Like any good relationship, customer engagement is a long-term, reciprocal effort. When done well, meaningful engagement leads to better business results, faster.

Engage Your Customers to Help You Stop Pitching » Getting to a Customer Engagement Mindset »

Learn More »

Understanding the C-Suite

Building C-level programs that are meaningful and bring value to you as well as to your c-suite customers is challenging. Veiled sales pitches won’t win the day with this audience. Deliver what executives want: ideas, inspiration, innovation, influence.

Building a C-Suite Client Experience Strategy » Do you Know What Your Customers Value? »

Learn More »