Virtual school, tours, and dates; thanks to the current pandemic, everything is going virtual! Although virtual meetings were around before COVID-19, the use of them has drastically increased. Not only have they been our saving grace for connecting with friends, family, and coworkers, but virtual meetings have allowed us to continue business as usual.
Virtual meetings are the most inexpensive way for users to share information and connect with individuals around the world in real-time. If you want to be successful at meeting virtually, you should check out these tips!
1. Choose the Right Technology💻
Meeting software is extremely important. You want to ensure you and your team are meeting on one platform that will provide you with all your communication needs. gloCOM Meeting is the perfect example of virtual meeting software. It allows users to share their screen, send file links, group chat, and more!
Choosing the right technology goes beyond meeting software. Headsets, noise-canceling headphones, and webcams are also essential considerations for meeting virtually. It is important that meeting participants can properly hear you and see you.
2. Set Ground Rules👩⚖️
Although many of us enjoy an autonomous work life, setting ground rules for meetings will provide structure and efficiency. The rules can be as simple as asking attendees to mute their mics until they are ready to speak to eliminate background noise and echoing. Or, they can be more strict such as requiring that all attendees turn on their cameras to make the meeting more personable.
Other examples of rules could be:
- If users are sharing a document, make sure all people in the meeting are authorized to view it.
- Attendance and punctuality is mandatory
- Users must state their names before speaking
- Arrive 5 minutes before the meeting time
3. Arrive Early⌚
Even if arriving early in virtual meetings is not a rule for your company, it is good practice to do so. Logging in a few minutes before the meeting to check your connection, sound, and video will ensure a smooth start to the meeting.
When you have a tight schedule with back-to-back meetings, you must begin each on time. A busy meeting schedule doesn’t allow for time to get all the bugs worked out, especially when there is a large number of attendees.
4. Use an Agenda📅
Speaking of the meeting agenda, it is easy to get distracted. Keep your meetings on track by using an agenda! An agenda will help the flow of the meeting and ensure all participants have a chance to speak.
To avoid an overwhelming amount of topics, set deadlines for when items can be added. For example, participants must submit topics 24hours before the meeting. It is also important for participants to put their names next to their items.This way, participants will know who is speaking next and when it will be their turn.
5. Allocate Water Cooler Talk🗣
Allocate time in the meeting either at the beginning or end for personal chat. For some of us, virtual meetings are the only other human interaction (aside from the food delivery driver) we are getting while working from home during the quarantine.
A simple, ‘how are you?’ or ‘how is the dog doing?’ is good for employee bonding. Anything but business and virus talk will be good ice breakers for large meetings. Not only will it show employees you care, but participants will enjoy the break.
What other tips do you suggest to win at your next virtual meeting? Want to learn more about gloCOM Meeting? Check out this blog post or send our sales team an email at sales@bicomsystems.com.