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These are our best tips to make the most out of your remote meetings. You will find that several of the best practices listed here are familiar to you already, because they are good practice for all meetings, in person or remote. Now that we’ve covered the tools you’ll https://globalcloudteam.com/ need for remote meetings, let’s dive into some tips for online meetings for both organizers and attendees. Luckily, technology has more than caught up with the growth of online meetings. So, there are now numerous tools that you can use to make the process easier.
It puts everyone on a level playing field and encourages more balanced participation. Plus, nobody likes being the giant head on the TV screen at the front of the conference room. Remote Control Keep on top of your work from home life with these tips and ideas from our team to yours. Company Culture Want to work with the most talented people in your field? Then help create a lust-worthy company culture they’ll beg to be part of.
Spend a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting checking in with everyone, catching up, or just having small talk about what’s going on in the office. Not only will it boost engagement, but it can also strengthen culture and deepen your relationship with your team. Setting a clear meeting agenda and guidelines will help ensure that everyone is on the same page before the digital meeting takes place.
You can also ask attendees to prepare anything needed or review documentation ahead of time. Especially for remote employees, those things that tie everyone together like the company culture, vision and mission can start to feel distant. Remind everyone what you’re all working toward to help reinforce a sense of culture for your remote teams. To make people feel like they’re all at the “same” meeting, use video conferencing rather than traditional conference dial-ins. Technology — such as Zoom, Skype, and GoToMeeting — helps to personalize the conversation and to keep participants engaged. We mounted two of the webcams on tripods, which faced the in-room attendees so remote participants could see who was speaking.
Meeting management tools might involve cloud-based storage of notes, a digital whiteboard, or a mind map to capture notes in real-time. Perhaps your remote meeting may require Kanban boards to illustrate project progress or even a simple Word document. How you manage your meeting is equally as important as what platform you use to host it. Keeping the meeting organized, recording ideas and tasks, storing information centrally, and ensuring remote access to the material are all critical to productive online meetings. Video conferencing plus VoIP platforms offer a more enterprise-appropriate solution to remote meetings. These are platforms that allow meeting organizers to schedule calls in advance, send out mass email invitations with unique access links and call-in numbers.
We would love to know your team’s best practices for remote work. Similar to in-person meetings, you should leave time at the end of each meeting for questions. Clarity of communication is super important for remote teams, so open the floor and give people space to ask questions. For example, if you need to poll the group, use a phone-based survey tool like Poll Everywhere to collect everyone’s input in real time.
The CEO would present for minutes and then answer any questions people had . Another benefit to recording meetings is that you can reference them later , and you can also see how you can improve as the organizer. Recording a video creates a feedback loop to help you improve the next time you hold a meeting. Start collecting questions via Slido a couple of days before the meeting starts. This will allow you to crowdsource topics your colleagues want to talk about and design a more relevant agenda.
Because, while remote meetings were thrust into the spotlight like never before during the COVID19 crisis, it’s obvious that they’re here to stay. Of course, there’s no perfect platform for everyone—the one you choose will depend on your individual business needs. You might only be looking for conferencing software or you might want a platform that hosts a mix of cloud contact center solutions and virtual meeting capabilities. Most businesses have a pretty large carbon footprint, and taking on more online meetings is a good way to contribute towards a greener future.
It’s better to let your online attendees see you and each other. As your colleagues join the meeting, prompt them to turn on their cameras. Of course, it’s absolutely fine if someone prefers to attend without his or her video turned on, but a remote meeting is made much more personal if people can see each other on the screen. Liam Martin is the co-founder of Time Doctor—one of the world’s leading time tracking software for remote teams. He is also the co-organizer of Running Remote, the world’s largest remote work conference.
Attendees mutter vague intentions to “follow up” or “circle back,” but there’s no clarity or confidence about what needs to happen next. If you follow the above tips, you should be able to enjoy the flexibility remote work provides while still getting the job done. And don’t force people in other time zones to join nighttime or early morning meetings.
On the flipside, remote attendees should always have their cameras on so people in the room can see them as well. Perhaps the most ubiquitous of all online meeting platforms, Zoom is great for gathering hundreds of people in a time-unlimited virtual setting with a user-friendly interface. Zoom is especially well known for its chat tool, hand-raising tool and flexible meeting formats . However, to host more than two people in meetings lasting longer than 40 minutes, you’ll have to pay for higher Zoom tiers, which start at $149.90 per year. Gathering and processing high-quality input during a virtual meeting can be challenging, especially since visual cues are harder to read. Use a phone-based survey tool like Poll Everywhere to collect on-demand feedback from attendees on specific topics in real time.
Desktop & Mobile AppsPlan and run productive meetings… wherever you work best. Browser ExtensionsAccess meeting notes inside of Google Meet and get helpful details through Google Calendar events. Objectives Stay on top of your team’s goals by clearly recording, defining, and tracking the progress of your OKRs in Fellow’s Objectives tool. Guest UsersKeep meeting notes in one place by bringing everyone you work with – vendors, clients, agencies – into Fellow.
Side conversations and chit-chat before a face-to-face meeting gets going is common, but it doesn’t always work as well in virtual situations. Meeting experts Bob Frisch and Cary Greene suggest having a formal structure, an assigned facilitator, an agenda, and set time limits to keep your virtual meeting running smoothly. However, even when stay-at-home orders eventually come to an end, knowing how to run a remote meeting effectively will still be a great skill to possess. It’s also likely this experience of remote working—at least part of, if not all of the time—will have garnered some supporters. Here are 10 ways to help you make your remote meetings most effective. If I told you that only 50% of meeting time is used effectively, would you believe me?
As companies employ increasingly virtual teams or you find yourself suddenly working remotely, you may be asked to run meetings, workshops and much more of your traditional working practice online. We built Dory to establish agendas collaboratively, set priorities together, and make sure every voice got appropriate air time. Dory includes a host of features that help us do just that, with built-in tools for brainstorming, hosting Q&As, generating real-time feedback, and creating actionable next steps after a meeting. It has transformed the way we work, so we decided to make it available to other businesses – free of charge. The worst thing you can do is to see hybrid meetings as a burden.
I’ve outlined the routine meetings I had when working for an organization of ~150 people. This excludes ad-hoc meetings that were focused on resolving specific blockers. Video calls are a richer experience because you can pick up on body language and other visual cues . As you move on to the content of the meeting, dedicate the first minute or two to outlining what the meeting will be about and setting the meeting objectives. This will allow you to incorporate their points into the discussion and make them feel included as they watch the recording later. Collect ideas from your teammates who are unable to join the meeting so you can take their inputs into account when addressing a certain issue or raise a point on their behalf.
The catch is that you’re honor-bound to follow up on them, or you’ll lose the group’s trust. Even if everyone in the group typically works from the office, there’s always a chance somebody will end up working remotely that day to care for a sick child or let the electrician in. Keep these in mind as you strive to optimize your virtual meeting practices, so you can address the challenges you’re facing together through making better use of your shared time. Especially if you’re trying a new software or you have a new video or audio setup, do a test run to check that everything is working properly.
For recruiters, platforms that offer collaborative hiring features are also invaluable ways to keep track of meeting outcomes and move tasks forward. Scheduling is an essential component to an effective and successful virtual meeting, so make sure you send invites out ahead of time. If your virtual meeting platform integrates with Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook, this makes things easier. To avoid this, set a minimum requirement for in-person attendance, especially if you intend for hybrid meetings to be a regular practice. Have a frank discussion with your board that makes it clear that this is not an alternative to being present at meetings on a regular basis without just cause.
When deciding who should attend a meeting, also consider each person’s role and contribution and ensure this is known before the event and that contributions made are recognized. Are you drained by constant hours-long Zoom meetings in which everyone speaks but nothing seems to happen? Video conferencing can work very well, but it relies on a strong internet connection that may not always be available. People need the ability to participate via audio, but make it clear that video-first is the new norm.
At its best, technology in the workplace should be used to streamline processes and make information more accessible to teams and team members. It should also help people stay focused on what’s important. On a remote team, you’re less likely to be caught tracing your hand in your notebook, but the chances of having ineffective meetings only increases.
If people need to prepare something before arriving, make this explicit. Include a section on etiquette, technological requirements, and any other expectations you have. Including this here can save time later and ensure everyone is aligned. You know the needs of your team the best, so tailor this to their needs, though be sure to give your participants some idea of what the workshop will involve so they can prepare accordingly. What this doesn’t mean is reprimanding people working from home for their kids or pets walking in, but finding ways to accommodate and using that energy as a positive element in your meetings. Successful workshops live or die on the level of participant engagement.
If you’re struggling to meet quorum, virtual board meetings might just be your catchall solution! Going remote boosts accessibility and ensures as many board members as possible can make it to the meeting. At the very least, having the option increases the likelihood of participation. Plus, you’ll eliminate travel time and expenses, making attendees much more willing to join. There’s no question that it’s more challenging to build relationships with people who aren’t in the office. So with hybrid meetings, it’s often worth building in time for social connection even at the expense of board business, since better relationships tend to increase effectiveness.
Keep your meeting minutes organized with this simple template for taking down meeting notes. You can later attach it with the recap email or share it on your Slack channel to give access to others. At the same time clarify the roles each attendee will be expected to play during the meeting. Your team will feel more relaxed and engaged if you start your meetings by talking about non-work related topics first.
Folks who are new to remote meetings can be frustrated if the format isn’t effective for the intended outcome. No one wants to feel like they’re not heard or their time is wasted. If you’re planning a more formal online meeting, create access links using your chosen conference platform, and send calendar invitations to your team. Ensure that all attendees can access the platform before the call. Tools like Slack – an instant messaging platform where you can build individual teams and workspaces – are also great for ongoing, informal communication after the remote meeting has ended. Employee texting systems for mass texting employees can also come in handy.
Working in traditional settings has its own ruleset and etiquette and making the transition to working from home and dialing into online meetings can be difficult to adjust. Some tools such as Zoom have the option for private chats in parallel with the main session. Using a Slack channel for facilitators to communicate while the meeting or workshop takes place in video conferencing software is also a viable solution. It’s also worth communicating any additional needs – software, meeting links or requirements – clearly and well in advance of the workshop or meeting.
Our capacity for creative thinking is the highest right after sleep, so schedule that brainstorming session first thing in the morning. By contrast,we solve problems best later in the day when our minds are a bit tired. Our focus relaxes, and we can see more opportunities and connect more dots. Plus, we’re less likely to be distracted by How to run a successful remote meeting a looming list of tasks. Few things are more irksome than the person who sends a meeting invite with no indication of what will happen, and therefore no clue as to why you’re being invited. Include your agenda in the invitation so people can determine whether they need to be there and, if not, decline the meeting or suggest someone else.