I am sure you have seen enough memes and stories about virtual meetings so I am not going to bore you with mine – definitely not going to recount the incident my husband decided to flush the toilet, or the time virtual background failed me. What I am going to share in this post, is 5 practices that I recommend when hosting/attending virtual meetings.
1. Turn on that camera
Yes this means you need to tame those unruly hair. And yes put on some proper pants unless you are absolutely certain you won’t need to get up to fetch something in the middle of the call. We all need that human connection – to actually “see” the persons we are meeting, to put a face to the name literally. What’s more, the camera allows us to exchange information which otherwise cannot pick up from the voice: facial expressions, reactions, eye-contact, hand gestures and postures.
2. Stay focused
Please don’t check your phone messages during the meeting – attendees can tell when your eyes wander away. So is typing while someone is speaking! A way to minimise distraction from emails and social media is to switch off the notification sound. if you have the “hand-glued-to-phone syndrome” like my teenage son, leave the phone in a different room. Want to help your fellow meeting attendees stay focused? Give them some air time – invite them to share their thoughts, ask for their input: “hey Philip, what do you make of the situation?”.
3. Encourage participation
People who are not vocal at traditional meetings are likely to continue to stay quiet at virtual settings. But we can encourage them to share their input and questions using other means readily available on most virtual platforms. Utilise the chats, polls and private messaging features. Read out and give credit to their text questions/input.
4. Summarise
This applies to any form of meetings really. Regularly summarise what have been discussed to check that everyone is on same page. Check that all the action items are assigned. Document the summary and action items – distribute that in the meeting to eliminate incidents of “I didn’t receive the document”. And as in any meetings, virtual or not, make sure you follow up on the action items.
So that’s it for the 4 practices. And kudos to you if you noticed the missing 5th. Just wanted to check if you are paying attention. Anyways, hope this short post is helpful to you. If you have some best practices you go by, do share with the community so we can learn from one another!
Author:
Eva Lam
Tree Consulting Asia Company Limited