10 Tips for Online Meetings

March 31, 2020
|In Uncategorised
|By Admin
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Social distancing is a phrase that we’ve all had to get used to very quickly! I prefer the term physical distancing because we can still be social (and connected) while being physically distant thanks to technology. Many of us are now working from home full time and therefore meeting via Zoom, Skype, Go To Meetings or similar technology. In our industry, we’ve been meeting, coaching and training online for a few years now and this is what we’ve learned.

There’s a lot of advantages to meeting online. It’s more cost-effective – it saves money because of time saved in travel and commuting. The meetings tend to be shorter because we have to be more succinct in the way we communicate. We can meet more often if required because it’s more accessible and location is not an issue as we can meet from anywhere.

However, online meetings have challenges that we need to be aware of so that we can overcome them. You can’t simply convert a face to face meeting style or training session in to an online Zoom or Skype session and expect the same results. You are limited with how you can interact with a virtual audience.

So, here’s 10 of our tips for online meetings…

1 | Prepare. It requires a little bit more preparation for an online meeting. You will need to send an agenda to all participants beforehand and also think about what visuals (like PowerPoint) you present.

 

2 | Don’t assume that all the attendees know how to log in to an online meeting. Send the log in instructions with your meeting.  This can waste valuable time at the start.

3 | If you are presenting to a large group, it can be good to have an assistant to manage the technology so that you can manage the audience.

4 | You may need to speak slightly slower to manage internet delays but be aware of keeping energy up.

5 | There is more room for distraction with online meetings because the participants can be located anywhere  and currently most people will be attending at home. Ask all attendees to mute their microphone unless speaking.

6 | Use the chat box. It’s too easy for everyone to be checking Twitter or email while online so get constant feedback via Chat by asking specific questions.

7 | Ask all attendees to have their video on so you can see each other’s faces. If you’ve ever had a conversation with little eye contact you will understand the importance of this..

8 | Don’t launch straight in to the tasks to be discussed. Set the scene of what is to be covered and check in with everyone.

9 | Be human. Let your personality come out.

10 | Run shorter meetings when they are conducted online. If the meeting needs to take longer than 45 minutes, consider meeting again at a later stage to continue the discussion.

 

Fiona Newton
Trainer| Speaker| Broadcaster