A decade ago, virtual meetings were rare compared to today. You live in an unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can’t tell how long social distancing and remote working would be the norm. You need to note that this scenario might be around for a while, so you need to invest in holding virtual meetings to reduce the expense of those who are far from the office. Virtual meetings are now taking the center stage in a majority of fields like education and businesses.
However, planning for your meetings might be giving you sleepless nights as they may not be yielding the anticipated results. Probably, you haven’t gotten the hang of it. As a result, you may need the help of Lean Consultants to help you think through areas of failure so your virtual meetings may bear fruits. To help you out, this article gives you some strategies that can make your virtual meetings effective.
1) Make The Meeting Short
Meetings that are straight to the agenda will keep everyone engaged and focused. Look forward to having meetings that’ll last between 15-45 minutes. Allocate specific time to each of the participants and inform them prior, so they can know how to manage their time.
Meetings that go beyond 45 minutes may become boring, and the concentration span of the attendants may elapse. Moreover, people may become tired of sitting down and staring at the screen.
2) Prepare Well
An effective meeting is one that you invest time to prepare for. You may need to send a calendar of events to your employees so you can have full in-house meetings, reducing absenteeism. Be aware that abrupt meetings may be poorly attended.
Moreover, have a way of sending notifications and reminders to those who should appear for the virtual meeting. You can do this probably fifteen minutes before the start of the meeting. Select the tool to use for your meeting and let your team have it installed on their devices in advance. You may need a tool that allows both audio and video conferencing, text messaging, sharing of documents, and screen sharing.
Structure the meeting so that each one knows when it’s their time to make a contribution and avoid unnecessary interjection. Then, go ahead and share the agenda beforehand with all participants.
3) Encourage Participants To Have Video On
Communication is more than using a voice as there’s a lot of non-verbal cues you need to see from a presenter. Body language aids in communication, so during teleconferencing, ask every speaker to put on their cameras when they’re presenting. Moreover, those who aren’t speaking may be asked to put on their cameras as well for the presenter to see their reactions.
When the camera is on, it helps each one to be fully involved in the meeting and avoid the temptation of multitasking. If you’re having a business meeting, regard it as you would a boardroom meeting where everyone ought to be seen and heard.
4) Recognize The Attendants
If you have a lean team, you can acknowledge everyone who’s on the live call. On the other hand, if your meeting has hundreds of attendants, you may recognize the key participants before starting. All listeners ought to know the speakers present at the beginning.
5) Stay On The Agenda
Discourage every presenter from going outside the agenda of the meeting. Remember that every person has suspended other engagements to attend the meeting. Therefore, show respect and regard for other peoples’ time. Letting your attendants listen to minor issues might be an inappropriate way of conducting the meeting.
Have a moderator to ensure all discussions are based on the talking points. If something can be solved without bringing it to the meeting, it’s good to go that route so you can shorten the time the meeting takes.
6) Employ Professional Virtual Call Etiquette
Look the speaker in the eyes as if you’re in a face-to-face meeting. Have good lighting that lets you be seen clearly. Show concentration when others are speaking. Avoid walking around or constantly looking through your window.
If you need to talk, you can use the chatbox or raise your hand. Switch off microphones when you’re not speaking to avoid having an echo. Dress appropriately in a way that honors the meeting. You may consider being in office wear if you’re attending a business meeting.
Wrapping Up
Video calling service providers have seen an increase in the use of the medium. This has led to the restructuring of many business processes such as recruitment and training of workers using video communication. Remote working is now a possibility due to the service of live video calls. This shift of lifestyle might influence the nature of meetings for a long time, that’s why it’s the mandate of this article to give you tips that can help you make your virtual meetings effective.
