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Good morning! I am wondering if anyone who runs a *Customer Advisory Board* has figured out a way to make it more engaging. The meetings are over Zoom for about 2 hours with the exception of the one at our user conference in October. I inherited this program and there are some members who are at a different level and so we've tried to make it more broad in regard to topic discussed and when presenting our product roadmap. Any insight/feedback is welcomed!
I would always start by asking members what they like about the CAB and what other things they would enjoy. I liked the CAB efforts that @Leslie Barrett shared in her CMAsoulmate newsletter. She had a feature adoption auction.
+1 to gathering feedback before making changes
couple things we have done to drive engagement virtually:
• share content in advance to reduce "presenting" and spend more time discussing
• have customers present/share and invite customers to interact with each other (vs interacting with the business)
I'm sure lots of folks will share great ideas & tools around polls, team-building events, etc. And definitely look into those.
Something else I'll mention is that the facilitator matters a lot. I think of it like "Can this person's personality come through the screen and meet users on the other side?" There's definitely a difference between people with great in-person skills vs. being able to communicate those through the screen. If you can find someone who can project their personality through the screen, that's engaging and captivating. No amount of interactive exercises will compensate for an unengaging facilitator.
If you have budget, connect with Sean Geehan. He is the CAB master.