Technology has forever changed the landscape of the way we conduct business. The same way that our personal interactions are shifting to an online, social-media environment, businesses have shifted many of their management activities to virtual meetings.

Running such a meeting is both similar and different from running face-to-face meetings, and how well you understand that concept will determine whether your online meetings are successful or a waste of time.

I've been running my own consulting business for seven years, and I find myself participating in online meetings on an almost weekly basis. I have clients, partners and colleagues across the country, and recently I've been using the services of contractors worldwide. Managing that geography of key resources means I have to leverage the varied online tools that exist.