It’s been a while since we were distanced from the office, and it’s not looking to end anytime soon. Many tech companies such as Microsoft have announced that they plan to let employees work remote permanently.
Working from home is the new normal. As much as people are tolerant of interruptions from a weak internet connection, kids screaming, or dogs barking in the background, it’s time for us to adapt and change.
As a former consultant, attending and facilitating meetings was probably where I spent most of my time. With the lack of physical human interaction, scheduling meetings was the mutually agreed way to even have a simple conversation.
Like many of you, I get frustrated by unproductive meetings. However, there are many ways that we could re-imagine the heavy meeting culture and reform our meetings to make better progress.
In this post, I will share my learnings on running virtual meetings to help you be more productive remotely.
1. Share your objective and agenda ahead of time
As simple as this sounds, I’ve seen numerous meeting invites with just a title and no other context. You need to be crystal clear on what you want to achieve in your meeting. This can be as simple as including a few bullet points that provide the context, goal and agenda. Getting your attendees on the same page before the meeting begins can help to ensure that everyone is prepared, and prevent the meeting from going nowhere or veering off the topic.
2. Set your meeting time based on your objective
Depending on your agenda and how you think your audience will respond, your scheduled meeting time could vary. For example, if it is a tactical check-in and you don’t expect it to take a full 30 minutes, don’t hesitate to schedule 15 minutes instead. Setting the right time frame can really help to make your meeting more productive by reducing the likelihood of getting off track.
3. Optimize your “tech” in advance
This generally involves making sure your audio and video work as expected. Your Internet should be optimized as well. You can check your Internet speed via Fast.com. According to Google Meet, you should be able to have a group video meeting without much distortion with 3.2Mbps+ for both your outbound and inbound speed. You can use the below resources from major video chat software providers to optimize your connection.
- Google Meet: Prepare your network for Meet video calls
- Zoom: Enhancing Your Wi-Fi-Powered Zoom Meeting
- Skype: Troubleshooting issues with Skype call quality
4. Have a plan B in the event of “technical difficulty”
This is essential especially if you cannot simply reschedule the meeting in case things go wrong.
Here are some things you can do in advance:
- Have an alternative Internet source (such as mobile hotspot or remote Wi-Fi egg).
- Share presentation materials in advance of the meeting (my company has a 48-hour pre-read policy). This way in case your Internet fails, you can still dial in via your phone to walk through the materials.
- Get a presentation buddy or co-host. This is very important if you are presenting in a more formal setting or with a larger forum. If your Internet is wonky, you can call in while they walk through the presentation for you.
5. Set expectations on how you want your audience to engage
This should be set based on your objective. Is your meeting more informative, or more open ended and aiming to collect feedback? You should share your expectations with the audience at the beginning of the meeting. Based on your expectations, you might want to collect feedback throughout the meeting, leave Q&A time at the end, or allow attendees to speak up at any time. If your meeting aims to gather feedback, then you should explain the type of feedback you are looking for in advance.
6. Pause to capture questions and reactions
Online audiences tend to be more passive and less engaged. People are less likely to unmute themselves and interrupt you to ask questions. Periodic pauses (5 seconds or more) can help you observe the room (through your grid view) and also give your audience a chance to process the information or make a comment.
7. Share key takeaways and next steps
Be mindful of how you use your time and always try to leave time at the end to summarize key takeaways and next steps. Moreover, it helps to put this in writing after the meeting and share it with all the attendees to make things clear. This is the best way to keep track of progress, make sure people are aligned, and keep people accountable for their action items.
8. Leverage tools for collaboration and activities
Common collaboration activities involve a whiteboard and sticky notes. It’s certainly not easy to design virtual activities that will engage with your audience and contribute to your objective. To do so more effectively, you can leverage various tools built to help with online collaboration. For example, the breakout room feature in Zoom lets you leverage small group discussions.
Here are some additional tools you can use for:
Conclusion
In a virtual work environment, meetings are unavoidable. It is hard work to coordinate a time that works for everyone and to run a meeting that feels like “time well spent”. However, there are ways to make a meeting more productive and hopefully the 8 tips provided will add a few more minutes to your day.
Jason Oh works in the Strategy/M&A – Global Wealth & Asset Management team at Manulife. Previously, he was a Strategy Consultant at EY and Novantas with industry focus in the financial sector where he advised on corporate strategy planning, commercial due diligence, and data analytics.
Image: Pexels
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