If you are going to ask for participation, in the chat for example, then you have to hold every participant accountable. That means if there are 20 participants in the meeting and you ask for an opinion, or for them to fill out a poll, you must wait until you get 18, 19 or 20 of them to do it. This compels participants to be more engaged and pay attention to what is being discussed. Not only will they never know when you will call upon them, they also know that if you call upon them you will wait until they respond. Does that mean you have to review everyone’s response? Not at all. You just have to see the number of responses and call it out.
Here is an example of a phrase I like to use “…I only see 12 responses and there are 25 of us in the room so let’s see everyone please…” Then I alternate between waiting and commenting on responses.
Here is an example of a phrase I like to use “…I only see 12 responses and there are 25 of us in the room so let’s s