Virtual meetings have become commonplace, in both in-person work environments and remote work environments. Today, we’re diving into how to make virtual meetings (whether they are a part of your company’s remote work environment, a strategy for incorporating far away team members into office meetings, or a way to capitalize on efficiency and retention of material) more productive.
Let’s jump in. 🤓
Increasingly Common Virtual Meetings
The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the way we view workplace meetings, and transformed the way we use tools like Zoom and Google Meet permanently—even after many companies have gone back into the office.
Virtual meetings, of course, are still commonplace for remote teams, but also are used for connecting subsets of in-person teams overseas, and even for the simple recording abilities that allow team members to review the content long after the meeting.
Top Tips for a Successful Virtual Meeting
So, how can you make a virtual meeting successful? ☕️
These types of meetings have the potential to be more productive due to the lack of distractions that can occur in a physical meeting—as long as appropriate measures are taken by participants beforehand to limit distractions, interruptions, and technical difficulties.
The following are some tips for making sure that your virtual meetings are a success:
- Conduct an agenda before the meeting so everyone knows what needs to be discussed. Virtual meetings can make it harder to gauge body language, avoid accidental interruptions, and ensure everyone is on the same page—so it’s important to conduct an agenda ahead of time to ensure everyone understands the flow and purpose of the meeting.
- Make sure you have enough bandwidth and screen sharing capabilities so all participants can see one another. Nothing is worse than going to share your screen during an important meeting and getting the notification that you must go into Systems Preferences, reset your browser settings, and rejoin the meeting. Be sure all of this is taken care of beforehand to avoid awkward interruptions! In addition, be sure you have enough bandwidth to run video and see everyone’s screens and faces to avoid mishaps.
- Ensure you’re in a quiet place where background noise won’t distract other participants (and stay on mute when not actively speaking.) We get it—if you’re working from home, there’s bound to be background noise every now and then, whether it’s your dog, your kids, or nearby construction. Curb interruptions by conducting meetings in a place as private as possible, and keeping your mic on mute when you’re not speaking. Nothing is worse than echoing feedback!
How to Make Virtual Meetings More Productive
Long story short? Virtual meetings are becoming more and more common in the modern workplace, in-person or not. It is now much easier to connect with remote teammates and clients, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. 📈
The following tips will help you make your virtual meetings more productive:
- Schedule at least one day in advance. This gives meeting participants time to plan to be in a quiet and wifi-powered place, prepare any materials necessary, ensure their browser settings are correct, etc…and saves time and frustration in the long run.
- Communicate with the participants before the meeting starts—and during the meeting itself. Will you need everyone’s camera to be on? Does anyone need to be prepared with screen-sharing abilities? Communicate this information before the meeting starts so everyone can be sure they are joining correctly and avoid last-minute changes during the meeting time. In addition, use communication tools like the “raise hand” function to avoid awkward interruptions due to those few-second delays over the call.
- Use tools like Supernormal to make your virtual meetings—and time after—more productive. Supernormal takes live notes during meetings, and provides participants with a full transcript and recording afterward. It even gives you the ability to capture and reshare key highlights, and integrates directly with Slack and Google. And, since it works on Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, you can rest assured that it will work for your team, big or small. Say goodbye to back-and-forth emails following meetings asking “What did we decide about _?” or “What are my top priorities for this project, again?” (Psst…You can try it out for free here.)
The bottom line?
Virtual meetings are here to stay—so ensuring you and your team know how to approach them the right way is essential to productivity, collaboration, and efficiency in the workplace.
Check out more posts on our Supernormal blog here.