Virtual meetings are events bringing people together through the internet or digital network to achieve shared objectives. These meetings became very popular, especially during the pandemic when people were forced to stay home and work from home. When it is impossible to be together as a result of long-distance, or even weather and other blockers, a virtual meeting comes in handy in maintaining working relationships and business continuity.
The advantages
- Virtual meetings translate into fewer travel expenses. You get to save on flights, food, and accommodation you would have otherwise needed when traveling to meet up and talk business.
- A virtual meeting allows employees to engage with colleagues and clients based in different locations easily. They may lack intimate in-person interaction, but they offer space for important people who are otherwise not in the room.
- They are inclusive workplaces even for those not able to travel. They can join even from other countries if they have an internet connection. Travel restrictions such as financial restraints, ill health, impaired mobility, and childcare no longer affect team integration.
Virtual meetings are, without a doubt, time-saving and convenient in most cases, but only when they are successful. Planning a meeting can be tricky, especially ensuring all parties involved are present and on time as required. However, a few steps can simplify the process, increasing your chances of having a successful meeting.
If you have been given the responsibility to arrange a virtual meeting, you will find the following steps very ideal.
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Choose the appropriate platform
Video conferencing software options are numerous, and you must consider what best works for the team. Choosing the most reliable is important as it will ensure you all enjoy a hiccup-free meeting if at all you are to achieve the main objective of the meeting. A good platform will offer secure video protocols, clear video, pristine audio, and a high-quality internet connection. It is always a good idea for participants to log in before the meeting to test the connectivity of locations expected to dial in. Early testing allows you to make any changes necessary in case there are people experiencing issues with the platform.
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Prepare for the meeting
The preparation here involves ensuring everything is working as expected, and all participants have access to the selected platform and actually understand how to connect and use it. The platform’s familiarity is very important as it saves everyone from embarrassing moments. For instance, dialing for audio and muting the microphones when not using is very important for audibility and minimal interferences. Finally, coach your team if need be; it will go a long way in ensuring you have a successful meeting.
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Have the agendas well outlined
Preparing the agenda or agendas is important in ensuring you stick to the allocated meeting duration and tackle everything important during the meeting. Overloading a schedule might yield less, so ensure you have only important topics and enough time to tackle them.
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Offer a preview to all participants in advance
People tend to be more prepared when they know what the meeting is about and probably even what is expected of them. If you are using online signups for the virtual meeting, you can attach the schedule here or customize reminder emails to contain all important details. If you plan to have frequent meetings with the same people, it is a great idea to stick to general formats, so they know what to expect and can join in fully prepared.
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Start the meeting on time
All participants should treat virtual meetings with seriousness as physical meetings. Even if some are late to join, do go ahead with the meeting like you would in any other setting. Delays with starting, even when you have a number of people on already, will encourage some to leave the set and come back later. Start as scheduled and let those who are late join in as they become available.
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Actively engage the participants
Engaging the meeting participants helps keep them active and paying attention throughout. Encourage the use of cameras, so you are sure all are there and actually paying attention, not distracted by other activities. Everyone needs to keep up with the meeting’s pace. When starting, you can take a role call as a way of introducing them. It helps because it can be hard to introduce themselves individually. After all, there is no clarity of who should talk after who. It would help if you came up with interesting ways of keeping all active and engaged to the end too.
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Run the meeting
You can start by establishing ground rules. The etiquette should be no different from live meetings just because you are holding a virtual meeting. Extraneous conversations between participants should be discouraged. Give clear talk time by calling names of those you want responses from instead of leaving the floor open for any random responses. Some locations might end up experiencing connection lags; have this in mind when running the meeting and allow a little extra time for responses. You can also incorporate instant messaging features or built-in chat features for questions.
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Close the meeting
How you close the virtual meeting can determine how worthwhile the participants feel it is. A summary of all agreed tasks, timelines and responsible people is very important in the tail end. You should also solicit feedback as a way of making sure the next meeting will be more effective. Appreciate the participants, too, and allow them to all sign out before you leave the setup.
Virtual meetings are as productive as physical ones if you are well-prepared and know exactly how to run the schedule. If you have confidence issues, you can hide behind the fact that you will not be in the same room with the rest of the participants, especially clients you might wish to impress. Follow the steps to ease your first meeting arrangement experience and make it a success.