Under the current “new normal” situation, more people are getting used to conducting meetings in the comfort of their own homes. Often times even preferring it over face-to-face meetings where you have to wake up much earlier, get ready, and commute for several hours. Nowadays, virtual meetings through platforms such as Zoom, Skype, and Microsoft teams have made everything much easier.
With that said, virtual meetings are not any less tiring than normal ones. In fact, some people get stuck in virtual meetings for almost an entire day. The reason being due to several factors. This is why we have to make sure that the quality of our virtual meetings is as high as possible in order to not waste anyone’s precious time.
Remember that there will always be people who are new to the way things are now. Not everyone is as tech-savvy as your local IT guy. For some, this is their first time actually logging in to a virtual meeting platform. Hence, here are some tips to make the most out of your virtual meetings:
Have a clear agenda
First things first, you want to have a good agenda to stay on track of the most important things that you need to discuss as a team. You want to start with your agenda and end with all of your agendas fulfilled. That’s why while it’s good to break the ice for several minutes by chatting and joking around, it’s more important to clearly tell everybody what your goals are for this meeting. This way, everyone is on the same page.
Give clear instructions
This is also done at the beginning of every meeting. Give some simple instructions for everyone to follow for the sake of the meeting. This includes turning off their camera and microphone if necessary. This allows for the presentation to go along smoothly. You wouldn’t want to hear dogs barking from somebody else’s microphone while you are presenting right?
Assign presenters
In most cases, this may be yourself as you are the one organizing the meeting. When you are the presenter, make sure to share your screen and confirm if everybody can see it. Always go along and follow the agenda thoroughly and avoid unnecessary background noises. Always confirm every several if everybody is still listening because with their cameras off, it’s hard to tell whether they are still in front of their cameras of sleeping soundly in front of their computers.
Have a secure internet connection
This is another important aspect of being a presenter in a virtual meeting. Always make sure that you have a stable internet connection. Oftentimes, presenters suddenly go out of a meeting because their internet connection got interrupted. Another effect of a bad connection is having your voice gets cut off while speaking because of lag. Some presenters also complain that their voice starts to sound like it’s coming from an old radio because of too many static noises. Hence, you should always make sure that everything is ready to go before you start presenting!
Outsource!
We know that setting up meetings may not be the most essential thing for you to do in a day yet it takes up a huge chunk of your time. Not only will you set everything up, but you also have to send invitations and wait for every single participant to arrive at your virtual meeting. However, by having a virtual assistant, you can just go straight into the meeting without any hassle!
In conclusion, to make the most out of your meetings, make sure to set everything up perfectly and have a secure internet connection as well as a noise-free background. However, if you want to save yourself a huge amount of time and effort, then virtual assistants are the way to go.
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