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Communication and engagement

From boring to brilliant - How to run an engaging online session

If you want your online sessions to feel more engaging and less like people are just dialling in, this webinar will show you how. We’ll explore practical techniques and simple tools that bring energy, structure and interaction into online meetings, workshops and training.

Date Wednesday, 06 May 2026 14:00 PM - 16:00 PM
Where Details Online Online - MS Teams
User Details Members:
Level Details Suitable for all levels
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Radio1523 people viewed this event

What you’ll learn

  • What makes online sessions engaging and purposeful, rather than flat?
  • How to design sessions that suit your audience and objectives, not just the platform
  • Ways to start sessions well and set a supportive, inclusive tone from the outset
  • How to use tools such as chat, polls, whiteboards and breakout rooms in a simple, effective way
  • How to handle common technical issues calmly and keep sessions moving
  • Techniques to encourage participation and reduce distraction, even with larger groups

Who is this webinar for?

This webinar is for people who facilitate or run sessions online and want them to feel more engaging. It’s particularly useful if you want practical ideas you can apply straight away, without needing advanced technical skills.

Lead facilitators

Joe Blunden

Joe is a multi-award winning marketing and communications specialist with over 15 years of experience across a range of industries. He has worked for the NHS for the past 10 years, including marketing, communications and engagement roles in both acute and community settings.

He is a compulsive learner and recently completed an MBA (Distinction), having gained a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Diploma in Managing Digital Media and a degree in business.

Joe directed the successful campaign to get the NHS Choir to Christmas number one in 2015, raising over £300k for charity in the process. He also led NHS Voices in 2018, bringing together 30 celebrity singers to record a song for the NHS, which was made into a documentary by ITV.

Joe specialises in strategy development and digital communication and has extensive experience in PR, stakeholder engagement and campaign development.

Robin Davis

Having worked in various senior NHS management roles, Robin combines a realistic outlook with the latest change management thinking to achieve results. He has a genuine understanding of the competing demands of operational health care management and the challenge of meaningfully engaging clinicians in quality improvement. He is an accomplished facilitator and enjoys the challenge of working with teams to bring about improvements for patients and staff. A graduate from the NHS management training scheme in 2002, he has an MSc in Health Care Policy and Management.

Robin leads the quality improvement faculty at NHS Elect and is passionate about supporting organisations to design and deliver organisation-wide QI improvement initiatives.  Robin is a trained coach and supports quality improvement coaches across the NHS.  Robin has supported hundreds of teams across the country and enjoys facilitating team away days, workshops and development sessions.  Having worked in the NHS since 1997, Robin understands the challenges NHS staff face and is excited to be leading the Happier Working Lives programme for NHS Elect, which uses quality improvement tools to improve working lives across the NHS. Robin is an expert facilitator with passion for service improvement, service redesign and coaching.

What participants say

99.9%

99.9% of attendees would recommend this session to a collegue.

“Great pace. Extremely engaging and interactive. Very practical and creative. Loads of great ideas.”