Virtual Meetings, making them worthwhile

04 December 2020

With lockdowns and health concerns virtual meetings now a standard part of business life for many of us. However virtual meetings can present challenges and result in participants feeling frustrated and even unproductive.

Here are some tips on how to run an effective virtual meeting.

1. Internet Connection

Regardless of the virtual meeting platform you’re using (e.g. Zoom, Teams, etc) communication issues caused by poor connectivity is the fastest way to disengage participants which when the participants include clients is a very bad thing . In the office your connection is probably fine but a lot of us aren’t at the office right now, and while some of us enjoy fast fibre at home, plenty of people are still using either older or “cheaper” services designed for occasional domestic use. Even if you have a fast FTTC connection, you might have other people in your home trying to use the bandwidth for doing school work online, browsing, playing music, gaming etc.

There’s only so much you can do to make sure that you get a good enough connection for your virtual meeting but making sure of things like; your internet router is on the latest available firmware, try to schedule your meetings to avoid lots of simultaneous bandwidth utilisation, if you’re using Wi-Fi, don’t stray too far from your internet router and if need be use 4G mobile.

2. Check your equipment settings

If the beginning of the call is spent being distracted by participants making changes to their laptop, MAC, PC, tablet or smartphone then already there is an air of frustration even before the actual meeting begins. Test your equipment and settings before the meeting, making sure that , for example, audio settings are correct and you have the right background. When it comes to things like headsets don’t use an old pair of iPhone headphones as there are some great USB ‘made for purpose’ headsets out there that are very affordable. Many business users like headsets from Jabra for their reliability, comfort, and cost.

3. The right virtual platform for your meetings

We all have a preferred virtual meeting solution be it Zoom, Teanms etc and as long as it delivers what’s needed for your business then its the right solution. Ideally the solution will provide for video, voice, messaging, presence, screen sharing, etc. but there is another element to this, which is the audience. For example, schools , who often have stringent restrictions when it comes to installing software that can make ad-hoc video meetings rather difficult.

To overcome situations like this, we would suggest using a video conferencing platform that runs in a web browser with no installation required. It’s ideal because it avoids those situations where people run into issues installing software locally.

4. Setting expectations and agenda

Asking participants to stay and listen to calls without a clear agenda is not an efficient way to use their time or run a meeting.  Its important to have  a clear objective for your meeting, setting a plan, and sharing it with participants  before or at the start of the meeting. This is nothing new as its the same challenge in face-to-face meetings, but it’s even more important with virtual meetings because everyone is in a different physical environment, with more potential distractions around them. And when it comes to sharing agendas before the meeting, the further in advance the better. If you circulate the agenda five minutes before the meeting it’s unlikely the participants will have the opportunity to read it, let alone digest it and bring coherent thoughts and input to the meeting itself.

5. Always have video on

Put a face to the voice by adopting ‘video-on’ as standard. Using video in virtual meetings is essential to maximise effective communication otherwise you might as well just have an “old fashioned” conference call. When people are on camera, there’s less room for distraction, such as checking emails, text , social media and such like. 

6. Stick to your timings

Sticking to a meeting time frame is essential. It’s easy to get distracted particularly given that people aren’t together in offices and therefore don’t have the usual “catch up” opportunities.

Run virtual meetings to the benefit of your business

Virtual meetings are here to stay for the foreseeable future and can be just as productive as face-to-face ones; by using some of these tips all participants will benefit.

And if you’re in need of any expert advice then please do not hesitate to contact me on 02037587285 or paul.humphries@syncly.cloud