Concerns about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic are causing a widespread delay of gatherings, workshops, and in-person meetings. Given the potential for COVID-19 spread and, this alertness is justified to secure the public’s health.
For most of us, the previous year of working from home has made virtual meetings another normal for our daily work schedules. We have learned the art of muting (and unmuting), screen-sharing, and lifting our virtual hands. However, there are a couple of more ways we can expand the effectiveness of virtual meetings while lessening the time we all spend on a camera. Here are five suggestions you can use to make your virtual meetings more successful or effective.
Have a Defined Agenda
Before planning the meeting, ensure that you have an apparent reason for planning a virtual conference instead of collaborating through email. It would help if you built up a plan of what will be covered and an understanding of the plan by all the staff members who will join the meeting. You should attach in the agenda email the reason, strategy, and expectations to guarantee all members come prepared, providing the ability to maximize the time you have planned.
Keeps Meetings Compact
Pre-COVID-19, generally in-person meetings were planned to have the duration of an hour. This has not been the same protocol for virtual meetings. Virtual meetings have commonly been much shorter because there is no need for the set-up required when in person. Though meetings should always be needed to get the plan accomplished, the virtual meeting should be kept as short as possible to achieve productivity. Most virtual meetings are averaging a quarter of the time in-person meetings were taking.
Pro Tip: Even if you set the expectation that the virtual or in-person meeting will be an hour, you should cut it short if the meeting is handled in far less time than the schedule. Productivity should be the focus of both virtual and non-virtual staff.
Build-in Space Between Meetings
If you have multiple virtual meetings throughout the day, you must allow 15 to 20 minutes between the previous meeting’s planned end time and the start time of the next one. This time gives you a chance to finish the necessary loose ends before starting your next session, which keeps you moving forward through your day. Building in this time will also ensure you do not over-schedule your meetings throughout the day.
Have the Correct Lighting and Background
There is no lack of viral meeting recordings online that show members that did not focus on their surroundings and virtual environment. Many of the videos released online have gone viral for something occurring in the background or something the employee was doing. Most of these difficulties can be prevented if you have a devoted space to shut your door and work from, especially in meetings.
If this is not possible, virtual backgrounds are using a green screen, or you can find a spot in your home that has shelving or behind you to minimize distractions. You can use ring lights or well-placed lamps to get good lighting.
Learn Shortcuts
Everybody knows about dealing with the “mute button” during meetings. Many times, it is how we scramble with them that can be a problem. Unmuting or muting is accomplished by moving your mouse to the receiver button each time you need to mute or unmute. This can be cumbersome and cause a delay in responding if called upon during the meeting. However, tech-savvy virtual meeting experts know how to utilize keyboard shortcuts to be more efficient and quicker. Keyboard shortcuts will make keeping yourself muted or unmuting in a timelier manner much easier and save time and unnecessary background noise during important virtual meetings.
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