Tag: TIME

Meetings….. Meetings……Meetings…… And Meetings…….its meetings all the time.  And especially with Covid 19 and all these work from home scenarios, things are not normal.  Even small conversation that could be possibly covered over a causal office corridor catch up is all on virtual calls. I am sure, just like mine, all your calendars are also clogged with a countless number of virtual meetings, and without any doubt, we all are struggling to find the most required focus time to do the actual work on deliverables.

Despite all these infinity numbers of meetings, do you feel that you not only end up spending more time than anticipated but still feel you end up not being able to all the required information?  Well, don’t panic, because you are not alone. I was in a similar situation, and today I would like to share some key steps I followed and was of great help.   

During this pandemic times, the organisations are able to deliver the project by connecting people online successfully.  So, thanks to the tech and the Internet. 

The online meeting has many advantages, such as less travel cost and time, bringing people together who usually cannot have the opportunity to join the discussion without being on-site. Although there are advantages in having these virtual meeting, we still cannot ignore the cons, such as technical difficulties, delay in starting the meeting, deciphering body language cues, managing distraction, and keeping the group focused. 

But by following the below steps, we can achieve a better outcome from the virtual meetings.

Plan –

Planning is critical when it comes to scheduling an online meeting. Firstly, before calling a formal meeting, ensure your topic requires a formal meeting and something that can’t be answered by an email.

Send an agenda –

Prepare a clear agenda ahead of time.  Make sure to include items that your participants want to prepare.  Distribute it to the meeting attendees so they are all aware of what will be covered during our meeting session. This also allows people to get back on any questions they may have, their roles and assignments.  If there’s something you want everyone prepared to discuss, place that on the agenda.

Be specific on who is invited to the meeting –

Although it easier for attendees to join the session irrespective of their geographical location, as an organiser, make sure you do not extend the meeting invite more than required people and fill the forum with extraneous people.  Only invite those who need to be there.  Remember, a focused group is always better.

Establish expectations –

At the beginning of the meeting, reserve some time to establish the meeting’s purpose.  Please go through the agenda (it would help bring new participants who joined at the last min to speed).  Set clear roles, including facilitator and assign/check for someone to take action points and record any decision.  Agree on ground rules such as mentioning the names and going on mute when not speaking.  Communicate if the meeting session will be recorded, and everyone is aware of it and agree on how actions will be communicated and followed up. 

Keep the session Interactive as possible –

With online meetings managing distractions or keeping them focused is hard.  As not all the time, people would have their video on all times.  So, here are a few tips to keep the session interactive.  Try using software that is fun, and allow social sentiments like giving thumbs up etc.  Try using open ending questions.  Encourage attendee not to save questions till the end of the presentation and ask their questions as a comment in the chatbox while presenting and make sure to read them and address them during the session as long as they are on topic.

Watch the time and stay on topic –

This is key as it is often easy to go off-topic.  So make sure you stick with the time on each topic and stay on schedule. 

Summarise action items –

Make sure to close the meeting by summarising the action items. Let know the attendees that a follow-up email will be sent out listing actions, responsible person to action, and deadline. 

I hope these tips are helpful, and before we wrap up the article, below are the most common Video Conferencing Tech that I have used

1. Microsoft Teams
2. Zoom
3. Join.Me
4. GoToMeetng
5. Google Meet

So what video conferencing tech does your organisation use?