You’ve got a compelling topic for your online meeting. You’ve prepared a lean, mean slide deck. You’ve practiced your delivery in front of your spouse, your mirror, your dog and anyone else who will listen. Now you’re wondering whether your participants will listen. They’re online. Virtual. Can’t see them. Can’t hear them. Can’t read them. Are they checking email? Checking Facebook? Checking what’s on TV tonight? Maybe. But it’s not necessarily because they’re “virtual.”

Whether the meeting is in a board room, a ballroom or a web meeting space, who among us hasn’t checked out for a bit? The Virtual Edge Institute released research earlier this year suggesting that, whether your event is on- or offline, your audience may just check out on you. In a recent post, pundit Wayne Trummel acknowledges the check out and advises presenters to take a deep breath and remember that audiences are professional adults. (And, really, don’t we all think those professional adults can check their smartphones just as easily in an offline meeting as an online one?)

So the big question isn’t whether they’ll check out just because they’re online, but how you’ll get them back in. Whether you have to pull them back from Twitter or the coffee bar, how will you get them to check back in? Reaching into your “engagement” toolbox can be a great tactic. Launch an interactive poll – the sort where participants can see real-time results – on a worthy topic. Pose a question. Solicit relevant anecdotes or examples from your audience. Offer a compelling piece of content for download.

Boiled down, you’re online for the same reason – you have information to share that your audience needs or wants. So whether their eyes glaze from a caffeine crash or flick to their Twitter feeds, bear with them. And fill your toolbox with ideas to keep their eyes open to the compelling content you have to share.