Business owners consider virtual meetings as a cost-effective method to achieve their goals to a large extent. Virtual meetings save your time a lot, and they are far better than a traditional face-to-face meeting. They also reduce the traveling cost with readily available technology. Virtual meetings that are hosted well help the team collaborate and solve problems efficiently.
1. Schedule well in advance
Coordinating the schedule for the people in a different location is a difficult task. For example, if you are leading a meeting, and time in Newyork will be 08:00 am, and in London, it will be 1:00 pm. You should use the best appointment scheduling software like PICKTIME for scheduling the appointments beforehand. Scheduling software is also helpful for sending alert notifications for all the people to attend on time.
- Use tools that help you choose the right time zone.
- Choose a time that is convenient for every member of the team.
- Schedule the meeting in advance because there will not be any chaos at the last minute of the meeting.
2. Set a perfect plan
It is important to plan so that the team members know what they would contribute to the meeting. The team members will have clarity on the purpose of their existence in the discussion.
- Provide an opportunity for the team members to read the document before the meeting and comment on the record to be well prepared to discuss it in the discussion.
- Ensure that the team members know whether they should mute the video, while others are speaking or the presenter mainly leads the meeting.
3. Follow rules and etiquette in the meeting
The key to a successful virtual meeting is to be conscious. Don't get distracted from the meeting by checking your emails and notifications.
- Ensure that you can see everybody's face clearly in the video, and that will make you feel that you are in a face-to-face meeting. 55% of communication is carried on by body language. 38% is by the tone of voice.
- See that all the connections are correctly set before the meeting. Check the wifi and screen sharing capabilities.
- Adjust the connections at least 10 min before the meeting begins.
4. Be prepared
Not only do you get to prepare for the meeting but make sure that your team members also know about the agenda of the meeting.
- Send a copy of the meeting agenda to every member of your team.
- Sending the meeting agenda is not enough, but as a leader, it's your due diligence to see that every member of your team reads the meeting agenda and comes prepared for the meeting.
5. Always have a plan B
It is not sure that a technical issue will occur, but it is always better to have a plan B while going for virtual meeting. We may not know the necessity of the excess arrangements that we make. You cannot lose the whole technical meeting due to the failure of the connection of one person.
- Make sure everyone troubleshoots their systems before the meeting so that the meeting goes on without any flaws.
6. Give space for casual conversation
Don't be too quash to break the conversation that is running before the starting of the virtual meeting. These small talks before the meeting help the people to know about each other, and it is useful for them to express their views in candor.
- It helps the people to connect remotely personally in the beginning and then to discuss the business details.
7. Make the team members engaged
A meeting where there is no active participation of the members is a waste of time and effort. You should see that the team members should have effective participation during the meeting.
- Make them interact during the meeting. Please speak to your team members and also allow them to speak.
- Arrange a person to coordinate and allow all the team members to offer their input.
- Ask for their opinion on specific projects or tasks, for quick updates, for anything they need to add, or to help with their workload.
8. Keep the meeting short and sweet
Keep your meeting duration to 15 to 45 min because this will help the team members to stay focused. If you cannot complete all the essential points within time, more preparation is required.
- Long meetings bore your team and waste time.
- Short and sweet sessions also increase productivity.
9. Conclude with a water-cooler conversation
The last five to ten minutes of the meeting let the team members ask questions or uncertainties.
- Allow team members to share their opinions freely at the end of the meeting.
- Ask them to say about the things covered in the session and the essential decisions that were taken in the meeting.
10. Ask for feedback
After the meeting is over, ask the team members regarding the improvements to be made in the meeting.
- Ask them for any faults, it may take place this time, but in the future, the meeting will be successful if we take these steps.
- It will help improve the meetings for the next time.
These are a few steps listed above that help the efficient virtual meeting that, in turn, helps business people save a lot of time, money, and effort.